Appartenenza is the second album by Milanese prog band
Macchina Pneumatica and was released in 2022 on the independent Black
Widow Records label with a confirmed line up featuring Raffaele
Gigliotti (lead vocals, backing vocals, guitars), Carlo Fiore (synth,
Hammond, electric and acoustic piano, backing vocals), Carlo
Giustiniani (bass, backing vocals) and Vincenzo Vitagliano (drums)
plus the guest and co-producer Alberto Ravasini (former member of
historic Italian prog band Maxophone - backing vocals). The new album
reflects all the good qualities of its predecessor with its excellent
mix of vintage sounds and original ideas. The colourful art work by
Beatrice Traversin probably describes the musical and lyrical content
better than my all words...
The raging opener “Appartenenza” (Belonging) conjures up a dark
atmosphere with heavy electric guitar riffs and powerful organ
passages. The music and lyrics evoke a dystopic society where
different groups of humans act like packs of wolves avoiding to mix
with each other. Whites with whites, blacks with blacks, reds with
reds, that’s the way to preserve their spawn...
The nightmarish, bluesy “Pazzo” (Mad) gives voice to an outcast,
a stranger in his own home city who is going through a personal
crises and is sinking in a sea of doubts. He can’t find a way out
and is rejected by the conformist people who look at him like at an
old king who has lost his crown and now is useless and helpless. He
can feel the contempt of the straight against the different and
that’s driving him insane. Then a kind of nursery rhyme sung in
German leads to the disquieting finale...
“Fuoco d’agosto” (August fire) tells in music and words of a
desperate story of alienation. In August, in an empty city, a lonely
boy sets himself on fire as a consequence of his inner desert. He’s
alone in his room with his television and his mobile phone when calls
a live television broadcast announcing his self-immolation. In a few
moments his naked skin burns under the summer sun and on all the TV
screens...
The long, hypnotic instrumental “Il cerchio” (The circle) is an
excellent track that leads to the following “Rendimento garantito”
(Guaranteed performance), a disquieting piece about human
commodification and blind conformism. The lyrics evoke images of
misleading elections, losers supported and comforted by analysts, old
people crossing the streets without paying attention to the traffic,
men queuing up to donate their blood to the pawnshop...
The last track, “Venerdì sera” (Friday evening), starts by a
delicate piano introduction, then the rhythm rises while the music
and lyrics depict the effort of the protagonist to escape from his
daily grind evoking a dream of absolute freedom and excess, a
dangerous plunge into the nightlife under a false name in search for
fun and lust. The protagonist seems to get lost while devils and
witches play with his thoughts and the border between virtual
reality and real life melts...
On the whole, a very good work!
You can listen to the complete album HERE
More info:
