More than words.
Clearly after my review of great Scottish lass Julie Fowlis' live performance in Scottish Gaelic, someone thought that perhaps it was time for the challenge of Italian! So here we have alternative metalists, Sensazione, who come from Bologna, and after the first song, 'Quando La Coscienza Cigola' you get an idea of what this is going to be like. Starting off with a slow beat there are undertones of industrial with deep guitars and Rusty's (not what I'd expect of an Italian name?!) strong loud vocals that can comfortably hold a gentle note, as can scream out loud!
The next thing that you will notice is that there are no short sharp injections of Ramones style songs, as the majority of the songs go well over the four minute mark. 'X Sentirmi Meglio' has elements of Linkin Park with mid-tempo verses, soft vocal snippits before a big semi-scream chorus. 'Bianchi Lividi' is a middle-of the road rock song that borders on a power-ballad, but with a little more balls than this might suggest. There are synthesizers adding to the background on 'Offuscata Dimensions' and verses that have just bass and drums before the guitars rip into the bridge and chorus.
I feel a pang of nostalgia at the beginning to 'Antidoto' as it reminds me a bit to the beginning of Def Leppards hit ballad 'Love Bites' in the heavy reverberation of keyboards. This is a six minute ballad, and it's only now that I realise that the singer has a voice like the lead singer to Blackboard Jungle.
Sometimes the more simplistic the song then the better it can be, and there is a pop charm in 'Vivere a ½' which even has high pitched la la's, that in the verse gives a gentle and melodic plod that is as surprising as it is a guilty pleasure to listen too. Although we still have some high harmonies in 'Il Suo Difetto' we also have the deep metal riffs chugging things back towards the darker side of music. Then once again, Sensazione give us a little taster of another genre with the pop/punk of 'Concime Sterile' which is catchy in it's full punk glory, before last song 'Koyanisquatsi' gives us a fitting ending with it's kaleidoscopic mix of electro noises and spaced out lyrics, the band once again go all space rock mixed with some gentle industrial beats.
It's never an easy task to review a band that you can't understand the lyrics, although that said it does mean that we take more notice of the music, which is the most important part, surely. Sensazione are a great band that certainly play music that is hard to define. There is definitely an industrial edge to what appears to be a hard rock back bone, and they could be best described as a cross between Swiss rockers Gotthard and Linkin Park. It's only recently that my eyes have been opened to a handful of Italian punk bands, and it's good to see that Italy is producing some good quality music that is finally making it over here. I'm not sure whether this will ever big a massive hit in the US or UK, but certainly over the Rest of Europe, Sensazione will certainly make a name for themselves.