Recently, I took a week off to completely disconnect from work; it was bloody well overdue. I chose a fitting location to temporarily rid myself of all ties to home and, above all, to work. I visited the Veluwe zoom and took the time to explore the Kröller-Müller Museum. Fantastic, though I did not come across any works by Gustav Klimt. Others, however, were well represented: Piet Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, Theo van Doesburg, and so many others. You might almost forget to mention the master himself, Vincent van Gogh. Impressive. There was even an exhibition by the Dutch artist Anouk Griffioen, and it was remarkable. Highly recommended.
The Italian post-rock, indie, gaze collective Klimt 1918 named themselves after Klimt and added the year of his death to the name. You may notice that nowhere does it say there is even a hint of black metal hidden in their work. And rightly so, because there really is not. These Italians provided me with their dreamy melancholy some eleven years ago, when the magnificent Dopoguerra was released. The album received a reissue in 2023. Later came, among others, Just In Case We’ll Never Meet Again (2008), Sentimentale Jugend (2016), and I am probably still forgetting a few digitally released EPs. You can tell these lads from Klimt 1918 are not exactly prolific songwriters. Wicked tongues might even dare to claim that this band does not entirely belong on our beloved webzine. But I stopped listening to the rabble a long time ago. Long live the emperor!
The Soellner brothers release their latest brainchild, Àmor, through Prophecy Productions. They are writing and composing about warmth, about the feeling of bodies against one another, and the urgent needs people experience when lying awake alone at night – emotionally speaking, that is. None other than Tony Doogan and Frank Arkwright were recruited by the band for mixing and mastering, and those are some serious names indeed. Look them up sometime.
The Italians have had a characteristic sound for years, one you can instantly recognize. The opening bars, the very first sounds introducing this latest album, reveal a band that has managed to preserve its own unmistakable identity. Dream Core unfolds in a dreamy fashion and truly takes its time doing so. At times, Marco Soellner’s vocals resemble a darker version of Neil Tennant. Just listen to Aventine and you will understand exactly what I mean. The album as a whole sounds intensely dreamlike and demands time to be discovered. But once you have given it both time and space, once you allow yourself to enter the sprawling train of thought these gentlemen wrestle with while lying awake in bed at night, only then do you truly understand the record.
On Eros, you can hear an alto saxophone, and Domenico Vellucci integrates it beautifully and warmly into the compositions. This is not a brutal record, but then again, that is not what you expect. It is an album that carries and moves you. Listen to Un Été Invincible, or a little further on to Petricore, performed in Italian. The gentlemen close the album with the mighty Mountain.
Klimt 1918 still manages to reach the fragile side of me, usually buried beneath layers of dust, rust, and above all black metal. Beautiful, really. Àmor leaves a lasting impression by gently draping a patchwork blanket of different emotions over the listener in a deeply melancholic way. Highly recommended!
Score:
90/100
Label:
Prophecy Productions, 2026
Tracklisting:
- Dream Core
- Aventine
- Nihil Vitra
- Eros
- Nexus
- Un Éte Invincible
- Arcade
- Ámor
- Petricor
- Aftersun
- Moutain
Line-up:
- Marco Soellner – ZVocals, guitar, synth
- Claudio Spagnuoli – Guitar, synth
- Davide Pesola – Bass guitar
- Paolo Soellner – Drums
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