Album Review: Soviet Soviet Make “Endless” Post-Punk
Soviet Soviet is readying to release their newest album Endless. The Italian band has managed to create a sound that is so distinct it spans geographies and time-zones. I mention this because, as you read in many my reviews, there is always a draw to some time or country’s culture that influences an artist’s sound. Yet, Soviet Soviet do not motivate themselves from any space beyond the vision in their minds.
I’ll be frank: I am a moody “punker”. I like punk music when I am in my particular, anarchic mood that everyone gets when they simply do not want to hear anything from anyone. Yet, you need a good punk artist, whom knows that these sounds of rebellions need to say something: not just clatter noise. Thus, for me, Endless is the perfect post punk record, and one that echoes the universal sensibility of this genre: catharsis. They may not look to time and space for inspiration, but Soviet Soviet looks to the soul’s darkness to bring it a cathartic enlightenment. The band has made note that Endless was a record about self-reflection and using personal experiences to grow, which explains why the record appeared so timeless to me. When you look at cycle of lessons, virtues, and sentiment we have all undergone in life, you are bound to feel happiness, love, anger, and confusion time and time again. Somehting that Soviet Soviet has realized and has made extra care to express in one of their most complex albums to date.
How do you make a record sound like a sentient soul? Lonely, abandoned. misunderstood, and devastatingly insecure are just some of the negative side effects to living, and music has a unique power to heal or release said sentiments. Soviet Soviet choosing the latter. Songs like “Fairy Tale” and “Pantomime” are phenomenal tracks dedicated to the madness/eagerness felt when trying to figure out what more do you need to give to life, love, and the world for you to “fit in”. Why is it that happiness is indescribable, but approached as if it has standards and guidelines? The clashing idea rocks the human heart, but symphonies the ‘head-banging”/ “soul-thrashing” sonics of Endless. Soviet Soviet uses a quickened pace throughout their tracks that purely captures the freneticism of feeling overpowered by your powerlessness. I am convinced that Alessandro Ferri and Alessandro Costantini are basically The Flash for stringed instruments. They stir the bass and guitar with a manic ferocity that worries and intoxicates listeners; you are enthralled by their quickness and stressed as to whether any human can safely be so fast.
From “Remember Now” or “Surf A Palm”, Endless is an album that symbolizes how the human spirit will always try to “find” itself because it will always be growing. Lead singer Andrea Giometti has a voice that both symbolizes and charms you with that fact. He relieves the anguish at knowing you will never meet a sole, best “version” of yourself through vocals that reveal the excitement of such a notion. From his pain to his perseverance, his voice sound like radiator in a cold, dim cabin; they warm even the darkest hovels of our spirit. Moreover, his annotations and range remind of Blink 182’s Tom Delonge: charming and unlike anything on the radio. Altogether, Soviet Soviet have created an album that shows the purity of a soul’s metamorphosis in being Endless. Click Here For More Information On Soviet Soviet and To Buy Endless On December 2.