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2CD/BOOK
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TRI 476CD
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2013 release. Songs are like open wounds. Music can hurt. Can strike new wounds and tear up old ones. No one is more aware of this than Simone "Hellvis" Salvatori. His feverish music is a diary of his failures and triumphs, a deep scar running through his work. He finds pleasure in the pain it causes him, sheds tears for the lust it evokes in him. Like an Italian Johnny Cash, he clads his life in intimate ballads of becoming and withering, of sex and death. Spiritual Front is the folk noir crossbreed of Ennio Morricone and Nick Cave -- suicide pop from a decadent otherworld. Where secret passions are whispered into darkness, where dream and waking, intoxication and hangover dance closely, Open Wounds feels at home: Morbid mafia folklore for hedonistic self-destructors, murder ballads for decadent lotus-eaters. Like a heavy red wine, Spiritual Front's music gets better and better over the years -- ever more exhilarating, ever more effective. As if Simone Salvatori had to reach a certain age to understand his music properly. As if he had to accept that living means suffering. Now, the erotic enchantment of his masterpiece Armageddon Gigolo is back. On Open Wounds, it mates with delicate prowess and baffling arrangements that would invoke envy in every mafia orchestra. Sacred profoundness turns to sweaty sheets when Simone Salvatori sings for his soul, when he trembles, hope, loves, suffers and lives. The machismo and his guitar, joined by the orchestra -- Open Wounds is the epitome of suicide pop. Sexy to the brim, sensual even in the face of certain death, full of whipping urgency. To this, the bonus CD comes as a sharply accentuated contrast, uniting instrumentals, alternate versions and stunning reworks: A calm and very moody view into the artistic life of this abyssic gigolo. This second album is like the cuddling after the all-consuming act of love that is Open Wounds -- and Spiritual Front is the lover that disappears before dawn. Only a dream? The wounds tell a different story. Double-CD in book format (appr. 14x21 cm); bonus-CD includes 11 tracks; hardback book with elaborate thread stitching; 40-pages extra-booklet, art print on high-quality paper.
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CD+DVD
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TRI 406CD
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2010 release. The "armageddon gigolo" is back: after the succinctly titled first album for Trisol, on Rotten Roma Casino, the charismatic Italian heartbreaker Simone Salvatori's band once again define that which they have shaped like no other: "suicide pop". That is to say: melancholy melodies, stirring guitar chords, emotional vocals, and yearning string passages, but also solid-groove beats and macabre phrases. Just as the recipe was fully finalized on Armageddon Gigolo (2006), which defined the genre single-handedly, Rotten Roma Casino goes a decisive step further. They once more summoned together the proven ensemble featuring chamber musicians associated with Ennio Morricone and created a whole series of musical gems which you can't get out of your head after just a single hearing. As per the title, it's about Rome -- a metaphorical, decadent Rome however, a parallel to the Roma of Fellini, full of wonder, monstrosities, and passions. They pay homage to the orgiastic, wild, and ambiguous in such a way, particularly on the intense video clips which are featured on the bonus DVD, as to conjure up the immortal spirit of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The doleful "Sad Almost A Winner" orientates itself towards his homoerotic melodrama, Fox and his Friends, while the clip for "Darkroom Friendship" pays homage to the promiscuous bisexual passion of frontman, Salvatori. Salvatori acknowledges that without Fassbinder's controversial "sex and death" drama Querelle, he probably wouldn't have founded Spiritual Front. To all this are added harmonies which seem to derive from the legendary creators of film music, Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota. Spiritual Front carries their unmistakable Italian spirit into the post-modern. With Rotten Roma Casino, Spiritual Front consciously shake off their underground roots in order to invent their own unique variety of morbid folk-pop which blends indie rock, acoustic chords and tango into a new, intense and above all heartrending, genuine mixture. It is still Elvis Presley's libertine little brother: Hellvis. With auratic timbre in his voice, he once again sings about the impossibility of love and the pain which it leaves behind. Rotten Roma Casino is a fresh and original but at the same time mature and majestic musical work, without compromise but yet catchy; slightly sweet but yet disturbing. CD plus DVD in eight-panel digipak; DVD is Stereo 2.0, PAL, 4:3, All Regions; includes special Leporello fold booklet with precious art print on high-quality paper including lyrics and exclusive photos; also includes fold-out poster.
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LP
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MNQ 043LP
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The Rome-based nihilist suicide pop outfit Spiritual Front returns with Open Wounds, a monolithic selection of re-arranged and re-mastered tracks from their back catalog. The band, formed in 1999 as a project fronted by Simone Salvatori, has been described as a cross of a wide variety of genres and musical styles, and the band itself is considered highly unique among the modern neo-folk and post-industrial scenes in Europe. Strongly recommended to fans of Ennio Morricone, Death In June, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Johnny Cash, Swans, and Crime & The City Solution.
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