GEROSTENKORP & NEONRAIN

"Io Non Ho Paura"

OPN - 2008

CD - 500 copies

Two French projects get together for an interesting project that pays homage to the all Italian tradition of "gialli", yellow-sleeved books containing police and crime stories, extremely popular in the 1960s' and 70s', to the point that "giallo" ("yellow") entered the Italian language as a literature and film genre. Gerostenkop and Neonrain release this collaboration under the title "Io Non Ho Paura" ("I'm not afraid" - nothing to do, fortunately, with Gabriele Salvatores' film), inside a slim DVD box that strongly resembles, indeed, a "giallo" book. Their reference, however, seems to be cinema more than literature, and in particular the dark and blood-soaked crime stories that were produced in Italy, again, in the 70s', by excellent names such as the early Dario Argento.

Just listen to Neonrain's track, "Profondo Giallo" (not by chance quoting the aforementioned Argento), which strongly resembles one of the soundtracks assembled in those years by the likes of Goblin, especially in the second part, rhythmic and intriguing, whereas Gerostenkorp's "Velluto Grigio" is pure dark ambient, deep and cosmic, occasionally enriched by hypnotic mantras and distorted melodies. Both are nearly 30 minutes long, suffering from a certain repetitivity once the middle of the running time has passed, especially on Gerostenkorp's contribution. "Io Non Ho Paura", summing up, could have been conceived more interestingly, as this way it looks more like a pretext to release some new music, than the real development of a chosen concept. Enjoyable, but not truly convincing.

- Simon V.

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