Review: NH3 – Superhero
A concept album for NH3 from Pesaro
At least for the first time, I recommend you to listen to “Superhero”, NH3‘s just released fifth studio album, without turning your attention to anything else, keeping away phones and other sources of distraction, and with lyrics in hand.
Because it’s a concept album, a tale of which each of the 12 tracks is a chapter. A “concept album”… it sounds quite démodé in a musical panorama where we are used to disposable singles, but that’s its charm.
And, as in the classic fairy tale pattern, the main characters are a protagonist, an antagonist who tries to hinder his path, and a superhero-helper who allows him to accomplish his mission thanks to the superpowers with which he is endowed.
The particularity, however, is that… protagonist, antagonist and superhero are the same person. And this person, as suggested by the cover image (a silhouette in which you can insert any face), can be anyone, the person who tells the story or you who listen to it.
Our character, therefore, when he understands that his enemy is nothing but himself with the anxieties, fears and conviction of not being able that live in him, rediscovers his dormant strength and defeats him, becoming a superhero with the special power of going beyond his limits. This path of redemption and rebirth winds through the tracks, whose titles are each composed of a single word and that lead us by the hand from the initial “Sopravvive” (It survives), through the discovery of a “Reason” to fight, until the act of “Risorgere” (Being Reborn) and land in the dreamy non-place of “Utopia”.
The story is told at the full of energy ska-core rhythms to which NH3 have accustomed us, with more mature and sophisticated arrangements than usual, which lead to trespassing into unexpected genres. The complexity of the themes and the sophistication of the sound don’t make “Superhero” an album not very suitable for the live dimension, on the contrary. The English choirs seem to be made to be sung all together, under a stage in any corner of the world. An international approach for the band from Pesaro, which is getting the right recognition of its value more abroad than in our country, but that I am convinced will sooner or later be able to be a prophet at home.
Without fear of exaggeration, I would say that we are dealing with an exceptional album. In fact, much more than an album, an inner journey, a guided experience that can accompany us in the course of our daily lives and give us a boost to grow and improve.
“Superhero”, released in Europe via Long Beach Records and in America via People Of Punk Rock Records, is enhanced by two excellent special guests, Tomaso “Dema” De Mattia from Talco in “Utopia” and Gab De La Vega, guitar and vocals in the intro to “Fantasma”.
Tracklist:
- Sopravvive
- Ventre
- Anestesia
- Liquido
- Reason
- Necessità
- Life
- Risorgere
- Best
- Utopia
- Fantasma
- Costretti
Reviewed by Elvira Cuomo