Confrontational ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ Review: Italian synthwave artist honors his 80s influences on inventive covers album.
CONFRONTATIONAL (aka Italian musician Massimo Usai) have been at the forefront of the synthwave scene, a musical subgenre that has seen the revival of film-inspired electronic music indebted to soundtracks by the likes of John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream and Goblin.
Usai’s previous releases, A Dance of Shadows and Kingdom of Night , saw him and a host of collaborators forge original material inspired by his influences, but on his latest release, Under Cover of Darkness , he embraces his heroes head on with a collection of covers of classic 80s film scores and New Wave classics.
Deep Crimson is a reworking of Deep Red by prog-rock composers Goblin (from director Dario Argento’s film of the same name). Somehow Usai is able to up the creep factor while also streamlining it for dance floors–flecked with ghostly disembodied backing vocals and an unrelenting beat.
Animal Machine is a reimagining of another classic 80s score, in this case, it’s the theme of John Carpenter’s Christine, with Usai adding original vocals and metal guitar (the latter courtesy of Carpenter’s Bruts’ Adrien Grousset) and stomping cowbell over the haunting title motif. It proves a stellar combination and makes for one of the catchiest songs on the album. (Fun fact: Carpenter’s son Cody also appears on this album, but not on this track).
Under Cover of Darkness isn’t solely obsessed with the sounds of cinema–in many ways its a great primer for under-the radar Italo disco chestnuts, from his playful interpretation of Den Harrow’s Future Brain to the elastic funk of P. Lion’s Happy Children and the stirring and sensual rendition of Sabrina Salerno’s Summertime Love (featuring guest vocals from Tobias Bernstrup).
Usai also tackles American electronic artists, kicking things off with a sinister funky take on Robert Hazard’s Escalator of Life, and an uptempo take of The Car’s deep cut Stranger Eyes. But the most high profile number is a stirring rendition of UK synth icons Yaz’s Don’t Go, which manages to be faithful to the original while also having its own dark urgency.
All in all, Under Cover of Darkness is another solid release from CONFRONTATIONAL, and a fun sampler of classic electronic soundscapes from the Reagan-era. It makes for prime music to blast away this Halloween.