Words by: Cathy R. Moore
Let’s be honest. There aren’t a lot of rock bands from Italy that have burned up the US music world. Lacuna Coil was really the only one I would even deem worth mentioning until I discovered Italian alternative rock quartet Soldiers Of A Wrong War.
Soldiers Of A Wrong War formed in 2007 and have since taken their musical interests very seriously and worked hard to get their sound out to the world. In 2011 they released their first full-length and completely self-funded album Lights & Karma, and in 2014 they released a follow-up EP Slow. Soldiers Of A Wrong War’s second studio album Countdowns, which is available now. And let me tell you…it is assolutamente favoloso, as the Italians would say!
As soon as I heard Countdowns I felt that little flutter in my stomach that comes when I discover incredible new music. I immediately went to iTunes and purchased everything available by Soldiers Of A Wrong War. I just can’t get enough of this band. They have been quoted as saying, “We live, bleed and breathe for music: it’s more than words, melodies and notes mixed up together, music is our lifeblood, it is where we thrive!” Yes…it definitely shows.
Countdowns is full of anthemic songs that rouse listeners to sing along, bang heads, pump fists, move bodies, start revolutions! Whether they are celebrating, protesting, or simply energizing, the songs on Countdowns possess a certain grandiosity that evoke powerful emotions. There are also some subtle surprises woven throughout the album such as the ticking of a clock in the song “Clocks” (my absolute favorite on the album by the way) or the imitation of trickling water in “In Our Skin Again” or the soft whistling in “Out of Time.” So many moments when I got a little giddy.
One of the more interesting songs on the album is “Yeah” which is the first single released and also has an eyebrow-raising video to go along with it.
“When we wrote this song we were like: ‘This stuff sounds insanely like one of those rock’n’roll songs that make you wanna instantly dance and have fun!’. If you listen to the song, you can feel influences from the old school rock’n’roll scene of the mid 60s, early 70s, mixed with some alternative rock vibes from the ’90s. The catchphrase in the refrain, which is ‘It doesn’t make much sense, but I like it,’ basically represents the world we live in today,” said Adin Sulic, bassist.
“The infosphere is flooded with tons of content through social media every single day and it looks like you really don’t need a reason to like something. Even if it doesn’t make sense, if you see that people share it, then it seems that you have to like it automatically and you just go with the flow, trapped in a system which seems to be designed to decode ourselves and bring our individuality to a point where it’s nearly extinct. Is this what we really want?”
If you’re looking for some fresh and sharp rock music that will jump into your ears to conquer your brain, freeze it in a moment of pure pleasure and give it back to you safely refreshed, then Soldiers Of A Wrong War is exactly what you need!
