Italian trio VON MASOCH was a band that was formed in 1992 and ceased their activities in 1994, consisting of Nino Bruno (vocals, guitars), Gabriele Nitti (bass, vocals) and Andrea Vinti (drums). In the two years they were active they released an initial three track demo tape (News) and one official EP (Flash Glamour) before splitting up. “Flash Glamour (’92 – ’94) ” assembles the material from their EP, two of the three songs from their demo tape and various other unreleased recordings from this bands brief existence covering a total of 15 tracks, with three of the tracks also represented with alternative versions. This fairly extensive compilation was released through Italian label Psych Up Melodies in the summer of 2014.
The most prominent key feature throughout this compilation is, sadly, the lacking quality of the recordings that have been used. In this case this is presumably because there isn’t any better source material available, as that is often the case when dealing with a short-lived band that was active almost a generation ago. Studio recordings by artists that never managed to achieve any noticeable level of commercial success does tend to vanish or be destroyed, after all. The main question when releasing material of a lackluster quality will then often be if this is material worth documenting for the future. In this case I feel that the answer is a solid yes.
Even with low grade demo material and live recordings of dubious quality the qualities of Von Masoch as a band shines through easily enough, and some of the recordings of a better quality are fairly interesting too I might add. In terms of style I guess post punk or new wave describes this band fairly closely, although glam rock and alternative rock are descriptions that may also be applied.
The main feature here, as far as I’m concerned, is the track Paradiso Blu. A catchy, compelling feature that resides within the new wave / post punk sphere that have all the qualities of a song that should have been a hit single. The melody is strong and compelling, the bass and drums supporting the guitars are given well developed roles that elevates the material, and the calm lead vocals suits the music perfectly. There are some passages and intermissions that stops the song from being a true monster, in a positive sense of the word, but some Italian band should know their visiting time and take the time to record a trimmed version of this song and get it played on radio. This is a song that begs for a new, high quality version that with some luck and skilled PR easily could become a hit song even today.
Compelling and easy to like songs with hit potential represents Von Masoch at their best. Wandering between hard rock, post punk and new wave, songs like Dottor Destino, Sul Durso del Lupo, Bijoux and even the weirdness called Transex Warriors are all songs that documents that Von Masoch was a highly talented band in that department. Many of the other songs are fairly brief affairs, many with somewhat more of a punk attitude to them, and while often not quite as interesting quite a few of them actually comes across as sketches and drafts for songs that fully developed could join the ranks of the compositions already mentioned as possible hit songs and strong, compelling creations even if lacking a hit potential as such. Lead vocalist Bruno does add something of a theatrical, possibly glam inspired tinge to some of these songs that may be more of an acquired taste, at times giving me associations to Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show. Still, this is a facet that may be just as charming as off-putting, and there’s also a question of how much or not the aforementioned recording quality have given this aspect of the band’s sound a stronger emphasis than what it actually was. Or to put it that way, at least in some instances the vocals appears to dominate much more in th recordings than I suspect was actually the case or the goal when the songs were recorded.
The questionable recording quality of this production does limit the presumed target audience somewhat I’m afraid. But if you can live with that being the case, and you do have a soft spot for quality music hovering on the borderlines between hard rock, alternative rock, post punk and new wave somewhere, then this compilation of the material left behind by 90’s Italian trio Von Masoch is one that merits an inspection.
My rating: 69/100