Måneskin’s ‘RUSH!’ Fails to Deliver on its Title
Photo by Raffaele Della Pace via Flickr
Despite the title telling you otherwise, Italian pop rock band Måneskin’s new album “RUSH!” is anything but. Its redundant production and substandard lyrics provide little to no sense of the rush you’re supposed to get while listening to this album.
Måneskin has been all the talk in the pop rock world following the band’s 2021 Eurovision victory. It was the first time since 1990 an Italian-based act won the coveted competition, as well as the first band to win since 2006. It’s safe to assume that there was a lot to expect from them when they first announced this project.
However, the unfortunate truth is that they did not drop the album rock listeners were hoping for. The album disappointed on many levels and didn’t give someone who isn’t already a fan of the group a reason to tune into their future endeavors.
Let’s start with the biggest issue this album suffers from: redundancy and production. The album suffers from similar-sounding songs left and right, as well as being terribly organized. Lead vocalist Damiano David’s voice only goes so far, as evident by the tracklist on this album, and on the occasion he does try something new, it usually falls flat.
A good portion of this album is filled with “average hockey songs” (the kind of songs you’d hear at a hockey game when it goes to commercial break or after a play is over). It’s usually some rock music used to set the vibe straight, and while I don’t know if this was necessarily Måneskin’s intention, songs such as “OWN MY MIND,” “GOSSIP” and “GASOLINE” certainly fit this description. By themselves, they’re nothing special, but there’s potential they’d work at a hockey game.
Despite how energetic and loud the album tries to be with many of the songs, listeners don’t feel a whole lot while listening to them. How could you have a song called “FEEL” on the album that produces no feeling whatsoever? I only recall bobbing my head twice while listening to this album and once was at the beginning when I was still optimistic about what I was getting myself into. I can recall a feeling I had while listening to this album: disgust after hearing “READ YOUR DIARY” Not only is the topic of the song degenerate, but the lyrics are just icky.
That’s not the only song where the lyrics become too much of an issue to pass off. The song “BLA BLA BLA” has a running theme of this annoying, droopy voice narrating that gets old fast. Whenever Damiano went “ha ha ha ha hahahaha” my face would tense up and cringe would seep into my veins.
Of all the songs on the album, the few songs that are done in Italian are actually some of my favorites. My second aforementioned head bop occurred during my listening of “LA FINA,” which I’d consider to be a diamond in the rough on this album. Everything works on the song, from the instrumental to the way Damiano says “La Fina.” This is a song you’d hear in a sports video game like “FIFA” and it’s one you’d want to have on repeat. I have no complaints about this song, but it’s a little annoying that the band has the ability to produce these quality songs, but they opt to create generic, pop rock songs for an audience mainly generated off TikTok.
Overall, the album wasn’t just a disappointment – it was pretty bad. If this was a statement by Måneskin, then I’m pretty sure they’re telling you to not expect much more from them in the future. They have just further solidified themselves as a generic pop rock band that’s fine with making sub-mediocre “TikTok music” that will get them streams, rather than taking time to produce good, quality music.
But to quote music reviewer Anthony Fantano, “Y’all know this is just my opinion, right?”