I talian avant-rockers Deadburger Factory return with their first album since 2013’s La Fisica Delle Nuvole. La Chiamata is a socio-politically charged concept album, centred around a shaman summoning an eruption in a shopping mall – a disruption of consumerism that jolts onlookers out of their self-absorption. It sees the band joined by a host of collaborators who recorded their parts together rather than remotely, a reflection of their intent to challenge the modern isolationist instinct.
Musically, La Chiamata can be melodic one moment, and then switch gears entirely with scraping metallic noises, screeching saxophones, or even the transporter sound effect from Star Trek. Zappa and late-career Bowie are obvious touchstones in Tamburo Sei Pazzo and Manifesto Cannibale, while Tryptich sees the band tackle an arrangement of jazz drummer Max Roach’s 1960 civil rights composition, complete with screams of anguish and rage.
The lyrical content throughout might be inaccessible to non-Italian speakers, but the music isn’t: it’s a freewheeling and loud rejection of complacency and predictability.