Måneskin – Rush!

Måneskin, the infamous champions of Eurovision 2021 (comprised of vocalist Damiano David, guitarist Thomas Raggi, bassist Victoria de Angelis and drummer Ethan Torchio), return with their third album Rush!: a boisterous, at times surprising, outing for the Roman rock group that marks their biggest studio release yet.

The record opens with Own My Mind: a bouncy, percussive rock-bop fused with the distorted vocals from lead vocalist David. It’s a weighty opener for the Italian band, which is swiftly followed by Gossip (perhaps the defining track of the entire album), where they enlist help from rock legend Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame) for a dark, insidious, guitar-fuelled romp. David’s vocals shine here amid the backdrop of thumping percussion, good lashings of sordid bass tones and Morello’s snarling guitar turns.

Surprisingly, the group are at their best when they momentarily put down their signature hard-rock sound and instead embrace aggressive, punk rock tones with tracks like Bla Bla Bla, a minimalistic Pixies-esque approach to Måneskin that showcases what the group are capable of beyond the familiar riff-forward sound that they’re known for: this song is instead brimming with personality, wit and youthful angst. Later comes Kool Kids, an anarchic turn that’s oozing charisma and heavy in scuzz, and ditches David’s usual pitch-perfect vocals and subs them out for rough, frenetic cries, balanced against clashing drums, rolling bass lines and choppy guitar.

Rush! at times begins to suffer from fatigue, and the riffs begin to run dry towards the latter half of the album – but when the band are at their best they reach soaring heights: from the rousing Feel, a thundering track with an excellent vocal bridge from David, with infectious, spiralling hooks and razor-sharp guitar lines, to Gasoline, a metal-tinged, bass fuelled track dialled up to max (de Angelis reverberating bass run is fit to burst) that, just when you think it’s over, comes back to life with a good bashing of bass and punishing guitar work.

From Italian TV talent shows in 2017 to victory in Eurovision 2021, Måneskin have always been hungry for bigger things, and with Rush! –an album primarily in the English language, and featuring rock royalty in Morello and lauded pop producer Max Martin – it is inevitable that the group will reach fans further afield, and that we should finally begin to stop conflating the Roman rockers with their Eurovision success. Rush!, a mammoth of an album that totals a staggering seventeen tracks of pure, riff-laden rock, brimming with swagger and panache, firmly cements Måneskin as a serious player with a lot to offer.

Ronan Fawsitt

Rush! is released on 20^th January 2023. For further information or to order the album visit Måneskin’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Gossip here: