Allarme by Allarme

Darkwave typically portrays a melancholy walk through frigid, derelict environments, highlighting the viewer’s helplessness at the hand of a fundamentally flawed society. Throwing a harsh spotlight on this alienation, Allarme by Allarme puts this observer in front of a mirror, giving us a front-row seat to the slow realization of foiled hopes and defunct dreams. Taking cues from no wave, noise rock, and early post rock, a rigid core of drum, bass, and sometimes rhythm guitar lock each track into harsh, jagged, looping countermelodies. Here, we find the core emotional state of the speaker, a deadly mix of boredom and constantly-renewing pain, evading numbness through its incremental increases in intensity. Deep in the fringes of the stereo space, a distant, wailing saxophone frequently makes appearances, playing the role of a tortured internal monologue banging at a cage constructed of uninspiring surroundings and decay. By the album’s conclusion, however, each of these tragic elements blend flawlessly, showing us the double-edged sword of overcoming alienation and dissociation by leaning into stagnation and depression as a source of identity.