The drawing on the wall of a cave of the Ministers

They met at school, i Ministers. Twenty years later the Milanese band is still more vital than ever, one of the best alternative rock groups born in the first part of the Noughties. In these twenty years the group has released seven albums, the last of these, “Oaths”on May 6, 2022.

A record born from that bad parenthesis called the pandemic which the trio presented to the press with these words: “'Giuramenti' is a record we wrote so as not to forget the questions we asked ourselves in these two years. A drawing on the wall of a cave more than a poster on the street of a big city”.“Oaths” turns two today, we haven't forgotten it, so we suggest you read our review of the album.

“Oaths”, like the old and new promises that Minisitri intend to keep towards music and themselves: this is the title chosen by the Milanese band for its seventh studio album. Sixteen years ago, with its debut album “I money is finite”, the formation composed of Davide “Divi” Autelitano (vocals, bass), Federico Dragogna (guitars, second voices) and Michele Esposito (drums) intended to set the attention to the record crisis underway at the time. Now, as also demonstrated with the singles that anticipated the new album, “Numeri” and “Scatolette”, the Ministers still have within themselves that anger and that desire for revolution that leads them not to remain indifferent to what surrounds and what happens.

Thanks to its desire not to give up and the desire to shed light on certain aspects of reality, and always with the intention of being a source of provocation and awareness, in the Milan group we feel the need to take back those oaths made in career start so as not to betray one's frankness and credibility. In “Giuramenti”, however, the Ministers take a further step and open a new chapter that focuses more on the interiority of the band than on what revolves around it: they look inside themselves, they make their assessments to project themselves towards an introspective analysis of the their lives and their journey as a group, and sum up two years of the pandemic.

As they have been doing for almost 20 years now, with their seventh long-distance test the Ministers intertwine their thoughts with the alternative rock of their songs, and say something. Born during the same sessions as the EP released last year, “Cronaca nera e musica luce”, four rough and direct tracks of dazzling beauty and viscerality, “Giuramenti” therefore sees the band responding to an expressive urgency which, more than resume the enthusiasm of the beginning, aims to achieve a maturation that respects and honors the personal and artistic growth of the group.

Here the nine tracks of Ministri's seventh album play on different registers, sound environments, suggestions, reflections and themes. The song that opens the album, the single “Scatolette”, immediately reveals the key to understanding the entire work and its dynamism. The piece opens like a bitter ballad, with the voice of “Divi”, clear and lucid, interpreting the first verses on the bittersweet sound of the piano. “Paid holidays or black evenings / Some people believe it's a real job / Passing the time and letting it pass / Singing the time and making it come back”, Davide Autelitano then sings in the lyrics of the piece, the structure of which takes on depth with the entry of drums and electric guitar. From a ballad, “Scatolette” then transforms into a rock song and develops on a fabric of broad sounds with a decisive and energetic character. The same sound and narrative effectiveness can be found in “Numeri”, one of the most interesting moments of “Giuramenti”, while with “Documentari” the Ministri launch themselves towards a more frenetic and liberating rhythm section, with the aggressiveness of the drum hits echoed by energetic guitar riffs.

“Giuramenti” is a record that needs to be listened to several times before all the ideas and atmospheres that the band has contained in it arrive. Furthermore, it is a work that requires careful listening – perhaps this doesn't even need to be said in front of a Ministri album – but then it takes hold thanks to its being an honest and valid project. The boys are now adults and even if they don't seem willing to lose the energy, strength and audacity that saw them face all their years of career head-on, they are not anchored to the past or to a comfort zone. And rightly so. As if to keep their promise to themselves and to music not to betray their authenticity, the three musicians continue to leave room for reflections poised between melody and power, but concentrate on experimenting with new sounds and giving voice to a sonic and more intimate personal.

“We are small but there are many of us and even if there is nothing left we will take each other on our shoulders”: in “Vipere” the melancholy depth that characterizes this new maturity of the Ministers is already evident, who with a ballad like “Domani parti” raises the bar . In “Arcipelaghi”, however, there is a desire to play with different sounds and the sound environment is bolder than in other works by the Milanese band. “Comete”, like a little jewel built on a sweet melodic line that opens up to atmospheres with a cinematic flavour, then comes to close an album that marks an important chapter in the Ministers' career and which gives hope for a future capable of not extinguishing the fire that has been burning for almost twenty years in the three souls of the group and to go one step further.