I freely admit to logging countless hours to Alessandro Cortini’s various live performances on YouTube. There’s something about his music, whether it’s in his day job with Nine Inch Nails, or his solo ventures, that you can always tell it’s him. Cortini’s new album Volume Massimo doesn’t deviate from that aspect in any way—thankfully—and is another notch in the cap for one of this scene’s masters.

A lot of Volume Massimo, could be an outtake from NIN’s Ghost I-IV, and the first track, "Amore Amaro" [not to be confused with track 3, "Amaro, Amore"]—with its continuously weaving sinister-ism, which is unrelenting until track’s end—is a perfect example of this. Cortini has a way with moods and structure, and more importantly—build—that, to me, showcases why he is so listenable. What is it about track 6, "La Storia", that works so well, and carries so much emotion with it’s short bursts of melody? What’s the secret? While the last couple of tracks didn’t hit me the way the previous ones did, Volume Massimo grabs the listener, and never lets go.

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