Motorpsycho

For years now we've been here singing the praises of a band we consider one of the essential acts of the last two decades.

They hail from chilly Norway and continue to amaze with albums released with metronomic precision, standing out for their versatility and substance.

At the same time, Motorpsycho can be considered one of the most underrated bands of all time, unknown to most despite the intense live activity they've carried on across Europe from the early '90s to today.

The date at Circolo degli Artisti on Thursday 3 June could only confirm a trio at the peak of its powers.

Compared to shows from ten or fifteen years ago, Motorpsycho still shine for the sheer power of their sound, but with the passing of time Bent Saether and Hans Magnus "Snah" Ryan have further honed their technique, and today they manage to produce an incredible wall of sound, powerfully backed by drummer Kenneth Kapstad, who has replaced longtime member Hakon Gebhardt.

Motorpsycho arrived on this tour with no fewer than two new albums to promote (both, incidentally, very well received by critics and fans alike), "Child Of The Future" and "Heavy Metal Fruit", released just a month apart between December 2009 and January 2010.

Even so, the Northern European trio dwells on their most recent work only in the middle section of the set, offering "Bomb Proof Roll And Beyond", "X 3", "Starhammer" and "Whole Lotta Diana" - some of the finest tracks from the two albums, always straddling granite-hard '70s hard rock and brilliant psychedelia.

For the rest of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour show, the setlist is built around the band's historic material, a choice that obviously sends the crowd into raptures, given their hunger for the group's classics - though the back catalogue is so vast that satisfying everyone's tastes is simply impossible.

It opens quietly with the unexpectedly hushed rhythms of "All Is Loneliness" (not the only dip into the distant "Demon Box", which is clearly still one of the trio's favourite records) and "Pills, Powders & Passion Plays" (from "Angels & Daemons At Play").

Then the tempo gradually builds, and Ben Saether once again proves himself the group's focal point, impeccable on vocals and, above all, wielding a bass technique that places him among the finest four-string players in the world.

The unexpected triptych pulled from "Timothy's Monster" brings both surprise and delight: the unhoped-for sequence of "Feel" / "Trapdoor" / "A Shrug & A Fistful".

But the two songs that truly grip the crowd's attention are undoubtedly the exhilarating electric charge of "Sonic Teenage Guinevere" (from the unforgettable "Blissard") and the absolute masterpiece "Vortex Surfer" (from "Trust Us"), which leaves everyone stunned as it closes out the first part of the show.

"The Other Other Fool", the lengthy "Mountain" and "Come On In" make up the two acclaimed encores.

Even though the Circolo's acoustics can't quite do justice to the sound produced, Motorpsycho once again managed to conjure a unique atmosphere, almost a parallel world in which to let oneself be lifted by the sacred fire of their music.

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