Review: NUCLEAR TACTICAL PENGUINS – “Hello World”

Reviews

I listened to “Hello World”, the new album by Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, four times. It's my method for reviewing albums.

The first impression was one of strong familiarity, but with a twist.
On a lyrical level, “Hello World” recalls the imagery of 883 from the nineties: tales of normal lives but projected into a more contemporary and visionary dimension. Musically, the album looks elsewhere. Certain arrangements wink at Coldplay, especially in the attempt to amplify emotions with universal melodies, but in the end everything returns to the typical lines of Nuclear Tactical Penguins.

This ability to be, together, recognizable and accessible is the band's trademark, their comfort zone.

Hello World is the first sentence that programming students traditionally learn to make a program 'say'. These two simple words are the synthesis of everything: subject and context, input and output.
Every time a band releases an album it's as if they say goodbye to the world, bringing out what has been locked 'inside' for years, the songs.
Hello World is our new journey and we will welcome anyone who wants to join us. It's a tortuous journey, where sometimes you have to adapt, but we promise it will be worth it: make yourself comfortable.”

“Hello World” is not an album that shocks, but a journey through more intimate and reflective moments that comforts, a natural extension of what the Pinguini represent in the Italian music scene.

It is an album that moves between episodes of everyday life, small big stories that can become universal. A Penguin song invites you to come in, sit down and discover that it's about you too.

Their main quality is precisely this. In their texts you will never find toxic stories, sick relationships, exasperations and unhealthy desire for revenge.
In their journey there is joy and sadness, happiness and melancholy, the beginning and end of relationships, friendship, family relationships, fears and generational obstacles but everything is told in a simple, real way.

The everyday life lived by thirty-year-olds told as it is.
Their texts are phrases that can become continuous quotes to be written in diaries or in posts in a generational imagination.
Also on the album is a song, Improve, dedicated to Giulia Tramontano, a sign of the band's attention and sensitivity to social issues.

The essence of the whole work comes in the final track, End credits. A declaration of intent that celebrates what has been achieved, with thanks to all those who have made possible the success and affection that the Penguins continue and will continue to receive as narrators of the daily life of a generation.

TO LISTEN NOW

Iceland – Amaro – Aliens

TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY

The first listen works and is also pleasant. The second one is fine too. On the third listen I skipped half of it and on the fourth listen I had 4 or 5 songs left

SCORE: 6.75

1. Hello World – Rating 6.50
2. Not to feel the end of the world – Rating 6.50
3. Iceland – Rating 7.00
4. Burnout – Rating 6.50
5. It's snowing – Rating 6.50
6. Your Dog – Rating 6.50
7. Bitter – Rating 7.00
8. Aliens – Rating 7.00
9. Fuck You Vincenzo – Rating 6.25
10. Romantic But Die – Rating 7.00
11. Little Fox – Rating 6.50
12. Digital Natives – Rating 6.75
13. Empty Bottles – Rating 6.50
14. Best – Rating 6.75
15. End Credits – Rating 7.00

TRACKLIST

Staff

Written by

Christopher Johnson

Christopher Johnson is a dedicated writer and key contributor to the WECB website, Emerson College's student-run radio station. Passionate about music, radio communication, and journalism, Christopher pursues his craft with a blend of meticulous research and creative flair. His writings on the site cover an array of subjects, from music reviews and artist interviews to event updates and industry news. As an active member of the Emerson College community, Christopher is not only a writer but also an advocate for student involvement, using his work to foster increased engagement and enthusiasm within the school's radio and broadcasting culture. Through his consistent and high-quality outputs, Christopher Johnson helps shape the voice and identity of WECB, truly embodying its motto of being an inclusive, diverse, and enthusiastic music community.