“I believe the guitar can sing,” says Luigi Chiappini, the person behind Decadent Heroes. In his new album, Climax, he feels he has finally made the guitar sing the way he wants it to.
By Graeme Smith
“I’ve been playing guitar since my teenage years,” says Pescara, Italy-based Chiappini when I ask him to introduce himself. “For over 25 years I played in various rock bands, performing live in many venues. In the last few years, I felt the need to follow my own musical vision, which led me to pour all my energies into my solo instrumental project Decadent Heroes.”
“It’s a niche genre,” Chiappini admits, “but the passion of the people who love this kind of music makes it all worthwhile.”
While Decadent Heroes is certainly an instrumental project, Chiappini puts his all into making his guitar do the heavy lifting that vocals usually would, forming a voice and narrative of its own across Climax’s twelve tracks.
But it’s not just one voice. He gives the guitar plenty of nuance through a journey across genres. “It can cry, scream, whisper or explode. I prefer to let it tell the story without words,” says Chiappini of his favoured instrument.
In Climax, hard rock numbers like The Dragon and Hype trade places with laidback grooves such as Minutes Away and Before The Hype. A sense of the epic befitting the album’s title runs through it all. Fantasy imagery is prevalent – heroes, dragons, fire, mist – adding to that sense of scale. There are swaggering, classic riffs and moments of modern ambience. As a bonus, we also get alternate versions of The Dragon, Dawn of Fire, and Hype for the obsessives to pour over.
When I asked him about the journey towards Climax, Chiappini said: “It was a very intense and emotional period. After the end of my previous band, I went through a difficult time, both professionally and personally.”
An unexpected wave of inspiration then took hold. “I wrote Minutes Away very quickly, and the other songs followed naturally one after another.”
He took that writing into his home studio where he recorded all the guitars himself. Dennis Holt played drums, giving the album a “strong rhythmic foundation.” Contributions also come from Fausto Berardo, Pino Saracini, Rich Gray, Marcin Palider, Brian Barton, Darrell Nutt, Francesco Coppola Bove and Artur Lenivenko. “All of whom added their own personality to the music,” says Chiappini. “I reached out to them because I wanted real musicians who could elevate the songs. It was fantastic working with all of them. They are great people and we’ve kept in touch even after the recordings.”
Chiappini took care of the mixing and mastering, making Climax feel like a deeply personal project. He often left solos on their first or second take, leaving imperfections intact for authenticity. The use of musicians over machines also adds to the album’s realness.
Now that Climax is out in the world, I wanted to know what was next for the Decadent Heroes project. Aside from promoting the album, Chiappini is planning to release more videos. “In the longer term I’m seriously considering live performances, but I want to find the right format to present the music properly,” he adds.
You can tell from listening to Climax and talking to Chiappini that a great deal of time, effort, and refinement went into the album. He truly has found his sound and given the guitar a voice that you’ll hear nowhere else.
If you want to keep up to date with Decadent Heroes, you can by following the project on X, Spotify, Instagram, and Soundcloud.
Climax is out now, and you can listen to it below.
Supported by Musosoup #SustainableCurator
