METALIZER: The day Sanremo fell into the wrong (or right) hands

I sat down with Logic Pro without a clear plan. I just wanted to have fun.

I had it in my head What a nuisance! Of Finger in the wound —that cutting electropop irony, those social complaints transformed into a chorus—and I asked myself, “What if I put a distorted guitar on top?” Answer: it turns out amazing.

Then it was the turn of Arisa. Magical Tale, an intimate and vulnerable ballad, has transformed into a piece of epic metal with an almost theatrical drama. The contrast was so powerful it seemed studied. It wasn't. (Under revision—let's just say my level of self-criticism is inversely proportional to the speed of publication.)

Finally the Rag Dolls with Stay with me: that pop-punk energy was already asking to be pushed further. I gave it my all. And then Patty Pravo — Opera — which in version metal ballad It sounds like it's always meant to be heard this way. (This one's also undergoing artistic revision. Never mind.)

The first two are on the channel for now — Stay with me e What a nuisance! —and that's already enough to understand where this project is going.

What is METALIZER?

METALIZER This is the name I gave to this musical experiment that has become, despite itself, a brand. A YouTube channel with an absurd and precise mission: to take the songs of the Sanremo Festival — the national-popular ones, the ones you hear in every bar and on every radio — and rewrite them in a key heavy metal, funky metal or progressive metal.

The playlist is called #Sanremetal. The goal is to reach thirty covers, one per week.

It's not about mocking the original songs. On the contrary: to make a credible metal cover, you need to thoroughly understand the harmonic structure of a song, understand where the true emotion lies, and find a different way to amplify it. Metal isn't the negation of pop: it's an alternative language for expressing the same emotions with more distortion and less autotune.

Why Sanremo?

Because Sanremo is the opposite of metal. It's the festival of Italian melody par excellence, the place where pop songs appear in tuxedos. And the contrast—between the lightness of the Ariston and the wall of sound of a distorted guitar—is generative. That's where something interesting is born.

There's also a practical reason: Sanremo songs are highly sought after immediately after the Festival. Anyone searching for "Bambole di Pezza Sanremo 2026" on YouTube might stumble upon a heavy metal version they weren't expecting at all. And that surprise—that involuntary click that leads to a full listen—is exactly what I want.

How a METALIZER cover is born

The process has a secret weapon that I am not ashamed to confess: Moses. For those unfamiliar with it, it's an AI tool that separates a song's audio tracks—vocals, drums, bass, harmonies—with astonishing precision. I use it as an analytical listening tool: stripping a song down into its layers helps me understand its true emotional structure, before rebuilding it from scratch in Logic Pro. It's like performing a musical autopsy and then resuscitating the patient with a couple more distorted guitars.

On Logic Pro I have refined over time effect chain and proven equalizationsEach cover has a sound consistent with METALIZER's identity, but retains the character of the original song. The funky metal of Che Fastidio! doesn't sound like the epic metal of Magica Favola, and it doesn't have to.

Everything was completely remastered: no samples, no samples from the original. Vocals, guitars, bass, arrangements—recomposed and produced entirely in a home studio, in compliance with cover laws and, above all, with respect for the original songs.

The visuals follow the same logic: each video features an AI-generated cover, designed to convey the soul of the song in its new metallic guise. The Bambole di Pezza become rag dolls with electric guitars in hand. Ditonellapiaga becomes a funky metal icon with a perpetually annoyed face—just like the original, but with more distortion.

A note on the original artists

I want to say this clearly, because it matters to me: None of these covers are criticisms of the original artists.. Ditonellapiaga, Arisa, le Bambole di Pezza, Patty Pravo, and all those who followed have written beautiful songs. It's precisely because they're beautiful that they're worth reinterpreting. METALIZER is a tribute. A loud, distorted tribute with pounding drums—but a tribute nonetheless.

Listen to it now

The channel is live. The first two covers are already there waiting for you.
🎸 Go to METALIZER on YouTube —Subscribe, listen, and tell me in the comments which Sanremo song you want to hear in a metal version next.
Arisa and Patty Pravo are coming. When they're ready.
My level of self-criticism, remember, is inversely proportional to the speed of publication. 🤘