Genere: dark Power SYmphonyc metal

Nell’ambiente sovraffollato del metal sinfonico poche band riescono ad emergere. Fra questi sono i giovanissimi After Forever, con solo un età media di 20 anni sono riusciti a creare un capolavoro.
La loro musica si differenzia dalle altre composizioni del genere per una chitarra in molti frangenti power e una batteria con qualche accenno prog, ma sempre con una luce dark e sempre ricche di pompose melodie. E ripeto: NON FANNO GOTHIC METAL: l’errore nasce dal fatto che gli After Forever hanno una vocalist femmnile e e atmosfere dark. Farò una track by track:
- Ex Cathedra: una bell’intro dove l’ha da padrone il suono del violoncello
- Monolith of Doubth: un pezzo meraviglioso, potente e veloce che mi ricorda i lavori dei Nightwish. Floor è davvero impeccabile. Bellissimo l’acuto finale.
- My Pledge of Allegiance #1: un pezzo dai toni decadenti e orientaleggianti. Floor duetta con il growl del fratello Mark.
- Emphasis: In questo pezzo ritmato ma non troppo la voce di Floor raggiunge ottimi livelli. Tutto il pezzo è accompagnato da meravigliose orchestrazioni, soprattutto nel finale
- Intrinsic: Introdotto dalle tristi note di un oboe, sicuramente il pezzo più emozionante del cd, con numerosi cambi di tempo e atmosfere: Floor è divina
- Zenith: un pezzo veloce dove Floor duetta con Mark. In alcuni moenti le chitarre si avvicinano al death. Belle le orchestrazioni dell’intermezzo
- Estranged: il pezzo più veloce, più power e anche il più bello dell’album. In alcuni momenti quasi commovente.
- Imperfect Tenses: una bellissima e strappalacrime ballad che ricorda lo stile neoclassico. Floor duetta con una voce pulita.
- My Pledge Of Allegiance#2: é molto più ritmato e affronta come il primo pezzo il tema della religione.
- The Key: un ottimo pezzo dai toni molto dark. Bellissimo l’intermezzo tra chitarra e organo,quasi da film Horror. L’unico pezzo influenzato dal Gothic
- Forlon Hope: velocissimo, molto power, ma allo stesso tempo dai toni decadenti. Contiene le orchestrazioni migliori del disco.

Ragazzi, date retta me fatevi deliziare da questo meraviglioso cd! A mio parere sono gli unici veri eredi dei Nightwish, non per genere e atmosfere ma sicuramente per classe e talento.

Elenco tracce testi samples e video

01   Ex Cathedra (Ouverture) (02:02)

Ego iubeo et tu sequaris
Nemo mihi obloquatur impune
Ex cathedra

A deo ipso verba mea ad vos proveniunt
Non obsequentes exsecratio condemnabit
Subicite fato vestro et obtemperate

02   Monolith of Doubt (03:32)

The ordeal has begun
To oblige the unknown, within me

As I drown
Cannot remember, cannot think
As I sink, deep...

Near the monolith of doubt
Creeps the fear
The fear to lose yourself
In the severe reflection

I don't know
A flashing moment that has frozen me
My whole existence passed by
Through the trusted eyes of a mirror
But it wasn't me I could see

This monolith of everything that I have been
Is vacillated and aghast
The inexorable time has taught me once again
That my features will change and macerate me

See, it's me, my monolith of doubt

03   My Pledge of Allegiance #1: The Sealed Fate (06:24)

My Pledge of Allegiance #1
She kept her beauty concealed behind a curtain of suspense
and endures her fate, molded by an ancient culture

The honour wasn't allowed to be injured
She is going to live as her community expects her to
I find myself confined between furtive desires and feelings of guilt

the letter:
These are my last words, I'm gonna leave you
I can't stand your narrow mindedness any longer
Forgive me...

04   Emphasis (04:20)

The game is over, time has taught life
Open your eyes and embrace our so-called paradise
All the notions and thoughts
Devise a way to make it yours
The enigma of a reason

How can life be what you want it to be
So find the emphasis in your own reality

Deviate from the search with episodic glimpses
Of a spectrum no one can see or feel, nor declare

Slowly become aware life knows its prophecies
So find the emphasis in your own reality

In all life you see
A sudden shifting of events
What's coincidence, what's faith?

The ambiguity makes the sense of our destiny worth searching for
What can it induce?

If our being was omniscient?
There's so much you'll never know, but

Your life will be what you want it to be
Find the emphasis in your own reality

05   Intrinsic (06:43)

At night, assimilate life
In the infinite realm
Of our intrinsic side

Find, the missing parts of the mind
The hidden truth behind
Our dungeon of thoughts, this labyrinth

Search, it has a reason and a meaning
Remembered and repeated
A guide, not to be ignored

Feel, there's so much to feel
Amnesia must confiscate an elusive link
to consciousness

It's there; cause there's so much we don't know
Even our own true face
It's there, facing what we can't have

Our ideals ain't true, naked and exposed
To the bareness of what's real
Boundless fantasy, becomes reality
As we breathe water and run through the sand

Whispers and a scream, flying high, falling down
And a face with no features or name
Exposed to live, we can only divine
Tell me, what's your reality?

06   Zenith (04:21)

Is there something you feel?
Is there something you furtively know?
Under the spell of science,
Can we declare?

Can we allow ourselves to experience?
Can we be open-minded enough?
Won't we fear what we cannot defy?
Do we need to declare?
Break the force of habit!

Why can't you see?
Fear will impede you to break through your trivial life
And find the missing aim to evolve

Is this the frontier, our zenith?

Can we be receptive to our ignorance?
Will or won't we be able to reveal?
Dulled senses and the need for proven theories
Has masked our natural insight in life
And mysteries

Life is discussed and measurable
Every aberration is observed with agony and suspicion
Until it is declared again

07   Estranged (A Timeless Spell) (06:56)

Diving in the lake of thousand faces
Every sign seems a delusion
And fills me with doubt
I shouldn't look for certainty
Among these disorderly impressions
But still I do...

Being estranged
Slowly I loose the grip on the reality
Time shall shatter what we have built up
Being estranged
From the reliable
Don't even recognize the warmth
You always fulfilled me with

Break through my crystallized sphere and hold me
Enter my deepest inner self

Imprison the pain
Besieging in vain

It feels like I'm in the middle of a movie
Gazing at the script
It shows me new insights
Delighted by the bygone sufferings
But already waiting for the next ones

I bend forward and look between the ripples of the lake
It's the leading character...

Break through my crystallized sphere and hold me
Wherever you are

Deceitful memories mingled with reality
I hold myself to the timeless spell
Fascinated by never knowing if it really happened

08   Imperfect Tenses (04:07)

Why can't they see?
They're to blame, I can't forgive
It left a permanent mark behind,
My weakness, my strength

I'm waiting for the perfect sign
To reveal what lies inside
There's no lie in trying,
Why do you fear me?

Why can't you see?
There's neither blame nor forgiveness
Be strong by being susceptible,
And don't quail; your frankness is your strength
And shows their weakness

I'm / Your waiting for the perfect sign
To reveal what lies inside
There's no lie in trying
Why do you fear me?

Why should I fear you?
An open heart is just as confronting as honesty!

Why can't I forgive?
You must stop to condemn the past

Why can't this fear be my guide?
It will be your strength if you dare

There's no blame in my life
Nor forgiveness for the pain

I will show them!
Let them know who you are!
This is my/your perfect revelation

09   My Pledge of Allegiance #2: The Tempted Fate (05:07)

10   The Key (04:48)

The eyes, looking so cold
Condemn failure and seek
for perfection what will never be attained

They're judging the denying face which stares back,
a bewildered revelation

Show me objectivity
And let these eyes judge again

You cannot touch what you can't ever obtain
I'm inexhaustible as well as empty,
in my bitter search

My words are yours,
my voice speaks for your thoughts
I am your mirror without remorse,
your reflection without doubts

I fall and fall,
I must learn from the bruises,
the scars will be my guide

There's no excuse in ignorance
No time for weakness or regret
Face your mirror without doubt,
your reflection without remorse

If knowledge was wisdom,
and wisdom the key to inner rest,
teach me...

11   Forlorn Hope (06:20)

An old man is proud,
but behind his modest smile lies the grief
Only one picture of his brave son remains

It seems that the vicious circle can never be broken through

The hopeful ones gathered their strength to achieve the apparent impossible
but all plans seem to be in vain

As a soldier of Allah he's an example
for the others on his bloody way to immortality

It seems that the vicious circle can never be broken through
Because old wounds are reopened every time

This Intifada as a device to thwart the peace negotiations

He can rely on a reward in the hereafter
Eternal paradise awaits him

"The peace that was born today, gives us
all the hope that the children born today
will never know war between us,
and their mothers will know no sorrow.

Allow me to end by the simple words:
Shalom, Salaam, Peace."

Pugnacity
With our blood
Show no mercy
With our soul
Die for heaven
An eye for an eye
Burn to let them...
Suffer for all their actions

We will not move an inch
They won't play in our hands
We will not tolerate those who defy

We will not hesitate
To start an attack if,
you undermine the agreement

Let them suffer
Stop to let them suffer!

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