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La febbre era altissima per il quarto capitolo in studio degli olandesi. Mi chiedevo se anche gli After Forever sarebbero stati colpiti dalla crisi che ha colpito quest'anno le band della scena sinfonica (quest'anno Epica e Within Temptation hanno regalato i lavori peggiori della loro carriera). Dopo aver acquistato e metabolizzato il lavoro posso rispondervi di no: gli After Forever hanno pubblicato un altro capolavoro. Possiamo definirlo il lavoro più moderno del gruppo (possiamo vedere anche dall'artwork molto futurista, soprattutto se confrontato con i precedenti) e anche quello più corale (forse è per questo che Mark Jansen, ex mente nel gruppo e ora negli Epica, si è innamorato di questo cd). Purtroppo sono sparite del tutto le ritmiche prog, ma questo non significa che manchino i cambi di tempo cari al gruppo, anzi. La doppia cassa è presente come ai tempi di Decipher ma non me la sento di definire il sound power, poiché esso è molto più pesante, molto vicino a quello dell'heavy. È naturalmente superfluo dire che non è gothic. Il cd soprattutto è EMOZIONANTE, regalandoci emozioni sempre diverse.
Dopo l'intro "Enter" abbiamo "Come" un pezzo heavy aperto da tastiere e orchestrazioni e dove la fanno da padrone i cori. L'interpretazione di Floor è divina, senza considerare che passa dal lirico al pop. "Boundaries Are Open" un altro bel pezzo molto heavy ma nonostante questo anche catchy. Bello l'intermezzo contornato da inserti elettronici. "Living Shields" è il pezzo più heavy dell'album che è incentrato sui cori, sull'alternanza di voci e tempi e sull'elettronica. L'assolo. Ottimo pezzo. "Being Everyone" è il primo singolo ed è un pezzo molto soft e melodico. "Attendance" è un mid-tempo dove possiamo trovare influenze orientale. "Free of Doubt" è un pezzo sublime aperto dalle orchestrazioni. Il cantato di Floor torna ad essere impostato in lirico. La parte centrale presenta partiture quasi prog, regalando all'ascoltatore forti emozioni. Ma la palma del pezzo migliore del cd è la paurosa "Only Everything", una "Intrinsic" più moderna, un caleidoscopio di sentimenti e sensazioni. Bellissima anche "Strong", la ballad più bella mai scritta dagli After Forever, che regala emozioni solo come un pezzo come "Tallulah" (Sonata Arctica) può fare. "Face Your Demons" è un pezzo molto aggressivo e molti potrebbero rimanere spiazzati dall'interpretazione di Floor, mai così versatile. "No Control" è un pezzo dove per la prima volta nel cd compare il cantato pulito di Bas mentre "Forever" chiude il cd nella migliori delle maniere: il fulcro del pezzo è il duetto (da brividi) tra Floor e Bas. Strepitose l'intermezzo, contaminato dalll'elettronica e la ripresa.
Ricapitolando: Come al solito gli After Forever sono lontani anni luce da ogni uscita in ambito sinfonico: la componente metal non è mai in secondo piano (bellissimi molti riff) e i pezzi scuotono e emozionano l'ascoltatore. Sempre una spanna sopra gli altri.
Elenco tracce testi e video
04 Living Shields (04:13)
Weak and frightened
Paralyzed and naked
they are children running for their lives
Lives are taken
Terrorists mistaken for they use the young ones
as refined living shields
Pain and deep fear
Hostage in an ancient rage between people torn by their ideals
Willing to die, willing to kill
Hopeless and blind in their world where innocence dies
Weak and frightened
Paralyzed and naked
they are children running for their lives
Lives are taken
Terrorists mistaken for they use the young ones
as refined living shields
Rage and deep hate
Isolated in an ancient war with people not so different from you
Willing to fight, willing to try to win an endless battle of
pride
while innocents die
And then we see them running
See the world is watching this
And we can only try to understand what causes it
And then we see the living
See then crying for their dead
Are we the ones to understand how crazy pain can get
Some people turn in circles
They can never break it through
Some people lost their lives before they died
and now they want it back!
Loss and deep grief
Engulfed in an ever present pain, ancient in practice
Weak and frightened
Paralyzed and naked
they are children running for their lives
Lives are taken
Terrorists mistaken for they use the young ones
as refined living shields
06 Attendance (03:29)
Beauty and destruction
Pride and honour
Freedom, elimmination
Speek out loud, Hide
Now enter, here is our dreamworld
View the splendid sights
You can always tell we never learned, we'll never learn
Blindness and silence
No one dares
Action and reprisal
Raise your voice, die
Now enter, here is our dreamworld
View the splendid sights
You can always tell we never learned, we'll never learn
Now enter, here is our dreamworld
View the splendid sights
You can always tell we never learned, we never will
Oh how will the earth be; seen for the first time?
Oh how will the earth feel; Touched for the first time?
Entwine and Iconize
Passion ignites
Suspicion and betrayal
The voice of violence speaks again
Now enter, here is our dreamworld
View the splendid sights
You can always tell we never learned, we'll never learn
Now enter, here is our dreamworld
View the splendid sights
You can always tell we never learned, we never will
10 Face Your Demons (04:57)
Jack in a box and here I am
Your favourite mirror and
your only honest reflection and your guide
I am your deepest fear, the one you´ll always hear
I am the devil in disguise, I am your dream
I am the sneaky connection to your most devilish reflection
The scary imagination of the real you
I represent what you deny
You´re never scared so why are you running away
from the temptation of my words
Oh you don´t know what I could do for you
Or I could put you through...
And you don´t really understand that only fear leads this game
Face your demons
Hear that inner voice
It calls, it cries for you
Just listen well
I´m the one who´ll tell terrifying, scary, dreadful tales
You´d better listen
That´s some free advice
So what scares you the most
Let me know, be a good host
I want to tell you how your fear looks and how to play this game
Face your demons
Hear that inner voice
It calls, it cries for you
Just listen well
I´m the one who´ll tell terrifying, scary, dreadful tales
War is breaking loose, it cannot be stopped
Cars are racing by and you´re getting crushed
Friends are dying slow with a lot of pain
You just fear it all
Bleeding from a wound that you cannot see
And you´re seeing things that can never be
God is not made up and he wants revenge
You just fear it all
Fear
You just fear, you can only fear
Face your demons
So did you know that all your memories
Color all you´ll ever be in a dark and misty cloud that I am
floating on
I´m still the voice that speaks inside your head
The demon under your bed
I´m still the one who haunts your soul with devlish lust for
fright
Face your demons
Hear that inner voice
It calls, it cries for you
Just listen well
I´m the one who´ll tell scary, dreadful tales
Face your demons
Hear that inner voice
It calls, it cries for you
Just listen well
I´m the one who´ll tell terrifying, scary, dreadful tales
11 No Control (03:18)
I fight
I sweat
I drag the whole world along
I care
I break
I'm spiritless but strong
My will stands strong
I ache for inspirational and additional hearts to help me fight
Deep in my mind lies the map of my destiny
Deep in my heart lies the strenght to conquer myself
In your nightmares
In your dreams lies the deepest fear
In ambitions
In belief lies the deepest strenght
I doubt
Don't care
Don't see what has ever driven me
A wall
Will stand
All rending thoughts can't end
I'm paralized but strong
In need of comprehensible but sensational plans to fight
Deep in my mind lies the map of my destiny
Deep in my heart lies the strenght to conquer myself
12 Forever (07:42)
Dead Girl:
I can see your pain
I can feel your loss
I can hear your words
I can but you are out of reach and so am I
Man:
You and me living in a dream
This end could not have been foreseen
The pain won't go away
No one understands my grief
All I've got is my belief
Still mis you every day
Dead girl:
I can't heal your pain
I cannot return, I cannot reply
I can't since you are out of reach and so am I
Man:
There is nothing left to be
You were all the world to me
The pain won't go away
No more reason to survive
Why am I the one alive
I miss you every day
Dead girl:
You know I am beyond reach forever
Man:
All these emotions create deeper oceans to drown in
My aspirations became unimportant once you were gone
Now the repression of all my agression is hounding me
And all our devotion to love and each other
Burried with you, Dead!
Bridge:
I feel the same tormenting pain
Don't stay behind so bitter
Dead Girl:
I have paid enough
I would have dries your tears if I could
I would be at your side
I would be there, forever more, that never came
Man:
I pay in pain
You have left me alone
My tears can't dry, I need you
Forever more, that never came
Dead Girl:
I'll love you always
Love me forever!
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