Sono passati undici anni dalla sua uscita ma SERENADES fa ancora impressione forse perché è il debutto degli Anathema.
Ora molti di coloro che leggeranno questa recensione conosceranno solo gli attuali Anathema.
Beh dimenticateveli perché all'epoca gli Anathema erano ben lontani da quella evoluzione artistica che li ha resi quello che sono ora; la band infatti all'epoca poteva considerarsi ancora un gruppo di puro Doom Metal (loro stessi saranno poi gli autori di uno dei capolavori assoluti del genere con il successivo ed irraggiungibile "The Silent Enigma").
Se avete amato Alternative 4 o meglio Judgement farete fatica ad accostarvi a questo disco.
Le differenze sono abissali partendo dall'uso del growl in stile Death Metal per le parti vocali (in questo disco canta ancora il primo singer della band Darren White e non il migliore Vincent Cavanagh qui relegato solo alla chitarra).
Altro elemento di indubbio interesse sono i testi, incentrati sul tema dell'amore perduto, stupendi e annichilenti in tutto il loro pessimismo.
Musicalmente poi SERENADES è una dimostrazione di quanto gli Anathema siano stati per la scena Doom Metal Inglese. I giri di basso abissali e i classici "gemiti" di chitarra ci sono già tutti.
Il disco ci offre inoltre ottimi brani e almeno due gemme di valore assoluto. Innanzitutto SLEEPLESS uno dei brani più famosi del gruppo e THEY DIE il capolavoro del disco.
Il brano si dipana lento e tenebroso fino ad affogare nella disperazione più nera nel finale, in cui si segnala lo splendido e commovente lavoro di tastiere.
In definitiva SERENADES è solo il primo passo di un viaggio nei territori della disillusione e della disperazione di vivere che proseguirà poi con i successivi capolavori: The Silent Enigma ed Eternity.
"They die.......They will always die"
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Lovelorn Rhapsody (06:21)
I hear your voice
It sings so softly
Curious to join in
A harmony to breathe forevermore
Joyous the one to hear a voice
In fields where grass grows tall
Golden carpets swell and whisper
Autumn trees will weep
Immune to pity, I've grown used to grief
The eternal tear reciprocates
In fields where grass grows tall
Golden carpets swell and whisper
Autumn trees will weep
Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh
In bleak misery, the lifeless lie in squander
Love has left me, fled from me
Fragrant lust waits beside and dies
Like flowers that wilt without refreshment
In midday sun I sit and bide time
Adorning me, a lovelorn rhapsody
02 Sweet Tears (04:10)
In each others arms
We cried together
And your tears tasted sweet
All is not lost
And never to be forgotten
Like a shiver down my spine
The lonely nights keep falling
And I still want you
All is not lost
And never to be forgotten
She's passed away but dreaming
Her soul's awake and screaming
The weeping willow is weeping
And beneath our hearts ...
... all joy is sleeping
our bliss is carried away ... sweet tears
03 J'ai fait une promesse (02:36)
The way that the willow bows over the stream
like a mourner crying for their loved one
reminds me of last fall
when on one knee, I pledged myself to you
04 They (Will Always) Die (07:12)
All tears restrained for years
Their grief is confined
Which destroys my mind
An ode to their plight is this dirge
Some yearn for lugubrious silence
(It is the) serenity in the image of coffins
Shall life renew these bodies of a truth?
All death will he annul, all tears assuage?
Fill the void veins of life, again with youth
And wash with an immortal water, age
They Die... (they will always die)
05 Sleepless (04:09)
And I often sigh
I often wonder why
I'm still here and I still cry
And I often cry
I often spill a tear
Over those not here
But still they are so dear
Please ease my burden
And I still remember
A memory and I weep
In my broken sleep
The scars they cut so deep
Please ease my burden
Please ease my pain
Surely without war there would be no loss
Hence no mourning, no grief, no pain, no misery
No sleepless nights missing the dead ... Oh, no more
No more war
06 Sleep in Sanity (06:49)
It is not I who sleeps
It is you who sleeps ... you sleep
Insane you sleep, I sleep in sanity
07 Scars of the Old Stream (01:07)
scars of the old stream..
trailing down the hills
where we once lived
08 Under a Veil (Of Black Lace) (07:29)
With loving passion, oh your radiance
A serenade I cry
Your silk lined coffin the lachrymatory
To hold a mourner's tears
Ethereal splendor
Pale skin and down cast eyes
Scent of paradise
Like her, forever remains unknown
Through tear stained eyes
My view is growing weaker
Please help my grief be vanquished
Thy bed of roses, funereal drapery
Impale my on your thorns
Celestial splendor
Pale skin and down cast eyes
Farewell autumn kisses
Like her, forever remains unknown
I loved her ... but now she's gone
(It's so hard to face)
Overcoming ... tender reckoning
If I too depart the earth
I harmony to (our) heaven we'll elope
Heavenly grace with which to ease
the virgin's tears
11 ...and I Lust (05:44)
Stately columns standing in solemn rows
Such empty honours are suitable for those
Whose death erases all renown and fame
And vanquishes their glory with their name
Wandering aimlessly through dead filled fields
Rewards are just, who knows what absence yields?
By the golden beauty of dusk
and the sun low in our sky
By the haunting shadows of trees
and graves, mesmerized am I.
Searching deep inside trying to reach my dreams
I see a face stare back at me... oh, so serene.
By the golden beauty of dusk
and the sun low in our sky
By the haunting shadows of trees
and graves, mesmerized am I.
Those whispering shades... sad, silent glades
But not for those whose superior worth
After death extols them to the earth
I would even venture to assume
That one need not build for them a tomb
By human art, since glory heaven sent
Serves them as a living monument
Pain is a far away land,
Misery, a lifetime's journey...
...and I lust for death (judgement).
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