Il Death Metal svedese. Punto.
Basterebbe solo questo a descrivere questa opera immane. L'apertura è già di per sé esplicativa, si parte con BLINDED BY FEAR, forse il miglior brano Death Metal mai composto. Raramente infatti si erano sentite altre canzoni tanto evocative e visionarie. Una composizione terrificante basata su un riff diretto e violento, un lavoro di batteria devastante e piccole ma indovinate dosi di melodia.
Non si fa in tempo a respirare che ecco incombere la title-track eseguita a velocità folle pur senza perdere nulla sotto il profilo tecnico. Completa un terzetto di rara bellezza COLD brano che vede la collaborazione di Andy LaRocque alla chitarra, e in cui Lindberg da il meglio cantando con espressività parole dure come pietre.
A mantenere alto il clima drammatico del disco sono l'articolata UNDER A SERPENT SUN e la inquietante strumentale INTO THE DEAD SKY in un crescendo che aumenta senza sosta e ha nella stupenda UNTO OTHERS e in NEED i suoi punti cardine. Ed è proprio con NEED che si concretizza il "massacro dell'anima", immaginate infatti di urlare con le ultime forze tutta la vostra rabbia e disperazione. Proprio questo rappresenta il brano così intenso e drammatico da risultare sotto certi punti di vista quasi commovente.
E così dopo la conclusiva THE FLAMES OF THE END capirete la vera grandezza dell'opera degli At The Gates, un'opera che è melodica pur senza snaturarsi, ma che soprattutto sa coniugare suoni e parole. Ogni testo non è altro che una cronaca, cinica, realista e misantropica di un mondo morto sulla strada dell'autodistruzione, un mondo bagnato nel sangue degli innocenti.
E così la risposta del gruppo a tanto dolore non può che essere estrema: distruggi la tua anima e sii veramente libero.
"for we are enslaved… forever enslaved"
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Blinded by Fear (03:13)
We are blind to the
Worlds within us
Waiting to be born
I cast aside my chains
Fall from reality
Purgatory unleashed
Now burn the face of the earth
Purgatory unleashed
Now burn the face of the earth
The face of all your fears
All of your dreams unleashed
The face of all your fears
Born of the demon sky
Twisting reality
Sweet nauseating pain
Is death the only release?
Nauseating pain
Is death the only release?
The face of all your fears
All of your dreams unleashed
The face of all your fears
I cast aside my chains
Fall from reality
Suicidal diseases
The face of all your fears
Now covered with scars
Humanity exiled
Purgatory unleashed
Now burn the face of the earth
Purgatory unleashed
Now burn the face of the earth
The face of all your fears
All of your dreams unleashed
The face of all your fears
02 Slaughter of the Soul (03:04)
GO!
Never again
On your forcefed illusions to choke
You feed off my pain
Feed off my life
There won't be another dawn
We will reap as we have sown
Always the same
My tired eyes have seen enough
Of all of your lies
My hate is blind
There won't be another dawn
We will reap as we have sown
Reap as we have sown
Do it
Slaughter of the soul
Suicidal final art
Children - born of sin
Tear your soul apart
Never again
My tired eyes have seen enough
Of all of your lies
My hate is blind
There won't be another dawn
We will reap as we have sown
Reap as we have sown
Slaughter of the soul
Suicidal final art
Children - born of sin
Tear your soul apart
03 Cold (03:29)
To rid the earth of the filth
To rid the earth of the lies
To will the rise above
Tearing my insides out
I feel my soul go cold
Only the dead are smiling
To rid your heart of all lies
Their poison tongues, poison hearts
Burning cold...
Now let the final darkness fall
I feel my soul go cold
Only the dead are smiling
"...The dream of the new disease
On wings of euphoria..
Sucking terror from the needle scars..."
22 years of pain
And I can feel it closing in
The will to rise above
Tearing my insides out
I feel my soul go cold
Only the dead are smiling
04 Under a Serpent Sun (04:00)
Web of corruption thick with deceit
The language of destruction, the slaughter of the meek
Under a serpent sun - we shall all live as one
No rest for the wicked, the children of god
The final retribution, the final curtain torn
Within us - the falmes of the end
Survival of the fittest, the hunt for the sacred game
Under a serpent sun - we shall all live as one
Children of chaos - born of the holocaust seed
Inherit the addiction, angels of genocide breed
Within us - the falmes of the end
Survival of the fittest, the hunt for the sacred game
Under a serpent sun - we shall all live as one
Sweetfleshed, hellbent creature
Artist of the fevered soul
Heavenly venomous rapture
Stricken numb by fear I fall
06 Suicide Nation (03:37)
Utopia - lost in chaos
As the sky turns black
Suicidal legacy
There is no turning back
Retribution answers cold
Moving in for the kill
Deep hideous festering
Bestial epidemic, repulsive need
Control, control
Suicide nation
Mass-appeal, death-addiction
Dead but dreaming
Restrained by phobia, brainwashed into submission
Control, control
Suicide -jaws locked around your spine
"The face of evil is always the face of total need.."
-W.S. Burroughs, "Deposition"
Testimony Concerning A Sickness
Retribution answers cold
Moving in for the kill
Deep hideous festering
Bestial epidemic, repulsive need
Control, control
Suicide - jaws locked around your spine
07 World of Lies (03:37)
Degeneration tears your blackened eyes
The final descent for the last in life
No joy in our tired lives - the torment builds inside
The sun sets forever on a world of lies
World of lies
World of lies
Non-divine
Release me
Demonic vultures feed on your mind
Disarmed of all your pride you die
No life in our alien eyes - the blind lead the blind
The sun sets forever on the non-divine
World of lies
World of lies
Non-divine
Release me
Final psychotic eclipse
Painted in the colours of war
Final psychotic eclipse
A world drenched in blood
Degeneration tears your blackened eyes
The final descent for the last in life
No joy in our tired lives - the torment builds inside
The sun sets forever on a world of lies
World of lies
World of lies
Non-divine
Release me
"And it's his illusions about what
constitutes the real world which are
inhibiting him...
His reality, his reason, his society
...these are what must be destroyed"
-Luke Rhinehart, "The Dice Man"
Final psychotic eclipse
Painted in the colours of war
Final psychotic eclipse
A world drenched in blood
08 Unto Others (03:13)
You hold high the banner of self-deceit
Encaged in the dogmas of life, you join the elite
My Judas-windows stay shut - shut forever more
My Judas-windows stay shut - shut forever more
You mock the weak for not giving you their trust
In your world of make beleive, where statues turn to dust
My Judas-windows stay shut - shut forever more
My Judas-windows stay shut - shut forever more
You walk through what is me
Stare blind - cannot see
Your thoughts flee to a different land
They are free, but but you are bound.
Silenced forever, the walls are closing in
The keys to our damnation - burial within
My Judas-windows stay shut - shut forever more
My Judas-windows stay shut - shut forever more
09 Nausea (02:25)
Release me from your world of lies
I cannot bear this pain
Degenerate machinery
The monster we create
Nausea, oh sweet nausea
Genetic barcode hell
Mental genocide
Repulsive human shells
Choke on the fruits of life
Nausea, oh sweet nausea
Cold stare, starving eyes
Blinded, tired lives
Release me from this pain
Unknown to man
Nausea, oh sweet nausea
Cold stare, starving eyes
Blinded, tired lives
Release me from this pain
Unknown to man
10 Need (02:38)
Open me, with your kiss of steel
End my pain - set me free
For we are enslaved, forever enslaved
Open me, with your kiss of steel
End my pain - set me free
Live only to die some more
Need - killing yourself to live
For we are enslaved, forever enslaved
Lay your fears to rest, let your dreams awake
For we are enslaved, forever enslaved
Lay your hate to rest - open me
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di Devin Davis
Il "Master Of Puppets" del death metal, è così che definirei "Slaughter Of The Soul" degli At The Gates.
Per chi si considera un vero metallaro l'acquisto di quest'album è obbligatorio, obbligatorio ed obbligatorio.
Di Hybris
Questa è musica ottima. È musica suonata con passione, col cuore.
Questo disco è tutto e niente. Dategli voi il vostro significato.
