Come mai tutti (o quasi) i dischi dei defunti Carcass sono stati recensiti su Debaser, meno che “Swansong”? Perché questo disco è stato stroncato dalla critica e dai fedelissimi della band? Cosa ha che non va? Mettendo da parte le domande retoriche, resta il fatto che il lavoro che mi accingo a recensire ha riscontrato praticamente ovunque dissensi che ritengo essere ingiusti e (perché no) miopi. Infatti questo Lp è stato vissuto da tutti i fan come un tradimento vergognoso in quanto approda a lidi nuovi proponendo un sound molto più infarcito di melodie di quanto avessero mai fatto in passato: di conseguenza il tentativo di obliterarlo (si lo ammetto, l’inglesismo è una citazione dei Napalm Death) da parte delle turbe attonite. Quello che vorrei far notare ai nostri amici appartenenti alla categoria “metallari spacconi” è che i Carcass ci avevano già abituato ai voltafaccia e che, in più, la qualità del prodotto non è inferiore a quella dei precedenti. Come avete potuto dimenticare che proprio loro, che hanno inventato il Grind, nel 1991 hanno pubblicato “Necroticism: Descanting The Insalobrous”, un manifesto del Death metal, e che sempre loro nel 1993 hanno pubblicato “Heartwork”, che con il Death aveva già poco a che fare. Perché stupirsi se nel 1996 (dopo ben un anno dalla fine delle registrazioni) danno quindi alle stampe questo “Swansong” che propone un metal-rock, oltre tutto suonato bene? Tuttavia non mi voglio riferire solo a chi conosce questo cd, quindi ne parlerò in breve.
Il disco è composto da dodici canzoni, come già accennato molto melodiche rispetto agli standard del complesso: non vi aspettate un disco di Melodic Death di stampo svedese perché altrimenti siete proprio fuori strada. Di fatto “Il canto del cigno” è molto simile ad un rock violento e del metal mantiene solo la distorsione delle chitarre e il cantato inconfondibile di Jeff Walker (anche al basso). La line up appare mutila in quanto Ammot (chitarrista) aveva abbandonato la band in favore degli Arch Enemy (e qui preferisco non esprimermi): a onor del vero la sua mancanza non si sente così tanto e Steer (l’altro chitarrista) dimostra di sapersela egregiamente togliere da solo. Le linee di chitarra sono come al solito molto potenti senza rinunciare alla componente melodica, presente senza eccezioni in tutte le canzoni: apprezzabilissimo il fatto che il riffing, pur essendo legato a sonorità molto più soft e rockeggianti, non perde le strutture complicate del loro genere di origine. Il risultato è un rock complicato che esce dai cliché del genere e diventa, una volta tanto, qualcosa di interessante e musicalmente più fertile; non si tratta infatti del classico hard rock smargiasso e dissoluto, ma un rock pesante altamente ragionato e quasi riflessivo. Paradossalmente ha delle analogie con un disco dello stesso anno anche se appartenente ad un genere molto diverso, “Load” dei Metallica. Ovviamente questo album è più pesante ma il tipo di mood ricreato, tra decadentismo e rabbia, è molto simile: altro punto di contatto sono le sonorità (fatte le dovute proporzioni) che non sono mai troppo cupe e oppressive ma neanche serene e spensierate. Il drumming, così come le trame di chitarra, tenta di adattare la componente Death metal a canzoni decisamente morbide e ne scaturisce un risultato originale in cui la tecnica è soppesata e crea una struttura interessantissima. Il basso, però, si fa più statico e meno incisivo: Nonostante ciò Walker non delude e con la sua voce graffiante e sporca, dona al tutto quel tanto di cattiveria che lo tiene lontano dall’accusa di mollezza.Eccellente la produzione, piena, rotonda e molto adatta al tipo di musica suonata.
Al di là della tecnica dei musicisti, senza macchia anche se non troppo virtuosa, non capisco come si possano muovere imputazioni ad un disco con un songwriting come questo: le composizioni sono curate con grande sapienza, mettono insieme riff nati da una mente fervida e non rinunciano ad un feeling di grande urto. Canzoni come “Room 101” con il loro incedere disincantato e cinico, non lasciano dubbi sulla carica emotiva del disco: nei testi non sono più le facezie dei manuali di patologia, sono sprezzanti e rassegnate visioni di un mondo in rovina che i Carcass hanno scelto di esprimere con la melodia invece che con la violenza. Quello che intendo dire è che non bisogna fermarsi a giudicare la musica in quanto tale, ma ciò che essa evoca: e, sotto questa ottica, i tre inglesi non hanno disertato, tutt’altro. Sicuramente non c’è più l’impatto da headbanging dei primi lavori, ma questo non è un valido motivo per rinnegare “Swansong” che, per quanto non più Death metal, rimane un bel cd.
Questo è un disco che può piacere o lasciare perplessi, specialmente per chi conosce i primi lavori del complesso: io appartengo di sicuro alla prima categoria e vedo in esso non solo un prodotto valido ma anche un modo facile per accostarsi al mondo del Death. L’idea di fondere melodie rock con elementi metal può essere criticabile, ma il risultato è buono.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Keep on Rotting in the Free World (03:40)
The threads of global fabric are untied
The role of the western free world is in decline
Still free to consume, free to breathe
Free to exist, free to dream, your life of dreams
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping, keep on dreaming
One day maybe, keep on rotting, keep on hoping
Whilst in the real world you...
Consumer or consumed, your life is cheap
Economic salvation in sweatshops returned from the east
Despair the only quality of strife
A reason for existence if you can afford the price,
If your price is right
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping, keep on dreaming
One day maybe, keep on rotting, keep on hoping
Whilst in the real world you...
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping, keep on dreaming
One day maybe, keep on rotting, keep on hoping
Whilst in the real world you...
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping, keep on dreaming
One day maybe, keep on rotting, keep on hoping
Whilst in the real world you...
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping, keep on dreaming
One day maybe, keep on rotting, keep on hoping
Whilst in the real world you...
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping, keep on dreaming
One day maybe, keep on rotting, keep on hoping
Whilst in the real world you...
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping, keep on dreaming
Keep on rotting, keep on hoping
Whilst in the real world you...
...Rot!!!!!
02 Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody (04:17)
Your kingdom is of emptiness
Invisible empire of illusion
There's no majesty in your empty words
Your ideology - self delusion
Revisionism is the future
So let's hail the same old dawn
Kneel before the same old order
You're no kings - only pawns
You're waiting for tomorrow, well tomorrow never comes
Ha, you're waiting for your new dawn, so sad to say there isn't one
Because, tomorrow belongs to nobody
Tomorrow - belongs to nobody
You're waiting for tomorrow, well tomorrow never comes
Ha, you're waiting for your new dawn, so sad to say there isn't one
You fools tomorrow belongs to nobody
Tomorrow - belongs to nobody
03 Black Star (03:28)
3. Black Star
[Walker/Regadas]
BLACK STAR, JEWEL OF THE NIGHT,
BLACK STAR, BURNING BRIGHT,
MAGNIFICENT SUN, A BEACON BURNING,
FIVE POINTED COAL, A GUIDE ETERNAL,
BLACK STAR, FIVE POINTED COAL,
BLACK STAR, THE COSMIC SOUL,
SHINING OPAQUE, CELESTIAL FURNACE,
GLITTERING DARK, A SUN IN MOURNING,
BLACK STAR, WHERE LIGHT NEVER SHINES,
BLACK STAR WON'T YOU BE MY GUIDE?
A DEAD SUN FOR WHERE THE LIGHT NEVER SHINES,
SHINE ON...
TWINKLE, TWINKLE BLACK STAR,
SHINE ON...
BLACK STAR, DARKEN THE SKIES,
FOREVER BURN, NEVER TO DIE,
AN EBONY FLAME, A SUN INFERNAL,
NEMESIS OF THE NIGHT, MY OWN DARK ANGEL,
BLACK STAR, JEWEL OF THE NIGHT,
BLACK STAR, SO CRUEL, SO BRIGHT,
A GLORIOUS SUN, WITH WARMTH SO HEALING,
GLITTERING DARK, A SUN IN MOURNING,
BLACK STAR, WHERE LIGHT NEVER SHINES,
BLACK STAR WON'T YOU BE MY GUIDE?
A DEAD SUN FOR WHERE THE LIGHT NEVER SHINES,
SHINE ON...
TWINKLE, TWINKLE BLACK STAR,
SHINE ON... BLACK STAR
04 Cross My Heart (03:33)
4. Cross My Heart
[Walker/Steer]
YEAH, CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE,
IT WILL ONLY END IN TEARS, EYE FOR AN EYE,
FOR AN EYE,
IF BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP,
THEN THANKFULLY I AM BLIND,
CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE,
CROSS MY HEART, COME CROSS THE LINE,
WON'T YOU BE MINE, MY BLOODY VALENTINE?
PUT ME ON A PEDESTAL, I'LL PUT YOU ON A SLAB !!!!!
CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE,
COME, LET'S CROSS THE LINE,
THERE'S A FINE LINE, BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE,
LET'S TEAR IT APART,
CROSS MY HEART, AND HOPE TO DIE,
CROSS MY HEART, COME LET'S CROSS THE LINE,
TIME IS NO GREAT HEALER, QUICKLY THE SENSES NUMB,
COME CROSS MY HEART, VOID AND NULL,
LOVE IS A WEAKNESS, LUST CONQUERS ALL,
CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE,
WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE?
THERE'S A FINE LINE, BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE,
LET'S TEAR IT IN TWO,
CROSS MY HEART, AND HOPE TO DIE,
CROSS MY HEART, COME LET'S CROSS THE LINE,
LET'S TEAR IT APART.
06 Room 101 (04:35)
Don't claim to be a prophet
Don't claim to read the stars
But I can see a future
Mapped out in scars
Look to the skies
Keep praying to your gods
Your only salvation
Will come in the shape of the bomb
No clockwork orange
The doom watch ticks
There's no second coming
Only final conflict
Blind pessimism?
Only time will tell
The cold hard reality
Is that this world had gone to hell
And this is where I belong
In my room one zero one
As I sit here all alone
In my own private year zero
These numbers branded
Embedded in the mind
How can your herald a future
When it's already arrived?
Keep looking to the skies
Keep waiting for your lord
You fools there's no second coming
To redeem you all
And this is where I belong
In my room one zero one
As I sit here all alone
In my own private year zero
Don't claim to be a prophet
Don't claim to sight the stars
But I can read the future
In anguished mental scars
I have no faith
In anything that you hold dear
The future is ours
Only in sweat and tears
And this is where I belong
In my room one zero one
As I sit here all alone
In my own private year zero
And this is where I belong
In my room one zero one
As I sit here all alone
In my own private year zero
07 Polarized (04:01)
Don't want your number
Don't want your name
Don't want your colour...
Don't want your politics
Don't want your cause
Don't believe what you believe
Don't want to wear your emblem
Don't want your cult or sect
Don't want your faith
Don't want your respect
Don't want your love
Don't want your praise
Don't want your stupid fashion
Don't want your phase
Polarized - tell me what colours do you wear?
Your beliefs, polarized
I just don't care for what you care
I just don't care for what you care
Polarized - tell me what colours do you wear?
Your beliefs, polarized
I just don't care for what you care
Don't want your number
Don't want your name
Don't want your colour...
Don't want your politics
Don't want your cause
Don't believe what you believe
Don't want to wear your emblem
Don't want your cult or sect
Don't want your faith
Don't want your respect
Don't want your love
Don't want your praise
Don't want your stupid fashion
Don't want your phase
Polarized - tell me what colours do you wear?
Your beliefs, polarized
I just don't care for what you care
Polarized - tell me what colours do you wear?
Your beliefs, polarized
I just don't care
08 Generation Hexed (03:47)
Lost forever a whole generation of pathetic lost souls
With no meaning of depth they're already dead, before it gets old
Anonymous, blank no individuality, uniformed
A wholesale banket identity, from the day that they're born
Another generation to mourn
What choice for a new generation?
Another generation under sedation
Flocking like sheep the instinctual herd, as fashion dictates
Primitively seduced commonly reduced, resigned to their fate
Another useless faceless degeneration like the one which precedes
Acknowledging a bleak existence, to be spent on it's knees
The pattern it seeds
What choice for a new generation?
Another generation under sedation
Generation hexed
Just another useless generation
...Hexed
Trapped together another wasted generation is sold
With no meaning, of depth they're there to be bled
Never breaking the mould
Anonymous, blank no individuality, misinformed
A wholesale blinkered non-entity, on it's knees born
Another generation to scorn
What choice for a new generation?
Just another generation under sedation
Self suppressed
Generation vexed
Self oppressed
Just another generation hexed
What choice for a new generation?
A generation vexed
Still no choice for a new generation
Just another generation under sedation
Generation hexed
Just another useless generation
Generation hexed
Just another wasted generation
...hexed
09 Firm Hand (05:22)
Firmhand, iron fist, an ardent dexterous weeding process
Overlord with a strong grip, viral containment, a harvesting grid
Firmhand - unnatural selection is applied
Firmhand - the final solution, eugenocide
Hate is the law, love under will
Hate is their law, love under will
Transfusing, contagion breeds
Multi-cultured epidemic is released
Held firm, crushing grasp
A painstaking, callous, arduous task
Firmhand - indiscriminate selection is applied
Firmhand - the final solution, eugenocide
Hate is the law, love under will
Hate is their law, love under will
With slight of their firmhand
And deviancy is cleansed
Firmhand - unnatural selection is applied
Firmhand - the final solution, eugenocide
Hate is the law, love under will
Hate is their law, love under will
With slight of their firmhand
With the might of their firmhand
With slight of their firmhand
And deviancy is cleansed
10 R**k the Vote (03:52)
R**k The Vote Lyrics
Hands in another's pocket
The bed they make
Is not the one in which they lie
The same old faces
The same old establishment
The same old lies
Cross your 'x'
It's your only voice
Do as you're told
Stay in line
Don't rock the boat
And buy what you're sold
Believe the lie
The lie that you're told
Doing fine
Just do as you're told
No dissident voices
The faces merge
Are one, absolute
A comfortable, privileged
White over belly
Revolution
No threat, no change
No gain, just pain
The same old scheme
No hope, no choice
No future, no voice
This is no pipe dream
All is not what it seems
Believe the lie
The lie that you're told
Doing fine
Just do as you're told
Believe the lie
The lie that you're told
Doing fine
Just do as you're toldIs this rock'n'roll or a form of state control?
Is this really rock'n'roll?
Or a form of state control?
Believe the lie
The lie that you're told
Doing fine
Just do as you're told
Believe the lie
The lie that you're told
Doing fine
Just do as you're told
Believe the lie
The lie that you're told
Doing fine
Just do as you're told
Is this rock'n'roll or a form of state control?
11 Don't Believe a Word (03:57)
You should never take too literally what you read
Misinformation, distortion, make belief
Fabrications, half truths implied
Misquotations, out of context and lies
"I promise to tell the truth
The whole truth and nothing but..."
Lies - you believe them all
Lies - you swallow them whole
Lies, lies, half truths misinformation and...
Lies - you believe them all
Lies - you swallow them whole
Lies, lies, half truths misinformation and...
...lies
Fact and fantasy united as one
Real power stems from the barrel of a pen
Living memory can easily be erased
The pen is mightier than the sword
Yet with no blade
"I promise to tell the truth
The whole truth and nothing but..."
Lies - you believe them all
Lies - you swallow them whole
Lies, lies, half truths misinformation and...
Lies - you believe them all
Lies - you swallow them whole
Lies, lies, half truths misinformation and...
12 Go to Hell (03:21)
[Walker]
SOME PEOPLE AREN'T CUT OUT TO BE SAINTS,
AND SINCE I WAS BORN IN ORIGINAL SIN,
HEDONISM HAS A CERTAIN ATTRACTION,
I THINK I'LL CUT THE CRAP, CUT OUT THE MIDDLE MAN,
AND GO TO HELL,
I'VE SOLD MY SOUL, SO WHEN MY BODY GOES COLD,
I'LL GO STRAIGHT TO HELL,
GO TO HELL,
WON'T YOU BE TOLD?
I'VE SOLD MY SOUL,
GO STRAIGHT TO HELL
YOUR PARADISE DOESN'T SOUND TOO FETCHING,
IT'S NOT ONLY YOUR SOULS WHICH MUST BE LOST,
"HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE",
YEAH, TOO RIGHT, MY HELL IS YOU,
THE SINS OF THE FLESH SOUND SO APPEALING,
SO LET ME WALLOW IN MY GUILT,
YOUR HELL WILL BE MY HEAVEN,
SO LET'S TURN UP THE HEAT, LET ETERNITY BEGIN,
AND GO TO HELL,
I'VE SOLD MY SOUL, SO WHEN MY BODY GOES COLD,
I'LL GO STRAIGHT TO HELL,
C'MON,
LET'S GO TO HELL,
WON'T YOU BE TOLD?
I'VE SOLD MY SOUL,
GO STRAIGHT TO HELL,
LET'S BURN IN THE FLAMES, YEAH!!!!
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