Il lunghissimo e un po' macabro titolo, che tradisce forse una malinconia di fondo nell'ormai agonizzante creatura musicale di Thomas Gabriel Warrior, ci introduce a quella che, nel 1992, fu l'ultima uscita discografica ufficiale dei Celtic Frost, che si sarebbero sciolti di lì a poco, nel 1993: un'appetitosa raccolta di inediti che farebbe la gioia delle orecchie di ogni appassionato e fanatico del leggendario combo svizzero, ma anche di qualsiasi amante del Thrash Metal in generale. "Parched With Thirst Am I And Dying" è però effettivamente anche il triste ‘surrogato' che Fischer e soci elargirono ai loro fans al posto del promesso album "Apollyon's Sun", del quale questa raccolta ospita una manciata di brani, che avrebbero dovuto farne parte.
Il disco ci propone, oltre a materiale completamente nuovo, come le assolutamente valide "Idols Of Chagrin", "Descent To Babylon (Babylon Asleep)" e "Under Apollyon's Sun" (comunque non ai livelli di una qualsiasi canzone presa a caso da "To Mega Therion"), remixaggi inediti di brani storici come "Return To The Eve", "The Usurper", "Circle Of The Tyrants" o "Mexican Radio", ma anche di pezzi tratti dai controversi "Cold Lake" (basti citare la versione radiofonica di "Cherry Orchards" o la registrazione di una nuova versione di "Juices Like Wine") e "Vanity/Nemesis", e soprattutto pezzi scritti negli anni passati e mai pubblicati, come le meravigliose "Journey Into Fear", "The Inevitable Factor" (inclusa posteriormente tra le bonus tracks della stampa su Cd di "Into The Pandemonium"), "In The Chapel, In The Moonlight" (stesso discorso della precedente, anche se però questa traccia era presente nell'EP "I Won't Dance" del 1987) e "Tristesse De La Lune", il mitico pezzo tutto a suon di violini e voce femminile che all'inizio la casa discografica si era rifiutata di inserire in "Into The Pandemonium" in quanto inadatto ad un audience Heavy Metal (!!!).
Certo, vedere (e ascoltare) una ciofeca come "Downtown Hanoi" tra due tracce della caratura di "Journey Into Fear" e "Circle Of The Tyrants" mette i brividi alla schiena, e non certo per il piacere (!!), ma, come avrete capito, questa raccolta è un piccolo tesoro di gemme preziose: c'è pochissimo altro da dire, questo validissimo "Parched..." è l'ultima testimonianza ufficiale dei Celtic Frost prima della reunion del 2001 (esperienza terminata tristemente e, pare, definitivamente, proprio nell'aprile di quest'anno, con la creazione da parte di Fischer dei Tryptikon), una testimonianza che suona a posteriori come l'estremo saluto di quella sfortunata formazione.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Idols of Chagrin (04:09)
What kind of race, lack of direction
Just how lunatic, to have a nature so deceit
Bewail my reverie, a gambol untried
Lure of carnality and silence in forfeit
Animals, enslaved to pearls of fictionalized worth
Creatures, born from caves into simulated mirth
I'm talking, Idols of Chagrin
Born of posession, complacement in disguise
Craving and candid, as to defy the character's fall
The kisses you drain, pedestrian pedigree
What's thought is pain might be desire after all
03 Return to the Eve (04:08)
Dreaming eyes
Hope to return
As shadows fall onto
Distorted paths
Delivered from the fetters of light
Drifting back into my reality
The subconscious deprecates the day
In the twilight of my own intellect
Dull is my mind
Captive of illusion
Remaining awake
Is just dust
Take my soul away into the dark
Dreaming a thousand morbid dreams
No tomorrow when the wind caress my mind
Could I ever return, it would be my doom
Obsessed by the nightmare's sound
Drifting back into realms of chaos
Reality has become my dream
I'll be covered by the abyss' ground
An endless fall
Memories in the light
Frontiers of chaos
Return to the eve
04 Juices Like Wine (04:17)
Thirst and desire, to rule the light
For crossing heavens, a futile fight
Bound to storm, our minds wave
Fervent to sail in deserts of mist
Juices like wine, like the blood in the sands
Juices like wine
Born of earth, we strive for skies
Obsessed with lies, in arms of sleep
Earning dreams, we blind our eyes
Challenging secrets, ancient the cries
Juices like wine, like the blood in the sands
Juices like wine
05 The Inevitable Factor (04:40)
I stalk alone the burried seas
Dead and white, weak memories
Below 0, I'm turning blue
Why does the ice burn so hot
Frozen waters, a strange land
I know I live, as the frost bites
My eyes are closed, but I can't sleep
Moving forward, for sleep means death
A white shroud covers me
I buried myself to stay alive
Time's passing slow on my pale face
Beneath the snow, beneath the ice
I stalk alone the burried seas
Dead and white, weak memories
09 Wings of Solitude (04:39)
I'm sensing the paleness of lies
No rest to caress their eyes
In visions enthroning sleep
A mistress of eternal weep
Wastelands against the night
Bound in chains, a wish for light
Wandering beneath my fate my body slowly pales
Unleashed, with hands that cannot reach
The screams of heaven and shores
The sleep - sound of a shadowed search
Foresee the wings of solitude
The wings of solitude
Ages of bleeding in vain
Entrapped by the whine of the insane
Civilization - a vision of deceit
Misfits, emerged from the heat
The violet dances fade
Restless dreams of hate and a silent cry
Wastelands against the night
Bound in chains a wish for light
Wandering beneath my fate
My body slowly pales
10 The Usurper (03:29)
Lend me your steel-bearing hand
So I may reign the Jewel Throne
My soul feels the gods' demand
As the lost kings uphold my side
[Chorus]
Blood and sand
Mark their way
The usurper's tears
Guide my sword...
Fantasia slept in my thoughts
As I was a son of infinity
The emperor, forgotten, rests in my dreams
As, back to the wall, I start the conquest
Innocence and wrath
Now lie far beyond
As we cross the deserts
To reach the fortress' gates
Tragical serenades
Are whispered in the wind
As eyes in fury
Grant us our strength
(They're) throning on the dignity of might
But the successor is to enter the hall
False truth saw them climbing the steps
But I remain the Jewel Throne's choice
12 Downtown Hanoi (04:11)
Four arc lights. Moving stealth.
Two ride up north. Into the barrel fear.
Desire to share. My valiant care.
Downtown Hanoi.
We are drowning in purple wine.
Standing as one, as one we line.
Gold and light did stop their dance.
A fever obscene, a wicked romance.
I'm tasting sweat on my tongue.
Fane of wicked green.
Faith to the heart.
Passion and death.
Downtown's breath.
13 Circle of the Tyrants (04:40)
After the battle is over
And the sands drunken the blood
All what there remains
Is the bitterness of delusion
The immortality of the gods
Sits at their side
As they leave the walls behind
To reach the jewels gleam
The days have come
When the steel will rule
And upon his head
A crown of gold
Your hand wields the might
The tyrant's the precursor
You carry the will
As the morning is near
I sing the ballads
Of victory and defeat
I hear the tales
Of frozen mystery
The new kingdoms rise
By the circle of the tyrants
In the land of darkness
The warrior, that was me
Grotesque glory
None will ever see them fall
And hunts and war
Are like everlasting shadows
Where the winds cannot reach
The tyrant's might was born
And often I look back
With tears in my eyes
Grotesque glory
None will ever see them fall
And hunts and wars
Are like everlasting shadows
16 The Name of My Bride (04:32)
Burning in a hell made of my own
Looking for the you I once knew
Your love is hanging over me
Like a big black cloud of misery
Oh mother I beg of you to set me free
Now, like the tempting snake of old
She has seduced my very soul
She took my rib she stole my heart
And hid it in her bosom's warmth
Oh mother hallowed be thy name
For u give birth to us in pain
Maybe I'm Adam with a paradise lost
Or maybe I'm Abel, maybe I'm not
But as sure as hell I know that I'll be chain
Wasting love and my life again
Oh woman of sorrow, you guide me on
into caverns, where I do not belong
Out of your womb, onto the earth
Oh mother of my life, please give me birth
Oh mother of pain, please let me go
For you must reap what you have sown
Oh mother, my mother yes I know
The name of my bride is sorrow
17 Mexican Radio (03:24)
Mexican Radio
written by Wall of Voodoo, from their album Call of the West
I feel a hot wind on my shoulder
And the touch of a world that is older
I turn the switch and check the number
I leave it on when in bed I slumber
I hear the rhythms of the music
I buy the product but never use it
I hear the talking of the DJ
Can't understand - just what does he say?
I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican (whoa ho) radio
(Radio DJ speaking in Spanish)
I dial it in and tune the station
They talk about the U.S. inflation
I understand just a little
No comprende - it's a riddle
I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican (whoa ho) radio
I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican (whoa ho) radio
(Radio DJ speaking in Spanish)
I wish I was in Tijuana -
Eating barbecued iguana
I'd take requests on the telephone
I'm on a wavelength far from home
I feel the hot wind on my shoulder
I dial it in from south of the border
I hear the talking of the DJ -
Can't understand - just what does he say?
I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican (whoa ho) radio
I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican (whoa ho) radio
Radio, Radio
Radio, Radio
Radio, Radio
Radio, Radio
I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican (whoa ho) radio
I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican (whoa ho) radio ...
Radio
Radio
What does he say?
Radio
Radio
Radio
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