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Nella storia del dark-punk, del rock gotico, gli inglesi vengono ricordati come i migliori interpreti del genere. Effettivamante gruppi come Sisters Of Mercy, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Siouxie And Banshees, hanno scritto pagine importanti di questo stile molto in voga nei primi anni 80. Ma oltre l'oceano Atlantico c' era un gruppo formatosi nell' 82, che ha rappresentato per un paio d' anni un autentico incubo per i religiosi più incalliti d' America. Le pose del loro leader, Rozz Williams, morto suicida qualche anno fa, indicavano chiaramante un' atteggiamento eretico e blasfemo. Si presentava talvolta sul palco vestito da sposa o appeso ad una croce, simulando il sacramanto della comunione. A questo punto ci si aspetterebbe che la sua musica fosse lacerata da grida demoniache alla Marilyn Manson, sfregiata da poderosi riff heavy metal, e da ritmi industrial. No, niente di tutto questo. "Catastrophe Ballet", secondo LP e probabilmente vertice dei "Christian Death" ( dopo il primo storico "Only Theatre Of Pain", suonato con una line-up diversa ), è un concentrato di violenza subliminale, di dolore latente, un rituale di morte molto sottile, non urlato, ma finemente psicologico. Il suo cerimoniale non è sguaiato, scenografico, tutt' altro; E' elegante, sussurrato in un tono monocorde e catacombale, su tappeti di organo lugubre e di chitarre oniriche. I ritmi, ora snervanti rintocchi, ora pulsazioni marziali di punk malato, creano un clima di notevole tensione, angosciante e claustrofobico.
Il mezzo usato da Williams era molto più intelligente di tanti cloni emersi in seguito al boom del dark, e denotava una sensibilità musicale nettamante superiore. In definitiva, un disco che non ha nulla da invidiare ai più conosciuti manifesti del genere, ma che anzi si distingue per originalità e creatività. Bellissimo in ogni sua parte, è più "cult" dei "rivali", ma degno di pari, se non maggiore ammirazione.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Sleepwalk (05:18)
Feel these arms
steel arms, now we are blind
hide my eyes
my eyes so out of place here
now we are hard-cutting
trapped in beneath
cold-loving mirrors stand alone
they lead you alone
they lead you alone
old hearts break down
footsteps tied till believeing
can we hold sand?
slow hands break up the family
we all fall down
one chance to fail, sleepwalking
take off your face
you'll learn to trust my dry hands
this cage is still
and he cracks, now we are safer
true dreams stay west
I say to kids "are you protected?"
now we are answers
silence pressed pure
we wait at the crest of our will
and we stand alone
we lead you alone
we lead you alone
(still) we will feel movement
(still) and we will fill stations
(still) we will fear time
(still) this time we are bleeding
(still) tears of love like strangers
(still) bite through, break the ice
(still) soon words will be forgotten
(still) though, cruel scenes linger on
we hide from sound-paintings on distant walls
we hide from cold still-lives on empty floors
we hide our bent husbands behind slamming doors
don't run to the window
because burning glass warps
we stand still
and we stand like whores
we are alone
and we stand still
and we stand like whores
we are alone
we stand still
yes, we stand like whores
we are alone
we stand still
03 The Drowning (04:04)
Up for three days
up for three days
down under ground for six more
incisions cannot penetrate my feet
tripping, gliding, falling numbly
hands held together with unwanted skin
ripping, hiding calling dumbly
You, in houses of mud
you, in gutter sleep - love
you, born to slaughter - swathed gloves
you dressing daughters and sons
like you - I am broken and fragile
like you - I am tasting my heart for the first time
like you - I am feeding on slumber
like you - I’ve left my eyes far behind me
down for the count I'm still drowning
I'm still drowning
The eighth day
sleep, the eighth day
clawed my way back to the first
no gentle fingers collapse on my eyes
weeping, prying, struggling blindly
there's no sanity standing me back on my feet
I'm in an empty room
I'm burning books from you
I'm lost in bed with you
breaking these mirrors to end all I’ve seen
Like you - I am broken and fragile
like you - I am tasting my heart for the first time
like you - I am feeding on slumber
like you - I’ve left my eyes far behind me
down for the count I'm still drowning
I'm still drowning
I'm still drowning
04 The Blue Hour (04:56)
I've come to lie beside you
I've come to know the dark for light
I've come to trust just one
and that one died with yesterday
with yesterday
Now that I’ve laid me down to sleep
for what it's worth, I dress my tears in costumes
never again will we, will I turn to stone
the drowning edges of my pillow
catch the last breath
on a desert leading down
the breath too deep, the breath too long ago forgotten
I've come to lie beside you
I've come to know the dark for light
I've come to trust just one
and that one died with yesterday
with yesterday
Now that all honest clocks bury oceans with sand
our tears have filled them once again
when will I, will we stand at the shore
to cleanse our souls?
To cleanse our souls?
Are memories too deep,
are memories too long ago forgotten
now that I’ve left that chance to die?
I've come to lie beside you
I've come to know the dark for light
I've come to trust just one
let us not die like yesterday
like yesterday
Can we coincide with drama?
WIll we live to tell our sons?
The cancer of childhood continues to grow
nine days seven times
lost our first to a thousand answers
lost our sight to to tide
can we look away
or must we look inside?
Or must we look inside?
08 Cervix Couch (04:57)
One by one
One by one
All together, all alone
Places can not claim us home
Creed of love bars not our way
Singing shapeless as our day
Fishwives leave the gutters
Mothers leave their sons
While the curious men
With their curious smiles
Leave rejected in pairs
One by one
From action, not from fear
Count us well we're always here
Feeding stranger lusts in dark
Cornered each in alley park
Fishwives leave the gutters
Mothers leave their sons
While the curious men
With their curious smiles
Leave rejected in pairs
One by one
Harps of choruses fill the air
Mark of shame already there
Streamers flung against the wind
Cross our faces we have...
We have...
We have...
We have...
We have...
We have...
We have...
We have...
We have
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