Credo di poter serenamente affermare che "DCLXVI To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth" sia un album alquanto ostico da recensire e mi spiego meglio: gli Entombed provenivano da quasi dieci anni ( "To ride,...." è del '97) di successi incondizionati, sin dagli esordi come Nihilist hanno accresciuto la loro fama, prima grazie ad un vorticoso tape trading (scambio, vendita di demo) molto in voga al tempo, poi divenuti Entombed e sottoscritto un contratto con la label più prestigiosa dell'epoca in ambito di metal estremo (la Earache Rec., vedasi Napalm Death, Carcass,Morbid Angel, Unseen Terror, Godflesh etc..etc..), pubblicarono interi pezzi di storia come "Left hand path" e "Clandestine". Ma con il successivo ed acclamatissimo "Wolverine Blues" qualcosa cambiò: il death metal tout court dei nostri mutò, divenne una stranissima (unica ad onor del vero) miscela esplosiva nella quale reminescenze hardcore/punk si mescolano con chiari retaggi motorheadiani, per essere poi filtrati tramite la furia death ancora ben udibile (ad esempio l'opener "Eyemaster").
"To ride..." è un buon disco di transizione che non possiede più l'elemento sorpresa del predecessore, anzi... tutti li aspettarono al varco ed è anche per questo che intercorsero 4 anni tra i due full lenght in questione (piu una serie interlocutoria di Ep ed anche un bassista nuovo, visto che Lars Rosenberg lascio la band poco dopo "Wolverine... ", divergenze musicali dissero), perché ci vuole coraggio nelle scelte, ma ce ne vuole di più nell'essere coerente con quanto scelto.
Quindi, siamo di fronte ad una creatura che trasuda un blues marcio e malevolo, sabbathiano sì, ma che sa anche prendere ispirazioni da cose più suddiste e seventies per poi trasportarle con accelerazioni dal sapore fortemente DISCHARGE di "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" . La cosa straordinaria è che il suono, la rabbia e quanto fa Entombed non è assolutamente cambiato, rendendo il disco e la band immediatamente associabili. Del death metal degli esordi non è rimasto nulla, se non le radici da cui attingere ed in particolar modo i Celtic Frost di "Morbid tales/Emperor's return", come nell'opener e title track o ad esempio nelle ritmiche di "Light out" o "Just as sad" ed il cantato rauco, ringhioso ma più modulato e maggiormente attinente alle liriche (sempre godibilissime, vere chicche demoniache...) rispetto al passato, del buon L.G. Petrov.
L'album si presenta anche inaspettatamente prolisso in termini di tempo, possedendo la bellezza di 14 pezzi, di cui anche la strumentale per piano "DCLXVI", e il feeling che si ha è quello di un viaggio all'interno di una colonna sonora di horror b-movies degli anni '60, cosa che insospettabilmente accomuna i nostri con alcune cose di Rob Zombie/White Zombie e Danzig. Da segnalare la triade di apertura del disco, cioè le gia citate title track, "Light out" e "Like this with the devil", la potente e ben congeniata "Somewhat Peculiar", i singoli "Damn deal done" e "Wrackage" (l'unico pezzo dove la velocità ritorna a farsi sentire un po') per la sudicia rudezza.
In definitiva un album che stravolge ulteriormente la già deforme creatura Entombed, ma che non mancherà di fare proseliti, con una miriade di gruppi dediti al ritorno verso lidi hardcore/rock'n'roll, ed avrà un'influenza così lunga da manifestarsi tuttora nelle ultime uscite addirittura in campo black metal (vedasi ultimi Satyricon, Darkthrone, e altre band minori).
Da provare.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Like This With the Devil (02:12)
There ain't no god that will save you from regret
It's just that god is in a state of neglect
And it's your goddamn act that is a major threat
Salvation won't be rearing it's head
for a fact at least not in my time
And what good is a song for peace
when the fucker doesn't even rhyme
I won't be calling
Calling as we level
And when were falling
I'm like this with the devil
When they're creeping upon you
Eating dust that you bleed
Don't say I didn't warn you
A toast to your death to myself cuz I'm free
Like this with the devil
04 Wound (02:43)
I bare my scares with pride
My bones are cold right thru
The cuts are so deep
I'm on top of the world
I feel great 'bout my scars
Old habits - hard to break
The wound is to be
The cuts are so deep
I feel fine
the wound is the key
Scares are marks
Scares are art
Salvation's kickin' in
Hellucination breaking free
The wound is the source
The wound is the cause
The wound is my time
The wound is the high!
06 Somewhat Peculiar (03:20)
I don't know where it came from, just what it meant
it is getting pretty deep in here folks, please let me vent
Say it doesn't kill you - Will you last a little longer?
but every time they fight something down, it comes back even stronger
I don't know where it came from, God knows where it went
I just find it somewhat peculiar that it's all heaven sent
Ever get the feeling there's something you're not being told?
like your mind's put on hold
while your body is being bought and sold
Ever felt just a little bit out of control?
well, god bless your soul
pray you never reach a point when your only goal
is feeding a hole
I don't wanna learn anything new - Already know more than I want to
liked things better when I didn't understand them
we got them off the ground - now we can't land them
08 Parasight (02:50)
When all you have's a hammer, all you see is nails
When all you have's a hammer, and when all else fails
Hit the nails!
When all you have's a buzz-saw, all you see is wood
When all you have's a buzz-saw, you just wish you could
Yeah, you would!
When all you have's a lighter, all you see's a fuse
And when you see it burning, you ain't got nothing to lose!
When all you have's a shovel, all you see is graves
When all you have's a shovel, in hollow pits they will be saved
Light the fuse!
09 Damn Deal Done (03:26)
He's a man, gonna do what he can to make this world a decent place
He's a man, got a great little plan on how to give it a brand new face
He wants to erase
He wants to replace
He wants to wipe the scum of the earth off its pretty face
Didn't wanna be just another voice with an answer
he'd seen it done before and turn into a cancer
but he was a chancer
way romancer
He had such great plans
He had such great plans
to get the damn deal done
11 Just as Sad (01:51)
God's an insect with a six-legged disbelief
Burning bridges on my Indian Big Chief
Reality is just as sad
Kinky sex and murder - the way it's got to be
But have you heard her begging to be free
Reality is just as sad
12 Boats (03:07)
Went for the money, no way to please them all
Have had to go, it just felt so small.
Can't wait forever for someone to tuck you in
with no good name to lose you have everything to win
O man, when it's good it's great
when bad it's still OK
I'm just glad when it comes my way
Reached up to "god", the guy in control and said
"hey man listen, let's settle this once and for all"
sometimes silence, he said, is my way of saying no
but look twice and you're told everything in what I show
13 Uffe's Horrorshow (01:19)
A private horrorshow is playing in my head
Movie after movie until I am... dead!!!
14 Wreckage (04:01)
Say what? Well, come again
Do you think you can change it?
It's just a matter of time 'til it all will end
I'm a wreck - and so are you
We're all wrecked up
I got a date with the devil and so do you
Will our bad luck ever turn I doubt it man
I think we're destined to burn alive, yeah, we have lost
but you refuse to realise it at all cost
And the future's now - Isn't that tomorrow?
How can a man be so blind to see a wreck is the only way?
I'm a wreck!
Say what? Yeah well, come again
Do you think you can change it?
It's just a matter of time 'til it all will end
I'm a wreck - and we're all dead
We're all wrecked up
I'll be rockin' and rollin' in hell instead!
So put on a smile and I'll light the ignition
this is real life, it ain't cinemavision
And yeah, the time's right now - It will never be tomorrow!
Don't ask how I can fit six billion in my car
drive it off a cliff, go out like a dinosaur
Here I am balanced on the edge and it makes me fucking scared!
Carico i commenti... con calma
