Il primo passo discografico della band simbolo del progressive metal, i padri del genere, quelli che hanno dato vita a tutti quei gruppi che poi seguiranno le loro orme: i Fates Warning di "Night on Bröcken", sono questo e niente più.

L'avventura di questi (allora) cinque musicisti comincia in quel di Hartford, Connecticut, nel lontano 1982 quando Steve Zimmermann, Joe DiBiase, John Arch,Victor Arduini e Jim Matheos decidono di dar vita alla propria band, cercando di proporre un genere in cui convivessero in equilibrio elementi power metal con le progressioni strumentali tipiche del metal di casa Iron Maiden al quale si accostava una tecnica esecutiva eccezionale.

Il lavoro, prodotto da Metal Blade, pur non brillando per originalità ed essendo comunque decisamente lontano dai capolavori della band, ci mostra da subito una band abbastanza matura, capace di un song-writing che si attesta su livelli decisamente apprezzabili e denota anche la professionalità del lavoro grazie ad una buona, per l'epoca e per la tipologia del lavoro, registrazione ed ad un'altrettanto buona produzione.

Per quanto riguarda il lato prettamente musicale, questo "Night on Bröcken" come detto prima rappresenta un punto di incontro tra power ed heavy metal calato in una dimensione molto tecnica, dove si apprezzano particolarmente le strutture dei pezzi, tutte molto elaborate e nelle quali si susseguono riffs particolarmente potenti e rocciosi, assoli rapidi ma mai privi di senso e una sezione ritmica estremamente dinamica e variegata: ne è esempio di ciò l'incipit della title-track nella quale un assolo di basso si muove su linee chitarristiche e su ritmi batteristici che scandiscono tempi imperdibili. Ancora, troviamo un'ottima compattezza ed un muro sonoro davvero portentoso nella prima canzone, "Buried Alive" che se da un lato ricorda ancora più da vicino la band di Steve Harris, dall'altra parte ci mostra una band estremamente preparata che si destreggia con abilità anche in basi sparate a velocità sostenute.

Dall'altra parte a pacare l'atmosfera ci pensano pezzi come il breve e toccante strumentale nel quale compaiono solo chitarra e basso "S.E.K." o ancora la penultima "Damnation", che nella prima parte si sviluppa su tonalità più plumbee e grigie, risultando più vicina al mood odierno della band. Il resto della track-list sviluppa invece un tema musicale più heavy-power-prog, con risultati meno eclatanti rispetto agli episodi citati, ma comunque buoni sia ben chiaro, apparte l'altro strumentale del disco "Shadow Fax", entusiasmante nel suo incedere cadenzato ma potente, nel quale i nostri americanotti esibiscono tutte le loro capacità agli strumenti.

Le liriche volgono per la maggiore verso temi fantasy, strizzando l'occhio ad argomenti oscuri quali la morte e la cattiveria che si insinua nell'animo dell'uomo (a proposito di ciò risulta esplicativa la frase iniziale del disco che recita "Dark and dampness linger in body and soul").

In definitiva questo lavoro pur, come già detto, essendo distante dai lavori che consacreranno in futuro la band, merita di essere ascoltato più per la piacevolezza dei singoli brani e per l'importanza storica della band che non per altro, anche se reperirlo non sarà assolutamente facile. C'è da dire inoltre che Metal Blade ha deciso di ristamparlo nel 2002, con l'aggiunta di quattro bonus track che rispondono ai nomi di "Last Call" del periodo in cui i Fates erano ancora i Misfit, "The Calling" ripresa dal demo Rehearsal del 1983, "Kiss Of Death" in un'edizione live e la cover degli Iron Maiden "Flight Of Icarus".

Elenco tracce e testi

01   Buried Alive (04:40)

02   The Calling (05:03)

A cry shivers the night, a voice in agony
that shrieks above the trees.
In a land where no one comes
in a land where spirits dwell,
hear their fatal screams.
The old man clutches his heart
as he looks to the window,
he knows his time has come.
Woman stands in the dark,
her hair is white with the snow
nightmares just begun.

Fates Warning is heard,
run shivers up and down the spine
of those who believe.
The old and decrepit have seen,
they mourn in the night,
young and restless can't conceive
Moon looks through the drifting storm,
thunder cracks the sky,
she screams throughout the night.
The laughing magpie spreads his wings,
and looks you in the eye,
and laughs at you in spite.

Spirits of innocence take me away.
Dancing her pitiful ritual,
she's stalking her prey.
the bard and the banshee
sound a harmonious wail.
Predestined hour has come.
Let it come.

The old man wakes with the dawn,
sweat upon his brow, he casts the spell,
Father O'Reilly found in the moors,
the people mourn, hear the church's bell.
Moon looks through the drifting storm,
thunder cracks the sky, and she screams, YEAH!
The laughing magpie spreads his wings,
and looks you in the eye, and laughs, HA-HA!

The spirits of innocence take me away
Dancing her pitiful ritual,
she's stalking her prey.
she's coming your way
the bard and the banshee
sound a harmonious wail.
Predestined hour has come.
The Banshee!

03   Kiss of Death (04:38)

04   Night on Bröcken (05:29)

April thirtieth, the souls of the risen
are leading the way. The first of May.
Black magic night, witches holiday,
their torches glow.
Eternal evil, it summons
the lords of hell, just once a year,
compel and beware the spell of the jackyl.
Can't break the spell,
won't break the spell,
the spell of the shadowless man.
The witches fornicate, the demons dance,
blackmass romance.
In hellish praise
round Brocken they prance,
their numbers grow.
A harpie chants, fire fountains glow,
virgin of snow burnt by the torch
of the one with no shadow.
I saw his face, I've seen him before,
the face of the shadowless man.
As dawn breaks through the trees,
lonely town falls to their knees,
a solemn belfry begins to toll.
The mass begins sing familiar hymns,
man in black has his back to the crowd.
Spreads his wings and turns around,
as my heart begins to pound.
Because you, you're the one I
saw in flight, at Walpurgis Night.
You've betrayed and cursed the light,
at Walpurgis Night.
You're the one I saw in flight,
at Walpurgis Night.
At the setting of the sun.
Because you, you're the one I
saw in flight, at Walpurgis Night.
You've betrayed and cursed the light,
at Walpurgis Night.
You're the one I saw in flight,
at Walpurgis Night.
At the setting of the sun.

05   S.E.K. (01:19)

[Instrumental]

06   Misfit (05:06)

He was the sun of champion,
a proud Olympian.
Taught his boy all the tricks
he'd ever need to win.
The games were fierce as battle,
not for ordinary man.
A man born of royal blood
must live by sword in hand.
This one not so lucky,
as he fell to his knees.
Suddenly inflicted,
deranged with disease.
His father act with fury,
you must not scorn his name.
Cast him to the forest,
return never again.

The nights cold and darkened
as the boy turned into man.
Took shelter in the jackyl's den,
the cave Tartarean.
Confronted by the serpent
now your soul belongs to me.
For your health and strength,
sell your soul and you'll go free.
Eager to accept the bribe,
for revenge in his mind.
Dawn reflect from the blade,
the forest left behind.
His strength grew with every stride,
he was healthy as an ox.
No one would stop him.

You live by the sword,
and die by the sword.
Avenge everyone in your way.
Condemning a Misfit
for innocence his sin.
His blade will avenge you someday.
He's a Misfit.
He's a Misfit.

Defeating every wild beast
and swordsman in the ring.
Victor of the main event
wed daughter of the king.
He glances to the throne
where sits the royal regime.

The king who cast the misfit died,
his father reigned supreme.
The charge begins, first pass is made
the serpent's face revealed.
Time has come to meet his fate,
The bribe kept concealed.
He casts his blade with vengeance
and pierced his father's soul.
Satan would take him.

You live by the sword,
and die by the sword.
Avenge everyone in your way.
Condemning a Misfit
for innocence his sin.
His blade will avenge you someday, oh no.
He's a Misfit.
Misfit, Misfit, he's a Misfit.

07   Shadowfax (03:16)

08   Damnation (06:27)

Thousands of years,
before the dawn of history. Ancient races tears,
are flowing like a river to the sea.
Where sacred river ran,
white deer had roamed the land,
brilliant twilight in our dreams.

Primitive child,
your unforgotten tribe calls to you.
Descendants we are one,
the tangled maze is broken once again.
A myth without a meaning,
you shade the light from the seed.
The earth and virgin soil watch it bleed.
The earth and virgin soil.

Red, white, black, in city masses,
corporate buildings spread like rashes,
stacked upon each other forty high.
Stabbed each other in the back,
you money-hungry maniacs,
dig up the earth and spit it in your eye.

To intrude this sacred land,
where the mortals have been banned,
where your own forefathers lie in rest.
To disturb this mountain side,
where in battle we did ride,
and our warriors where they lie,
the earth digest.

Hear our cry from down below,
let our restive spirits go.
You've trapped us in your world of sin,
let the plague begin, Damnation.
Your cities disappear,
to earth's interior, don't you know
you've got to let your spirits go, let 'em go.
You've got to let those spirits go.
Let 'em go!
You've got to let your spirit go.

09   Soldier Boy (06:24)

Little soldier, plastic pistol
aiming for the head.
Now you see me, now you don't.
You missed me, you're dead.
Laughing, hiding in the bushes,
scatter for your life.
Little soldier tripped and fell,
get him with your knife.

Electric eye is loaded,
it shows them it's okay to kill.
They eventually will.

Mother calls you in for lunch,
put the war on hold.
Too rough to play with other kids,
how many times you've been told.
Laugh at pain it's silly.
He'd make the soldiers bleed.
Break the flesh, twist the bone,
bring them to their knees.

You don't throw stick and stone,
you leave the little girls alone she said, leave them
alone.
First sight of blood at ten,
fell off the swing and cracked his head, it's all red.

A still and quiet conscience,
regardless of their doom,
The victims play, they're on their way,
Soldier Boy.
No sense they have, of ills to come.
Nor care beyond ills of today,
they've lost their way, Soldier Boy.

Playgrounds into battle fields,
diapers into greens and stripes,
Mold plastic into steel, the war is real,
the solders fight tonight.
Little solder falls once more,
sees red glow like the sun.
Mother calls him back to
Arlington, in Washington.

You don't throw stick and stone,
you leave the little girls alone she said, leave them
alone.
First sight of blood at ten,
fell off the swing and cracked his head, it's all red.

A still and quiet conscience,
regardless of their doom,
The victims play, they're on their way,
Soldier Boy.
No sense they have, of ills to come.
Nor care beyond ills of today,
they've lost their way, Soldier Boy.

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