Ok, ok, prendiamo la nostra bella copia con le pinze antiradiazione, precauzione ma anche gesto simbolico per indicare che con 'sto coso o ci vivi o ci muori. D'altronde la linea delle precedenti (1990-2000) produzioni maideniane ci abitua a non poterci permettere vie di mezzo.
Ricordate i precedenti due floppazzi "Virtual XI" e "The X Factor"? Io sì, purtroppo per me e per il neosestetto londinese, prima flagellato dalla presenza dell'inadatto e imbarazzante Blaze Bailey, sì un buon singer, ma solo per quelle venti canzoni di repertorio in cui non bisogna salire di quell'ottava che tirava fuori le magagne di questo camaleontico hard-rocker.
Ma lasciando i discorsi alle proprie adeguate sedi, metto il cd nel lettore, anche se con spirito diverso rispetto a quando feci la stessa cosa con l'eccelso "Piece of Mind", perché questa è la volta buona che mi cade il mito...
Parte la sparata "The Wicker Man", granitica, potente, ma che sa di vecchio come un album di Celentano, col solito riff sordo e saturo di overdrive che sì impatta, ma che richiama le precedenti produzioni. Nonostante tutto un'ottima canzone, ma che volete, se non conoscessi i maiden di prima avrei dato qualche stella in più a tutto l'album.
Una bella scossa me la da la discreta "Ghost of The Navigator", distesa in qualche azzeccato cambio di tempo e nella classica filosofia "Strofa-Ritornello-Interludio-Solo". Colpisce bene.
"Brave New World" secondo me è una delle tracce vincenti del disco, in premessa poco fresca, ma comunque bella nella sua eccelsa ambientazione che richiama il tema dell'album. Bello il fraseggio, l'interludio richiama un po' i vecchi Maiden e la prestazione vocale è di tutto rispetto.
La passionale "Blood Brothers" ha uno schema originale e autentico, ma si inceppa sul riffing, bambinesco e sviluppato maluccio.
Dopo l'inutile "The Mercenary", arriva la bella "Dream of Mirrors", angosciante nel tema del testo ma musicalmente ineccepibile, tra fraseggi acustici, elettrici e un orecchiabile linea musicale che si appesantisce col passare dei minuti di canzone.
In crescendo arriva la cazzuta "The Fallen Angel", seguita dalla bella e "desertica" "The Nomad", altre canzoni che di nuovo non hanno proprio nulla.
La linea del concept album viene seguita da "Out Of The Silent Planet", ovattata (ed egregia) semiballad, come sempre forte a tratti, da tradizione Maideniana.
"The Thin Line Between Love and Hate" la vedo bene come b-side da dimenticare in un singolo di seconda presa, non perché sia una brutta canzone, anzi, solo perché in un album del genere non ci sta.
In sostanza un buon album, molto raffinato rispetto al petrolio in cui si navigava negli eighties, forse segno di commercializzazione al rock rarefatto che ci appioppano ogni giorno, forse un segno di maturazione musicale non da poco. Coraggioso, anche se poco originale, è forse l'unico album non per fan, che forse lo detesteranno per le poche novità, bensì per novelli in cerca di esperienze, che forse lo ameranno per ovvi motivi.
3/5 portato bene.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Ghost of the Navigator (06:50)
I have sailed to many lands now I make my final journey
On the bow i stand, west is where i go
Through the night i plough still my heart calculate and pray
As the compass swings my will is strong
I will not be led astray
Mysteries of time clouds that hide the sun
But I know, I know
I see the ghosts of navigators but they're lost
As they sail into the sunset they'll count the cost
As their skeletons accusing emerge from the sea
The sirens of the rocks, they beckon me
Take my heart and set it free
Carried forward by the waves
Nowhere left to run, Navigator's sun
Chasing rainbows all my days
Where I go I do not know
I only know the place I've been
Dreams they come and go, ever shall be so
Nothing's real until you feel
I steer between the crashing rocks, the sirens call my name
Lash my hands onto the helm, blood surging with the strain
I will not fail now as sunrise comes the darkness left behind
For eternity I follow on there is no other way
Mysteries of time clouds that hide the sun
But I know, I know
04 Blood Brothers (07:14)
And if you're taking a walk through
the garden of life
What do you think you'd expect you
would see?
Just like a mirror reflecting the
moves of your life
And in the river reflections of me
Just for a second a glimpse of my
father I see
And in a movement he beckons to me
And in a moment the memories are all
that remain
And all the wounds are reopening again
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
And as you look all around at the
world in dismay
What do you see, do you think we
have learned
Not if you're taking a look at the
war-torn affray
Out in the streets where the babies
are burned
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
There are times when I feel I'm afraid
for the world
There are times I'm ashamed of us all
When you're floating on all the
emotion you feel
And reflecting the good and the bad
Will we ever know what the answer
to life really is?
Can you really tell me what life is?
Maybe all the things that you know
that are precious to you
Could be swept away by fate's
own hand
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
When you think that we've used
all our chances
And the chance to make
everything right
Keep on making the same
old mistakes
Makes untipping the balance so easy
When we're living our lives on
the edge
Say a prayer on the book of the dead
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
And if you're taking a walk through
the garden of life
05 The Mercenary (04:42)
Pay to kill, die to lose
Hunter, hunted which you are
Diablo comes again
To make trophies out of men
Lose your skin, lose your skull
One by one the sack is full
In the heat dehydrate
Know which breath will be your last
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
You've got to kill to stay alive
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
You've got to kill to stay alive
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Human heart, human mind
Intellect intertwined
Focus sharp in the night
Watch the jungle burning bright
Toe to toe throw the line
Everyone's caught hand tied
Iron will Iron fist
How could it have come to this?
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
You've got to kill to stay alive
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
You've got to kill to stay alive
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
Show them no fear, show them no pain
08 The Nomad (09:06)
Like a mirage riding on the desert sand
Like a vision floating with the desert winds
Know the secret of the ancient desert lands
you're the keeper of the mystery in your hands
Nomad rider of the ancient east
Nomad rider that men know the least
Nomad where you come from no one knows
Nomad where you go to no one tells
Undercover of the veil of your disguise
The men that fear you are the ones that you despise
No one's certain what your future will behold
You're a legend your own history will be told
Nomad rider of the ancient east
Nomad rider that men know the least
Nomad where you come from no one knows
Nomad where you go to no one tells
No one dares to even look or glance your way
Your reputation goes before you they all say
Like a spirit that can disappear at will
Many claim of things but no one's seen you kill
Nomad, you're the rider so mysterious
Nomad, you're the spirit that men fear in us
Nomad, you're the rider of the desert sands
No man's ever understood your genius
Those who see you in horizon desert sun
Those who fear your reputation hide or run
You send before you a mystique that's all your own
Your silhouette is like a statue carved in stone
Nomad, you're the rider so mysterious
Nomad, you're the spirit that men fear in us
Nomad, you're the rider of the desert sands
No man's ever understood your genius
Legend has it that you speak an ancient tongue
But no one's spoke to you and lived to tell the tale
Some they say that you have killed a hundred man
Others say that you have died and live again
Nomad, you're the rider so mysterious
Nomad, you're the spirit that men fear in us
Nomad, you're the rider of the desert sands
No man's ever understood your genius
09 Out of the Silent Planet (06:25)
Out of the silent planet
Out of the silent planet we are
Withered hands, withered bodies begging for salvation
Deserted by the hand of gods of their own creation
Nations cry underneath decaying skies above
You are guilty, the punishment is death for all who live
The punishment is death for all who live
Out of the silent planet
Dreams of desolation
Out of the silent planet
Come the demons of creation
The killing fields, the grinding wheels crushed by equilibrium
Separate lives no more disguise, no more second chances
Haggard wisdom spitting out the bitter taste of hate
I accuse you before you know the crime it's all too late
Before you know the crime it's all too late
Out of the silent planet
Dreams of desolation
Out of the silent planet
Come the demons of creation
Out of the silent planet
Out of the silent planet we are
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di wwwhatemoornet
Ultrasettantenni che fanno canzoni composte principalmente da tre accordi, Mi Re Do e occasionalmente un Sol.
Grazie ancora da parte di tutti i metallari che adesso hanno quarant'anni e da quelli che ne hanno quindici, perché il fatto di avere ascoltato almeno un album degli Iron li accomuna.
Di vezzo
Blood Brothers: costruito su un tempo dispari e con un testo veramente toccante.
The Fallen Angel: un heavy piuttosto pesante che si commenta da solo.
