Hanno preso a prestito una chiesa di Londra e ci hanno piazzato il palco e gli strumenti, ed è venuto fuori uno degli unplugged più belli di questi ultimi anni.
Magari la location era solo per vendere il dvd, ma la scelta non si è rivelata temeraria. Eppoi si, i Katatonia sono sempre stati, a modo loro, estremi. Dagli esordi black/doom metal sino all'odierna evoluzione, con la quale approdano ad un particolarissimo dark sound, che emerge ancora più originale ed innovativo con questa seconda prova in acustico - dopo l'esperimento di "Dethrorned and Unkrowned" (2013).
"Sanctitude", dato quindi alle stampe per essere prima di tutto un live da fruire con gli occhi, suona anche più definitivo e completo all'ascolto, come il fosse il loro personale "made in Japan".
La decisione della band scandinava di inserire un solo brano da "The Great Cold Distance" (2006) potrà scoraggiare i fan meno attenti, ma rivela l'intenzione di selezionare tracce che consentano l'utilizzo di nuove atmosfere, rese possibili dagli arrangiamenti acustici.
L'opener è "In The White": J. Renske comincia a recitare con le sue pallide tonalità: "are you in or are you out, words are stones in my mouth". Il suo timbro, in questo contesto, è ancora più algido del solito. Segue la splendida interpretazione di "Ambitions": ad ogni attacco delle chitarre sui ritornelli il brano si rigenera con nuova linfa creativa. Solo queste due tracce valgono il disco intero. Ed infatti, il singer svedese già saluta il pubblico e non si nasconde dietro la maschera del palco: "hello London. It's so good to be here.... I believe we're all very nervous, but I think it will work out anyway out".
Da sottolineare l'attenzione con cui sono stati ridisegnati archi e tappeti, anche in quei brani che non erano già stati oggetto di rivisitazioni nel lavoro precedente: "Teargas" è solo un esempio.
E se le keyboards hanno potuto non subire un restyling eccessivo, sono state invece messe in sordina le parti percussive – opzione indispensabile vista l'acustica di una chiesa. In "Evidence" ed in "Sleeper" la batteria è stata trasformata in jambè, così come in "Day", che perde del tutto l'originaria ispirazione rubata ai Joy Division, ma ne guadagna in originalità.
Non aggiunge nulla alla versione in studio l'aver adottato la stessa soluzione percussiva per un pezzo già semi-acustico come "Omerta".
Il risultato è, nel complesso, che non tutti i brani sono stati stravolti, circostanza che tuttavia non rischia di trasformare "Sanctitude" in un unplugged uguale a tanti altri poco ispirati. Così anche "Undo You" e la conclusiva "The One You Are Looking For" - quest'ultima in duetto con cantantessa norvegese presa a prestito dai The Gathering - ricalcano quanto già sentito nel lavoro del 2013 e si discostano solo in parte dalle orginali versioni presenti in "Dead End Kings" (2012). Negli ultimi album, infatti, i Katatonia avevano già sviluppato una nuova personalità stilistica ben definita, auspichiamo ancora perfettibile.
Anche "Idle Blood", unico pezzo da "The Night Is The New Day" (2009), può essere ascritto alla suddetta categoria di composizioni già mature, che non necessitavano quindi di essere stravolte per poter rientrare in questa scaletta.
Salutati i fratelli Norman, il nerbo dei Katatonia rimane nell'accopiata Reske/Nyström - rispettivamente vocals e chitarre – cosa che dovrebbe permettere al progetto di mantenere il suo peculiare carattere stilistico. Anzi, c'è da aspettarsi vadano ancora avanti, augurandoci che non ammorbidiscano troppo i suoni nel prossimo lavoro in studio.
Nota finale per la versione di "The Racing Heart": interpretazione appassionata, tratteggiata in chiaro/scuro con il gioco di dinamiche tra strofe e ritornello, che pure conserva intatta una inedita verve dark. Impensabile, solo dieci anni fa, che potessero colorare i loro toni di luce sinistra e fredda proprio nell'apollinea acustica di una cattedrale gotica. L'errore di sottovalutare un cuore che palpita.
Elenco tracce testi e video
05 A Darkness Coming (05:16)
So near
So close
Something bad is seen
But I
Seem to be
The only one that can see
There is a darkness coming
And they
The others
They don't know a thing of what's next
But I'm not here to say
What should be done about this
I just lift my eyes to watch
I saw it coming
Something bad
So near
So close
Something bad is seen
But I
Seem to be
The only one that can see
There is a darkness coming
07 Idle Blood (04:45)
You there, the bringer of my despair
You are stagnation of hope and will
Oh, you personify loss and remorse
And you hide until my fear reappear
The love for life once bright
A burning fuse the only flame I have
Fate's spiral down this curve
The seed's growing my misery
These wounds kill time
My struggle sublime
Idle the blood, black state of mind
All dreams left behind
You claim to be my long, absent friend
You are the cancer that just moved in
You come with the dark night of the soul
But I'm turning my back on you, you know I do
The love for life once bright
A burning fuse, the only flame I have
Fate's spiral down this curve
The seed's growing my misery
These wounds kill time
My struggle sublime
Idle the blood, black state of mind
All dreams left behind
Idle the blood
The black state of mind
All my dreams left behind
Idle the blood
Ooh, the black state of mind
All my dreams left behind
11 Sleeper (04:39)
O my your fever's high
I lay my hands upon you
O my haven't you heard
The truth is untrue
Now I'm breathing
I could not breathe until you did
I'm one second after you
Just a second after you
Someone inside your room
Who is it there behind you
What does he want from you
Sleeper, what did you see
I close the window to the street
Parents died and left their child
Unattented for a while
Now I'm breathing
I could not breathe until you did
I'm one second after you
Just a second after you
Someone inside your room
Who is it there behind you
What does he want from you
Sleeper's song will you listen to me sing
The bird is here I can see the edge of his wing
If you die now how can I then live on
Don't give up you must live on
12 In the White (05:27)
Are you in
Or are you out?
The words are stones in my mouth
Hush little baby
Don't you cry
Truth comes down
Strikes me in the eye
Turning seasons within
Brand new nails across my skin
Who am I to imply?
That I was found
That I found you in the white
To overcome this I become one with
The quiet cold of late November
If you don't see I'll remain unseen
Until there's time to be remembered
So I had a green light
I was lost in city lights
Not so far from a try
This is not our last goodbye
So I found you
Found a way all through
The quiet cold of inner darkness
And now that you're here
It becomes so clear
I have waited for you always
13 Gone (03:49)
A dead start in my head
And the day's been laid
The things i really want
Always torn from my heart
You never saw the way
How i wanted you to stay
And now you're gone
I'm on my own
When i was thinking this
Was something permanent
You were already thinking
Of going away
14 Teargas (03:12)
Why have you put so many things into my eyes
That I can't see clear
Who's paid you for telling me what I'm worth
And run in fear
It has been for me a strain to see already
What have you done
The rising noise
The sharpened smells
The deadened sight
What is it in my eyes
A piece of broken glass
Is this the time I should be on my knees for you
Is this your way of telling
Another has been found
Now I know,
It's teargas in my eyes
What is it in my eyes
A piece of broken glass
Is this the time I should be on my knees for you
Is this your way of telling
Another has been found
Now I know,
It's teargas in my eyes
15 Day (04:40)
Grey park look the same
And the days are pale
I never thought it would rain this way
I should be knowing that it used to be me
Let's stay here for a while
Is something gonna happen today
Your smile has decayed
It will never be the same
I never thought it would laugh again
I should be knowing this it used to be
Me let's stay here for a while
Is something gonna happen today
Now it's dark and you're colder now it's dark
And I'm older now it's dark and you're colder
And you tell me my parks are grey
Let's stay here for a while
Is something gonna happen today
Grey park look the same
All the days are pale
I never thought it would rain this way
I should be knowing that it used to be
Me let's stay here for a while
Is something gonna happen today
16 Evidence (06:10)
I hold my breath and check the time
One minute no collapse
If you only knew what I would do for you
One thirty breathing lapse
We're going in my voice is thin
When I tell you to remember
That no one will find you
My promise from the heart
If we part my pulse will guide you through
Be still for a moment
Everything depends upon you
If you die I will die too
Once we were heroes
But everything has changed since then
Now they recognize you too
I stay too long something's wrong
You walk out of the picture
I hold my breath and check the time
One thirty i collapse
We went in my voice was thin
When I told you to remember
That no one will find you
My promise from the heart
If we part my pulse will guide you through
Be still for a moment
Everything depends upon you
If you die I will die too
Once we were heroes
But everything has changed since then
Now they recognize you too
I'm the evidence
You passed the test and that's so good for you
Oh love will you read the letters I will send to you
Will I come along
Will they let me out to take the test
Oh love is the score enough for me to pass the test
Carico i commenti... con calma
