• Voto:
Tutti ne parlano bene, tutti lo incensano, tutti lo prendono come modello e lo definiscono la "via intelligente" al metal di fine millennio.
In gran parte, però, si tratta di balle.
I Katatonia, come molti di voi già sapranno, sono stati tra i pionieri della scena doom-gothic metal (anche se di gotico pacchiano, fortunatamente, erano soliti inserirne poco) ed hanno sfornato dischi indimenticabili. "Dance Of December Souls" e "Brave Murder Day" rappresentano, in maniera diversa ma comunque superlativa, il tetro pessimismo che questo genere è stato in grado di sprigionare nei suoi migliori anni di vita. Screaming vocals, nel debutto, e growl vocals (su gentile concessione di Mike Akerfeldt degli Opeth) nel secondo ed ufficiale capitolo. Musica difficile da dimenticare e musica, a mio modesto parere, ben più originale di quella proposta dai loro maestri Paradise Lost.
Poi, come già scritto in un'altra recensione, il cambiamento. Via i vocioni temibili e certi residui ultra-metal. I Katatonia decisero di esplorare nuovi universi sonori ispirandosi alla malinconia di Cure, Slowdive e Radiohead. I risultati? Ottimi. Mi preme ricordare, in questo senso, il singolo "Saw Your Drawn" contenente la splendida "Quiet World". Bellissimo anche l'album "Discouraged Ones": perla nera di rock malinconico e darkeggiante di fine millennio.
Ed eccoci a "Tonight's Decision". Lo stile non si discosta eccessivamente dal precedente album ma, e qui arrivano i dolori, si nota in alcune tracks una vena eccessivamente ruffiana, fin troppo orecchiabile e poco personale.
Cominciamo, giusto per non considerare il bicchiere come "mezzo vuoto", ad elencare i brani maggiormente validi. Carine, ma poco più, le due canzoni di apertura. Sto parlando di "For My Demons" e "I Am Nothing". Molto simili, come struttura, al materiale presente nel precedente capitolo targato Katatonia. Canzoni disperate ma non opprimenti, dotate di un particolare e crepuscolare fascino. Ancora più bella è "The Punishment" basata su parti acustiche e su divagazioni psichedeliche. Accettabile e più che discreta è la traccia numero otto, intitolata "Strained", unico appunto negativo: un ritornello fin troppo dolciastro. Ma arriviamo agli apici di questo disco, cioè a quelle canzoni che hanno reso "Tonight's Decision" un album sufficientemente valido. "A Darkness Coming" è una song veramente suggestiva , ancora una volta voce delicata e chitarra acustica. Toccante nel suo complesso ed amabile per quell'inquietante chitarra distorta che si ode verso la conclusione. Distorsione che, in breve, viene abbandonata per ritornare nell'oscura quiete. "Black Session" è invece morbosa e tagliente. Questo brano, infatti, rappresenta un segno di reale discontinuità all'interno dell'opera: canzone lunga, inquietante e caratterizzata da una struttura maggiormente complessa.
Questo per quanto concerne la parte "salvabile" o perfino apprezabile del disco. Altro e differente discorso riguarda i punti deboli qui presenti. Parlo, nel dettaglio, di brani come "In Death, A Song", banale e tranquillamente trascurabile, ma anche di "Had To Leave" e "Right Into The Bliss". Questi due brani, forse, sono stati composti dai Katatonia per aggraziarsi le simpatie del grande pubblico, un pubblico amante di canzoncine pop-rock dal sapore "alternative" e poco più. "No Good Can Come Of This" ricalca questa linea con quel ritornello semi-sommesso ma, in conclusione, inespressivo. Non brilla nemmeno la cover di "Nightmares By The Sea" di Jeff Buckley. Cosa volevano dimostrare i ragazzi? Di essere al passo coi tempi? Lo scrivo perchè, se la memoria non mi inganna, sul finire dei '90 il culto di Buckley jr. aveva oltrepassato ogni limite tollerabile.
Bellissima ed estremamente espressiva la copertina realizzata da Travis Smith. Ma, da che mondo è mondo, non bastano gli artwork per rendere grandi i dischi! Il voto sarebbe un 2,5 che, per clemenza, ho deciso di trasformare in 3. Molto meglio, allora, i Katatonia più aggressivi e disincantati di "Viva Emptiness".
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 For My Demons (05:43)
Well I'm here
And summer is gone I hear
So pray for me
As I now leave your town
When did I say this
I will never leave
I can't recall this
Moment in my life
You would never sleep at night
If you knew what I've been through
And this thought is all I have
To trust upon when light is gone
My problem was
That you kept me here too long
And today is when
We'll regret that I came by
When did I say this
I will never leave
I can't recall this
Moment in my life
You would never sleep at night
If you knew what I've been through
And this thought is all I have
To trust upon when light is gone
Life is full of darkness
And murderers come my way
Someday you will join them
And I will let you in
You would never sleep at night
If you knew what I've been through
And this thought is all I have
To trust upon when light is gone
02 I Am Nothing (04:37)
Tonight I'm nothing
It doesn't matter where I've been
Delay of reaction is
The unseen movie of this life
I remember one of my friends
Telling me to go ahead
Water on every side
There's a dead spot in my eye
If I listen close at night
There's something coming my way
Like someone called my name
But I didn't care to look that way
I just fixed my eyes into the crowd
It would have been strange to turn around
If you would tell me that I was someone
Then for a second I would think
Just like I would try to consider
How it would feel to know
I have to get on with this
It's a decision for tonight
Out to look for chances
It is murder of my mind
Once I was someone new
I was chosen for a while
Then with time I am changing
At least that is what they say
If you would tell me that I was someone
Then for a second I would think
Just like I would try to consider
How it would feel to know
What is worth with being here
I pray so often for a change
If you would tell me that I was someone
Then for a second I would think
Just like I would try to consider
How it would feel to know
04 Had To (Leave) (06:03)
So you were with us until the last minute
And then you were gone from here
And I watched and I just figured out
That I will never see you again
I had a choice
You had to leave
Into the night
This was my choice
It's so hard to explain what I meant
When I said that I wanted you dead
But I saw you fuck up and I just can't get back
The feeling I had for you
I had a choice
You had to leave
Into the night
This was my choice
So I put all my strength into my only will
It was the only thing to do
And now I only regret that I cried
'Cause you would never do that for me
I had a choice
You had to leave
Into the night
This was my choice
05 This Punishment (02:46)
Will I be strong
No friends by my side
In a black room
No spirits abide
Who is judge now
When I wait for this
Punishment
When I come in
From where I've been
They raise their voices
On a given signal
06 Right Into the Bliss (05:04)
by a black road
giving a brief smile
something's on the way
forgotten for a while
and you try to speak this
without a voice down by a black road
we try to forget and try to make it through
someday we'll go
further from this right into the bliss
some night we'll try
to leave this place for another
they keep pushing me
so far from every chance
makes it so much harder
for me to carry on
so I try to speak this
without a thought down by a black road
we try to forget and try to make it through
08 Strained (04:14)
end
sometimes a start for others
end
I don't know the word beginning
sometimes fear is power
like when I lost control
this time it has to come to an end
I'd like to try to live my life again
I'd like to see where I was going wrong
09 A Darkness Coming (05:02)
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
10 Nightmares by the Sea (04:16)
Beware the bottled thoughts of angry young men
Secret compartments hide all of the skeletons
Little girl wants to make her home with him
In the middle of the shore she wonders
"Don't know what you asked for"
"Don't know what you asked for"
All young lovers know why
Nightmares blind their mind's eyes
Your rube is young and handsome
So new to your bedroom floor
You know damn well where you'll go
I've loved so many times and I've drowned they all
From their coral graves they rise up when darkness falls
With their bones they'll scratch the window
I hear them call
"Don't know what you asked for"
"Don't know what you asked for"
Stay with me under these ways tonight
Be free for once in your life tonight
11 Black Session (09:14)
I sense infliction in the air
It's only me
I'm fucking up old times
It's a remembrance
Oh this
Black session in my mind
Oh the black
I was too weak to fight
Once more I let go
It is a black session
An invitation of sorts
Oh this
Black session in my mind
Oh the black
I keep on living in this my only wish
That life will be good someday
I keep on losing my sleep because of this
Seems so hard just to stay
So if you come by just this last time
I'll be here
And I will talk to you like
If this had never been
Oh this
Black session in my mind
Oh the black
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di dying_sun
CAPOLAVORO FANTASTICO COMPRATELO FINCHÉ CE NE SONO COPIE IN GIRO!!!
Questo ti mette davanti al terrore... il terrore di essere fragili, rimpiazzabili, inutili...
