Capita sempre più frequente nella scena punk-core melodica attuale, che la maggior parte degli act storici che la compongono con l'arrivo del nuovo millennio e del passare degli anni tirino fuori dal cilindro album sempre più monocorde e che hanno portato molte band ad un costante declino.
A due anni di distanza da "Blaze" tornano i Lagwagon di Joey Cape e company con questo "Resolve". L'intero album è stato composto in onore del compianto Derrick Plourde morto pochi mesi prima l'uscita del disco, ex batterista della band e dei Bad Astronaut (progetto parallelo di Cape) e molto amico di quest'ultimo.
Il disco mantiene la classica impronta della band e si può dire che non ci siano stati grossi cambiamenti. E' il solito hardcore melodico californiano che gli caratterizza dagli inizi, ma purtroppo l'era di "Hoss" è decisamente finita da un pezzo. L'album offre davvero pochi spunti interessanti e canzoni certo che non risaltano per originalità e freschezza. Ci sono canzoni molto veloci, a dire la verità poche, che rimandano al passato e pezzi più stirati (passatemi il termine) in cui prevale molto più la melodia. Dodici canzoni (più la traccia acustica finale) che lasciano molto a desiderare.
I Lagwagon riescono anche qui a creare melodie divertenti e poi? Basta. I pezzi, ma questo non è un novità per loro, sono tutti contraddistinti da innumerevoli parti strumentali, alcune buoni con assoli azzeccati altre terribilmente lunghe e monotone. Dovendo scegliere gli unici episodi da salvare sono "The contortionist" con una buona dose di melodia e velocità e un ritornello azzeccato e l'iniziale "Heartbreaking music" che rimanda a "Hoss" molto veloce e coinvolgente anche se non ha certo la freschezza di pezzi del calibro di "Name dropping" o "Violins". Da salvare in parte anche "Virus" peccato solo sia un po' troppo lunga, fattore che la penalizza.
Il resto si può dire che è tutto praticamente trascurabile. Ci sono anche due pezzi mid-tempo, la title-track e "Sad astronaut" caratterizzate entrambe da una prima parte lenta e con arpeggi dolci a una seconda parte più punk-rock che vorrebbero recuperare e copiare un loro successo passato "Alien8" ma il risultato è davvero impalpabile.
Il problema che affligge i Lagwagon è quello di essere ancorati sempre ai soliti schemi, situazione che alla lunga stanca e annoia. Non puoi sempre andare avanti a stop and go, e soliti giri, inoltre le canzoni spesso sono tirate per i capelli e allungate a tutti i costi, senza che il tutto risulti lineare, per di più in un genere caratterizzato da componimenti brevi e diretti. Per dire i Rise Against a fare canzoni più lunghe di tre minuti ci riescono, loro non tengono salda la tensione stuccando presto l'ascoltatore.
Il risultato finale è insufficiente, non basta qualche pezzo a salvare la barca che affonda. Spero per i Lagwagon che in futuro propongano qualcosa almeno di diverso anche se credo che i '90 per loro siano definitivamente tramontati.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Automatic (03:16)
Get up, smile, find a need,
wash your hair, bleach your teeth
Develop habit,
Automatic
Compromise, build a bridge,
Sacrifice, sacrilege
Sell yourself,
Automatic
Nobody out there knows
None of them have intent
Pretension and purpose
Fashioned in plastic heads
Everyone drives all day
None of them have a goal
Everyone's lost their way
All of them play the game
Set a goal
Make it happen
Imagine love
Fake a passion
Change your name
Stay in fashion
Make a deal
Make it happen
Compromise, build a bridge
Sacrifice, sacrilege
Same cars
Same clothes
Same desires
Same woes
Lose it all
Automatic
Nobody out there feels
None of them sees the end
Pretension and purpose
Fashioning plastic heads
Everyone drives all day
Searching their empty hearts
Everyone's lost their way
All of us fall apart
Automatic
Automatic
03 Resolve (02:07)
Don't leave me in this room
The walls are closing in
This is the space I used to say
The line is drawn for you each day
But every day you show
With sound of caving walls
Some day this song will have no pulse
And I'll cave alone
But there we are
Waiting for your answer
Your arms speeded elation
Beating out your salvation
But when the tape stopped you were gone
A half measure from home
This week I recreate
Edit you back into
The blare that could define you
Coveted by few who knew
The phone rings without pause
This grief wills everyone
All I have is our shitty song
How could it ever be enough?
Here we are in our final accord
A mortician and his tools
Sonically bury you
You could have chose another chord to resolve on
04 Virus (03:31)
We colonize a better place
Unable to transform our fate
We follow whatever path grows
Directions no one knows
Given the choice for normalcy,
you seem content in who you've come to be
They said he re-installed his plague
Said to have re-vamped that limp vein
As if it all ends formulaic
Painless escape
We share the same virus of love and hope
And it's a fleeting beauty
You did everything you could
You were there for him through bad and good
Disappear before you follow suit
The parasites, they are still there to swallow you
Beating through an obtrude chest
Every emotive plea a stretch
No praise enough to build a life
No words to instill pride
And through your life disorder rides
I did everything I could
Mostly there for him through bad and good
I disappeared as always waiting for the born-again call
The one that signals to us all
This bender's over again
Listen for one last faint heartbeat
Holding his hand in hopes he breathes
All of those sad years have come to this
Your head lay on his sunken chest
The thought of you at his deathbed
The latest virus in my head
Unjust, unjust
Selfless you tended to our ghost
Katherine an unconditional untiring host
You were there for him when he needed you the most
I hope someone restores your heart
I hope something restores your world
07 Sad Astronaut (03:01)
As you sat on the bed
Moments from your end
Inconceivable dread
Inches from your head
I can't bear to imagine you
In that horror scene
One too sad to be
In my mind's eye I am there
Embracing you so scared
Now you kill me too
You killed me too
Decidedly willing to lie for you
Absolutely willing to cry for you
Ill at ease in saying goodbye to you
A part of me will never know
I am there again, intervals of red
An accomplice to
Things I couldn't do
In a fable disabled
I say words like foolish son
God what have you done
I'm a thin blue cliché, hopelessly
I'm a mouthful of doubtful
Decidedly willing to lie for you
Say again
Willing to cry for you
Finally saying goodbye to you
A part of you I'll never know
Looking through the spyglass in a punctured sky
While your garden died
You couldn't see the sky for your fallen stars?
Endless in your arms
You were still alive even as the sad astronaut
08 Rager (01:21)
Proceeds, who's in?
Who wants a piece of him?
So many articles to choose from
Comrade, artiste
A taste for evidence
Hold on to articles of faith
Once worth nothing that something touches who you want to be
Baggage embodies no one (He is gone)
Intrinsic to only one (He is gone)
Belongings don't define us
Keepsake, fingerprint, scrapbook, record of death
Funeral, event, everyone's gonna be there
They have to see you pay respects
Breathe in, breathe out, random, random, random
Who are these fucking idiots?
Come on I'm writing you
I know this role is tearing you apart
Large numbers can't console you (He is gone)
Don't let the guilt control you (He is gone)
The anger has consumed you
Ranting, regret, enrage, screaming next:
09 The Worst (02:30)
How does it start?
When does it end?
Blood and love graces everyone
You only want to touch it once
He didn't give it up
She wasn't long enough
They didn't save your falling smile
He never had a chance
But there it is
You're finally blessed
And you can't handle it
The worst
What did it say?
All you really need is love
But you're gonna make those fuckers pay
You're gonna hurt someone
That's all there really is
The ones that don't survive
They lied to you a thousand times
And you're starving heart has died
But there it is
You're finally blessed
Failure, failure, failure
A cement frown breaking
Allows a straight line blown away
It fell at thirteen
You're wide awake
Hours blind every winding curve
You start the fall from grace
The worst
You never had a chance
But here it is
You're finally blessed
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