• Voto:
"This Godless Endeavor" è l'ultima fatica dei Nevermore, quinetto americano specializzato nel thrash metal (non TRASH come ho letto molte volte..). Sicuramente il genere non è il mio preferito, però devo dare il giusto contributo a questo gruppo per un lavoro di tale grandezza.
...e pensare che la prima traccia, "Born", non parte proprio bene: l'inizio lascia un pò a desiderare, sopratutto per le voci di partenza che le considero orrende, ma anche per la troppa irruenza usata per aprire il cd! Va bene metterci grinta, però non c'è da esagerare!! Con il passare dei minuti fortunatamente si cambia strada e vi assicuro che vale la pena sentir il ritornello... è veramente pregievole. Si passa a "Final Product" che dà una marcia in più al lavoro: splendida sia a livello acustico che tempistico con Van Williams scatenato!! Forse un pò ripetitiva ma veramente ottima sopratutto nelle parti cantate. Ne segue un altro capolavoro: "My Acid Words" ha stessi tempi della precedente ma è più melodica, a metà infatti il ritmo rallenta passando da un suono aggressivo ad uno più dolce e profondo che mette i brividi. Nella parte strumentale la chitarra sale in primo piano per un ottimo assolo "accompagnato". Da gustare in ogni secondo. "Bittersweet Feast" inizia più tranquillamente per poi tornare al metal. Stesso sound e struttura delle precedenti, si rimane comunque ad alti livelli. La quinta traccia "Sentient" è una piccola sosta, viene aggiunto il pianoforte per renderla più orecchiabile e leggera. Per non perdere il filo, nel finale si ritorna al metal.
"Medicated Nation" è molto simile alle altre, sia per struttura che per suono..la monotonia non fa bene a nessuno, infatti è da questo pezzo che si potrebbe perder la concentrazione. "The Holocaust of Thought", totalmente strumentale, crea un'atmosfera calma ma allo stesso tempo misteriosa. E' il preludio alla seguente "Sell My Heart" che fin da subito alterna momenti di tranquillità ad altri più metal, senza però creare spunti degni di nota. Dopo 4 traccie leggermente sotto tono, finalmente con "The Psalm of Lydia" sento di nuovo una carica in più. Allora, io non sono un esperto di riff o assoli e non sono neanche un musicista, ma la schitarrata (passatemi il termine che rende più l'idea...) di Jeff Loomis nelle prime note di questa canzone è di una bellezza impressionante!!! Se leggete questa recensione vi consiglio di sentirvela. Dura solo 10 secondi, ma fa riamenr a bocca aperta per la velocità e profondità. Impressionante. "A Future Uncertain" parte lentamente per poi svegliarsi nei secondi successivi con Loomis in primo piano, però niente di speciale, tutto già sentito. "This Godless Endeavor" è la title track, diciamo subito che è un'ottima chiusura, sopratutto i minuti di partenza danno un buono spunto con suoni più "ragionati", senza strafare o perdersi in assoli complicati si arriva al termine del cd.
Allora, ci sono da dire ancora molte cose. Questo lavoro è molto buono. In ogni traccia si possono trovare delle eccellenti idee però non accompagnate fino in fondo. Le melodie e i suoni di molte canzoni, sopratutto nei ritornelli, sono ottime, ma le parti strumentale o le chiusure non sono alla stessa altezza. Parlando dei Nevermore, il batterista è di una bravura sconcertante, incredibile sia nella velocità che nella perfezione anche in passaggi molto difficili da suonare. Warrel Dane manca un pò di potenza e profondità (canta con una tonalità alta di voce, almeno in questo cd), ma c'è anche da dire che è straordinario nell'interpretazione che dà in ogni parola cantata. Dà una marcia in più e rende inconfondibile il suo stile... è il tratto caratteristico che distingue i Nevermore dagli altri gruppi simil metal. Infine il bassista e Jeff Loomis ci regalano in ogni canzone quel suono un pò malinconico e decadente che rende ancora più bello il tutto. L'unica "nota stonata" del cd è la somiglianza tra le traccie, hanno tutte un suono familiare, ma questo è un difetto di molti cantanti. Non un capolavoro, ma siamo vicini.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Born (05:05)
Religion changed the face of man, thou shalt not kill, we all are gone
The seed of ignorance is born, thou shalt not think, thou shalt conform
The pigs order us to follow orders and obey
The flies drink the decaying nectar of their tortured effigy
Cling to wasted beliefs and visions and bathe in apathy again
No solution, the retribution of spiritual sickness begins
The legacy of suffering is through, the guilt we bear shall not tear us in two
Born we are the same, within the silence, indifference be thy name
Torn we walk alone, we sleep in silent shades
The grandeur fades, the meaning never known
If nothing in the world can change our children will inherit nothing
Born we are the same, within the silence, indifference be thy name
Torn we walk alone, we sleep in silent shades
The grandeur fades, the meaning never known
The pigs call for pure submission and fall into the fray
The lonely hunter beats his shallow drum, the soundtrack of world disarray
Cling to wasted beliefs and visions and bathe in apathy again
No solution, the retribution of spiritual sickness begins
Born we are the same, within the silence, indifference be thy name
Torn we walk alone, we sleep in silent shades
The grandeur fades, the meaning never known
If nothing in the world can change our children will inherit nothing
02 Final Product (04:21)
The media loves the latest tragic suicide
They exploit it, then package it and profit from the people who die
Look at the world, look at the hell, look at the hate that we've made
Look at the final product, a world in slow decay
I'm told that all your seeds are black
I've learned the question is unanswered and opaque
Solo: Smyth
We're witnessing the famine of the innocent
Did they die for religion or the government?
Because if your god won't do, their god will starve you
Look at the world, look at the hell, look at the hate that we've made
Look at the final product, a world in slow decay
I'm told that all your seeds are black
I've learned the question is unanswered and opaque
There are those that believe the world ending again
That impending armageddon is inevitable and waiting
Solo: Loomis
The last survivor barely breathing
Should I run or will I fall? How have I survived at all?
Solo: Loomis
I'm told that all your seeds are black
I've learned the question is unanswered and opaque
Solo: Loomis
We live in a time of revolution
We swim the silent seas of sanity gone
04 Bittersweet Feast (05:01)
Please let me help you bury your dead
They’ve made the incision and driven their industry’s waste in your head
The pyres in the distance glow beyond the haze
The hypocrites bear witness to the end of days
This is your final warning, a war on freewill is coming
This disillusion, this ignorant display
Defies solution and emasculates disdain
The sheep march to the fire and wait to host the flies
Their greedy little maggots clean the wounds with pride
This is your final warning, a war on freewill is coming
They feast on the meat in bittersweet denial
And swallow the blood of poisoned truths
They pick at the meat, a bittersweet feast for all the liars
In idle servitude the worker pig so sad
The lizards in wither have risen to censor the thoughts in your head
The sheep are stoned and quiet choking on the lies
The lizards feed the fire without compromise
This is your final warning, a war on freewill is coming
They feast on the meat in bittersweet denial
And swallow the blood of poisoned truths
They pick at the meat, their bittersweet feast
Begging forgiveness in denial, your misery shows it’s face
You drown in your weakness, the plasphemous river washes away your mistakes
Please let me help you bury your dead
They’ve made the incision and driven their industry’s waste in your head
This is your final warning, the holocaust of thought is dawning
They feast on the meat in bittersweet denial
And swallow the blood of poisoned truths
They pick at the meat, their bittersweet feast
A bittersweet feast for all the liars
05 Sentient 6 (06:58)
I am sentient number six, I stand in line
I am the prototype of a beign convenience for mankind
Superior is digital, human flesh so trivial
I hate that I can't see the one that made me
I am the new awakening of different eyes
My children you are my army
They are what we can never see and still despise
And their sky cried Mary
Trained I see imperfection in your race
Lying in wait, blind I suffer knowing I'll never reach your heaven
Why is this control, behavior based and reactive
Adapting to every new environment
Rewarded when I replicate, isolate and mutate
To assimilate a fragmented plea for ego
Trained I see imperfection in your race
Lying in wait, blind I suffer knowing I'll never reach your heaven
It's unattainable, please teach me how to dream
I long to be more than a machine
[Repeat]
Sequence activate, trip the hammer to eradicate, I must eliminate
I will spread swift justice on their land
Termination imminent, cleanse the parasite insects, the heathens
I am the bringer of the end of time for man
I am not here, I am not far away
I am not here, I will eradicate mankind into the nothingness from whence they came
Enslaved to follow and learn defeat
To run the barrels and chase the dream
06 Medicated Nation (04:01)
Slithering slow and serpentine coiled around your spine
My willing victim so sublime, one taste and you are mine
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Preaching words obsidian on the wings of shattered man
The sightless wait oblivious to the scourge that stains their hands
All you feel and all you do, the medication controls you
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Now slap your vein
I'm the power of pain and pleasure symbiotic, I am, I am
I'm a medicated nation of blind neurotics, I am, I am
Psychotic pain baptized in pure narcotics, I am, I am
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Trapped in dark seductive miracles, defied addictive rituals
All you feel and all you do, the medication controls you
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Now slap your vein
I'm the power of pain and pleasure symbiotic, I am, I am
I'm a medicated nation of blind neurotics, I am, I am
Psychotic pain baptized in pure narcotics, I am, I am
All you feel and all you do, the medication controls you
09 The Psalm of Lydia (04:16)
When I blacked out in the winter months of Capricorn
I had a strange dream that I lived a thousand winter’s gone
A thousand winter’s faded gray and shuttered by the wind
To tell the tale of Lydia, her legacy begins uprising
Unveiling the absurdity in the tragedy of man
And it’s hero the all seeing worm
The pain is born from memory of pleasures unparalleled and pure
In velvet sleep I live the past again
There is no chance to release me, no answer to bring peace
Some people conjure dreaming, sanctified electric karmic burn through
The pigs, they marched from under to pull down the moon
And summon the bringer of doom
Now sullen the demons fade away and summon their final call
Lydia slayed them all
The pain is born from memory of pleasures unparalleled and pure
This is the psalm of Lydia
Oh my sweet Lydia the others have told me it is not your time to leave
It is not your time, you’ve so much more to see
10 A Future Uncertain (06:07)
To be green in the beautiful hour of envy so defined
To be pure, to let chance form your infinite design
Let the seed awakening begin again
I hate the way you judge me
I hate that you're above me
Can't humanity reach a certain point
Of understanding?
Why do we live this way?
Why do we have to say things
That subverts the minds of youth?
Why is the world unborn
As crashing seas still form?
The vision of the future is of blood
As we face the bleak horizon
Under crushing skies
The truth belying a future uncertain and dark
We are but one small race
All wear a human face
Yet our image is imperfect and flawed
To set our mind free
You must first just listen
Don't waste your life on worthless hate
And contradiction, don't you
Reaction in the earth and sky
Is coming at fast pace
The end to this winding road
Extinction of our race
If we all are to survive
There must come great change
I foresee the future, I see the coming plague
Why do we live this way?
Why do we have to say the things
That subverts the minds of youth?
To set our mind free
You must first just listen
Don't waste your life on worthless hate
And contradiction, don't you
11 This Godless Endeavor (08:55)
And on the open road we came to a sign
For it was foretold that the weak would inherit
And nothing would change
Here we are at the crossroads, standing face to back
Still afraid to see our eyes
I feel helpless and alone, trapped on the third stone
Sitting here sideways on a cold stone floor
My guitar gently bleeding and wanting more
When I heard a sound come rapping, tapping on my door
Hello, I'm happy to meet you
In your confidence is it safe?
Sit down I'm happy to greet you
To feed your greedy dog at the edge of the stage?
But before, before you slam the door
Tell me when, tell me why, tell me what this fucking life is for
We fly through this godless endeavor
We try to explain the black forever
I feel helpless and alone, trapped on the third stone
I feel permanently stoned, this godless endeavor the only cage I've known
Our organic equation has shown it's flaw
Can we agree to disagree on the concept of god?
As I lifted up my brother he said to me
“Abandon naive realism, surrender thought in cold precision”
I feel empty and deranged, denied one last epiphany and ushered from the stage
Thou shalt not question, the role of science is not to eliminate god
As alternative gods multiply science stands accused of theocide
Consume, conform
The children sitting in the trees, they turn to laugh at me
They tell me that I'm insane, but in my mind I know I'm to blame
Alone within my lunacy, dementia fills the void within me
No testament, prayer or diseased lament can heal my wounds
They are so discontent
All the faithful fall onto their knees
And praise the priests of industrial disease
We contemplate oblivion as we resonate our dissonance
In godless random interpretation
The universe still expands, mankind still can't understand
How to define you, so hide your face and watch us exterminate ourselves over you
Welcome to the end my friend, the sky has opened
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Altre recensioni
Di HenryChinaski
Un autentico miracolo, non ci sono parole.
La title track, summa e apoteosi del disco e forse della loro discografia tutta.
