• Voto:
Dopo il fallimento (esclusivamente commerciale) dei primi due lavori in studio ed il buon successo di "Final Straw", gli Snow Patrol hanno trovato una sorprendente affermazione internazionale (persino negli Stati Uniti, e rendiamoci conto che stiamo parlando di una band nordirlandese/scozzese) con "Eyes Open", trainato da quel capolavoro che risponde al nome di "Chasing Cars".
A loro, quindi, l'onore e l'onere di dare alle stampe un degno seguito di un disco milionario (e bello, non dimentichiamolo) come il precedente. I ragazzi capitanati da Gary Lightbody si sono quindi presi un paio d'anni per dar forma a questo "A Hundred Million Suns", loro quinta prova discografica sulla lunga distanza.
Partiamo col dire che, se il marchio di fabbrica della band resta ben impresso nelle trame sonore del quintetto anglosassone, si iniziano a rilevare segnali di crescita e cambiamento nella proposta musicale dei ragazzi (peraltro, Lightbody ha già avvertito i fans di acquisire una "mentalità aperta" nei confronti del futuro sesto album, visto che a suo dire segnerà una totale rivoluzione nel sound del gruppo). Se l'album inizia, infatti, con un inno tipicamente à la Snow Patrol ("If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It"), seguito dall'intensa ballad "Crack The Shutters" e dall'ottimo lead single "Take Back The City" (pezzo atipicamente rock e festaiolo per il gruppo, non a caso velatamente criticato da fans ed addetti ai lavori), già da cose come "The Golden Floor" si capisce che gli Snow Patrol non sono solo zucchero e miele: un arrangiamento e secco ed essenziale (vicino a certa produzione solista di Thom Yorke) ci accompagna attraverso un atmosfera sospesa e sognante, insolita per i canoni della band.
I Patrol non si fanno, comunque, mancare nulla: "The Planets Bend Between Us" è l'erede diretta di "Chasing Cars", perlomeno nella struttura e nel crescendo melodico che rasenta la perfezione. "Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands" e "Disaster Button" rappresentano il lato più energico del disco, mentre "Egines" torna a spiazzare, anche se mantiene un allineamento convincente con il resto dei brani, che gli permette di non estraniarsi dalla compattezza di fondo che permea tutto l'album. Chiude una complessa suite divisa in tre parti, "The Lightning Strike", che mostra al mondo l'anima più sperimentale ed ambiziosa della band, lasciando veramente un'ottima sensazione di fondo.
Un lavoro in cui senso melodico, maturità, coerenza ed ambizione si fondono perfettamente ed in maniera naturale. Una grande prova di maturità, questo "A Hundred Million Suns", ed un degno erede di quel piccolo gioiello di nome "Eyes Open".
Tracce chiave: "If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It", "The Golden Floor", "The Planets Bend Between Us", "The Lightning Strike"
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It (04:20)
Two weeks later like a surplus reprieve
I found a hair the length of yours on my sleeve
I wound it round and round my finger so tight
It turned to purple and a pulse formed inside
And I knew the beat 'cause it matched your own beat
I still remember it from our chest to chest and feet to feet
The easy silence then was a sweet relief to this hush
Of ovens, aeroplanes and of distant car horns
A fire a fire, you can only take what you can carry
A pulse your pulse, it's the only thing I can remember
I break you don't, I was always set to self-destruct though
The fire the fire, it cracks and barks like primal music
I said I knew the beat 'cause it matched your own beat
It's become my engine my own source of heat
The sea between us only amplifies the sound waves
Every hum and echo and crash paints my cave
A fire a fire, you can only take what you can carry
A pulse your pulse, it's the only thing I can remember
I break you don't, I was always set to self-destruct though
The fire the fire, it cracks and barks like primal music
03 Take Back the City (04:40)
Take back the city for yourself tonight
I'll take back the city for me
Take back the city for yourself tonight
Whoa whoa whoa
God knows you've put your life into its hands
And it's both cradled you and crushed
But now it's time to make your own demands
Whoa whoa whoa
All these years later and it's killing me
Your broken records and words
Ten thousand craters where it all should be
Whoa whoa whoa
No need to put your words into my mouth
Don't need convincing at all
I love this place enough to have no doubt
Whoa whoa whoa
It's a mess
It's a start
It's a flawed work of art
Your city, your call
Every crack, every wall
Pick a side, pick a fight
Get your epitaph right
You can sing till you drop
Coz the fun just never stops
I love this city tonight
I love this city always
It bares its teeth like a light
And spits me out after days
But we're all gluttons for it
We know it's wrong and it's right
For every time it's been hit
Take back the city tonight
Tell me you never wanted more than this
And I will stop talking now
One perfect partner, one eternal kiss
Whoa whoa whoa
Take back the city for yourself tonight
I'll take back the city for me
Take back the city for yourself tonight
Whoa whoa whoa
It's a mess
It's a start
It's a flawed work of art
Your city, your call
Every crack, every wall
Pick a side, pick a fight
Get your epitaph right
You can sing till you drop
Cos the fun just never stops
I love this city tonight
I love this city always
It bares its teeth like a light
And spits me out after days
But we're all gluttons for it
We know it's wrong and it's right
For every time it's been hit
Take back the city tonight
I love this city tonight
I love this city always
It bares its teeth like a light
And spits me out after days
But we're all gluttons for it
We know it's wrong and it's right
For every time it's been hit
Take back the city tonight
I love this city tonight
I love this city always
I love this city tonight
I love this city always
04 Lifeboats (04:42)
Hold on hold on, let me get the words out before I burst
There's no truth at all poking at the giant eyes of ancient gods
Cool heads have failed now it's time for me to have my turn
Kiss me kiss me, life is way too short to scream and shout.
Flashed up in my wildest dreams the dark red blood streams
Stretching out like vast cracked ice
The veins of you the veins of me like great forest trees
Pushing through and on and in
Gliding like a satellite in the broken night
And when I wake you're there I'm saved
Your love is life piled tight and high set against the sky
That seems to balance on it's own
Sing out sing out, the silence only eats us from the inside up
I meant no harm but I only get to say these words too late
Wake up wake up, dreaming only leads to more and more nightmares
Snap out of it you said it in a way that showed you really cared.
Flashed up in my wildest dreams the dark red blood streams
Stretching out like vast cracked ice
The veins of you the veins of me like great forest trees
Pushing through and on and in
Gliding like a satellite in the broken night
And when I wake you're there I'm saved
Your love is life piled tight and high set against the sky
That seems to balance on its own
Send your lifeboats out for me
Send your lifeboat out
11 The Lightning Strike: What If This Storm Ends? / The Sunlight Through the Flags / Daybreak (16:18)
Carico i commenti... con calma
