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Gelsenkirchen (distretto di Munster), anno 1990.
Sono passati solo pochi mesi da quando, con l'uscita dello storico "Agent Orange" ('89), Tom Angelripper e soci si sono tolti lo sfizio di far fare un bel giro in bicicletta senza sellino a molti dei loro detrattori.
Da un lato, infatti, l'ingresso in formazione del chitarrista Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik ha saputo spazzare via anche le ultime incertezze compositive che la band si trascinava dietro sin dai tempi dell'EP d'esordio "In The Sign Of Evil" ('84, ad oggi tra i massimi esempi di inettitudine tecnica, bruttezza dei componenti e imbarazzante mediocrità di liriche: indimenticabile l'inno onanistico-nichilista: "I masturbate to kill my self"), dall'altra, "Onkel" Tom ha imparato a vestire in maniera eccellente i panni del frontman, maturando notevolmente anche come paroliere. Insomma, con l'appropinquarsi della fine del decennio, i Sodom possono affrontare la scena metal nazionale ed europea a testa alta, con accresciuta dimestichezza in fase di songwriting e, cosa che non fa mai male, una buona fetta di pubblico che fa il tifo per loro.
Proprio durante il tour promozionale di "Agent Orange", però, il raggiunto equilibrio del terzetto si spezza: Blackfire, su invito di Sua Maestà Mille Petrozza, decide di unirsi ai cugini Kreator, con i quali registrerà, l'anno successivo, l'ottimo "Coma Of Souls". Per tale motivo, "Better Off Dead" si presenta già sulla carta come un disco, se non di rottura, certamente di allontanamento rispetto a quanto fatto sentire fino ad allora dalla band.
L'attacco della opener "An Eye For An Eye" fuga ogni dubbio: bastano poche battute, un paio di giri di chitarra e una manciata di tupa-tupa per cogliere gli effetti di una piccola rivoluzione intervenuta a livello di produzione. Il veterano Harris Jhons (tra i fautori, tra l'altro, di quell'apocalisse sonora che fu "Consuming Impulse" dei Pestilence), richiamato in sala comandi dopo aver messo la propria firma nel disco precedente, opta infatti per un taglio sonoro più secco, per certi versi più pulito e stranamente compresso, che pare quasi volersi lasciare alle spalle le sonorità ruvide e vagamente zanzarone degli album precedenti. Tale rinnovata veste sonora, sebbene abbia lasciato interdetti molti puristi del genere, a mio avviso non compromette affatto la qualità complessiva del disco e, anzi, si attaglia perfettamente allo stile del nuovo chitarrista Michael Hoffman (proveniente dai Francescobusiani Assassin).
Proprio il differente approccio riservato da quest'ultimo alla chitarra, infatti, costituisce un ulteriore punto di rottura con le precedenti produzioni del terzetto. Nella sua tutto sommato breve carriera nei Sodom, il buon Frank Gosdzik era sempre riuscito, a mio avviso, ad utilizzare al meglio i "pochi mezzi a propria disposizione": il suo era uno stile piuttosto riconoscibile, dal vago sapore proto-blackeggiante, con ritmiche grattuggiose su corda singola e armonizzazioni su intervalli di quarta, cui si contrapponevano assoli, spesso in tapping, nei quali trovava sovente spazio una certa melodia, una certa orecchiabilità. Hoffman, dal canto suo, preferisce evitare imbarazzanti tentativi di scopiazzatura e opta per un lavoro chitarristico tutto sommato personale che, da un lato, nei pezzi più tirati, si presenta costruito su ritmiche chirurgiche, dal retrogusto quasi statunitense ("Shellfire Defense" e "Tarred And Feathered"), e, dall'altro, strizza l'occhio, in maniera neppure troppo velata, all'heavy più tradizionale, se non addirittura all'hard rock tout court.
Sarà proprio questa notevole varietà di sounds e generi a fare da croce e delizia per "Better Off Dead". Preso nel suo insieme, infatti, il disco si palesa forse addirittura fin troppo variegato per gli standard dell'epoca: da una lato, la velocità di furiosi lampi speed/thrash (quali la tiratissima "Bloodtrails"), in cui la band mostra quanto ancora possa sentirsi a proprio agio con tempi e soluzioni puramente dedite all'aggressività sonora, dall'altro, quella mescolanza di passione e rispetto che da sempre lega a doppio filo il leader Angelripper con le origini del genere metal. Nel disco trovano, infatti, posto due cover: la splendida "Turn Your Head Around" (gioiellino perduto della discografia dei Tank, consigliatissima band dallo stile spudoratamente motorheadiano) e, addirittura, in pieno hard rock revival, "Cold Sweat" dei Thin Lizzy. Ma, ancor di più, è la presenza di mid/mid up tempos quali "The Saw Is The Law" e "Resurrection" (nel cui finale addirittura fanno la loro comparsa dei coretti vagamente epici assolutamente inconcepibili fino al disco precedente!), a segnare maggiormente la distanza con quanto fino ad allora fatto sentire dal terzetto.
Anche negli episodi più violenti, poi, il disco pare permeato da un approccio più ordinato e più ragionato, meno spasmodico. L'accresciuta dimestichezza con i propri strumenti (i progressi di Witchunter alla batteria rimangono ancora oggi documentati nelle migliori enciclopedie metallare alla voce "Miracolo"), una maggiore maturità compositiva e il venir meno di quella specie di necessità di suonare "cattivi" a tutti i costi (basti per tutti il cantato di Angelripper, qui molto più misurato e, ancor più che in passato, in puro Lemmy style), fanno sì che l'album possa godere di un groove e di una immediatezza del tutto nuovi per il sound della band.
"Better Off Dead", pur non potendo fregiarsi del titolo di capolavoro, rimane a tutt'oggi un ottimo disco. È ben suonato, vario, forse solo penalizzato da un numero eccessivo di canzoni che, se non altro ai primi ascolti, lo viziano di una sorta di "dispersività", ma, soprattutto, rappresenta il tentativo - perfettamente riuscito - di una band di staccarsi dall'intransigenza che ne aveva caratterizzato il sound nei dischi precedenti, senza per questo rinunciare alla propria natura estrema.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 An Eye for an Eye (04:25)
Oh great God, If you really exist
For many years, I am asking you why
Why are the innocent dead and the guilty alive?
Where is justice? Where is punishment
Something big is brewing
You can see it in my eyes
They burn with a beastly hatred
That will be realised
Why are the innocent dead?
Come on god, answer me
Why are the guilty alive?
Don't want to be deceived
They think they are above the law
They're trying to break my spine
Where is justice, where is punishment
Where is the human line
An eye for an eye
Inveterate despite
An eye for an eye
A one man war on crime
As I began to talk to god
I've even lost my mind
I only want to know one thing
What I've done, was it wrong or right
Why are the innocent dead?
Come on god, answer me
Why are the guilty alive?
Don't want to be deceived
They think they are above the law
They're trying to break my spine
Where is justice, where is punishment
Where is the human line
An eye for an eye
Inveterate despite
An eye for an eye
A one man war on crime
An eye for an eye
Inveterate despite
An eye for an eye
A one man war on crime
A loving husband, devoted father
Till the day the mob opened the fire
Retaliation and vindictiveness
His only mission and ardent desire
Why are the innocent dead?
Come on god, answer me
Why are the guilty alive?
Don't want to be deceived
They think they are above the law
They're trying to break my spine
Where is justice, where is punishment
Where is the human line
An eye for an eye
An eye for an eye
02 Shellfire Defense (04:22)
The cover of darkness no longer conceals
An approaching enemy
There are many ways to kick some ass
With updated technology
You will always get on your knees
In the war you're gonna fight
Prevent agreements between nations
No democracy but more genocide
Keep your eyes open your under control
There is something that's over the top
Penetration and power sends bullets of lead
Inside your body to do the job
Shellfire defense
Pray to god that he will take you in his hands
Shellfire defense
You wish to get the final shot
That makes your nightmare end
Eliminate the threat and minimise the risk
Supremacy against the attacks
New weapons in front of fighting troops
They get no chance for shooting back
Who gave you the criminal passions?
Inclinations to kill
Retribution demand victims
No matter what you feel
Keep your eyes open your under control
There is something that's over the top
Penetration and power sends bullets of lead
Inside your body to do the job
Shellfire defense
Pray to god that he will take you in his hands
Shellfire defense
You wish to get the final shot
That makes your nightmare end
Shellfire defense
Pray to god that he will take you in his hands
Shellfire defense
You wish to get the final shot
That makes your nightmare end
Long vanished is the age of blows with a club
Wholesale murder guarantee
Soldiers within the meaning of law
Decimate the dregs of society
Where's man's dignity and human nature?
Disarmament and combination
Fit in with the needs of present
Peace not revelation
Keep your eyes open your under control
There is something that's over the top
Penetration and power sends bullets of lead
Inside your body to do the job
Shellfire defense
Pray to god that he will take you in his hands
Shellfire defense
You wish to get the final shot
That makes your nightmare end
03 The Saw Is the Law (04:11)
Slazing scents taint with blood
Signed his path of death
Trace him to the place of fright
Searching for his daily bread
When midnight comes around
Be warned because he is out of sight
What carnal secrets does he hide
His ruthless rage will come
Buried deep inside his mind
The rites of the saw began
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
Executed children
Laughing mothers by their side
Feel the pain of ripping flesh
Those who've died
Have paid the price
And drawn their final breath
What carnal secrets does he hide
His ruthless rage will come
Buried deep inside his mind
The rites of the saw began
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
What carnal secrets did he hide
His worries of the flesh have come
With tears in his eyes and a gun in his hand
So ends the story of the chainsawman
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The saw is the law
The law is the saw
The saw is the law
The law is the saw
08 Never Healing Wound (02:26)
Secluded by generalities
No eyes saw them before
Exiled and damned from birth till death
Rejected by their parents
Locked up as beasts
No clergy brought their souls to bless
Never ending pain
In the hour of their death
Driven to their tomb
By never healing wounds
Nobody perceived the cries
No famine got appeased
In hospitals of infanticide
Killers camouflaged
As harmless pediatrist
Children found no place to hide
Never ending pain
In the hour of their death
Driven to their tomb
By never healing wounds
Never ending pain
In the hour of their death
Driven to their tomb
By never healing wounds
With excrements soiled bodies
Starved by malnutrition
Whooping cough and AIDS disease
Now the regime is overthrown
Memorials are raised
But hopes to survive will freeze
Never ending pain
In the hour of their death
Driven to their tomb
By never healing wounds
10 Resurrection (04:50)
[Dedicated To : Tom's Dad, who died too early]
Your soul disappears in eyes of blue
With dignity and lonely lust
The moon is shining bright to you
Angels adore your mortal dust
Welcome to the paradise
Great master's hands will rise
To bring you to the holy place
Eternal life for a human race
Resurrection
Flesh to your bones
Everlasting fortune
You are born
Resurrection
With flowers of gold
Give credence to heaven
Believe in god
Your spirit was willing but your flesh was weak
Don't wanna leave the world of lies
They're standing around when you go to sleep
And give you no chance to say goodbye
Welcome to the paradise
Great master's hands will rise
To bring you to the holy place
Eternal life for a human race
Resurrection
Flesh to your bones
Everlasting fortune
You are born
Resurrection
With flowers of gold
Give credence to heaven
Believe in god
Resurrection
Flesh to your bones
Everlasting fortune
You are born
Resurrection
With flowers of gold
Give credence to heaven
Believe in god
Resurrection
Flesh to your bones
Everlasting fortune
You are born
Resurrection
With flowers of gold
Give credence to heaven
Believe in god
Now you go through a time of revival
Wisdom from above
A kingdom where you find your idol
Worship, liberty and love
Now you go through a time of revival
Wisdom from above
A kingdom where you find your idol
Worship, liberty and love
Resurrection
Flesh to your bones
Everlasting fortune
You are born
Resurrection
With flowers of gold
Give credence to heaven
Believe in god
11 Tarred and Feathered (03:02)
Source and seed of misanthropy
Is the age of inquisition
Where kings and queens got the power
To lay down immoral religions
Pursuit of innocent flesh
Shredding of their blood
Plundering and robbing
A thousand natural lusts
Hypnotised by the smell of death
Stiff walking to the stake
Amusement, tar and feathers
You are gonna loose your faith
Delivered from the hell's great fear
Spirits lost in gloom
Seek them in their dread abode
Tarred and feathered
Beautiful red-haired ladies
They got put in the pillory
Skinned alive or stoned to death
Broken on the wheel
Sanguinary with arms across
The king watched the scenery
Exorcised and quartered
In the shambles of sin
Hypnotised by the smell of death
Stiff walking to the stake
Amusement, tar and feathers
You are gonna loose your faith
Delivered from the hell's great fear
Spirits lost in gloom
Seek them in their dread abode
Tarred and feathered
Hypnotised by the smell of death
Stiff walking to the stake
Amusement, tar and feathers
You are gonna loose your faith
Delivered from the hell's great fear
Spirits lost in gloom
Seek them in their dread abode
Tarred and feathered
Tarred and feathered
Tarred and feathered
12 Stalinorgel (04:41)
Declaration of war by a madman
Offensive in blizzards and fog
Opening of the conflagration
Thrust to the hostile front
Snowed up Russian winter
There's nothing shining bright
Resistance in December
Against the deadly light
Stalinorgel
Carry the war into the enemy's camp
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Vomiting fire - Infernal thunder
Stalinorgel
Pugnacity and national defense
Grim struggles hand to hand
Curtain of fire at the frontline
Capitulation and retreat out of this land
Snowed up Russian winter
There's nothing shining bright
Resistance in December
Against the deadly light
Stalinorgel
Carry the war into the enemy's camp
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Vomiting fire - Infernal thunder
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Carry the war into the enemy's camp
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Vomiting fire - Infernal thunder
Stalinorgel
Arisen through their own fault by assumption of power
The end is immediately near
Red army struck back in triumphant advance
Madman lost the war and disappeared
Snow covered Russian winter
There's nothing shining bright
Resistance in December
Against the deadly light
Stalinorgel
Carry the war into the enemy's camp
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Vomiting fire - Infernal thunder
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Carry the war into the enemy's camp
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Vomiting fire - Infernal thunder
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Carry the war into the enemy's camp
Stalinorgel
Stalinorgel
Vomiting fire - Infernal thunder
Stalinorgel
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