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L'ora del risveglio. Un terremoto sonoro che confina tra Death e Thrash. Una rivincita su chi pensava fossero finiti. La sintesi di questo disco dei Testament è qui, in queste tre frasi.
Dopo il Thrash di timbro prettamente Speed di "The Legacy" e il Metal più orecchiabile (mainstream?) di "The Ritual", i Testament decidono di spingersi fino al confine con il Death, estremizzando la loro musica. L'esperimento era già stato tentato nel 1997 con "Demonic" senza grandi risultati, mentre questa volta il prodotto è un capolavoro. La line-up, definirla di tutto rispetto, sarebbe quasi un insulto: Chuck Billy sprigiona una rabbia immensa tra scream e growl di impatto micidiale. Peterson (anche in veste di produttore) e il bentornato Murphy (Death, Obituary) compongono riff granitici dedicando pochissimo spazio agli assoli, che vengono sovrastati dal devastante muro sonoro. Riassumendo, le composizioni artistiche di Skolnick non ci sono, questa volta si fa casino, anche se con grande perizia tecnica. Alla batteria arriva il mostruoso Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Grip Inc.), che è il vero artefice del suono brutale e massiccio che sprigiona questo disco. Un altro "italiano" entra al basso e non è uno qualsiasi. Parlo di Steve Di Giorgio (Death, Control Denied, Sadus), uno dei migliori in assoluto nel suo strumento (stesso discorso vale anche per Lombardo), che con il suo fretless bass rimane un po' schiacciato nella tempesta, ma sbuca nei vari bridge con linee originali e accattivanti.
Descrivendo cotanta potenza... Si passa dall'aggressivo esordio di "D.N.R." per poi sfociare nelle sorpendenti liriche di "Down For Life". Continuando il cammino, si approda alle pause pre-esplosione di "Eyes Of Wrath" e all'ossessivo ritornello di "True Believer". La canzone più violenta che abbia mai udito si chiama "Legions Of The Dead"; credo di aver reso l'idea. L'introduzione orientaleggiante di "Riding The Snake" è solo un tentativo (fallito) di riportare la calma. "Allegiance" è un altro capitolo di devastante potenza.
Quando si dice che il Thrash è morto nel 1991, ricordatevi che nel 1999 è resuscitato (contrariamente al titolo della prima traccia) grazie ai Testament. Devastante, aggressivo, tecnico, esaltante, violento... gli aggettivi si sprecano, la musica rimane.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate) (03:32)
Lies... broken dreams
Dismal past
is there more in life...
should I... know
Ending wars... ending pain
Ending of mankind is insane
and there's all the possibilities
some will fail and some will achieve
Even through in my youth
I didn't know but what can I do
And I may not ever see
In my pain, my suffering
Can not live for the rest of my life
D.N.R. Do not resuscitate me...
Life... lost unseen
Behind the mask
And with the open arms will I grasp
Open doors... open minds...
Ending all the madness I hate
And I may not ever see
In my pain, my suffering
Can not live for the rest of my life
D.N.R. Do not resuscitate me... D.N.R...
Wing of sadness... will
hold my prayers
all this madness... will
end my fears
contempt in life
Conceptualize, wrong or right
The ending of life...
God save me now...
Time... end it now
No going back
Can you see the light ass you pass
Ending wars, ending pain...
Waited all my life to be saves
And I will not ever see
All the hate and suffering
Can not live for the rest of my life
D.N.R. Do not resuscitate me... D.N.R.
02 Down for Life (03:22)
When I see my brother
What I see is like no other
What we had forever lost
Can't deny our friendship
Feeling like it's time to end this
Bad relation ripped appart
When we're young
and disaranged
We didn't know it
any other way
Now were grown
He's still the same
People see him suffering
I am not about to run away
Turn my back to him
In his darkest hour
Give him will to fight
Antagonize his thoughts
See him thew his thoughest times
Purify his weakened heart
All the friends
We feel the same
the way it was
back in the day
The more we change
He stays the same
Will we ever see our friend again
I... feel that...
I can't protect my friend from himself
All I've got
are these lessons learned in life
The lessons I've been taught
They still remain
inside me thoughts
Even as we speak
as troubled as it seems
He'll always be a friend of mind
That's the way it was
And always will be
When we're young
and disaranged
We didn't know it
any other way
Now were grown
He's still the same
People see him suffering
I... feel...
I cannot help my friend
Help him self
You... can't hear what I say
Never going away...
still friends down for life...
can you still fight...
All I've got
are these lessons learned in life
The lessons I've been taught
They still remain
Inside me thoughts
Even as we speak
As troubled as it seems
He'll always be a friend of mind
That's the way it was
And always will be
Now in the end
It plain to see
What kind of friend
He has been for me
All along he could never see
Who he was
And always be
04 True Believer (03:36)
Do you believe in the darkness below
Well I can summon them up
If you really want to know
As I tow the line
between bad and evil
Nothing can touch me now
True believer
Born in sin where I pledge my evil oath
Violence is golden now
Did you really want to go
As I draw the line
between bad and evil
Nothing can touch me now
True believer
True believer...
nothing can stop me now
and nothing can touch me now
True believer...
No use in praying forever shall I roam
Smoke dusted angels now
It's the only way I know
As I cross the line
between bad and evil
Nothing can touch me now
True believer
Ash to ashes, Dust to dust
all I ever wanted was power of the blood
Now look what I have done
What I have become
I'm the choosen one
Never gonna take me
Never gonna change me
Never gonna escape me now...
Do you believe there is evil in my soul
One final high is the way
That I really want to go
As I cross the line
between bad and evil
Nothing can touch me now
True believer
06 Legions of the Dead (02:37)
Chant incantate
See his legions march in trace
Destroy desecrate
Church of lies
The priest await to be
Right in this world
By fate the host of hate
Arose from a whirl
Sealed the earth from all it's sins
From fire that he spreads
Where's your God to save you know
from the hordes of the undead
Hear the locust roar...
The legions of the dead
Envoked in this world
The legions of the dead
Envoked all hell on earth
Choked this world dead
Paralyzed by what they believe
to be... unholy, all evil
Immortal, unholy, infernal...
Unholy, all evil
Immortal, unholy unfernal one...
The legions of the dead...
envoked all hell on earth
07 Careful What You Wish For (03:30)
Grace - in a perfect world
On shines the light
Praise - an angelic song
but there's another side you'll see
Now hide
salvation easily denied
Reigns - Down with misery
Life's not always what it seems
False hope
written in the testament of old
Take heed
stop believing everyword you read
Truth inconsistencies
Distorts the lie
False imprisonment
Forever lost inside your mind
Fates door
Just be careful what you wish for
Death's door
Just be careful what you wish for
Peace of mind I can't find
Don't be blind take the ride
Hey... we live in a fucked up world
Walking on through the demise
We step into the unknown
Your better save yourself...
Hey... we live in a fucked up world
Hiding behind the disguise
Never let your feelings show
Why can't you be yourself...
We live in a fucked up world
Walking on through the demise
We step into the unknown
Your better save yourself...
08 Riding the Snake (04:13)
Caged... and riding the snake
Straight down from the night
True love for the fix
and she never been able
one minute
to kick back the feelings enticed
and you know it's never the same
Venomous poison constricting your life
Life... enough of the taste
Sweet demonic night
Raised up on her legs
Everytime you encounter the demon
Your future forever forever is lost
While riding the snake
who suffers the loss
Is there no shame
Is life so bad without you...
So far away
and I still can't fight you!!!
Climb... straight into the veins
Ran into the cell
Straight up to the snake
and it never will ever be
Hidding from futures
of innocence lost
Will we ever escape
the clinch of the jaws
Drowning in pools filled with lies
Filled inwith pain
Watch how the serpent survives...
Simmering hate!!!
Caged... and riding the snake
Love loss for the fix
bit down on the snake
Fates sending her back
No place to go
She will never change her ways
Spent to many nights
and can not take
raw emotions from others
Drowning in pools filled with lies
Condemned in pain
Watch how the serpent survives...
Simmering hate!!!
09 Allegiance (02:37)
Hey everybody
Join together unified
Hey are you ready
for us all to fight for pride
It's our last chance to defend
our war cries to the bitter end
Pray up to the heavens
Our creator justifies...
A war dance of indians
It's my own allegiance to the fight
Me... white... breed...
Everybody simbolize
Join together unified
Hey everybody
come together, raise the knife
same old promise
that we've heard a thousand times
It's our last chance to defend
war cries to the bitter end
as man shows his ignorance
it's my own allegiance to the fight
Fight... me... white... breed...
Everybody simbolize
Join together unified
Fight... me... white... breed...
Everybody stand and rise
and join together unified
11 Fall of Sipledome (04:48)
Melting ice beneath the wave
Frozen ice sheets
Slowly start to break away
Another cycle has begun
The ice is flowing
The melt down has begun
Fall of siple dome...
The core reveals the past
Of a world once lost...
Shifting ice plates below
without warning
inter glacial sudden death
Land of ice, free to roam
Global warming
The sea will overflow
Sheets below, float in time
Arctic death millenium
Melted ice floods the earth
in twenty thousand years
the process repeats
Under ice the river flows
Swiftly moving
Falling earth into the sea
Death is slowly on the move
The level's rising
and there's nothing we can do
Fall of siple dome...
The core revealed the past
Of a world once lost...
Man will find the climate change
mandatory
Extinction of the human race
Apocalypse millenium
Our world gets colder
to meltdown by the sun
Sheets below, float in time
Arctic death millenium
Melted ice floods the earth
in twenty thousand years
the process repeats
And in the end you will find
under the sea earth will rise
Freezing, melting, oceans, rise...
Solo: Eric
Tidal waves found the shore
Destroying cities
No longer can be recognised
Devastation to us all
The sea will rise
and a world soon to fall
Fall of siple doom...
The core revealed the past...
of a world once lost...
Fall of siple dome!!!
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di cliffburton86
Siamo di fronte ad un disco di proporzione inaudite.
Questa nuova formazione ci ha regalato un album devastante come un maremoto e graffiante e affilato come un rasoio.
Di magico vento
«Il loro miglior album dai tempi di 'The Legacy'»
«D.N.R., Down for Life o la Slayeriana Legion of the Dead scatenano l’headbanging più furioso»
Di sofficino
Chuck Bill alterna con tranquillità la sua voce esplosiva con growl.
Un ottimo album thrash/speed/death metal che non si accosta ai Testament classici ma pur sempre al nuovo grande corso dei Testament.
