Una cosa è certa, gli Smashign Pumpkins sono tornati, senza sè e senza ma.
"Zeitgeist" finalmente ci ripropone (a differenza di "Mary Star of The Sea" e "The Future Embrace", ultimi 2 lavori di Corgan), con toni e soluzioni diverse rispetto al passato, quella rabbia più feroce e la dolcezza più infantile che rappresentano una peculiarità nell'anima degli Smashing Pumpkins.
Interessanti anche i testi, con Corgan che sembra voler fondere una dimensione privata con quella pubblica, un mondo alla rovina dove tutto si mercifica, dall'amore a ciò in cui si crede, fino anche all'immagine di una band, gli Smashing Pumpkins, morti e sepolti dalla loro stessa immagine.
L'inizio è prorompente, "Doomsday Clock" è un pezzo che cresce ad ogni ascolto, il riff cupo e il testo apocalittico preparano il campo alle intenzioni di Corgan, che sembra aver ritrovato una proficua via d'ispirazione. I padroni del mondo ci portano alla morte relegandoci dietro giorni di solitudine, la fine del mondo è nei nostri cuori che battono ancora (I they're bound to kill us all...when will they ever stop? ...the doomsday clock thiking in my hearth not broken).
"7 shades of Black" prosegue sulla stessa falsasariga, ritmo incalzante (mi ricorda beginning is the end is the beginning) per costruire l'imagine dell'uomo del nuovo millennio: I want you bad and without peer and without fear, per poi rimanere definitivamente soli: I'm without anyone at all.
"Bleeding the Orchid" a mio avviso è il capolavoro dell'intero album. Un dark aggressivo e malinconico, qui c'è tutta l'anima dei migliori Smashing Pumpkins. La riflessione di Corgan va su ciò che rappresenta oggi la band, di nuovo sulla scena con tutti i sogni e le speranze salvate dal passato: so here we are upon your stage, the laughts we shared, the dreams we saved, we're bleeding the orchid. Perfetta.
"That's the way (My Love is)" riprende le sonorità tipiche di Machina, ritornando in una dimensione più intima. In un mondo privo di senso, senza niente in cui credere l'amore può rappresentare l'ancora di salvezza, come un'età che sta per arrivare (I feel a coming age now), un sole che sorgerà (a certain sun keep rising on my belief in you), un sogno, una speranza da cui ripartire.
"Tarantula" rappresenta la voglia di rifugiarsi in questo sogno che è l'amore (I don't wanna fight, every single night, everything I want is in your eyes). Per la prima volta i toni diventano allegri, ma è una felicità inquieta, basta chiudere gli occhi e il male riappare (then close your eyes you'll see the angel dust). I due amanti sono le rovine della società in una società che non sa amare ma sa fingere sorrisi e felicità per mascherare il suo male, sanno di essere soli per questo (I don't wanna be alone). Il verso finale è una presa di coscienza (If it's a white hot soul they want, then a black heart they'll get).
"Starz" esalta con un ritmo quasi da marcia la forza di lottare degli uomini che sanno amare, immortali, senza paura. Un inno al coraggio, all'impegno, stelle che sanguinano, stelle che brillano, voler e saper soffrire per riacquistare la propria libertà. L'urlo conclusivo (we are free) sembra preparare il campo all'ineluttabile.
"United States" potrebbe essere la "Silverfuck" o la "X.y.u." di "Zeitgeist", ma a mio modo di vedere è superiore per i profondi significati e per il clima di tensione che riesce a creare. I riff cupi che si alternano a cavalcate isteriche, gli assoli inascoltabili, le urla di Corgan come echi sembrano creare un panorama solo sognato, una prospettiva auspicata ma irrealizzabile: la rivoluzione. Cosa mi faranno quando scoppierà la rivoluzione, cosa vi faranno, chiede Billy. Il pezzo esplode letteralmente alla fine, come una sommossa in fieri stridono le urla di Corgan per una rivolta che può essere culturale prima che cruenta (do you wanna watch me die??, let me do something good, let me prove something real like I should, ledt me embrace every single living thing, let me be every single moment I ever misunderstood).
"Neverlost" ritorna sulla terra, sulle speranze tradite e quelle ancora in piedi. Una bellissima ballad per ricordare che "if you'love you'll find certain truths left behind". Ancora una volta può rappresentare l'unica ragione per affermare di non aver mai perso una guerra, una rivoluzione, un ideale (I lost my place, I never lost, there's no disgrace in falling me). Stupenda.
"Bring the Light" vuole quindi ripartire dai rapporti personali, per non sopravvivere soltanto, ma per essere vivi. L'album riprende quota, il ritmo e i riff ricordano i Queens of the Stone age di "Song for the Deaf".
"Come on Let's go", pezzo in cui si sente l'infausto passaggio Zwan solo nella parte iniziale. Il tono complessivo è molto più aggressivo e il finale è semplicemente stupendo. "C'mon let's go" è il secondo invito a cambiare il mondo, una nuova rivoluzione proposta dopo quella di united States, il finale la ripropone con riff simili ma con significati diversi. Questa volta l'unica rivoluzione proposta è l'amore (I wanna love!).
"For God and Country" segna invece il fallimento totale in un clima di totale sterilità e indifferenza reso alla grande nella versione elettronica dell'album (It's too late for some, for what'you've done, for everyone). Corgan sembra arrendersi (I can't help what I divide in you) e si arruola nell'esercito della massa che difende la propria patria e il proprio Dio alla ricerca di nuove reclute. Inquietante.
"Pomp and circumstances" rappresenta la classica chiusura di album per i Pumpkins, ricorda una "Daydream", una "Sweet Sweet" o "Farewell and Goodnight", insomma la canzonetta che Corgan ama porre alla fine dei suoi lavori come un saluto piacione ai propri fans. La melodia è semplice, l'arrangiamento merita attenzione.
I Pumpkins si congedano (torn, broken and frayed...war, sunshine and grace) prendendo atto della loro sconfitta, con dolcezza.. e un assolo.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Doomsday Clock (03:44)
Is everyone afraid?
Is everyone ashamed?
They're running towards their holes to find out.
Apocalyptic means are lost among our dead,
A message to our friends to get out.
There's wages on this fear, oh, so clear.
Depends on what you'll pay to hear.
They're bound to kill us all in whitewashed halls,
Their jackals lick their paws.
Please don't stop,
It's lonely at the top.
These lonely days,
When will they ever stop?
This doomsday clock ticking in my heart, not broken.
I love life every day in each and every way,
Kafka would be proud to find out.
I'm certain of the end,
It's the means that has me spooked.
It takes an unknown truth to get out.
I'm guessing I'm born free, silly me,
I was meant to beg from my knees.
Please don't stop,
It's lonely at the top.
These lonely days,
Will they ever stop?
This doomsday clock ticking in my heart,
These lonely days, when will they ever stop?
We gotta dig in, gas masks on.
Wait in the sunshine, all bug-eyed.
If this is living, sake's alive.
Well, then they can't win, no one survives.
Is everyone afraid?
You should be ashamed.
Apocalyptic screams mean nothing to the dead.
Kissing that 'ol sun to know all there is.
Come on, last call, you should want it all.
Ah, it's lonely at the top.
These lonely days, will they ever stop?
This doomsday clock ticking in my heart,
These lonely days, when will they ever stop?
This ticking in my heart, is everyone afraid?
02 7 Shades of Black (03:17)
I'm on the street yeah
I want you
I'm looking for myself
I'm gonna make it
I'll take it
Like everybody else
Belle of the fawning
I'm yawning
Sister can't you spell
Above suspicion
Hey listen !
I'm digging my own hell
'Cause I want you bad, ah
'Cause I want you bad
And without peer
And without fear
I'm without anyone at all
I'm torn apart, decrying
How unjust you are
For busting
My black heart
'Cause you don't want me no more
But just you worry
'Cause when they scratch-scratch my door
You'll hurry
Ah 1, 2, 3
This gun is loaded, devoted
You postulate the rest
Riding the seesaw
There's no law
That I have ever met
I'm just a flat punk
On dead junk
Riding a vanguard
Cut from the vaunted
I'm haunted, till death do us part
'Cause I want you bad, ah
'Cause I want you bad
Fall in hate with me with one trick
You will want it all
The yeah-yeah tears
The now and here
The without anyone at all
I'm torn without
I'm crying out for doom
'Cause you don't want me no more
But babe don't worry
'Cause when you scratch-scratch my door
I'll show you, either or?
We are the lurking
The panzers
The black as coal as night
Stealing the stealthy
And stellar
Until we get it right
Notice the yearlings
The dead things
The pretty as you please
I am the regent, the marquis
Sowing my bad seeds
'Cause I want you bad, ah
'Cause I want you bad
Fall in hate with me with one trick
You will want it all
As St. Patrick pipes on!
03 Bleeding the Orchid (04:03)
If life is my witness, love is my song.
If nothing means no one, then blank, I belong.
If fear conquers easy, I can lead on.
Milk from the flower, blood from the dawn.
So here we are upon your stage,
The laughs we shared, the dreams we saved.
Bleeding the orchid,
We’re bleeding the orchid.
Bleeding the orchid.
Blessed my weakness, blessed my wrongs,
As hate forms the sequence of one by one.
As freedoms die easy with suffrage, the want.
There’s clouds in my shower, ghosts in my arms.
Youth is where you are, faith some sinner's child.
We're bleeding the orchid,
We're bleeding the orchid,
Bleeding the orchid.
Gilded art, this silent past triumph through alarm,
So thus charmed, but hearts untouched by hearts unloved.
Bleeding the orchid,
Bleeding the orchid.
Here we are upon your stage,
The love we share, the dreams we’ll save.
They’re bleeding the orchid.
05 Tarantula (03:51)
I don’t want to fight every single night.
Everything I want is in your eyes.
You and me go back to places I don't know to care,
The spoils of all I got were left for scraps.
Don’t let me say this, but you're no worse than me.
It’s crazy.
We are the real, if real ever was, and just because,
We are the real, they feel we have enough.
We are the real, cause someone gave us up.
I want to be there when you’re happy,
I want to love you when you’re sad.
Can’t stand the morning rain?
Get out, I'll take your place then.
Can’t stand the blazing sun?
Then close your eyes, you’ll see the angel dust.
I don’t want to be anything believed,
A million watts of sound can’t compare.
Come along, you’ll see the world.
The pulse ripples, the crowd unfurls,
The current starts to flow, and then you're on.
Oh, it’s a white hot soul they want to sing for.
We are the real, if real ever was, and just because
We are the ruin of every living soul.
We are surreal cause someone gave us up.
Don’t break the oath,
I want to love you when you’re happy.
Don’t break this oath,
I want to be there when you’re sad.
Freeze-frame the pouring rain.
We are the real, as real as any ghost, so easy now.
We are the real in every living soul, oh, don't they know?
Can’t stand the blazing sun?
Can’t stand the morning rain?
Oh, get out, I'll take your place again.
I don’t want to be alone,
Oh, I don’t want to be alone,
Oh, I don’t want to be alone at all.
If it’s a white hot soul they want,
Then a black heart they’ll get.
06 Starz (03:43)
Born of love and cast in light,
Don't you know we cannot die?
We are stars, we are.
The stars above, stars of grace,
Shining down what's left to face.
You hurt so bad.
This knowing, this fallacy,
I want so much to follow as I lead,
For love, I keep silence, I weep.
Dead suns rule dead air, but Heaven is everywhere.
Stars...
Torn from God and flung towards night,
Don't you want what I can't fight?
We are stars, we are.
The stars that shine, stars that bleed,
Silver seeking destiny,
So follow, please.
This hurts so much, this knowing carries me.
We want so bad, we forget we are free.
Spirit smile on, deep black diamonds.
So rise the lost toys, islands of white noise and purple haze.
We are stars.
What hurts so much is knowing we are free.
07 United States (09:52)
Tired eyes, closed for days.
There's no regret, cause there's no place.
I don’t know what I believe, but if I feel safe, what do I need?
A home.
Revolution, revolution, revolution blues.
What will they do?
Revolution, revolution, revolution blues.
What will they do to me?
What will they do to me?
What will they do to me?
What will they do to me?
Dulcet tongues, whisper fast.
The future yearns, right now's the past.
Rouse me soon, the end draws night.
Whose side are you on?
Your blood you can not buy.
Revolution, revolution, revolution blues.
What will they do?
Revolution, revolution, revolution blues.
What will they do to you?
Well, I, I feel all right, so tonight, I got to ask you why,
Why deny it?
It's no surprise, I've got to survive.
Freedom shines the light ahead,
I'll lead the last charge to bed.
I said my last rights,
I don’t have to run scared no more.
Fight, I wanna fight, I wanna fight a revolution tonight.
I wanna fight, I wanna fight a revolution tonight,
At the light, at the light.
Do you wanna watch me die?
Let me be something good,
Let me prove something real like I should,
Let me embrace every single living thing,
Let me be every single moment I ever misunderstood.
08 Neverlost (04:20)
All hands on deck
Setting sail to get wrecked off course
You make what you want of me
I will keep you anyway
Let's fill these hours and kill desire
Let's fill these hours and kill desire
I'm in touch with you
Let's kill these hours and fill desire
Every turn is torture thought
Every kicking of the drum
I've seen the film
I know the place
I'm never lost
There's just one way across
I'm never lost
Headlights shoot north
The ends of earth off course
Of course
If you think just right
If you'll love you'll find
Certain truths left behind
All this is that once forgot
A closing down of the gate
But oh these hours
I lost my place
I'm never lost
There's just one way
There's no disgrace in failing me
Let's kill these hours and fill desire
I'm in touch with you
Let's kill these hours and fill desire
I'm in touch with you
I'm in touch with you
09 Death From Above (04:06)
A Little Hunger
A Little Wonder Of
Death From Above
Death From Above
Oh Mary Mary
What Are We Askin Of
Death From Above
Yes Love Im Sinkin
I Wonder Just How Far
What Was I Thinkin
Of When I Fell Apart
I See The Moon Move
Cover Me Under The Spell
I See The Few Souls
Cover Me Hungry And Cold
I Know The First Thing
Running Up Under Your Path
I Know This Can't Last
Death From Above
Shoot Here Comes
Death From Above
A Little Reject
A Simple Conjure Of
Death From Above
You Rock N Rollers
You Sudden Victims Of
Death From Above
Oh Death From Above
Yes Love Im Sinkin
I Hunger Where You Are
Whats Left But Notice
To Notice Just How Far
I See The Moon Light
Cover Me Under The Spell
I See The Few Souls
Beggin Bury Us Now
I Know The Valleys
Running Up Under My Path
I Know The (Spare Leaves ?)
Death From Above
Oh Here Comes Death From Above
Oh Lord Im Sinking
I Just Dont Know How Far
Its Death From Above
Yes Love Im Sinking
I Hunger Where You Are
Death From Above
Death From Above
Yes Lord Im Thinking Of
Death From Above
Yes Lord Im Thinking Of
Death From Above
13 Pomp and Circumstances (04:20)
When I was born, I lost.
When I was freed, I fought.
Now that I’m loved, I’m caught.
Between the rest and this tragic mess, an invited guest.
Torn, broken, and frayed, oh, don't we face war, sunshine, and grace?
Oh, won’t you stay for a while?
We can fail in style, I can hold your smile for a while.
What was once new, now gone.
What was once praised, now wrong.
As they go, we can say we know, but what do we know,
But war, sunshine, and grace?
Don't we see what's bitter to taste?
Torn, broken, and frayed, don't we face war, sunshine, and grace?
Won't you stay?
Cause I won't tell, I won't tell a soul that I'm mad as hell.
Torn, broken, and frayed, I'm torn, broken, and frayed,
No, I'm cold, worn out, and shamed.
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di MiciaTigre
Corgan ormai si crede un messia, in realtà è un artista finito.
Disco che sembra tutto uguale, e mancano spunti di creatività.
Di Deviljin
Questo "Zeitgeist" è quanto di più insulso, monotono e falso ascoltato da anni.
Se ne fosse salvata una di canzone!!!!!
Di fastfish
Corgan sembra essersi concentrato di più sulla propria voce e forse proprio questo ha fatto sì che perdesse in spontaneità.
Più che delusione si prova solo rassegnazione.
Di zaireeka
Dimenticate che questo disco è una cagata pazzesca... dopo il quarto/quinto ascolto capirete che non è così.
Il suono di questo album, fatto di chitarre heavy e batterie epilettiche, vi permette raramente di pensare che il mondo sia un posto bellissimo.
Di Torre Ste
"United States", quasi dieci minuti di delirio sonoro che alzano la qualità di questo ritorno.
Rumoroso, grezzo, distorto, poco melodico, spigoloso e per nulla consolatorio, diverso dai precedenti album.
