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Во второй половине 90-х в США произошла занятная история, закончившаяся маленьким взрывом на территории зарождающейся металкор-сцены. Суть такова. В обширных окрестностях хардкоровой Мекки - Бостона - жили-были несколько начинающих рок-групп. Сочиняли они музыку кто во что горазд - кто рэпкор, кто хардкор, кто мелодичный дэт... Например, коллектив Overcast имел в своих рядах Майка Ди Антонио и Брайана Фэйра. В молодой группе Shadows Fall состоял молодой же Фил Лабонт, а родные братья Дуткевичи тем временем играли в Aftershock. Дела шли нормально, но в какой-то момент все закипело, и началась беготня. Сначала всплыл кверху брюхом Overcast, и Майк Ди принялся сколачивать новую команду. Он познакомился с Адамом Дуткевичем, и так получились Killswitch Engage. Фила Лабонта деликатно выставили за дверь, и он вплотную занялся своей группой All That Remains. Вместо него петь пришел Брайан Фэйр. Славный конец получился у Overcast, в общем.
Году к 2000-му все устаканилось, но история не закончилась. Все эти вышеперечисленные персонажи сформировали своеобразную металкоровую мафию, которая приложила руку чуть ли не ко всему жанру целиком. Помимо самого факта их участия в группах, оказавших значительное влияние на становление данного стиля, есть и еще кое-что. Адам продюсировал и KsE, и Shadows Fall, и As I Lay Dying, и Parkway Drive, Ди Антонио оформлял альбомы, в том числе и для Unearth вкупе с All That Remains, а Филип Лабонт чуть не стал вокалистом “Килсвичей”, если бы не Говард Джонс... Как говорил один известный политик, «вот такая, понимаешь, загогулина».
Но в 1997 году, когда вышел этот релиз, никто ничего подобного предположить не мог. Для SF это был первый полноформатник, и надо сказать, ничего подобного я от такой группы не ожидал. На сегодняшний день эта команда заработала себе не самое последнее имя, но до сих пор держится в середняках. И неспроста. Бодро наяривая свой вариант металкора, в основном состоящим из трэша, им отчаянно не хватает хорошего голоса. Мистер Фэйр и в Оверкасте-то не блистал (разве что своими дрэдами до пола), а тут... а тут все то же самое. Ни тебе внятного чистого голоса, ни мощного ора, ничего. Абсолютно средний вокал, более уместно смотрящийся где-нибудь в допотопной отечественной альтернативе. Контраст с первым альбомом разительный. Кстати, о нем.
«Somber Eyes to the Sky» - плотный сгусток мелодичного «смерть-метала» (об этом ниже). Вокалист Фил вообще неровно дышит к этому стилю - свой первый опыт игры в группе он приобрел, будучи дэт-гитаристом. Тот факт, что к гитаре он так и не вернулся, наводит на мысль о том, что петь у него получается лучше. Оно и слышно - его злобный голос звучит не в пример убедительнее Брайана. Если бы не дэтовый вокал, то стиль данной музыки можно было бы подогнать под хардкор, а наличие акустических моментов и вставок чистого вокала сильно приближают ее к металкору. Да и очень умеренное количество бластов, тремоло, и настоящего низкого гроулинга явно отдаляет от дэта. Хотя вот качество записи получилось никакущее. Мне трудновато разобраться в подобном винегрете - на данном релизе одна песня может вписываться в один жанр, другая - в другой, а третья - сразу в оба. Википедия считает, что это МДМ, хотя это хороший, злющий металкор. А коли так, то в этом жанре ему по напору уступит даже образцовый «Alive or Just Breathing» от “Килсвичей”, хотя в остальном преимуществ не будет.
Работа довольно однообразна, звучит сыро, но по отдельности треки вроде «Lifeless», «Revel in My Loss», «To Ashes» или акустического «Lead Me Home» имеют все шансы оставить приятный осадок.
В таком составе и с такой музыкой SF имели бы более радужные перспективы, на мой взгляд. Мощно, качево, а по прошествии пары лет добавилась бы и хитовость. Кто знает... |
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With only words I can't express my deep regret
Of time gone by and of feelings that I'll never know
Pain believed but never shared has left me damaged here
My wounds will bleed anew, I am now exposed
Reaching out, reaching in the pain that grips me
Holds me tight in crushed embrace
Holding out, holding out, try to protect from what I fear
Reaching out, reaching in the pain that grips me
Hold me tight is crushed embrace
Holding out, holding out, try to protect from what I fear
Revel in my loss
Sear me child, let this pain set me free again
With broken promise, never know what this life could bring
And the time spent alone sorting alone through emotions
Is a blessing that I know I cannot repay
Revel in my loss
Reaching out, reaching in the pain that grips me
Holds me tight in crushed embrace
Holding out, holding out, try to protect from what I fear
Reaching out, reaching in the pain that grips me
Holds me tight in crushed embrace
Holding out, holding out, try to protect from what I fear
2. Pure
I'll not want for longing, it causes heartache yet this singularity burns just
the same
Hope for ash of memory, this is pure agony
Eyes, they are too blind to see, this is pure agony
I'll not beg for you, this is pure agony
Knowing whats been true, this is pure agony
Fall from your light world, not again, this breeds fear
My life weakens and the pain I hold tight
Life hurts so now, I have no power here
Cease living somehow, I long to release you
As I fall I...As I fall we cry in despair
Don't be lifeline...don't be my lifeline, let me fall away
Alone, desolate.. alone and desolate am I the only one
Can it be real... can it be real, I can't go on
If you return here can I not ease the pain?
Forever knowing...loneliness....denial..I am the last one
Now would you look away?
Leave me alone here, That would tear me apart
As I fall I...As I fall we cry in despair
Don't be, lifeline....don't be my lifeline
Now deliver my soul
Your love walks away...leaves me as a child
Exposed to the horror I begin to cry
Emotions like velvet now caress my flesh...the truth that I run from
Pure, would you run away and leave me here to suffer?
Pain what did you want that I could not provide?
Pure would you run away and leave me here to suffer?
Pain what did you want that I could not provide
Fall from your light world, not again, this breeds fear
My life weakens and the pain I hold tight
Life it hurts so now, I have no power here
Cease living somehow, I long to release you
As I fall I...As I fall we cry in despair
Don't be, lifeline...don't be my lifeline, let me fall away
Alone desolate...along and desolate I am the only one
Can it be real... can it be real, I can't go on
3. Lead Me Home
(инструментал)
4. To Ashes
Why, I've found perfection now it slips through my grasp
Child, you touch me now as life flows through my hands
gray skies have been broken (I'll never see the warmth of your eyes)
Cold eyes softly spoken (Your face forever etched in my mind)
Love, I'll get through this if you stand at my side
Alone, this fear across me it shall never subside
gray skies have been broken (I'll never see the warmth of your eyes)
Cold eyes softly spoken (Your face forever etched in my mind)
You speak to me in rhythm and it waves across the water
You speak to me in ways that I don't understand
deep inside I hear every word every way
And after all is lost there is nothing left inside of me
I long for your touch
How I need to breathe your breath again
Deep inside me I know I'm alone
how I cherish your persuasive warmth
This is not what I want life to be
(there is no way I can stop this now)
And there's nothing left inside of me
I long for your touch
How I need to breathe your breath again
Deep inside me I know I'm alone
how I cherish your persuasive warmth
This is not what I want life to be
(there is no way I can stop this now)
And there's nothing left inside of me
Why, I've found perfection now it slips through my grasp
Child, you touch me now as life flows through my hands
gray skies have been broken (I'll never see the warmth of your eyes)
Cold eyes softly spoken (Your face forever etched in my mind)
Love, I'll get through this if you stand at my side
Alone, this fear across me it shall never subside
gray skies have been broken (I'll never see the warmth of your eyes)
Cold eyes softly spoken (Your face forever etched in my mind)
Endlessly unfallen words I cannot replace
don't cry my love, I believe that I won't fail you again
But I long to be your servant once more
By the morning light I'll have breathed my last
I implore you, don't forget my love
Don't cry my love, I believe that I won't fail you again
But I long to be your servant once more
By the morning light I'll have breathed my last
I implore you, don't forget.
5. Nurture
With Longing I recall
Yearning for a caress hollow and empty,
Unsheltered by the pain of the rest
Not without justification, torn down for my compassion
Free formed in emptiness
Have I been cheated?
Has all I have worked for been stolen away by disregarding what I most Yearned
for?
Relinquished all I deserve
Fearing not for suffering, is my home and pain my native tongue?
Loss and rejection are my family
Nurture
You are not the reason for my weakness
Lost I hold you to blame for fearing love
For my failure...accompany disaster and inherit the pain
Torn down for my compassion now I stand alone
Not sympathy just understanding I am shown
Too far gone now, my thoughts are wise
All alone because your taken so far
A graceful end to life
But its not over
Disguised in a full mask of truth
Those old words are denied
With longing I recall
Yearning for a caress hollow and empty, unsheltered by the pain of the rest
Not without justifcation, torn down for my compassion, free formed in emptiness
Repent what I feel
Mourn disguised..as life's seas are paralyzed.
6. Fleshold
Dying over and over in my mind
As you twist the knife I wonder why
Why you bothered to take this time
too concerned with yours I should think of mine
Do you sleep alone thinking of me (I can see)
While I sit alone wondering what could be (while I dream)
Do you lay with another but not with me (you've never been alone)
I sit alone because you're not with me (you're not with me)
My pain is all inside
Until razor and arm collide
From my heart upon the floor
Take my blood but you take more
Do you sleep alone thinking of me (I can see)
While I sit alone wondering what could be (while I dream)
Do you lay with another but not with me (you've never been alone)
I sit alone because you're not with me (you're not with me)
Take my life, you take more
Of my life, take some more
Just let me die
Dying over and over in my mind
As you twist the knife I wonder why
Why you bothered to take this time
too concerned with yours I should think of mine
Do you sleep alone thinking of me (I can see)
While I sit alone wondering what could be (while I dream)
Do you lay with another but not with me (you've never been alone)
I sit alone because you're not with me (you're not with me)
Of my life, take some more.
7. Eternal
Past the winds of your morality
Behind yourslves the sands ran through
They are the last ones to do action that brings comfort around you
Nothing will be theirs to defend by they don't even bother to make it start
Lies all around you is what you prove
Wasting away to nothing inside of you
All that which then rang true
Lies and deception now show through
Faith and belief in what was real can't be found in an emtpy shell
Now as I watch your back
I see your unity is a joke
I'll take what is real over empty promises and lies
I've not given away... to the hate at all
In the hands of someone who appreciates..from this vile heart
I pay such a price...death's face
I've not given away..to the hate at all
In the hands of someone who appreciates..from this vile heart
I pay such a price
Darkness left, wings of life drenched in blood
Angel..Angel..Angel..Angel.
Coming from your action creates a reaction
Left within your brain, cannot sustain.
Coming from your action creates a reaction
Left within your brain, cannot sustain
Those that I would call my friends whatever you gave that idea
Did they ever do anything for you without the promise of something in return?
Vanity and false humility allowed to take control of their lives
But to walk with no others, with no regrets and search through emptiness of my
life
Coming from your action creates a reaction
Left within your brain, cannot sustain
8. Suffer The Season
Unseen wounds fade to the surface
Agony I cannot stand
You don't know what I feel inside these eyes
Staring through your shallow body into the lies
Watching life pass before my eyesas I hang from the knot I tied
Thinking of what I have left behind, from this life I am saved
You've destroyed all I've made
What will become of my legacy
I don't know why I even bother
Ending it all is the only answer to questions at hand
The question of life and death to all answered at last
When they find me gone and they know my plan
They'll forget that they hate me and try to understand why I ended it all by
choice
While they cry and mourn
I'll be peace at last
Pray for the end..this life always feeling sorrow.. in life
What I've experienced in this agonized depression
Trying to understand and make the pain lessen
Receving nothing from the love that you send
I have found the only wayt o make the pain end
You want me to look inside my head
But its far to late to see whats bothering me when you already know my fate
Dwell on your own life if you value it so much
You don't beling in matters YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND
9. Somber Angel
Sworn I would not return here
Now that has proved untrue
I don't know why?
I hold this deep inside me and I'll let no one through
Defy me...deny me...I need you to end this
I look to myself to see and the years have grown so long
Am I weak and now I feel pulverized
Consequences I reap by myself
Those of you who don't know what I see..endless fight for my beliefs
I am alone here
Here's the place where I take my stand
I'll not be held down again
Broken no longer with no regrets, I am my own
Once you would watch me cry but never would you intervene
Now it's my turn to be free from all this pain
You cannot pretend to like what I am
You cannot change the past...do not even care
You won't ever take me, You cannot see, break me
And if you are ever lost...in our emotion
I look to myself to see and the years have grown so long.
Am I weak and am I alone
I lost myself
You didn't want to help me through this pain
Now I am lost inside
Try to crush m soul and now I feel pulverized
Consequences I reap by myself
Those of you who don't know what I see...endless fight for my beliefs
I am alone here
Here's the place where I take my stand
I'll not be held down agin
Broken no longer with no regrets
I am my own
Once you would watch me cry but never would you intervene
Now it's my turn to be free from all the pain
You cannot pretend to like what I am
You cannot chang the past...do not even care
You won;t ever take me, You cannot see, break me
And if you are ever lost..in our emotion
I now see what what I am
Can it be life sustained?
My reality.. my life clear of repression
I can't believe what is taken from my eyes.. my eyes..but my blood knows
My life, what I was born of
To suffer agonizing way..to live it heart full of fear
The pain, wake me for the day...I die
Look into you, bring me the answers to my life
Now I can see what has begun
Nothing's forever, our life is done
I've taken with me all that you have given
Nothing if for you
Wander on my reality... my life clear of repression
I can't believe taken from my eyes... my eyes.. but my blood knows
My life what I was born of
To suffer agonizing way.. to live it heart full of fear
The pain, wake me for the day...I die.
10. Lifeless
Took a walk down my life today
Broken and empty roads are paved with regrets and guilt I have made
Crushing what bits of hope remain
Do you want to believe what I believe?
I don't remember how to eat, sleep or breathe
Trapped inside this state of decay
You can't tell me that I don't want to stay
I know my pain...burn the faces beyond
Kill me long before I wake
Take me to my sleep I wait
Stifle my breath with every scream
I don't know when I lost my dreams
All my hopes, all my desires now extinguished in my wills fire.
It is gone and I no longer care
Come with me and some hate I'll share
You see no pain in my eyes, that is just my clever disguise
I will not cry to you,
You will not see the truth
Took a walk down my life today
Broken and empty roads are paved with the regrets and guilt I have made
crushing what bits of hope remain
Do you want to believe what I believe?
I don't remember how to eat sleep or breathe
Trapped inside this state of decay
You can't tell me that I don't want to stay
Suffering...lifeless age....face the pain...life's sweet suffering