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Afflicted
« Prodigal Sun »
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1 | Prodigal Sun [instrumental] 01:08
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| 2 | Harbouring The Soul 05:54
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| 3 | In Years To Come 04:10
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| 4 | Tidings From The Blue Sphere 04:46
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| 5 | The Empty Word 05:33
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| 6 | Astray 04:48
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| 7 | Rising To The Sun 04:21
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| 8 | Spirit Spectrum 05:31
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| 9 | The Doomwatcher's Prediction 01:55
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| 10 | Consumed In Flames 04:59
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| 11 | Ivory Tower 04:42
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| | Total playing time: 47:47 |
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Joakim Broms - Vocals
Jesper Thorsson - Guitar
Joacim Carlsson - Guitar
Philip Von Segebaden - Bass
Yasin Hillborg - Drums |
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Recorded in Sunlight studios, 25/V-12/VI 1992.
Produced by A.& Thomas Skogsberg. Engineered by
Thomas Skogsberg.
An alternate version of "Tidings from the Blue Sphere" was recorded but only
released on the "DEATH...Is Just the Beginning II" compilation
Prodigal Sun was re-released in 2008 by Metal Mind Prod. as a digipak (lim. to
2000 pieces). |
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| 2. Harbouring The Soul
Blinded by the light that I can't see
claimed to rescue me
deafening the sounds I cannot hear
for some obvious speeches-for others not as clear
not as clear
Serpent I am of thee... prodigal son
striving to win that which... cannot be won
seeking a faith in which I. |
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Казалось бы, Швеция начала девяностых поставляла исключительно олдовый death metal. Но у всех правил бывают свои исключения. Описываемая группа предложила на своём дебютнике разнообразный подход к вопросу о сочетании продвинутости с традициями сцены своей страны. Такая позиция сразу выделяет коллектив на фоне более стандартных терзателей струн того времени. Ближневосточное вступление настраивает на внимательное восприятие и подготавливает почву для дальнейших массированных действий. Развитие событий показывает значительную динамику, правда, характерно грязноватый звук вносит элементы негатива в общую картину восприятия. Сложно сразу понять, что перед нами не просто очередные шведы, а коллектив, способный предложить как интересные ритмовые модуляции, так и гибкий подход к гитарным партиям. Звук вносит свои коррективы, но через некоторое время начинаешь проникать глубже в структуру композиций и выявлять для себя прогрессивное наполнение альбома. Примечательна работа ритм-секции, которая, используя стандартный комплект приёмов, может закрутить неплохую спираль полиритмичных форм или фрагментарно пуститься в бластовую агонию более характерную для штатовских групп. Гитарные же ходы под стать ритмовой компоненте пластичны и способны манипулировать как чёткими отрывистыми фразами, так и широкими пластами перестраивающегося размера. Атональные мотивы в сцепке с проявлениями размытых диссонансов, обеспечивают глубину гитарным риффам. Характерно, что в таком материале нашлось место и редким проявлениям лиричности, обозначенным во вступлении. Наполнение альбома поначалу завораживает и сбивает столку своей причудливой и неожиданной формой. Потом же перестаёшь обращать на это внимание и просто наслаждаешься сильным материалом, способным удивить рядом неожиданных трактовок. Подводя итоги, хочется назвать данный лонгплей исключением, подтверждающим правило о шведской сцене начала 90-х. Таким образом, нет ничего удивительного в том, что коллектив не известен многим интересующимся сценой этой страны, но чертовски обидно, что такие альбомы, как описываемый, незаслуженно забыты. |
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Эта работа Afflicted очень похожа на вышедший с ней в один год альбом Disharmonic Orchestra, что, в общем-то, неудивительно. Обе команды не только оказались современниками, проповедовавшими схожий подход к зарождавшемуся тогда техничному death metal, но и записывались в одной студии. Sunlight Studio на тот момент являлась вотчиной влиятельнейших death metal-команд на континенте, поэтому такой выбор кажется вполне обоснованным. Примечательно, что Afflicted – лишь одна из немногих нетривиальных формаций (наряду с Xysma и уже упомянутыми DO), которой в Sunlight «нарулили» грязный и шершавый звук. Как правило, в данной студии предпочитали работать исключительно с death metal’ом «старой школы», поэтому сейчас альбом Afflicted может считаться чем-то вроде раритетной диковинки. Пожалуй, в чем-то «умники» Afflicted прописались даже экстремальней, чем гремевшие тогда Entombed и Dismember. Например, неторопливая и насыщенная звоном железа игра ударника имеет больше общего с истоками death metal, чем размашистые панк-ритмы соотечественников. Однако в целом «Prodigal Sun» нравится мне куда меньше своего «близнеца» от Disharmonic Orchestra: во-первых, структура композиций кажется менее последовательной и продуманной, во-вторых, Afflicted не могут похвастаться глумливой и несерьезной атмосферой, очаровавшей меня у австрийцев. Мелодическая составляющая на «Prodigal Sun», тем не менее, получилась более развитой, хотя соло зачастую звучат словно бы в отрыве от прочего материала, а заигрывания с «восточной» тематикой кажутся игрушечными. Возможно, альбом просто требует больше времени на то, чтобы оценить его в полной мере. Как бы там ни было, работа, несмотря на нарекания, заслуживает внимания со стороны поклонников техничного death metal первой волны – тяжелого и не потерявшего связь со своими корнями. Этот звук и этот подход узнаются и захватывают с первого взгляда, пусть первопроходцы и не старались быть идеальными в каждой детали. Кто знает, может быть, в незавершенности и есть секрет их очарования? |
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просмотров: 12124 |
scrutinizing the messages I receive
Won't you make me see (come alive)
come awaken me (come alive)
won't you make me be (come alive)
to it instantly
Won't you make me see (come alive)
arouse me (come alive)
show me on my way (come alive)
to it and seize the day]
Harbouring the port of my alleged sanctuary
still I'm trapped in a vicious circle on this merry
go round on churning seas that ferry'll make me
searching but my eyes can't see my redemptory
Alas, I'm lost in the jungle I've grown
in my quest to find the way
what I asked of the tarots was not was shown
am I but a soul astray?
enlighten me give me back my spark
deliver me from grey
give me the strength to go on
to seize each and every day
Stuck, I am stuck in the cobweb of my mind
(black is the path that leads me to think I'm blind)
numb, I am numb from the pain I cannot feel
(dead emotion, all seams so unreal)
3. In Years To Come
My knowledge and logic
fills my mind with fear
thoughtless exploitation
the deadline draws near...
I behold the desolation
before my eyes
evolution's denaturalization
the black rain falling from the skies
my mind's visions
our verdict of posterity
the presage of evil
obscured thoughts of what shall be
Extinction...
We lwave this place
to pass it on
in years to come
will all be done?
The home of life
we consume
man's ignorance
will seal his doom...
Darkness engraved my mind
thoughts pass through my head
visions of ravaged landscapes
where the living are outnumbered by the dead
a place ridden with diseases
where forest rivers glow
anial moribund species
still the seeds of death we sow
In years to come
My reflections are odious
when thinking about the daily regression
we're approaching our termins
as we proceed with our contamination
we defile our soul
with the knowledge of what awaits
this mortal coil
is all too late?
4. Tidings From The Blue Sphere
Probing... inward
seeking new depths within myself
an odyssey through my subconscious
the deeper I venture the worse it will be
I don't know if I want to see
as I realize my view of society
Their games of power infest the air
lost in your own world, you don't want to know
perpetual decline is breeding despair
I questio myself, how far will it go?
Go??
And life goes on under yellow sun
as time goes by in star-filled space
and ignorant children pace the earth
all revealing in endless mirth
A fragile eco-system
in orbit around the star
imbalance under way
it has come too far
The future is concealed by time
and lurking around the next bend on our way
yes, you speak and yes, you act
but is your reason still intact?
Errors, mistakes
something we make
trust in technology
something we fake
yeah!
Our action past and present
are closing in on us
visions of our future
a world that's choked in dust
5. The Empty Word
(I have) Realize the meaning of the empty word humanity
affected with the sight of (an even worse) our insane reality
Build up your aggression
release your frustration
despite the ignorance
of our passive lives
You keep on complaining
with an aggressive verbal rage
reform your mentality
react with more than words
you know what they have done
deeds beyond all measures
their insanity increases
I realize that LIFE IS EXTREME
Days passed by
before your TV eyes
your ignorance
leave me just frustration
#: Daily visions of a forthcoming end
where reality increases to the extreme
the world begins to boil over
awaiting just to cease to be
Our heritage, an unfertile world
diseased by greed and passivity
the major threat is yourself
your senseless mind and lack of consciousness
6. Astray
Cleansing my soul in temples of light
reborn with God's love, delivered form the night
given a second chance with a new life in sight
and after a day there's always the night
Astray-souls astray
Travelling through this life
to attain the unknown goal
the quest for putting an end to the strife
that binds one to one's toll
altering adjusting the ways
to find the golden path
attempting to master the maze
mitigating the inevitable aftermath
Roaming between the religions
between different ways of thought
seeking for the meaning of life
and what we're living for
without capacity to solve the riddle
we wonder 'til we are no more
Outstanding the sins of the past
leaving them all behind
looking younder at what's ahead
hiding the dark thoughts
in the haze of your mind
following guides and signs
utilizing the different charts
studying the sciencies
desiring to master the art
Seeking for the answers untold
collecting knowledge to foresee what'll be
after this death... shall it all unfold?
after this life... is there nothing but eternity?
7. Rising To The Sun
Guide me...
hrafn blots godi...
guide me...
hratn ass...
Odhinn
Odhinn...
Odhinn, hear me...
hrafnass, hear me...
lend me, Sleipner
so I cantride
between the worlds tonight
I sit on my skin rug under the mesmerizing moon
the show falls but I do no freeze
this night is calm and the sky is clear
and the shadows of my life dance on the trees
Spirit, spirit dance with me
dance with me tonight
spirit, spirit dance with me
as he flames we rise and fly
The drum is my horse and it rides through the woods
we swim on the starsea as one
I close my eyes when I hear the wolves
the howls of Geri and Freki, guide me!
Wolf, wolf howl with me
howl with me tonight
wolf, wolf howl with me
guide me now!
The rhythms of the beating of my drum fades away
and I see that the wolves stand awaiting for me
my naked feel leave no trace in the snow
as I run through the woods with the wolves
With my drum I ride the wind
and travel in what you call dreams
I let my spirit rise and fly
to nine worlds invisible to our eyes
My journey has gone beneath the worlds
I praise Odin for lending me sleipner
clenching my fists, I scream to the sky
my dreamquest has begun!
A pagan soul born a thousand years too late
I have the spirit of the old
and my path is set by fate
One of the faithful few I am one of the last
who worship pagan gods and claims
the heritage of our pagan father's past
8. Spirit Spectrum
My veins begin to freeze
as I adapt to cryogenic sleep
slowly losing consciousness
in the grasp of high-technology
I'm falling through the scrying window
spinning through a spheric world
confluent, psychedelic
flashing visions clear
Holographic, schematic
molecular, reversal
transmutation, acceleration
access access access to myself
I am on a journey
through the sanctum of myself
I am searching
for the secrets of my soul
I am experiencing
the depths of my mind
I'll find entrance to inner dominion
I chase myself through the maze
just to find what's in it
facing the mirror of emotions
the spectrum of my spirit
Revive memories, impale oblivion
I am present, in my own mind
Seconds freeze, vacuum time
reality denied
collapsing mind, trapped inside
forever I will die?
I am running mindless through the maze
as I face the entrance to the gate
behind the gate there's just another maze
this is eternity, I am forced to face
I see the image of my spirit spectrum
every color has turned black or grey
there are no limits to how much a soul can suffer
I will experience for an eternity
9. The Doomwatcher's Prediction
It all lies before me
in my hands
the awful facts of our future
oh yes, I fear for the development
of the final society...
Mechanized and sterilized
grey and impersonal
"A perfect world" I predict
inhabited with mindless shells
10. Consumed In Flames
I lay in darkness
I anguish I dwell
my soul is in torment
I'm living in hell
My mind is afflicted
with agonizing pain
scourging my soul
can I be sane?
Must do I so?
Must I do what they say
their orders their commandments
I have to obey
The future for me
the future I see
is clouded
by obscurity
"The kitchen, the kitchen"
system haunts me
I must burn
and then I'll be free
But how can I burn
without severe imjuries
to be consumed in flames
is that my destiny?
Now I am coming
there is no return
not in the gas flame
but in pure fire I'll burn
Oh no, never comes sister
to prevent me
from my holy task
I am saved, I am free
Yeah... baby... alright... come on...
11. Ivory Tower
Rising he who was subdued
committing acts of protest
their speech of lave is misconstrued
he will put it to the test
Rejecting rule that's obsolete
their influence won't last
he won't accept to taste defeat
their power is part of the past
Contradiction, false disguise
abusing faith of man
he has how seen through their lies
ignores that he is banned
Now... stop looking to the skies
no entity of light will help you
now... who created who?
Did man create god?
No palace in heaven
no life for eternity
these medieval beliefs
can't reign eternally?
the men in power
suffocating wills in a society conformed
in their ivory tower
arranging master plan for our society deformed
Rise now you who were suppressed
think with your own minds
don't let yourselves be oppressed
your own path is what you must find
Religion is but a means of manipulating people
it's time we face it, we are but animals with brains
stuck on this rotating globe of space
life is but a random outcome to biological processes
as is the human race...