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Alchemist
« Austral Alien »
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1 | First Contact
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| 2 | Great Southern Wasteland
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| 3 | Solarburn
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| 4 | Alpha Cappella Nova Vega
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| 5 | Older than the Ancients
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| 6 | Backward Journey
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| 7 | Nature on a Leash
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| 8 | Grief Barrier
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| 9 | Epsilon
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| 10 | Speed of Life
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| 11 | Letter to the Future |
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Adam Agius - vocals, guitars, keyboard
Roy Torkington - guitars
John Bray - bass, keyboards
Rodney Holder - drums |
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Produced & engineered by DW Norton Backbeach Studios VIC January 2000 |
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| 1. First Contact
You landed your ships on a foreign land.
Discovered worlds you didn't understand.
A world full of creatures that you've never seen.
Flora and fauna beyond your dreams.
Seeking out a new world, exploit it as your own.
Habitual resources expired.
Choose the land of plenty.
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Некогда горячо любимая технодэтстерами банда из Австралии Alchemist выпустила в 2003 году свой последний на текущий момент альбом, техно дэта в коем не больше, чем случается дождей в пустыне. Стилистику команды определить очень сложно и максимально запихнуть в какие-то рамки можно лишь определением психоделик-метал. И сколько раз я не пытался, так у меня и не получилось оценить все грандиозные замыслы австралийцев, наоборот, чем больше я слушал “Austral Alien” тем больше он меня расстраивал. Как будто Генри Роллинза запихнули на готическую вечеринку и под угрозой жизни семье сказали: “Один настоящий качевый рифф и больше живыми ты их не увидишь!”. Вот и мучается бедняга – крутить семплы ему вроде как и противно, но выбора особого нет, и пусть порой случаются удачные находки в виде воздушных клавиш или каким-то чудом просмотренных цензурой соляков, все тут же губится мешаниной нудных звуков. Тут есть и что-то от земляков Simple Minds ("Alpha Capella Nova Vega"), и какие-то фрагменты от The Cure ("Older Than The Ancient"), вокальная манера в той же “Alpha Capella Nova Vega” чем-то напоминает Дэвида Сильвена и одновременно с тем позднее творчество Amorphis, но дожить до концовки “Austral Alien” мне было явно не суждено. Попытки хоть как-то систематизировать бессистемность – занятие практически бессмысленное, ровно как и прослушивание этого очень неоднозначного творения. Хотя кислотное оформление как обложки, так и самого буклета, и намекают, что курнув или съев грибов, и диск заиграет новыми красками, желание идти на такие подвиги ради нового творения Alchemist как-то не хочется. Для дай хард фэнов австралийцев, скупающих все их альбомы ради коллекции. (Диск предоставлен компанией Irond) |
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6-й альбом этой замечательной австралийской команды - это как раз тот редкий случай в Проге вообще, и в techno-death-е в частности, когда при минимальных усилиях музыканты добились максимального результата, т.е. здесь нет ультра-скоростных гитарных запилов а-ля тот-же Nocturnus, постоянных и не всегда уместных ритмических смен, казалось-бы все просто и ровно, но в тоже самое время весьма нестандартно и действительно довольно сложно. Не в плане пробежаться пальцами по грифу со скоростью Петруччи или Ярзомбека, хотя этим гитарным монстрам нужно отдать должное, однако, такие понятия как техника и скорость уже изжили себя, т.к. сейчас даже панки не брезгуют поиграть быстро на 1-2-х струнах... В общем, дело в том, что вся суть владения инструментом, будь то гитара, барабаны или бандура, именно в звукоизвлечении, не говоря уже об умении создавать неповторимые, оригинальные гармонии, чем, собственно, всегда и славились Alchemist. Конечно, c death-ом здесь мало чего общего, разве что вокал местами и, конечно же, жирный гитарный звук. Барабанщик явно фанат Дэнни Керри из Tool. В целом, "Austral Alien" -очень сильная и неоднозначная работа! Рекомендую всем ценителям интеллектуальной музыки, будь то почитатели талантов Фриппа и Ко, или же башкотрясы, любители Death, Pestilence и иже с ними. |
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Купил этот CD т.к. в рецензии на этот диск у Айронд было написано что это Progressive Death Metal из Австралии. Но вот что я не пойму, почему и за что российские издатели так любит обманывать своих российских покупателей? Это всё равно что на продуктовом рынке продавать картофель с ценником что это киви...
А теперь рассмотрим что же из себя представляет этот "Austral Alien".
Типичная тупая альтернатива на хардкорной подкладке с чистым блеющим и кричащим вокалом, с множеством электронных и амбиент элементов. С композиционной части альбом невероятно ужасен, примитивен и нуден, 4 гитарных аккорда на максимальном дилэе с реверберацией повторять на протяжении 3-х минут подряд и при этом ныть и кудахтать в микрофон (кое как сдерживаюсь в рамках цензуры). Гитаристы кося под затупков забыв про свое Jazz-Metal прошлое практически не применяют металлический приём Palm Muting (глушение струн тыльной стороной кисти правой руки вдоль подставки для струн), а если и применяют то очень тупо и редко. Никаких соляков нет, только попискивающий синтезатор типа 808 или 909-го. Уровень владения инструментами невероятно низкий. Качество звука какое-то мутное, звук ударных на уровне ниже среднего. Было бы очень глупо издавать этот альбом или заключать с музыкантами контракты, очень и очень глупо, а ещё было глупее покупать этот альбом… Поэтому учитесь на чужих ошибках.
Альбом понравится людям которые жили с 60-х годов прошлого века в глухой пещере и недавно выбрались от туда или тем кто был заморожен в 1800 году в научной криокамере и вот недавно оттаял… |
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Reacting to different cultural extremities.
Revel in isolation.
Secrets unknown.
Foreign being ritual.
Invading their homes.
You take without asking, you take without reason or consequence.
Imposing cultural belief system, the masses in the palm of your hands.
First contact from a new world, first contact from another life.
First breeding of two worldly minds, first offspring to be left behind.
Who made first contact?
What made first contact?
Where was first contact?
This is first contact.
2. Great Southern Wasteland
Amongst the virulent and multiplying beauties of this southern land
lies a poison legacy for future generations to withstand.
We are curators of all earthly life, united we must speak our minds.
The toxic byproducts of nuclear activities we can't rewind.
Morning iris at sunrise, awakens to another day.
Your new world ever changing, as you bloom, you decay.
Future descendants of this time will never know a life of purity.
For our mistakes made in the era, we have damned them to obscurity.
First we tear down the forests to retrieve that tainted ore,
then we bury the outcome on an ancient ocean floor.
Wilderness of ancient land, torn open by the greed of man.
Vulnerable tribes silently screaming in pain,
the mining of ancestral soils are the deeds of the insane.
Most dangerous substance known to human, dug up and spread all over the
land.
Earth tearing machines, mine sickness from the ground,
now for thousands of years no life will be found.
Once as pristine as creation, now a human induced abomination.
3. Solarburn
Parched, cracked and blistered the land.
Sun bleached bones litter the ground.
Ribs protrude through skins of the beasts.
Lush flora now burnt, deceased.
Solarburn.
Blistered earth.
The sky aghast with windy brown.
The choking storms hurl dust around.
Sun glows red through arid skies.
All life wilts and slowly dies.
No rehydration to be found.
The wilderness is nothingness.
The sun glows red through arid skies.
Desolate country harsh and bare.
All life wilts and slowly dies.
Underneath the solar flare.
Gaunt ruins where a forest stood.
Sporadic stumps of burning wood.
Artesian bores leak sand and dust.
Once flowing pumps decayed with rust.
Last precious drops evaporated, dams now baked and desiccated.
From our star a solar wind, roasts the scars of the continent.
Fragments of what used to be, a wasteland of salinity.
A Mars on Earth all barren ground, nothing living can be found.
4. Alpha Cappella Nova Vega
Alpha Capella Nova Vega, do you watch over me?
Do you hear the words I'm speaking?
Do you exist merely in my memory?
Alpha Capella Nova Vega, do you exist anywhere now?
Alpha Capella Nova Vega, you dreamed about looking down on us all.
You reached your goal to perish, left your loved ones in pain.
People fade like memories do, your dreams of dying came true.
Alpha Capella Nova Vega, you dreamed about looking down on us all.
Crying your tears forever, sometimes I think I hear you call.
Time has not stood still for you.
You've missed the life that I live.
Alpha Capella Nova Vega, no one, or nothing, could have saved you.
Alpha Capella Nova Vega.
5. Older Than The Ancients
Here I'll carve the tale of the land we explored.
Stranded in a place I thought was fertile and calm.
I didn't know what hostile world laid ahead.
We were protected, Anubis judge of the dead.
Cursing the insects search for water in a sunburnt land.
We will go forward, I will persevere and never look back.
So they called me a son of a god, ironically as they laid me to rest.
Twice bitten, twice struck.
Lost motherland has swallowed us up.
I didn't know what hostile world laid ahead.
We were protected.
Anubis judge of the dead.
Read the glyphs they tell my story.
I'm the lost Pharaoh's son.
Seeking out the ancient myth of the great southern land.
Never again to see the waters of Mer.
Stuck within this southern land.
We can only defer.
6. Backward Journey
Observe the change.
Australian's thoughts are rearranged into the past.
The populous is telling me, hope you enjoy the backward journey.
Tolerance is only shown when the dollar can be grown.
We're going back to fighting wars for our politician's cause.
With saddened eyes I have observed.
Acceptance fall away to dust.
I'm moving backwards as I take a step forth.
The winds of hate are blowing strong in my world.
It all affects you and I.
Next generation pays the price.
All this hatred is tearing us down, as we ignore our own advice.
Now we're finding as we move into the past.
Who are we fooling?
Good things never last.
Accept the difference, between you and I.
Bring on extinction of the human kind.
The is a backward journey.
7. Nature On A Leash
We're growing buildings by the sea.
We're plotting, planning our insanity.
Pushing out to live beyond our bounds.
Taking over until nothing can be found.
Striving for heights we can not reach.
We're keeping nature on a leash.
Joking with ourselves.
As we pretend that we don't see, and we're growing taller,
blasting deeper holes under the sea.
We won't see it coming.
Nature reclaims all that's hers.
Returning balance to the earth.
And we move underground, and we begin to see.
Nature removes her leash.
It's now on you and me.
Striving for heights we can not reach.
We're keeping nature on a leash.
Arrogance will be the downfall of the human race.
Building bigger cities, soon to be our children's graves.
Nature escapes from her chains.
And we move underground.
And we begin to see.
Nature remove her leash.
It's now on you and me.
8. Grief Barrier
Tear me apart.
Underwater brilliance super sensory.
Suddenly gone.
My destruction the consequence of lost clarity.
You wonder why.
You use me as sanctuary.
Blaming nature.
Tourist dollar fades away from your economy.
Praising my beauty.
Tear me apart.
Untouched, unspoiled.
Dominant force.
Taken for granted.
Suddenly gone.
Hole in your world.
And you can tell where I once was.
I'm never coming back into this sick world of apathy.
Although it's never caught, the great reef will never be free.
Only living thing visible from space.
Grief barrier.
To let it fade away, a heritage disgrace.
Praising my beauty.
Tear me apart.
Untouched, unspoiled.
Dominant force.
Alive so long.
Taken for granted, no destroyed.
Suddenly gone.
And now you see.
Hole in your world.
And you can tell where I once was.
I'm never coming back into this sick world of apathy.
Although it's never caught, the great reef will never be free.
Vibrant colours turn grey, beauty fading away.
I'm never coming back.
Crystal waters turn black.
How could something so still be something so alive?
Exploit, export and destroy.
Unnatural claiming of rights.
My destruction the consequence of lost clarity.
Grief barrier.
9. Epsilon
I feel like this is just a means to an end.
Does it hold any meaning as I reach the end?
Lost to memory, final reality.
When I'm awake or asleep both are all but a dream.
Finality of this life is something certain for me.
Lost to memory, final reality.
Sifting fragments of time, drifting, falling away.
Sense of finality, fate is dawning on me.
What is the purpose of death, live, learn, die then forget?
Feel I'm lying awake, only sleep when I'm dead.
Lost to memory, final reality.
Compressed memories.
I'm temporary, unable to contain.
Like Epsilon, my finality is pointing out the way.
What have I learned?
What will I forget?
Monumental rhythm of life is pounding out the beat of the dead,
but might it all end, without a meaning?
Lost to memory, final reality.
Speed Of Life
Each day grows quicker as I breathe.
Or is it that every year seems to get shorter?
Racing at the speed of life.
So much to do, so little time.
I don't want to win this race.
Heading swiftly to my grave.
Epidermis showing signs of natural decay from living my life.
No way to slow the hands of time.
Of this I am sure you live, then you die.
From infancy to my old age.
Another day of life.
Another turn of the page.
Racing at the speed of life.
So much to do, so little time.
Heading swiftly to my grave.
Is it only me, is it all in my head?
Rather a fight to ascend than an easy descent.
Do you ever get the feeling you're in some sort of race?
Each day has more to offer, there's just no time to play.
One mine I'm a child, the next I am a man.
And fate, it pushes my life, the fastest speed it can.
10. Speed Of Life
11. Letter To The Future
Unknown reader, not yet conceived, inherit the world my generation leaves.
I fear for you there will not be, the natural pleasures there are for me.
I can drink the water, can safely swim in the sea.
Eat the fish from the rivers and see the forest of trees.
Slowly yet surely things are starting to change, a world of uncertainty its
people deranged.
We're so good at killing each other, we churn out war machines.
They spend billions exploring the stars, while home on earth millions
starve.
I wish I could help but I don't know what to do, with good intentions I'm
the problem too.
Description of my earth is all that I can give, I can only wonder about the
world in which you live.
Unknown reader of tomorrow.
I write to you with guilt and sorrow.
I live in a land and time that's free.
I hope it's there for you, what there is for me.
They spend billions exploring the stars, while home on earth millions
starve.
Unknown reader, not yet conceived, inherit the world my generation leaves.
I fear for you there will not be, the natural pleasures there are for me.
I can drink the water, can safely swim in the sea.
Eat the fish from the rivers and see the forest of trees.