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Прослушивание последнего на данный момент альбома Avantasia порождает в голове сразу несколько мыслей. Лично я пришёл к выводу, что Тобиас, записав "The Mystery of Time", либо решил расширить свою трилогию до тетралогии, сознательно сделав "загадку" во всём похожей на свои предыдущие работы, либо же попросту разучился писать музыку, отличную от той, что мы видим уже почти шесть лет. Всё было бы неплохо, если бы Заммет учёл такие вещи, как развитие и интрига, но он их не учёл. Поясню, что я имею в виду: при создании таких вот - возвышенных, романтических и масштабных - произведений, если уж ты решил развивать какое-то определённое направление в музыке, просто необходимо держать в рукаве несколько "тузов", чтобы ими в нужный момент поразить слушателей; нужно обязательно поддерживать у публики интерес и с каждым альбомом демонстрировать что-то новое. Именно так, к слову, случилось с дилогией "Wicked Symphony" - "Angel of Babylon", которая, будучи сразу заявлена как продолжение великолепного "The Scarecrow", вызывала неподдельный интерес ещё до своего выхода. "Какие стили будут замешаны?", "какие музыканты будут приглашены на этот раз?", "чем закончится история?" - это были действительно волнующие вопросы, после получения ответов на которые стало ясно, что достигнут пик, и дальше тему развивать уже некуда. Но, ко всеобщему сожалению, лидер Edguy решил с этим не соглашаться и попытал счастья в одной и той же игре уже в четвёртый раз. В результате получился, как это ни банально, абсолютно очевидный гибрид-близнец прошлых двух альбомов, где какую песню ни возьми - каждая не только сама является копией какой-то прошлой (открывающая "Spectres", внезапно начинающаяся со вступления русского хита "Позвони мне, позвони" при ближайшем рассмотрении просто неотличима от "The Wicked Symphony", такую же параллель можно провести между "The Black Orchid" и "Black Wings"), но и в срезе перенасыщена фирменными фишками "Авантасии", к которым можно отнести, к примеру, скоростные перестуки барабанов в "Where Clock Hands Freeze" (которая, опять же, полная копия то ли "Shelter From the Rain", то ли "Wastelands") или всепроникающие хоры, доставшиеся в наследство ещё от Edguy. Про ставшую уже традиционной поп-рок балладу "Sleepwalking" с женским вокалом уже даже упоминать не хочется - она тоже абсолютно ничем не удивляет. Тот факт, что количество эпиков здесь больше, чем когда бы то ни было, тоже не спасает положение - они все спокойно могли быть в пару раз поменьше. Спасает положение только одно - то, что при всей, казалось бы, проигрышной позиции "The Mystery of Time", слушается он довольно приятно и совершенно не утомляет, несмотря на целый час продолжительности. Послушать этот альбом стоит хотя бы ради того, чтобы вновь почувствовать ту неповторимую атмосферу, которой всегда ставились труды Заммета, и ради того, чтобы убедиться, что свой стиль немец всё-таки сохранил, не пустившись ни в какие дебри экспериментов. Кто знает, возможно, кому-то именно это и нужно.
В итоге - достаточно приятный альбом, объективно не идущий ни в какое сравнение с прошлыми, но субъективно достойный нескольких прослушиваний из-за своего обаяния. К тому же, факт явного плагиата (уж извините) поможет страждущим найти здесь несколько хороших композиций. Для меня таковыми стали "Spectres" и "Savior In The Clockwork". Иногда, когда нападает настроение, я не гнушаюсь и "Sleepwalking", так что всё действительно не так плохо. |
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Ornate cold is the king of these streets tonight
The void is taking hold!
Make haste as the wind's getting colder
It's chasing the dreamer away.
Wide open minds will divine without reason
Cold is the night as you're braving the gale
Wide open eyes
A spectre is breezing through the moonlit sky
[Science & Zeitgeist]
See them guises on the prowl, what a show!
Feel them shadows drag you into a nightmare
To the melody of which you don't know
If it's really there
Dance in the gloom, dance in the gloom
Every move is a step to your tomb
We're the machine that's gonna make you dream
Phantasmagoria
[Aaron Blackwell]
Time flies from the space of an hour
Telling tales in the poorhouse they say...
Wide open minds will divine without reason
Cold is the night as you're braving the gale
Wide open eyes
A spectre is breezing through the moonlit sky
[Lead Guitar: Sascha Paeth]
[Aaron Blackwell]
Wide open minds will divine without reason
Cold is the night as you're braving the gale
Wide open eyes and a spectre is breezing
Cold is the night as you're braving the gale
Wide open minds - once upon the moonlit night...
2. The Watchmakers' Dream
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
[Science]
Welcome to the aftermath of the incidence
That made the tower fall
Another screw to another wheel
For another mind won't stray away anymore
Oh won't stray away from its brain
Oh no...
We must finalise the giant
To level off the void and zeroise the will
The time will come: you will know what you need
The Watchmakers' Dream
The Watchmakers' Dream
[Aaron Blackwell]
Simplify simplicity
You don't mind what you don't see at all
[Science]
The tongue of nations brought in line
Reason occupied: the God-machine oh
A splendid steaming dram will tower to the sky
[Aaron Blackwell]
We'll exploit another 'morrow
We drained another day
The glowing of the future in our eyes
And time will reveal what we need:
The Watchmakers' Dream
The Watchmakers' Dream
[Lead Guitar: Arjen Anthony Lucassen]
[Lead Organ: Ferdy Doernberg]
[Science]
We must finalise the giant
To zeroise the will and level off all minds
The time will come that you
will know what you need
[Aaron Blackwell]
The Watchmakers' Dream
The Watchmakers' Dream
[Science]
The Watchmakers' Dream - Will we slice infinity
The Watchmakers' Dream - For all the world to see
The Watchmakers' Dream - We give you what you need
The Watchmakers' Dream - The sound of triviality
3. Black Orchid
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
[Aaron Blackwell]
I never wanted guidance
To tell me where to find
A light in the darkness
Cause the dark I'd push aside
No time for dreaming of a distant Paradise
No time for tales of good and evil
[Reason]
Another correlation: as above so below
Another analysing where illusions fail to show
the face of the maker who'd leave you alone
without a sense of comprehension
[Aaron Blackwell]
When the meadow - in front of my eyes - will have dried away
Will my senses wither like flowers on my grave
Will this wave of becoming flow into the void of time
The final hour:
When Never and Now become one
Will I find the orchid
The final hour:
Door to the garth of eternity?
Or withered orchid meadows?
[Reason]
Everybody's praying
But what if God is just a threat
and everybody's straying?
If only they would just forget
everybody's craving
for a ghost light in the haye:
You'll lose your minds one after another
[Aaron Blackwell]
Everybody's craving
for what doesn't have a name or a face
So reason could fit it in the frame
In quest of the orchid:
A glimmer in the daze
Till I awake to the sound of rigour
[Reason]
What if that meadow in your mind is just a fantasy?
And if it wanted to be seen why must you believe?
[Aaron Blackwell]
Will this wave of becoming flow into the void of time
[Reason]
The final hour
When Never and Now become one
[Aaron Blackwell]
Will I find the orchid
[Reason]
The final hour
Door to the garth of eternity
[Aaron Blackwell]
Or withered orchid meadows
Black orchid
Strange and beautiful
Oh black orchid I must find you
[Reason]
I remember that morning
He had to be told
What he couldn't remember
After he'd spoken to the wall
[Aaron Blackwell]
And I gave to repression
What I must not have seen
What even believers
Must unlearn to unbelieve
[Lead Guitar: Bruce Kulick]
[Aaron Blackwell]
The final hour
When Never and Now become one
Will I find the orchid
The final hour
Door to the garth of eternity
[Reason]
Or withered orchids
The final hour
When Never and Now become one
[Aaron Blackwell]
Will I find the orchid
[Reason]
The final hour
Door to the garth of eternity
[Aaron Blackwell]
Or withered black orchid meadows
4. Where Clock Hands Freeze
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
You're caught in the land of no sun
Without reason or rhyme
You're avid for splendour
The spin of the hand is your pace on the run
We got no time to turn
When we strive after grandeur
Here you got your hero slicing up your ecstasy
On the verge of lunacy
There's no time to lose
No chance to refuse - ah
Will you deny what you see
(as you) tear down the nature of reason
That has shown you the way
Where clock hands freeze
I know what I see
And I know what I don't
Through your dark swamp
I walk on deductive conclusion
A little more time?
I admit I would take
But then again
It would mean more time for confusion
You think you got your prodigy
Everytime your eyes don't see
Victim of perplexity
There's no time to lose
No need to refuse
Will you deny what you see
Tear down our nature of reason
That has shown you the way
Where clock hands freeze
Will you deny what you see
Tear down our nature of reason
That has shown you the way
Where clock hands freeze
5. Sleepwalking
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
Wandering barefoot into nowhere
Just another winter's night
And I don't fell gravity anymore
You'd never lie, never cry
Never talk me out of dreams
And a dream is what remains
Tell me don't you see what ain't there
When you look in the mirror
You're starving away like a candle burning down
Miles, away miles away
You've been cutting off the rope
Letting go and losing ground
And I…
Wonder who's to blame
As I…
Sleepwalk in the rain
It's my, my silent victory over gravity
And I…
Sleepwalk in the rain
Winter sky far and wide
Caving in on you and me
Like a brittle wall of the emerald room:
The hall of fame and dying dreams
The love we'd die for: Petrified
I wanna know: Does a frozen river flow
And I…
Wonder who's to blame
As I…
Sleepwalk in the rain
It's my, my silent victory over gravity
And I…
Sleepwalk in the rain
And I…
Wonder who's to blame
As I…
Sleepwalk in the rain
It's my, my silent victory over gravity
And I…
Sleepwalk in the rain
6. Savior In The Clockwork
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
I envision how you lie awake and agonise
Over ways to bear your day just every night
Re-alignment you're in need of so imploringly
It's the pace that we'll maintain for you
Oh every moment everybody's gonna think alike
Every second will be seized
While every in between we'll erase
To take the tangle from their memory
Maximising one and all for you
Now into line bring them peace of mind
Mind by mind
Se the pace for all mankind
Let us take away the spaces
In between their given time
Time to run!
Savior in the clockwork tell me
For how long will I wait on the grind
Time flies on
(Time will fly on)
Savior in the clockwork take me back inside
In between the time
Now am I half asleep or half unconscious,
Half 'adream'?
I can't move as I am stuck in bright lucidity
I can feel and hear and see
But I won't comprehend
I see fire that I won't decipher
I see giant evil tower to a blackened sky
I feel blessed with evidence of what I can't define
Swinging blade of the lowering perpendicular
I see clarity I won't remember
Do I dream
Is it only fantasy and matter just a thought I see
And time is all they need to seal away eternity
Time to run!
Savior in the clockwork tell me
For how long will I wait on the grind
Time flies on
(Time will fly on)
Savior in the clockwork take me back inside
In between the time
You pry into a world too far above
Your head up in the haze
Journey to the birth of the first sun
Into the black womb of space
Father primal space oh yeah
Who's drawn the light…
Standing at the door to epiphanic realisation
A journey to the centre of forever
To the mystery of creation
Don't you hear the voice: I'm with you
I'm everywhere and real
You can see me, you can hear me without credence
I'm what your hands can feel
God, I feel I've been away too long
I feel like I've been dreaming
If you'd open up your door to explanation
You would hear the voice of reason screaming
I've seen the ocean swallow the ancient harmony
And I've seen belief and craving swallow sanity
I feel my hand is led to ink between the lines
Tall stories legendising: figments of the lie
At crack of dawn hazy remains above my mind
Raise your mind
I scribble down those icons that I can't define
Will they demand account as I'd demand myself
Raise your mind
I'll never testify what no man comprehends
And they will tear to pieces what they can't define
Raise your mind
If you don't follow your self- preservation drive
They'll crucify the one who won't affiliate
Raise your mind
But decorate the children of their own ego's way
Time to run savior in the clockwork
Tell me for how long will I wait on the grind
Time flies on
(time will fly on)
Savior in the clockwork
Take me back inside
In between the time
Time to run!
Savior in the clockwork tell me
For how long will I wait on the grind
Time flies on
(Time will fly on)
Savior in the clockwork take me back inside
In between the time
7. Invoke The Machine
[feat. Ronnie Atkins]
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
[Tobias Sammet]:
Home to the land of the living
Roused by a sound I confide
And what am I to cast my tired eyes upon
Where was I when the clock had been alive?
[Ronnie Atkins]:
I see marvel right in front of me
There's a man, who's got tomorrow in his hands
Don't you see what you are meant to be
Outside your cloud-cuckoo-land
[Tobias Sammet]:
Time won't wait for those who stay behind
To wait for time
In this tangible realms hesitation's a crime
[Chorus]
In the Night:
A secret mysterious dream
Dead of night, while the town lies asleep
We invoke the machine
[Ronnie Atkins]:
Those dreams that you
Hummed to yourself once
How far will you reach out
To make them come true
Will you turn around
To shirk from duty
Or force the pace
While it's all up to you
[Tobias Sammet]:
A giant leap is to be made now
I'm struck with awe
We're gonna heed the inner call
My heart beat quicken
I behold the god-machine
I can't help but write history
As my glance wanders
To the far off end in the sky
Far off end end in the sky
Hissing and screaming, almost alive
In the night
My life came apart at the seams
Dead of the night, let's run up the wheel
We invoke the machine
In the Night:
A secret mysterious dream
Dead of night, the town lies asleep, whoa
We invoke the machine
In the night
Those in hiding are waiting for me
Dead of night, let's run up the wheel
We invoke the machine
8. What's Left Of Me
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
I think of the days
I was thrilled by this road ahead
When the moment won over what was to come
Not afraid of the distance but the distance afraid of me
Everytime I made it there I found nothing
The distance was gone
Now, I don't wanna fade
But I ain't gonna run
I'm resting my head on these stones
God, what have you done to you and me
I'm tired of scaring the future away
No road ahead, the fire is dead
Father don't you see in front of you
Is what the chase has left of me
If only they told me
What the kerbside was hiding away
Where the angels from high street didn't want to go
And a heartbeat is forced
To resign to the glory of a commonplace
I am jaded
I don't wanna see what's becoming of me
Here's a bit! Then spare me this sight now…
Cut it out I'm tired of the future myself
I don't wanna fade but I ain't gonna run
I'm resting my head on these stones
God, what have you done to you and me
I'm tired of scaring the future away
No road ahead, the fire is dead
Father don't you see
In front of you is what's left of me
God and glory torn to pieces,
No no, it's just the spirit of the times
I'm drawn to a flame that won't release me
Release me!
And I see a thousand who wait in line
I don't wanna face what I ain't gonna stand
I'm resting my head on these stones
God, what have you done
Look at yourself! I'm tired of scaring the future away
The dark road ahead, the fire is dead
Father don't you see what you have made of me
9. Dweller In A Dream
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
The dial by the night
Seems like what it used to be
But now that this town has fallen silent
I feel memories
Of good intentions ghosting me
Watch the tower clock hand
Cut instants off each hour
From a future that has been devoured
Already by their craving for the vague
And even after lucid heartbeats
Few and far between
We're back to gain admission to the wheel
Bending the boundaries
Deaf to the memories
We won't make in the rush anyway
And God if you'r out there
Why do you make me spin your wheel?
Do you hear me
Dweller I a dream
You're lost in the no-zone
A twilight mover
Primal screams
Are crying for the dweller in a dream
The study and a sage
And ancient brazen luminaire
Just a bat flap from answers they wanna hear
They're evident
To every cynic eminent
Movement around the sun
All in eternal time
The heaven's fires turned to light
The moon that governs birth and then decay
The principle decreed
By laws you think you will conceive
And then some accident
To throw it all in place!?
Bending the boundaries
Don't run from your memories
I have been there before
Aroe you fro real now
Or just a dweller in my dream
Do you hear me
Dweller in a dream
You're lost in the no-zone
A twilight mover
Primal screams
Are crying for the dweller in a dream
Oh, why would your
God give road lead to ruin?
Why would science challenge facts?
Why would your
God given will come off the track?
Come of the track?
Dweller in a dream?
Father do you hear me
Dweller in a dream
You're lost in the no-zone
A twilight mover
Primal screams
Are crying for the
Dweller in a dream
Do you hear me
Dweller in a dream
10. The Great Mystery
[Music & lyrics by Tobias Sammet]
How could I let it get this far?
To the edge I've been drawn by promises
And what's the reason
For a heart to only misguide me
Blind me, tear myself apart?
When darkness falls and silence talks
At the edge of thoughts that you memorised
I'm the truth between the lines
They read and deny me and tie me to fantasy
And they'll curse this darkest hour
When in oblivion I'll die
Oh will you make me turn the page, one after another
If only you would make a mark the eye can see
You're dancing in around
Through the dark you long to find
Alight at the midnight t sky
To persuade the night
Don't leave me blind, give me one sign
Grant me just one look into the mystery behind
Fire and flames, heartache and pain:
You break me just to make me feel like a golden child
What if it's nothing but a dream
The great mystery, great mystery
We carry the flame to accelerate
The evolution of an age
Cast your eyes into the crystal ball - alright
We embrittle the weak that is0nt meant to be
We're gonna make it coronate the chosen ones
Who never sinned against their vocation
Don't be afraid: just look around
Don't question what your eyes can see
Don't leave me blind, give me one sign
Grant me just one look into the mystery behind
Fire and flames, heartache and pain:
Iv'e borne from my devotion
Oh she won't see me, she won't feel me
She's lost on her won, and so am I?
I see a cold moon rise above those empty streets
And I see movements part their lives
I hear the ticking leaving scars you can't conceal
Ain't it poignant how you try
Impatiently they're giving up on hearts
Whose signs they cannot read
As silence doesn't talk, eternity will cease
And as you marvel at the artwork in your hands
Rick in detail, so frail and beautiful
And you forget the rules
The elder's always made up for you
To save you precious time
You watch them pile up, they are saving on and on
Even you don't know where they store it all
You've got to be a fool if you don't save along
A thousand screaming
And silence doesn't speak to thousands screaming
No, silence doesn't wanna speak…
And I see tears shed over days when all was good
A child didn't care for what never really mattered
I see tears shed over days
When all was good and time
They had a lot to give away
When their hearts had eyes to see
And the final mystery
Was more than a fancy tale
And answers you did find
To dare what you would find inside, no
Don't leave me blind, give me one sign
Grant me just one look into the mystery behind
Fire and flames, heartache and pain: you break me just to make me feel like a golden child
Don't leave me blind, give me one sing
Grant me just one look into the mystery behind
Fire and flames, heartache and pain:
You break me just to make me feel like a golden child
Don't leave me blind, send a sing
Oh is it really not a dream?
The great mystery
11. The Cross And You
[Bonus Track]
Screaming - in silence you must carry
your secrets down this lonely eerie wicked road
Screaming - you're oh so battle weary
They say it's lonely at the top
Let alone when you hit the ground
All ablaze - you're rushing down the tightrope
With your only mean companion ticking away
You gotta stand your ground
Forge into a fiery fierce tomorrow
Stand your ground
At the speed of light into the void
Hell is what you've gotta make it through
Until it's just the cross and you
The cross and you
The cross and you
Screaming from behind the mask of reason
The cautionary voice that shatters your brain
The silvery gleam of tomorrow
Keep accelerating in quest for a break
Until you realize that it's too late
All ablaze - you're rushing down the tightrope
With your only mean companion ticking away
You gotta stand your ground
Forge into a fiery fierce tomorrow
Stand your ground
At the speed of light into the void
Hell is what you've gotta make it through
Until it's just the cross and you
All ablaze I plough my way
Till I am allowed to fall
I pay my dues on a ship of fools
I kick and scream and fight and crawl
Get a life! Don't waste time!
As we drown the voice inside
Till the moment I awake
When it's just the cross and me
[Solo: Sascha Paeth]
You gotta stand your ground
Forge into a fiery fierce tomorrow
Stand your ground
At the speed of light into the void
You gotta stand your ground
Forge into a fiery fierce tomorrow
Stand your ground
At the speed of light into the void
Hell's the shortcut you're rushing through
Just the cross and you
12. Death Is Just A Feeling
[Bonus Track]
Living in the darkness
What a cold and lonely night
Voices in the darkness
Sing a sweet sweet lullaby
Something's coming nearer
Anyone to join in game? A game
Welcome to the attic
Hospitality is my name
Eyes so alive
I've been feeling pretty dead
For quite a while
Gimme a smile
Dead-and-alive
Come a little closer
You and I:
Affiliates forevermore and I'm alive
Death is just a feeling
You and I swapping finitude
And love for diamonds
I'm just a little pale
Don't hesitate to sign right here
Don't be afraid to come with me
Specialized in temporizing
Dead to faulty love and time
Faulty time
We'll be dancing right here
Forever and a while
Day by day
Dead-and-alive
Come a little closer
You and I:
Affiliates forevermore and I'm alive
Death is just a feeling
You and I swapping finitude
And love for diamonds
Value by value
I'm gonna turn into breath after breath
Love we trade in for silver
Defy what they use to call death
And dust covered treasures will shine again
An unseen accolade
Larger than life, a memory
Death will be just a charade
Dead-and-alive
Come a little closer
You and I:
Affiliates forevermore and I'm alive
Death is just a feeling
You and I swapping finitude
And love for diamonds
I'm just a little pale