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 Нельзя сказать, что цивилизация не прогрессирует, ибо в каждой новой войне людей убивают по-новому.
Уилл Роджерс
Третий альбом британских дэт-милитаристов Bolt Thrower (второй по счету на легендарном андеграундном лейбле Earache, где группа стала одной из наиболее значимых наряду с Carcass, Napalm Death и Morbid Angel) явился для его создателей переходным в творческом плане: еще не окончательно избавившись от влияний трэша и грайндкора (это произойдет годом позже), легендарный бирмингемский коллектив, тем не менее, уже практически обрел индивидуальный почерк, воплощение которого можно охарактеризовать как местами довольно «вязкий» эпичный дэт с минорно-трагическими гитарными обертонами, эпизодической отчетливой примесью дума, вдохновенным разборчивым гроулингом и временами немного «грузноватой», но при этом неумолимо несущейся вперед, как разъяренный носорог, ритм-секцией. И даже несмотря на то, что 1991 год оказался для дэт-метала чрезвычайно продуктивным (убойные релизы в данном жанре выпустили тогда многие группы по обе стороны Атлантики), “War Master” на общем фоне определенно не потерялся, лишний раз подтвердив высочайший класс и абсолютную уникальность одного из наиболее самобытных британских составов не с позиции запредельной техничности исполнения, но в плане эмоционально-эстетической притягательности музыкального материала.
Эмоциональная проникновенность — вообще своего рода «конёк» и наипервейший ключ к пониманию нешуточной популярности данного конкретного коллектива, находящегося при всем том в глубоком музыкальном «подполье». Неотвратимость столкновения лицом к лицу с врагом, чья свирепость как минимум не уступает твоей, постоянное ощущение пребывания на краю могилы, трезвое понимание того, что посмертные почести — слабое утешение за утрату жизни в расцвете сил, и вместе с тем помогающие побеждать во имя более высоких материй, чем личное выживание, ярость и отвага — всё это присутствует в музыке и текстах BT в полной мере. Эта пластинка от грозной «Баллисты» с Туманного Альбиона подарила метал-фэнам всего мира такие бесспорные хиты, навсегда вошедшие в концертную программу группы, как “Unleashed upon Mankind” («Сорвались с цепи на человечество»), “Cenotaph” («Кенотаф», обелиск в Лондоне в память погибших в двух мировых войнах [одна из лучших песен ВТ, на которую был снят видеоклип, вошедший с тех пор в большинство экстремально-металлических видеосборников]) и “War Master” («Бог войны»). И хотя образ несокрушимого мускулистого воителя, неумолимо сеющего смерть в стане врагов на обложке и в буклете альбома, представляет собой типично фэнтезийно-комиксового персонажа типа Конана-варвара, ощущения от прослушивания остаются самые что ни на есть реалистичные и леденящие — чего, собственно, и добивались создатели альбома, навсегда вошедшего в «золотой фонд» экстремальной музыки. |
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1
Screaming - you beg for mercy
Silenced - by the searing blast
You are forced to believe, this is for real
Mind frozen with horror, as your body trembles in fear
No prayers for deliverance, your gods you now forsake
Summon courage from within, face your unperceived fate
Unleashed upon mankind
Awaiting - with expectation
Impending - life's annihilation
Annihilation [sings something else here]
Mass genocide - the resolution
Now verified - out termination
Now the stench of death, abides throughout the world
As infesting plagues, cause agonies untold
Unleashed upon mankind
You are the final victim, no one else has survived
Alone you now suffer, eagerly waiting to die
The ending draws nearer, our extinction is justly deserved
Through thoughtless intentions, this holocaust incurred
The closing chapter finished, now face the torment and pain
Through death it becomes clearer, mankind alone is to blame
Unleashed upon mankind [doesn't sing this]
2. What Dwells Within
An unseen force tears through your soul
Revealing memories past life unknown
Fervent emotions from deep within
Inner transformation now begins
Life before you cannot conceive
Thoughts repressed denial to believe
Precise identity you cannot tell
Existing inside this mortal shell
Summon the powers that dominate
Grasp your inner strength seize control of hate
A forgotten past a life of normality
This sudden transition redirects your destiny
Consumed with resentment hatred you now possess
Potency awakened from eternal rest
Through invocation to an existence you detest
What has become of your humility
Corrupted through change to anguish and misery
As man's preordained fate now doses in
You're a silent witness to what dwells within
As man judges all by outward impressions
Our status is classed through amounting possessions
Whilst shrouding the truth through delightful [sings deceitful]
expression
Injustice presides by mass edacious obsession
3. The Shreds Of Sanity
Within your mind, you feel a force
Striving to gain control, it burns you deep inside
No one can help you now
You try to focus on reality, feel your mind slipping
An outside air of composure, but inside you're screaming
Inside you're screaming
White blinding lights, now turns your world to black
Alone in silence, you prepare to meet the final attack
Your mind now out of control, a psychological disease
Your greatest fears envelop your mind - Infect it with torment
Now totally insane, you cannot remember your life before
A final vain hope, as you grasp for the shreds
The shreds of sanity
The shreds of sanity
You cannot hide the fear, confusion eats at your will
You lived your life upon a knifeedge of sanity
As your grip begins to fail, the words echo through your mind
Look what has become of your world
(Your world)
(The shreds...)
The shreds of sanity
(The shreds...)
The shreds of sanity
4. Profane Creation
Constructed with vengeful hate
The extinction of life, man's final plight
We strive until the end
Though none shall be taken alive
A killing machine, programmed for death
To destroy all that comes within (his) sight
Mindless, created insane
Mankind shall never survive
Never survive
Strength becoming weaker, as fear grows within
Faced with eternal damnation, the end shall now begin
Profane creation, the dawn of a new age
Technology's progression, over man machines reign
Enslaved without compassion, new masters of (the) earth we
dwell
Human life is worthless, in this automated living hell
In the quest for perfection, life becomes obsolete
Humanity faces deletion, this nightmare world is complete
As we wait for execution, in silence we stand in line
The total extinction of the existence of mankind
Our futile life's now ended, free from the suffering and pain
Our systems (now) are loaded, we have been created profane
Profane creation, the dawn of a new age
Technology's progression, over man machines reign
Enslaved without compassion, new masters of (the) earth we
dwell
Human life is worthless, in this automated living hell
In the quest for perfection, life becomes obsolete
Humanity faces deletion, this nightmare world is complete
As we wait for execution, silent we stand in line
The total extinction of the existence of mankind
5. Destructive Infinity
You never thought life could come to this
Man reborn to die upon the altar of war
And now we stand, to face the truth
This world now enslaved, bound by hate
In fear of life now that the mindless control
As the flame of hope for mankind now burns away
For now you stand alone to die
Whilst visions of horror infest your mind
Destructive - Man's lust for power
Infinity - A lifetime of war
Destroying your world, again and again
Suffering in torment, through agonizing pain
Killing for pleasure, only the strong shall remain
An arising slaughter, as hatred and terror now reigns
Now reigns [doesn't sing this here]
Destructive - The world ripped apart
Infinity - A never ending fear
Destructive infinity [doesn't sing this here]
6. Final Revelation
Born to suffer, through a lifetime of darkness
Controlled by fear, held deep within your mind
As your mind reaches a distant point
Your soul beyond all pain
You shall realize all that has occurred
Were illusions formed from within your brain
You now know the truth - Your mind is now set free
You have broken the chains - That enslave all of humanity
Perceiving - life's reality
(An) Insight - to man's destiny
A coherent existence, comprehension you cannot deny
A meaningless persistence, confirmation you cannot defy
We follow without thinking, as our life passes us by
This newly acquired knowledge, clarified as we die
In this kingdom of the mindless
You [sings "we"] are born to suffer
7. Cenotaph
Alone you stand - The final parody
Destined to silence - A memorial to mortality
Carved in stone - A tribute to the dead
For nameless victims - Whose litany is unread
Never Forgotten - War's memory lingers on
A dark reminder - To mankind's oblivion
This solemn image - Constructed with resolution
A monument - To war's terminal conclusion
Cenotaph
8. War Master
Throughout all time
Within the past, present and future
Man has sought to destroy
All that stood in our way
As man fights man
In the epic struggle for survival
The warmaster shall reign
With oppression fed by a burning hate
Hatred of mankind, twisted within your mind
Corrupted by powers unknown, the downfall of this world
The end of your life, beginning of human strife
Destruction of this crippled planet
Warmaster an inhuman prophet
WARMASTER
You shall obey all that he commands
Hatred of mankind within your mind
Corrupted by powers unknown, the downfall of this world
Now once more...we rise to fall
Man's destruction...in the final war
Nothing's left...of the human race
The planet's end...our destiny oblivion
9. Rebirth Of Humanity
Again we rise, to gain control
From the burnt out shell, of our ruined world
Reconstruction of civilisation
This world - once ripped apart
Now as life - again shall start
Without thinking of our future generations
Our world descends to apocalyptic wars
Through desolate wastes of infernal devastation
Man shall rise to take control once more
From the wreckage of civilisation
Through the ruins of this world
Man shall rise to power
And grow in strength once more
But will man seek to destroy
All that's been recreated
Have we learnt through our suffering
Only time shall tell
Time shall tell
10. Afterlife
As you feel, your soul depart from this world
Prepare for a journey, to regions of the unknown
Your life has now ended
You fear the conclusion
Cast into the dark realms
Destined to the afterlife
As terror, grips your soul
Direction is uncertain
Fear clouds your mind
Ignorance your burden
Afterlife
Within the domination [sings "dominion"] of the lifeless, you
plead to die in
peace
Now despair for total forgiveness, trapped within your belief
You lived your life as a follower, bowing to every command
Your gods shall never answer, imprisoned in this land
All is silent
Held within
Existing forever
New life begins
External desolation
Your soul to give
Enslaved for all existence - perpetual endless torment
Reality is now dormant - within the afterlife