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Rating:
The 36 Crazyfists return after the excellent "A Snow Capped Romance" by releasing the natural follow-up "Rest Inside the Flames" on RoadRunner. I say the natural follow-up because just by comparing the covers of this and the previous one, you can sense there's some connection. Whereas "A Snow Capped Romance" featured a frozen heart, "Rest Inside the Flames" presents a heart engulfed in flames. The artwork is really not bad, but let's specifically analyze the album in question.
The (melodic) metal played by this excellent band looks beyond negativity and aggressively emphasizes positivity. From here, songs are born about the small things in daily life.
The CD opens with a "barked" verse that comes to life in a climactic shout before fading into a chorus where melody and violence contrast.
Following is "Felt Through A Phone Line" (wonderful) and "On Any Given Night", a rare instance where the screams are almost entirely absent.
Noteworthy is "Elysium", violent and beautiful, one of the gems on this splendid album, featuring collaboration with their friend and label mate Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage.
The song "Aurora" is dreamlike, speaking of the magnificence of the Aurora Borealis and how it reflects the magic of love and life. The emotional "The Great Descent" also stands out, opening with a resonant guitar arpeggio and vocals pained with sorrow before entering a hailstorm of pounding beats and dry riffs.
Another collaboration is found in the song "We Cannot Deny", where Jonah Jenkins, singer of Only Living Witness, makes an appearance.
The album closes with the slow acoustic song "The City Ignites", which is none other than the beautiful "Midnight Swim" (another gem of this CD) in an acoustic version. Quite an original concept for a metal band, but really well done, thanks especially to Lindow's voice.
Besides being more lyrically revealing, the album is also musically better developed and more powerful than previous works; in fact, there are many more double-basses than before and many more mosh parts. The 36 Crazyfists have always been quite powerful live, but it had never truly been captured on record until now. People said their live performances were amazing, I have seen them and can confirm that. For those who haven't had the pleasure yet, the appointment is on June 5th at the FlameFest in Bologna.
I don't want to exaggerate, but this is surely one of the best releases of 2006.
Phenomenal.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Felt Through a Phone Line (04:25)
So we went after the crash, we step out alone.
An undivided healing that swallows us whole.
The air cuts like glass and you taste like winter.
And how long will you last, forever...
And congratulations you've become what you wanted.
Stepping out of this car with that look in your eyes and knowing that you've never looked so beautiful.
Telephone lines away, death on the end and I’m screaming.
226 on the door, asking to make out while watching the war.
And nothing’s like this exit, pale white skin on memory.
And I’ve got the proof to frame the way.
As we danced, we bled across the floor.
And that never-ending supply that we wished for.
It took me 14 hours to get this sore and knowing that you've never looked so beautiful.
25 days and I still can't get this right.
Telephone lines away, felt through a phone line
03 On Any Given Night (03:38)
Could I be any further along when a room leaves nothing?
We close our eyes to avoid the sound.
You were traveling by an aeroplane over the ocean.
I was deciding the way to perform the rescue.
Could I be any more this way, done starting over.
The silence in you, and this could be, and this could be the hardest thing to leave without a single trace.
Here without you, I fall apart.
Sleeping in the water so warm in a dream so stalking.
Dancing in darkness with the air so alive, believing.
I have been here more than I’d like to, but it's the only way I know how to rescue.
Wake me up {when it’s over}.
Turn down the lights, don't wait for me,
{we’ll place these stars inside our hearts},
I’m pretty sure I won't be coming home tonight.
04 Elysium (03:03)
And in the harbor she sleeps on her anchor waiting direction.
Then through the storms we align life and search forever after.
So we gather our way to answer all of our failures, with hope and redemption.
Rest inside the flames.
Continue the chase through the darkest.
Across the mouth and into this ocean, we see through skin to never forget.
When all hope is lost and hearts turn to lock, set your sights to improve.
Don't let the lights turn out.
This watery grave, inside every page.
Avoiding, avoiding. Don't let the lights turn out.
And Rest Inside The Flames.
05 The Great Descent (04:35)
I wrote this story so many days ago, and the words kept falling onto pages.
Without the loss we can't go on, and with the loss we became strong.
It's how it is, as we stare it down.
Oh my god do I think that this is the end of everything.
When everything inside wants me to feel like this is normal.
And in the quiet, the silence screams aloud. And the panic resides along our inners.
And with the tragedy we go, pushing the hell so far below.
Desperate hands cover my face.
So stay calm this way in case we’re needed for emergency.
And if we are we’ll be prepared for action.
This is how it's supposed to be.
Somebody better call a doctor.
And maybe this could be the end of everything that we want. Don't panic.
And from a distance it seems that the water will wash panic away.
Oh my lord, believe.
There’s no need for emergency, but in case there is, distract it.
If this is the great descent, I won’t be running for the exits.
06 Midnight Swim (03:43)
It’s a midnight swim, where it is late and the air is all clear.
And I remember that evening, you on the floor, I was attached to the ceiling.
Look behind, that glass in your mouth, it’s what I am due for.
The sun will set tonight on all the lonely dreamers, only to rise again so we can start it over.
And you were right when you whispered in my ear and it all became so clear.
It’s gonna be alright, everything will be alright even if the city ignites.
Now to get back to the room where there’s windows as large as the city below.
Bring me down to the safe.
Unlock all of me, until then…
We’ll start it again so we can start it over.
The sun will set tonight
07 Aurora (03:54)
Are you comfortable with the skin you’re in?
Are you screaming loud enough to be important?
Are you following the path that you thought you would or wouldn’t?
And you backed it all along when you’re pulling from what’s inside; it's honest there.
It took all these nights alone.
Alone we are.
Aurora, don't leave me out.
Your lipstick-stained life is arriving.
So at ease with the night that we drove along.
From the top of the hill where we conquer.
And the stop where we claim our life, our place, forever.
And we dreamt it all along, from the nights when the line stayed alive, we shared.
In hope I speak your name for closure.
By a thread we’ll hang, to never give in.
Tonight may be the last night in these shoes.
09 We Cannot Deny (03:42)
We cannot deny
What I would give for memories that wouldn’t keep me up at night.
What I would give for memories that wouldn’t keep me up at night.
We cannot deny.
We cannot deny.
It’s a shame that all we have is a memory that cannot kill the fear.
And get out get out alive.
And get out get out alive.
You won’t find any comfort here.
When I begin.
And I may have friends, some of them the best that any man has ever known.
But they have troubles; (they have troubles) they have troubles all their own.
We cannot deny. (We cannot deny.)
We cannot deny.
It’s a shame that all we have is a memory that cannot kill the fear.
And get out get out alive.
And get out get out alive.
You won’t find any comfort here.
In the wake of all the terror and the hell, I am constantly reminded of the crosses that I bear.
And if you never knew then keep it buried.
And if you never knew then keep it buried.
It’s a shame that all we have is a memory that cannot kill the fear.
And get out get out alive.
And get out get out alive.
You won’t find any comfort here.
It’s a shame that all we have is a memory that cannot kill the fear.
And get out get out alive.
And get out get out alive.
You won’t find any comfort here.
10 Between the Anchor and the Air (03:28)
I hate choking on past words, I swim upstream.
The ones to never ever let you try.
Blackout, clear hearts won't counteract; see through the dirt in your eyes.
You must stand on battle lines if you want to own blue skies.
Situations have turned the tide, the waters caving cast aside.
And you were barely coming through, but yet it's you, the one to never ever let you die.
Blackout, clear hearts won’t counter act; see through the death in our lives.
And since the dance floor has come to shine, the time has come to light the night.
Unearth the things that you’re afraid of.
Takes more than death in our lives.
11 The City Ignites (03:23)
It’s a midnight swim, where it is late and the air is all clear.
And I remember that evening, you on the floor, I was attached to the ceiling.
Look behind, that glass in your mouth, it’s what I am due for.
The sun will set tonight on all the lonely dreamers, only to rise again so we can start it over.
And you were right when you whispered in my ear and it all became so clear.
It’s gonna be alright, everything will be alright even if the city ignites.
Now to get back to the room where there’s windows as large as the city below.
Bring me down to the safe.
Unlock all of me, until then…
We’ll start it again so we can start it over.
The sun will set tonight
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