Anthrax
Black Lodge

It is not easy to escape the gray monotony of everyday life.

At the end of the day, in recounting the same, most of the time I think it has been an exact copy of the previous one. Yet I also thought that it didn't necessarily take something extraordinary to unplug for a moment and give myself a different breath.

So, on yet another evening returning home, I decided to take a different route, not taking the usual road, but one that would lead me through paths not marked by concrete, but by pine forests and old country trails, unconcerned that this would mean extending my journey somewhat.

It's incredible how this small change rejuvenated me. During that new path, the thoughts wandering in my head were also new, the air I breathed was new, in that day until then the same as before, and I was new.

To make this journey even more interesting, and transform it almost into an adventure with a Lynchian flavor, I accompanied it with the notes imbued with Badalamenti effects from "Black Lodge" by Anthrax.

The same Anthrax who, with the album "Sound of White Noise," took a journey similar to mine, making a sharp change in sound compared to their previous thrash albums, much sharper than what Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and company might have done up to that point, first of all firing the historic frontman Joey "chicken-strangled voice" Belladonna, and finally hiring a real singer, John Bush.

The result, in my opinion, was not exceptional, but exceptional was instead the second single released from that album, namely the aforementioned "Black Lodge," a dark ballad created with the help of Angelo Badalamenti, known for composing the soundtracks for Lynch's films such as "Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me" and "Mulholland Drive."

"Black Lodge" is, in fact, clearly inspired by the TV series "Twin Peaks," which was rampant in those years and marked a generation of, at the time, teenagers like myself, referring to the so-called "Black Lodge," yet another mental place created by the great American filmmaker to upset our certainties made of linear plots and obvious meanings.

The different road, "Black Lodge" and the memories of scenes from Lynch's TV series awakened me from my stupor a bit and made me aware that, to escape a bit, a song, a memory, or a landscape is enough.

It is sufficient to recover a bit of that imagination and that emotional tension that rises within you in knowing that nothing is taken for granted.

"I am witness to your demise..."