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Rating:
This was unfortunately the album of my introduction to Fantomas.
I barely knew them, but my curiosity towards them was strong, and that pushed me to buy Director's Cut when it came out.
Scary, to an inexperienced ear that doesn't know Patton, the first track "The Godfather" might at first seem like a Finnish death song, but listening to the rest erases any doubt.
This has never been heard before.
Taken from the well-known soundtrack by our own Nino Rota, The Godfather summarizes what Patton proposed with the first Fantomas.
The violin that introduces the first song and the entire album foretells nothing good (in a good sense, of course).
The gentle violin is followed by a grind marked by Dave Lombardo and screams from Mr. Patton. Outbursts followed and alternated by the innocent vocalizations of good Mike in a mastery that makes Patton the conductor of the new millennium.
It makes me enjoy it.
The second track, "Der Golem," slow and heavy like no other, shows the freedom of the four on how to vary the usual 4/4 that metal offers.
Impossible not to mention all the tracks, from the melodic and hypothetical hit "Experiment in Terror," the engaging "Cape Fear," the melancholic and "childish" "Rosemary's Baby," the grind-core "The Omen" (which alludes to the theme of the devil, in a different version, in a Latin key, which could not be missing in the "videoteca" of Fantomas).
The cover of Morricone's "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion" recalls the setting of Elio Petri's film of the same name, a song full of maranzani and piano. Here we remember that good Mike loves our "bel paese".
Then "Twin Peaks" leaves you breathless. Pattonian melodies where he manages to supplant the sax of the original song with his versatility that knows no limits.
It ends with the cover of the Charade theme: "Charade." It picks up the original percussion loop and makes it the base of his vocal delusions. A recorded applause at the end of the song is well-deserved, and the audience seems to shout: PATTON! PATTON! they have their reasons.
Excellent covers for excellent films, specially chosen by God Patton. I recommend them all if you haven't seen them.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Der Golem (02:38)
You must guard this secret with your life
The hour has come
Breathe life into clay
A slave
We will be saved
When he rises up a mental brave
The creature walks, Combat the enemy
Follow follow follow follow follow follow follow
Your enemy
Follow follow follow follow follow follow follow
Your enemy
The creature walks
Now who's your enemy?
I'm the Golem
The secret stolen
This is my body
I walk again
Life born anew
Let silence scorn you
Reach out my body
I walk again
03 Experiment in Terror (02:41)
This luck you can't buy
Won't touch you this time
One day this dirty stool pigeon will fly
Halos and charmed lives
I'll help you next time
One day this dirty stool pigeon will fly
And hear the angels sing
Reach out and spread my wings in hell
Your luck has run dry
Caught in the bulls-eye
Today this pretty lil� birdy will die
Will die
Will die
No singing tonight
09 Spider Baby (02:26)
Screams and moans and bats and bones
Teenage monsters in haunted homes
The ghosts on the stair
The vampires bite
Better beware, there's a full moon tonight
Cannibal spiders creep and crawl
Boys and ghouls having a ball
Frankenstein, Dracula and even the Mummy
Are sure to end up in someone's tummy
Take a fresh rodent, some toadstools and weeds
And an old owl and the young one she breeds
Mix in seven legs of an eight-legged beast
Then you are all set for a cannibal feast
Sit around the fire with the cup of brew
A fiend and a werewolf on each side of you
This cannibal orgy is strange to behold
And the maddest story ever told
10 The Omen (Ave Satani) (01:49)
Sanguis bebimus
corpus edimus
Sanguis bebimus
corpus edimus
Sanguis bebimus
corpus edimus
Rotted corpus Satani ave
Sanguis bebimus
corpus edimus
Rotted corpus Satani ave
Ave versus Jesus Cristus
Ave versus Jesus Cristus
Ave versus Jesus Cristus
Satani
Sanguis bebimus
corpus edimus
Rotted corpus Satani
Satani
Satani
14 Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (04:00)
You hear the whisper calling
You hear the whisper calling
You hear the whisper calling
You hear the whisper calling
Every comb of hair
The times you see red
Every hair on your head
Every thread on your back
Every piece of skin
Every mouth you've fed
Every word that you said
Every drop that you bled
You hear the whisper calling
15 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (03:29)
Memories
Fade to gray
My smile
Your name
Roof leaks
Dim lights
Low rent
High tide
Boxsprings
Spare change
Your scent
My ways
Your breath
My air
Fog lifts
I stare
You're gone, but I'm there
I'm gone, but you're there
You're gone, but I'm there
I'm gone, but you're there
16 Charade (03:04)
When we play our charade
We were like children posing
Playing at games
Acting out names
Guessing the parts we play
Oh what a hit we made
We came on next to closing
Best on the bill
Lovers until
Love left the masquerade
Fate seemed to pull the strings
I turned and you were gone
While from the darkened wing
The music box played on
Sad little serenade
Song of my heart's composing
I hear it still
I always will
Best on the bill
Charade
Fate seemed to pull the strings
I turned and you were gone
While from the darkened wing
The music box played on, and on
Sad little serenade
Song of my heart's composing
I hear it still
GuessI always will
Best on the bill
Charade
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By santifantiman
Fantomas. Or disrupting the patterns of music, tracks that become episodes through a schizoid concentration that falls in that famous spot at the exact, formless, mathematical, and indeterminate boundary between genius and madness.
"The Director’s Cut" is listened to by closing one’s eyes and processing with the mind.
