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Rating: The wind starts to blow stronger from the trees, the only noise you hear is from a car in the distance. Nothing can break this silence. Nothing can even remotely touch your soul. It begins to rain. You should have realized it; you would have just needed to look out the window and gaze at the sky for a few seconds: numerous clouds of various shapes had quickly condensed, then releasing their heavy tears to the ground. There was something uniting the elements of this sad landscape, or rather a color: gray. The large clouds above were gray, the paved streets were gray, the houses in the distance were gray. Even that part of the sky that the eleventh finger tried to tell in their third studio album, exactly eleven years ago, was gray. What those five guys tried to do, however, was not to describe any sky darkened by clouds, but the grayer part of the sky. How did they succeed? What sound did they adopt? They chose the hardest one and did it by combining (and at the same time anticipating) what had already been created and what would be composed later.
The most correct formula to better describe the album in question, I believe, is this: take the rhythm and intensity changes typical of the early System Of A Down, mix in a bit of the old Korn and Slipknot (just a pinch), and anticipate the Rock-Metal crossover that forms the basis for most of the 12 Stones discography. Then, anticipate also the singing style of their lead vocalist Paul McCoy, also mixed with a small dose of Jonathan Davis's voice; now mix it all well, adding little by little as it condenses some elements typical of post-grunge. What has come out? A mess? A disgust? No, none of this.
What emerged from this union is that sky that Eleven Fingers so laboriously tried to describe, that one which will immediately captivate you with "Fist Time" and leave you suspended for a few seconds only to crash you violently to the ground with the harder "Drag You Down" and "My Carousel". It will enter your mind and manipulate your thoughts at will with "Sick Of It All" and "For The Ocean", abandon you for a few minutes with "Broken Words" only to take your breath away with "Suffocate", and once again take hold of your thoughts by throwing at you the song with the catchiest and most melodic chorus of all: "Bones And Joints". The sky will begin to clear up with the Depeche Mode cover "Walking In My Shoes" only to disappear, leaving you with "Say and Drown". Your mind is empty, the last heavy, distorted notes alternate one last time with the verses where the bass reigns; and when all the instruments stop, you will look out the window: the sun is there again in the blue cloudless sky, and your fears and thoughts have calmed down, now tired of frantically swirling like a hurricane inside your head.
The singer Scott Anderson declared that it was the most difficult album to compose.
Many songs are not available on the web (like "Famous") or only exist in live form, like "For The Ocean" or "My Carousel".
If you like 12 Stones, you will probably love this record. If you like the Nu-Metal of Soad or Korn, you might find it interesting.
Personally, I wonder how it is possible not to be able to listen to it completely.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Drag You Down (03:21)
It's biting it's teething it's biting I'm bleeding
It's calling it's crawling it's calling and I'm falling
The perfect sound of middle ground
Pull me under before I try to drag you down
Someone has to pull me under before
I try and drag you, drag you, drag you down
They're fighting they're growing they're fighting and they're growing
I'm biting I'm teething I'm biting and bleeding
The perfect sound of middle ground
Pull me under before I try to drag you down
Someone has to pull me under before
I try and drag you, drag you, drag you down
biting and teething and bleeding
The perfect sound of middle ground
Pull me under before I try to drag you down
Someone has to pull me under before
I try and drag you, drag you, drag you down
03 My Carousel (03:43)
Spotlights are roaming
The show will begin
I had never thought
But don't give my circus away
I hope it ends before you know me
I've lost it completely
My faith is lost again I'd say
I'm tired of this place and I want to go
Riding my carousel
They can never tell
I'm spinning and turning
Always revolving
You should have seen it
Where were you?
I needed a stage
To walk all over you
That's better
I'm throwing my three ring away
And I can hear you say
I'm tired of this place
I'm tired of this place and then I think of
Riding my carousel
They can never tell
Close all of the doors
Lock me away
I'm happy I'm here
So let me stay
04 Sick of It All (03:18)
Are the sins getting staler
Does every moment move past you Or
does it feel like forever
And shouldn't you be laughing too?
Take a look how they found you
Take a look what they've done to you now
So what was it they wanted
Sullen and haunted
If only you saw it coming
How far down would you fall
If you never came up again
'Cause you're so sick of it all
And you want to change everything
Just how deep would you go
To see through it all
If you could consume her
Would you say you were finding your way out?
Is anything coming clearer
Smashing your mirror?
Still you can see you're guilty
How far down would you fall
If you never came up again
'Cause you're so sick of it all
And you want to change everything
Just how deep would you go
To see through it all
Coming closer my composure turning
inside out in her
Calling home all alone
You can call I won't answer
Any question in my head
Remains until you feel the same
Never telling how I felt is all I ever cared about
How far down would you fall te
If you never came up again
Cause you're so sick of it all
And you wanna change everything
And someone somewhere should know
If you wanna come back around
Just how deep would you go
To see through it all
To see through it all
Coming closer my composure turning
inside out in her
Calling home all alone
You can call I won't answer
Any question in my head
Remains until you feel the same
Never telling how I felt is all I ever cared about
07 Suffocate (03:44)
Talk to me
Can you listen to me now
Do you understand
Can you identify?
But it's as if you seem to make a small effort
But you bend you're bending my mind
And you try, and you try, I can see inside and suffocate
And smother me
Covered so I can't breathe
~Chorus~
When we collapse our weakened hands fall together at once abandoned
They'll force you down and strap you in doubt now we agree and understand
Speak slowly
You gotta get it all out now
What are you saying?
Just remember we will always be here
Just in case you have been waiting
Waiting to show us something or give us some sign
As if you're gonna suffocate or smother me
Covered so you can't breathe
~Chorus~
Gently lure your submission
All the while suspicion grows
So be sick of listening
To senile old and staggering naive youth
Pick us up when we fall down
~Chorus~(2x)
08 Bones + Joints (03:47)
Cloud my eyes and tell me what to see
I'm falling
Every way I turn the same disease
But I like it
Brace myself and hit the wall with ease
Colliding
I'm not minding the pain
I've been down here before
All my bones and joints are sore
Find my way out of the wreck again
I've been down here before
Lost myself and so much more
Find my way out of the game again
Open up my head and take it in
Just like always
Think about the bar and take a swing
Loaded trapeze
What you need the most from me is yours
I'll continue to deceive you my friend
You lost what made you you
Or maybe I never knew
I can't stay here anymore
Give it all or you're on your own
I will leave you
I will leave you
I will leave you
I will leave you
09 Famous (04:08)
Wait if everything's going great
Can you remember a day to tell?
If someone should wish you well
Then there's a narrow chance
All I want from you my dear friend
I've already got
I could show you how
And you say you've got that feeling again
It won't be long enough
But it may never end I know
Wait I thought I had something to say
I will remember someday
Fate found you buckling under the weight
And you thought you would last
All I got from you my dear friend
I don't even want
Follow your answers
But you look so bitter
Who are you?
Are you famous?
Important?
Don't you stop that glitter
All I wanted from you
Is all forgotten for you
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