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Rating: "Outcast" ('97) is that sort of unstable calm in which the mind of the maniac lies, futilely trying to impose a restraint on its urges. It is walking among the debris that the fury of the previous "Cause for Conflict" ('95) left behind, nullifying one’s nature and flipping it like a glove. It is yet another aftershock from the creative genius of the undisputed leader Petrozza, who, once again, manages to have the demon wear a new mask, unpredictable and unexpected: a true revolution in terms of sound and songwriting which, as often happens in these cases, ended up leaving victims in its wake.
The first and most predictable is Joe Cangelosi, guilty of “usurping” the throne of the monument "Ventor" Reil, who, with this album, decides to return to the slaughter from which he had distanced himself. The second, more painful, is Frank "Blackfire", the former Sodom who, over the years, had been the protagonist of a truly commendable technical evolution, managing to leave behind the stumbling beginnings alongside the monolith Angelripper. Thus, it happens that good Gosdzik, probably also pushed by the musical shift that was taking shape under the guidance of the visionary Mille, steps aside for Tommy Vetterli (coming from the recently disbanded Coroner), in this writer's opinion one of the best metal guitarists of all time. No one can know how much compositional importance this addition held (although most claim that Vetterli limited himself to the "fine work," having arrived when Petrozza had already completed much of the songwriting), there is only certainty in how much "Outcast" enjoys many of the elements that had made the Coroner sound challenging but unforgettable, especially in their later period. Think of the volume games in "Ruin of Life", the hypnotic palm muting of "Whatever It May Take", the circular melodies of "A Better Tomorrow", or the dreamlike atmospheres of the solo interval in "Black Sunrise"…
But, just as had happened in Coroner with "Grin", in "Outcast" the subversion of genre norms ends up being the motive for the third and most striking victim of the creative wanderings of the Essen group: speed.
Thus, thirteen broken mirrors are born, swallowed to reflect what broods inside us, exposed fractures of images trapped in glass, disturbing and unsettling: thirteen mid tempos (or a little more…) where the music is stripped to the bone. Sadistically, to give us time and a way to reflect on what is happening… while getting stuck in it. Guitars, bass, and drums are essential, direct, sometimes minimal. The tracks end up being "square", linear in their structures (unless one wants to consider as an exception the nice acceleration in the finale of "Forever") and, on some occasions, rather predictable in their development. Yet the compositions lose nothing in terms of richness: "Outcast" is a compact, rough, and abrasive wall, but studded with gems, which builds its greatness precisely on the facets, the details, the touches of class, imperceptible at first listen.
Therefore, it is important to pay proper attention to the industrial deviations of "Whatever It May Take" and "Enemy Unseen" (reminiscences of the unjustly maligned "Renewal"), the overlapping voices in "Alive Again", the inconsolable despair of "Black Sunrise", in which Mille surprises the listener with clean, measured, and anguished vocals, and, again, the slow and unyielding advance of the title track (practically impossible to conceive as a Kreator-song just a couple of albums prior), or the vaguely epic-sounding chorus of "Stronger Than Before"… Many elements, indicators of a sound troubled by heterogeneous influences and experimentation, that contribute to creating cruel frescoes of inadequacy ("Leave This World Behind"), paranoia ("Phobia", an anthem of devastating effectiveness live), isolation ("Outcast"), and thirst for revenge ("Stronger Than Before"). A sweep of moods that emerge even better than in the past, because they are no longer suffocated by the swirl of rhythms and the whirling of double pedals.
Even nearly ten years after its release, "Outcast" is practically impossible to judge objectively: far from the more traditional and uncompromising sounds for which Petrozza and company became famous, but still deeply and inherently "extreme", it practically lends itself to all kinds of criticism, both from the most purist thrashers and from lovers of experimentation tout court. In my opinion (and, especially, listened to with more open and less uncompromising ears), it remains an excellent album, but not a masterpiece. The best pages, the lengthiest and most fascinating ones, end up being those where the band most demonstrates its courage and its desire to dare, revealing its less brutal and more distinctly dark side ("Black Sunrise" and "Outcast", above all), while the banality of some choices, mainly in the arrangement phase, especially within the most regular and immediate tracks ("Against The Rest" and "Leave This World Behind"), leaves one somewhat bewildered.
Beyond personal judgments, what truly matters to emphasize is that if "Outcast" is frightening, it is not because of its anger but because of its despair. Its aggressiveness is neither the overwhelming and minimalistic kind of the early years nor, for that matter, the furious and violent kind of "Renewal" and "Cause for Conflict". It is something intimate, because it is from the intimacy of the human soul that the nightmares dramatized in it originate.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Phobia (03:22)
Is there something after you
something after you
is there something after you
will it get you
can you feel the panic in you
feel the panic in you
can you feel the panic in you
will it break you
paranoia
coming from within
taking over
symptoms of an everlasting
phobia
is there something following you
someone following you
is there someone following you
are you dreaming
is someone taking your life from you
are you dying
paranoia
coming from within
taking over
symptoms of an everlasting
phobia
04 Black Sunrise (04:32)
When nothing's left for us to say
Substance leads me through the day
All the green has turned to gray
Like shadows fall from those who died
Black Sunrise
Darkened the Earth
For jesus lives in every shot
When i'm there I'll talk to god
Now I can see things you cannot
Like mirrors in eternity
Black Sunrise
Darkened the Earth
Black Sunrise
Over the Earth
Why can I see the light no more?
Everything became so much harder than before
Like a swamp it pulls me further down
god I know I've gone too far
I am dying just to look inside
05 Nonconformist (03:15)
What is yours, it ain't mine
Become a capitalist and follow blind
Staring into empty eyes
I can't see no more truth behind those lies
I don't believe
I don't agree
I'm the one you fear forever...
Nonconformist
Count the days that pass you by
Minds erased, the individual dies
Conform into society
And you become your own worst enemy
I don't believe
I don't agree
I'm the one you fear forever...
Nonconformist
They'll burn your dreams
Pollute your mind
And you don't even see it
Do you want to see it?
They'll take away
All you have
And you don't even see it
Do you want to see it?
Nonconformist
07 Outcast (04:53)
All alone
So unreal
Follow illusions
Beyond imagination
All alone
Cannot breathe
Feelings isolated
All your heaven breeds frustration
Outcast
All alone
Is it real?
Killing illusions
Beyond imagination
All alone
Cannot feel
Absolute rejection
In a world with no reflection
Now you've crossed the line
See with different eyes
With a different mind, looking
Straight through your disguise
Do you ever know what it really means
Being pushed away
Driven to the last extreme
All you'll ever be, all you ever were
Nothing but a freak, just a sociopath
Outcast
08 Stronger Than Before (03:16)
This life has brought you down
Pushed your face into the ground
Like ahuman sacrifice
Trapped within a world of lies
This life just took it all
Almost deaf to hear the call
Aggression is the only way
Expression no one can explain
Power to find some piece of mind
Exploring all the fear you hide
It's in your heart it's in your blood
Getting out Stronger Than Before
This life is filled with pain
Sorrow grips your heart again
Neverending misery
Chaos sucks your energy
This life without a home
Got no place to call your own
Aggression is the only way
To express your burning rage
Power to find some piece of mind
Exploring all the fear you hide
It's in your heart, it's in your blood
Getting out Stronger Than Before
10 Whatever It May Take (03:47)
Whatever It May Take
Don't let them bring you down
From the cradle to the grave
Keep your head above the ground
Whatever It May Take
Refuse to be enslaved
The only thought that should exist
Whatever It May Take
Whatever It May Take
Whatever It May Take
Can't take it all the way
Trying to destroy you
Your birth is my decay
Whatever It May Take
Don't capitulate
Trust in no one's promises
Whatever It May Take
Whatever It May Take
Somewhere there'll be,
Another chance you'll see
It's there for you
Whatever It May Take
If you would not exist I would be FREE...
11 Alive Again (03:47)
Overreaction and you've lost your path
Faceless and hateful, emotional psychopath
Overreaction now you're not the same
Become someone else, hate becomes Alive Again
Alive Again, Overreaction
Search for what you need
Cause for a conflict
Schitzophrenic personality
Overreaction, will this ever change?
Reality fades, hate becomes Alive Again
Alive Again
In my wildest dreams you are mine
And your weakest spot i will find
I am not affriad to let it rise
Let me overrun your mind
Come walk with me, have no fear
And when you at least expect it it appears
It lingers on my favourite game
No matter how it comes Alive Again
12 Against the Rest (02:38)
Like a world religion
Like a perfect product of your fantasy
Embracing me, no rules no leaders
Just the purest power of integrity
All i can see
Still a spark rising
Deep down in your chest
Comprimise would equal
Submission to your emptiness
Stand Together Against The Rest
Together Against The Rest
Following our own direction
Together Against The Rest
When it feels so helpless
Never healing wounds of life have left their scars
And you're the cause, surronded by aggression
Every word you hear is like oil into a flame
Still a spark is rising
Deep down in your chest
Comprimise would equal
Submission to your emptiness
Stand Together Against The Rest
Together Against The Rest
Following our own direction
Together Against The Rest
13 A Better Tomorrow (04:12)
One by one we take control
New consciousness, one heart, one soul
Oppression ends, the time has come
So don't look back, it can be done
Something is still missing
Something keeps 'em blind
Like a prescious sacrilege
They can never find
So they walk together
Into a silent war
Though it seems to take forever
This generation is finaly heading for...
A Better Tomorrow
Tell me can't you feel it?
Tell me can't you see it?
Tell me can't you hear it?
I know it ain't just me
Let us walk together
What are we waiting for?
It is now or never
This generation is finaly heading for...
A Better Tomorrow
Day by day we're praying for,
It to come across the shores
It brings new hope, it brings new light
Nameless spirits now they shine
One by one become aware
New consciousness will be there
And all the blind
Now they will see, embrace their minds
To plant the seeds for...
A Better Tomorrow
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