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Rating: For those who believe that nu metal still has something to say. Taproot, in my opinion an unjustly underrated band, emerged in 2000, in the midst of nu-metal chaos, with the excellent "Gift", an album strongly inspired by Deftones and slightly weighted down by the now famous outbursts from the KoRn school, hypnotic, interesting, which achieved a decent success (but not too much), thanks especially to the chameleonic voice of Stephen Richards. In 2002, "Welcome" was released, and unfortunately, they stumbled upon a resounding flop: the outbursts and psychotic rhythms disappeared to make way for grunge sounds and, obviously, an excessive use of melody, which unfortunately makes the album boring and not very engaging (except for the single "Poem"). "Blue-Sky Research", released last year, is not just the album of redemption for the band after the mediocre predecessor, but also the testimony of the finally achieved maturity of Taproot, who shed all the nu metal clichés present in "Gift" (dropped riffs, rapped verses, angry scream vocals) and that grunge melancholy (model last Staind) which was soaked into "Welcome". In fact, the new music of the quartet is something "new", something where serenity and melancholy blend perfectly in a concentrate of grunge, rock, and ancient Deftones reminiscences (with even emo nuances), stripped of the heaviness that penalized the previous record, creating light, sweet, refined atmospheres that never tire, just like a beautiful blue sky during an autumn afternoon.
And yes, because this is precisely the image that emerges while listening to the album, it is the soundtrack of an entire early autumn day lived from dawn's light to sunset, all with the presence of an ever-present blue sky (like the one on the cover). "I Will Not Fall For You", the album's opening, starts with a delicate guitar arpeggio accompanied by a calm Richards who unleashes all his anger in the chorus; it would be pointless to discuss each track since the melodies of songs like "Violent Seas", "Lost In The Woods", "April Suits", "She", "Promise" and the catchy single "Calling" are just to be listened to and relistened to. "Facepeeler", "So Eager", "Nightmare", and especially "Blue Sky Research/What's Left" might be the songs that, besides having the ever-present melody, also feature angrier moments, as if to recall the outbursts of "Gift", now light-years away. Special mention for "Birthday", which was the first song that truly struck me from this album: melody and atmosphere are nothing short of wonderful, an exciting piece with a very romantic lyric... a beautiful birthday wish.
In the making of this album, besides Taproot themselves and producer Bob Marlette, former Smashing Pumpkins member Billy Corgan also participated, who signed the tracks "Violent Seas", "Lost In The Woods", and "Promise". "Blue Sky Research" finally gives us a mature band, with its own identity, calmer than ever, far from the usual clichés of its origin genre, yet still belonging to it, despite the marked grunge inclinations shown in the past. Taproot's nu metal has evolved and finally exploded, and I am nothing but happy about this. After the anger of "Gift" and the melancholy of "Welcome", here comes the serenity of "Blue Sky Research". An album recommended for those who love to dream, for those who are in search of a blue sky.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Violent Seas (03:45)
Standing on a land unknown, interpreting the same
Believing in a chance of hope, and see it slowly fade
It's breaking far away, replacing what im made of
Looking for a way to show (That I'm)
Searching for a faith who knows (That I'm)
Screaming for a place to go
(Chorus)
Cause I'm drowning in the violent seas
Of being force fed societies
Shallow end of misery please take me away cause i cant stay
Looking for a way to show that im okay
Screaming for a place like home
Treading in the fears i own of ending up ashamed
While cornered in this life and prone by overbearing waves
That steal what i have saved replacing what i gave up
Looking for a way to show (That I'm)
Searching for a faith who knows (That I'm)
Screaming for a place to go
(Chorus)
Away, far away
03 Birthday (04:29)
All you'd show is love
Yet all I'd see is hate
You know that something's wrong
I know I can't relate
Wind is blowing pleasure by
And I don't feel a thing
Emotion fills the sky
Erosion clouds my brain
I can't seem to breathe in
I can't seem to see then through the deafening silence of pain left all alone again)
Imprisoned by this selfish reign (with no more rules to bend)
I think I'm breaking down
And if I had just one more day
I'd tell you everything, everything I had to say
I miss you
And if I had just one more day
I'd show you one last thing, honesty believes in fate
Cos fate is what I've gained
Strength has come and gone
So now I lie in wait
The void is never long
The core belief in fate
I've been down this lonely road
Before I know the way
As situations change the answers will remain
Now I've got a reason as time has brought new seasons to carry me from this pain
Living proof of selfless gain
Fate is what I've gained
I've been down this road, the answers' still the same
05 Calling (03:53)
Your face, is burned inside my brain
(I lost my way)
Your taste, of skin flows through my veins
(The cost I pay)
'Cause you'll never understand me
You want me to stay
You're ca-ca-ca-calling
But I can't hear you
I'm not listening anymore
You're subject to falling
But I can't save you
I don't see you anymore
The race of slowing down the pace
(I found a way)
The pace of speaking so mundane
(The sound of gain)
But you'll never make me happy
So I've extinguished the flame
You're ca-ca-ca-calling
But I can't hear you
I'm not listening anymore
You're subject to falling
But I can't save you
I don't see you anymore
And what you want me to say, I'll never say
You're playing the game, that I'll never play
So what do you want from me
Now I've extinguished the flame
You're ca-ca-ca-calling
But I can't hear you
I'm not listening anymore
You're subject to falling
But I can't save you
I don't see you anymore
You're ca-ca-ca-calling
But I can't hear you
I'm not listening anymore
You're fa-fa-fa-falling
But I can't save you
I don't see you anymore
06 Forever Endeavor (04:02)
It seems it's been so long, 'cause it's been way too long
Since we've shared a warm embrace and since I've seen you smile
The wind of misery appears
And takes away from all we have
The cycle just goes on and on and on and on
'Cause only time will tell if we're meant to be
You and I won't know if it's our destiny
Forever endeavor
I am alone again 'cause I am alone again
The choice we have to face, is whether to move on
The urge to right our wrongs, but no fix is long
The wind of misery appears
The cycle just goes on
'Cause only time will tell if we're meant to be
You and I won't know if it's our destiny
Forever endeavor
Forever endeavor
Forever endeavor
Forever endeavor
Only time will tell if we're meant to be
You and I won't know if it's our destiny
Forever endeavor
Only time will tell if we're meant to be
You and I won't know if it's our destiny
Forever endeavor
Forever endeavor
Forever endeavor
Forever endeavor
07 April Suits (03:26)
How could you abandon me?
I thought you'd always be
there for me
standing tall
one in one
for all.
My support modeling
holding as a team.
But instead on our own
enemies of all
(chorus)
The seasons change there's
warm and rain
they'll wash our pain away.
Making amends to help understand
how to live
today.
It's not you're fault
I understand
Now I'm more a man.
You needed space to find yourself
and I'm in the same place now.
Living dreams
dreaming new
springing foward to:
"Choose a life
to get me by,
not a life that passes by"
(Chorus)
08 Lost in the Woods (04:14)
Tonight, I'm freaking out again,
Tonight, I'm fucking solo,
All I wanted was a friend,
All I've got is no one,
Tonight I'll sleep alone,
I won't sleep at all,
My heart isn't alive,
Right now I'm sinking further down,
Right now I'm breaking inside,
A long drive to see you on your bed,
A long ride wishing for your life,
Tonight I'll stay with you,
And I will get us through,
My heart ripped from my chest
Too late, I hope not for this
My heart isn't alive,
Nausious, preparing for the worst,
Cautious, repairing open wounds,
Yet somehow believing in a chance,
It'll turn out to be another test,
And you'll come back again,
My heart ripped from my chest,
Too late I hope not for this,
My heart isn't alive,
My arms carry the weight,
Two hands, folded yet straight,
My arms, closed in a prayer for you,
I'm lost in the woods,
They say,
To me,
Right now I'm sinking further down
Right now I'm breaking in - side
My heart ripped from my chest,
Too late, I hope not for this,
My heart isn't alive (x2)
My arms carry the weight,
Two hands, folded yet straight,
My arms, closed in a prayer for you,
Tonight I'll stay with you.
10 She (03:24)
She gets everything she wants, but nothing that she needs
No respect for what things cost, or who she wants to be
Just neglect for what's been lost, 'cause nothing is for free
How can we let her get away with being this way
We've been shattered by her can't you see she has to pay
In her shadow I reside
I scream but no one's listening
Would anyone know if I died
I'm sick of no one seeing I'm alive
She has everything I want, but nothing that I need
Nothing earned like what I've got, gets anything she sees
Lives the life that I cannot, 'cause nothing is for free
How can we let her get away she has to pay
In her shadow I reside
I scream but no one's listening
Would anyone know if I died
I'm sick of no one seeing I'm alive
In her shadow I decide I won't stay longer
In a place with silent hate inside
The choice is violence towards her in disguise
How can we let her get away with being this way
We've been shattered by her can't you see she has to pay
In her shadow I reside
I scream but no one's listening
Would anyone know if I died
I'm sick of no one seeing I'm alive
In her shadow I decide I won't stay longer
In a place with silent hate inside
The choice is violence towards her in disguise
11 Promise (03:34)
Tonight's the night in your arms again
Be the one to make me whole and then
Say whatever you have to say to me
On and honestly
Every single thought of you amazes me
So I'll promise you, I'll promise you to me
To find the one with your heart and stem
Freed and mine much more than the rest of them
Seed the chance to grow and be with me
The way I know and see
Every single thought of you amazes me
So I'll promise you, I'll promise you to me
Every single time that you've forgiven me
So I'll promise you, I'll promise you to me
There you are in my thoughts again
Fearing all we have is dead
Taken time as the best of friends
Pleae don't let me down again
Every single thought of you amazes me
So I'll promise you, I'll promise you to me
Every single time that you've forgiven me
So I'll promise you, I'll promise you to me
Every single thought of you
Every single thought of you
Every single thought of you
Every single thought of you
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