Release Details...
Whispers In Rage (2003)
Released by Dancing Ferret Discs (USA)
Overview...
Conflict:
A state of disharmony between incompatible or antithetical persons, ideas, or interests… a clash… a psychic struggle, often unconscious, resulting from the opposition or simultaneous functioning of mutually exclusive impulses, desires, or tendencies… a whisper in rage. There is an expression, in which a true musician ignites solely through his emotions. He is wise of his surroundings that profoundly affect his daily life. He sees life not through rose-colored glasses, but through a veil of expression. He experiences mental and physical injury, which leaves no other choice but to manipulate emotions through music. The musician, like any artist, cannot exist - cannot survive - cannot grow without the healing salve of expression. Not until then, will he feel the healing that beckons. For The Last Dance, writing Whispers In Rage was not a choice, it was release.
Details...
Excellent and promising release from this well established act that sees them going in a new direction. The music is a bit more aggressive, with prominent electronics, and production is crisp. Rachel McDonnell from The Cruxshadows provides violin on a few tracks. Includes a cover of Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party." Released late Summer 2003.
to listen to Music Samples Track Listing
01 Nightmares
02 Rage
03 Wonderlust
04 Whisper
05 Dead Mans Party
06 Breath
07 Terribly When
08 Frozen
09 Laughing
10 Somewhere More
11 Voices
12 Silently She
13 51051
About...
Whispers in Rage, simply stated, is the outcome of pouring all conflicting thoughts, emotions, and feelings experienced by The Last Dance into their music and into their songs that extend a profound force to be written… for they had to be written. Releasing the voices of screams that exist within the silence of “The Last World.” The result is by far the most personal and powerful album TLD has produced to date. Musically and lyrically, conflict is expressed - sometimes between songs, and sometimes within just one. The opening track, Nightmares, sets the tone for the album encompassing a rock band energy with an electronic edge along with lyrics that both reveal where Whispers In Rage was written from and where it will take you. With this album, The Last Dance push their aggressive envelope with songs such as Frozen Wonderlust, and Rage, pushing guitars to the forefront while capturing vocalist Jeff Diehm’s more aggressive live performance vocal style... a style that The Last Dance fans witness at their live shows, but has never been truly captured on any album, until now.
Whispers In Rage’s balladesque tracks such as Breath and Silently She capture the true sadness (voiced along with an innocent chase of strings) and self-realizations that exist throughout anger and frustration we both feel and sometimes hide behind. Voices includes aspects of both conflicting emotions along with anger and sadness, all striving to co-exist together. The album concludes with a live track called 51501. This track sums up Whispers In Rage perfectly, recorded live…only once… without electronics or studio tricks. 51501 simply is The Last Dance revealed and exposed through their simplicity and openness. Jeff's vocals and lyrics reflect The Last Dance story as true as it can possibly be told, and of course, the music was recorded with their late beloved drummer “Lucky” Ivan Dominguez… a loss that was devastating to The Last Dance… a loss that may very well be the driving force behind Whispers In Rage… we may never truly know.
Whispers in Rage features musical additions by violinist Rachel McDonnell (The Cruxshadows), Mera Roberts (Mercurine) on cello, Doug Jackson (Additional Guitars), and Joellanna Garcia (Percussion), among others. Performing members Tom Coyne (drums) and Philip Van Overeem (Additional Guitars / Keys) also contributed. With their contributions, each in their own unique way help capture the message of Whispers in Rage in the style of which the band envisioned. From the driving emotions, to the writing style, to the fashion in which the album was recorded, Whispers in Rage sends a message of diverse and conflicted nature that roots from the heart and is expressed through music that now exists eternally within The Last Dance.