[To round off our Pharaoh celebration here are a few words from Chris Black regarding the future of the band. Interspersed with a couple of songs from their 2011 EP Ten Years. As always, thanks for reading and thanks for listening.]
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| Cover Artwork by JP Fournier |
It's true that Tim has had a few medical things to deal with recently and that they are indeed minor. Everyone needs a tune-up here and there as we enter middle age, and the truth is that Tim makes 29 look pretty damn good!
That said, like myself, Tim is a relatively small piece of the machinery for the stage we're at, which is kind of a simultaneous process of not only songwriting but also making the pre-production versions of the songs that will then guide us through the recording process. And that really depends on Matt more than anyone else. His expenditure of time and energy in creating these albums is enormous at any stage, and it begins with not only a large share of the songwriting responsibility, but also basically deconstructing, learning, and rebuilding everyone else's contributions into a more or less standardized demo form. It's an incredible amount of work, and for Matt, that's really just the beginning! The whole process depends on Matt, and I trust him to know when the time is right to put these roller-coaster wheels in motion.
In the meantime, the song pile is slowly building. I can say for sure that we have the direction and many of the pieces for at least 6 songs. Some working titles include "Ride Us to Hell" and "Lost in the Waves". We also have an album title, a cover concept, and a theme for the lyrics and imagery that will follow. "Concept album" is probably overstating it, but as with Be Gone, we plan to tie most or all of the songs to the same anchor.
Right now musically it's quite diverse, although things will surely smooth out once all the pieces are in place. So far, it has the aggression of Bury the Light but plenty of other shades. There's a bit of that Memento Mori majestic stuff as well as an upbeat track in the vein of "In Your Hands" or something like that.