The first full song from The Poison Skies!

davidn
I don’t write albums in anywhere near the correct order, jumping about between songs as pieces come to me - but this opening song was one of the first that I started for the album. In fact, looking back through some old files, I found a fragment of it dated October 2011 that would have been from when I was experimenting around with songs inspired by The Afflicted in Modplug Tracker - at that stage I had no idea how big a project this would become (or how long it would be until it was finished!) A couple of other projects got in the way first, but finally, here we are…

Right from the beginning, I knew the sound that I wanted to begin this first song with, the rhythm bursting in from the introductory track, and forcing myself to take the leap into a modern DAW (mostly driven by wanting to use Impact Soundworks’ Shreddage guitar library) really gave me the sound that I wanted. I really love how Shreddage sounds on the high guitars in the fast solo - I can play the guitar a bit, but nowhere near as skillfully as would be required for something like this.

This was also among the first songs that I finished recording vocals for - I’d sung for my previous mini-album The Day The Night Slept, but at this stage I still considered my voice as sort of a placeholder rather than something to be taken seriously. But after a long time learning about equalization and effects and compression and everything, I was surprised when I played it back and caught myself thinking that this song actually sounded… good. I hope that you agree :)

And Kjorteo did fantastic work with the lyrics on the chorus - she handed me some lyrics very early on once I really got going and was so… insistently timid, making sure that she wasn’t stepping over a line by suggesting something for “my” song. But those lyrics really did save the chorus, which I was going nowhere with at the time - her influence really booted my songwriting out of my comfort zone and made the album a lot more varied, so fortunately she kept on contributing to the rest of the album! The lyrics and melody during the “In the wilds…” part will be revisited a couple of times later…

The choir voice sound, provided by EastWest Symphonic Choirs, also appears throughout this album - it lets you build up words in software, which can become shockingly realistic with the right tweaking, and I got addicted to adding it to songs. The words here are quite indistinct at the end of the song, but I think they’re chanting “Father… Keeper… Savior… Valdra” or something along those lines. Originally I had them going throughout the introduction section and between the verses as well, but I’m glad that I eventually toned it down - in retrospect they were frighteningly close to Gloryhammer’s parody of the genre.

kjorteo
I spent almost the entire collaboration being shy about overstepping my bounds and intruding on David’s songs, but especially this one. Even later on, I had one song on the album that was fully and completely “mine” and I was oddly proud of that, and I knew I didn’t want to rob David of any similar satisfaction regarding his work. This one, however, came before we had even gotten that far; this was from back when the whole project was still an Albion album, not an Albion-Tharotia one. Of course I didn’t want to be presumptuous!

That being said, I’m glad I submitted my chorus lyrics (even if I had prefaced them with about two pages’ worth of “You don’t have to use these if you don’t want to, but….”) I adored the sheer sound of this chorus from the first time I’d heard it, so much that it inspired me to write the lyrics and then share them if only just to show my appreciation for his music. I had no idea until after I’d accidentally saved it how close David was to throwing the whole thing out… because he couldn’t think of any lyrics for it! My submission was the first example of uncanny serendipity on this album, but definitely not the last.

Lyrics
[Edward:]
Beneath an iron sky
My people live in poverty and crime
Existing underneath a tyrant ruler's hand
And through the longest night
I raise their spirits, guide them to a light
And give what little hope I can

We are lost - in an endless night
The sun drained from our eyes
Gone - when we sold our lives
To the plague that stole the sky

Where no one dares to go
Yet there's a world outside, we know
To leave the city is to throw your life away
Yet there's a dream I hide
To breathe the pure and poison sky
At any moment I could
Walk out and never return

Outside the city walls
The victims of infection haunt my thoughts
The worst affliction ever known
Condemned to waste away
Or die by hunters stalking them as prey
Abandoned, helpless and alone

I could leave - and be vital
To the ones in dire need
If I stay - I'll be nothing more
My choice is surely made

And so I'm leaving all
Leave the city far behind
Cause there is nothing
That I can do here for the world
Now I’m leaving all
Leave this short life far behind
I know I’ll never come back

Do you still believe in life hereafter
Even with the suffering of the living ones
And do you feel that the will to heal
Is subservient to God above
I don't know if faith alone can help them
That is why I venture out to give
My own life so I and the afflicted ones can live
Life before death
Life before death

Alone I make my way
No more empty promises this time
This is the precipice
The point of no return
The world of the afflicted
Clear and calm before my eyes
I only have to take one step
To breathe the air at last
And I have joined them
And I have joined them

I won't give my life for nothing
If I can say I made a change
To be remembered is the only thing I ask
And leaving all behind
I'll live so I may also find
A place in life before my death

In the wilds, all our pasts will be forgotten
No matter who, we can all be redeemed
One last time
To respect all life, whether friend or enemy
To bring the cycle of hurt to an end

Do you still believe in life hereafter
Even with the suffering of the living ones
And do you feel that the will to heal
Is subservient to God above
I don't know if faith alone can help them
That is why I venture out to give
My own life so I and the afflicted ones can live
Life before death
Life before death
Life before death