Track By Tracks: TALES OF THE TOMB - Volume Two: Mendacium (2019)

1. THE NIGHTMARE HALL:

Nightmare Hall elaborates on underground bases built and controlled by black budget government operations in conjunction with alien beings. More specifically the underground base rumored to be in Dulce, New Mexico. The name “Nightmare Hall” is derived directly from what the inhabitants of the base call Level 6 - The Nightmare Hall. Level 6 houses the genetic labs where alleged experimentation being conducted on humans by alien beings. In the song, there are two quotes from Phillip Schneider who claimed to have worked in black budget programs as an aerospace engineer and came into direct contact with undiscovered elements, alien beings, and alien technology. Nightmare Hall is arguably one of our faster songs where we tried to push our limits as players. We really focused on trying to give this song a very alien atmosphere and tone to reinforce the subject of alien underground bases and technology.

2. FAUL:

Faul was the 3rd songs the band had ever written. We decided not to include it on our debut EP because it did not fit into the concept that first EP had. Faul is about the conspiracy surrounding The Beatles. In the 60’s Paul and John got into a fight late one night in the studio. Paul stormed out after an argument while driving Paul saw a woman walking by the side of the road. It was around 3 am in the morning Paul decided to stop and offer the woman a ride. After the woman got into the car and Paul started driving again. The woman noticed the driver was Sir Paul Mccartney of The Beatles! The woman got very excited and was throwing herself at Paul while he was driving resulting in him driving the car off the road. It’s rumored that he never survived the crash and that police came to the studio to inform the band of their member Paul’s death in the accident. When the band was brought to the accident, the police officer was showing the band the body and noticed that you could see his teeth poking through his cheek. The cop said “Doesn't he look like a walrus” and John Bonham was very distraught by this and was yelling at the cop ”No, I am the walrus” inspiring the famous line from the song. In the end, it was the British Secret Police who decided to forge a cover-up not revealing Paul’s death to the world in fear there would be mass suicide from a lot of the fan The Beatles had. Sonically we really went for the murder metal formula short, sweet and to the point. This was the third song ever written for the band so compared to others on the EP it is very basic in comparison.

3. SINFUL MESSIAH:

Our song Sinful Messiah focuses on the cult leader from the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas — David Koresh. The Branch attracted the attention of the ATF when the US postal service flagged a suspicious parcel containing live hand grenades being shipped to their compound. The name “Sinful Messiah” is ripped from the headline of a newspaper article giving him title, because David believed he was the second coming of Christ. This song was written to sonically recreate the events that took place portraying the level of chaos and confusion created by raids and sieging on the compound. This event has been regarded by some as a publicity stunt in the wake of cult hysteria to paint the ATF in a positive light -- leading to a “who shot first?” conspiracy.

4. DYATLOV PASS INCIDENT:

9 hikers disappeared in what is now called the Dyatlov Pass in Russia. This incident had inspired many different conspiracies trying to explain what happened to the 9 hikers that went missing and were later found dead in the mountain range. Because there was a random unidentified scrap of clothing that looked to come from a military uniform found at the sight of the event. We are taking the angle put forth that the hikers unknowingly stumbled across a military weapons test and met their demise. Basically, they were there at the wrong place at the wrong time and the government was forced to cover up their deaths that the weapons test caused. There was evidence of the hikers ripping the tent from the inside and of the hikers was found with extensive radiation burns, unclothed, fingernails and hands ripped apart from what was later determined to be from trying to climb the surrounding trees and much more. The song is written push-pull between the chaos of stumbling into this extension event vs. a seemingly normal journey. This was the last second last song written and displays the direction we are trying to move into from our past EP.

5. NINE ELEVEN:

Very few people (if any) are unaware of the tragic events that unfolded on Sept 11. 2001. We originally wrote this song for the last show of another Edmonton local band called Villainizer. When starting to plan out the second EP we wanted to have a concept like our first one. With songs like Nine Eleven and Faul wrote this point. We look common factors were in the songs and came to the conspiracy/lies concept. This EP is an important installment that embodies the fundamentals of the band — the reality is more horrifying than fiction. This is a concept EP based on the Latin word Mendacium — meaning untruth and or to be lied to. The first single Nine Eleven is just that — presenting a version of tragic historical events from various angles and the alleged truths that were presented. The intention of each song is to unmask the deception forced upon the masses pushing them to challenge their own perception of reality.

BONUS TRACK 6. MERMAID IN A MANHOLE:

Mermaid is the only song we have written that is truly-fictional. Based on a Japanese horror film Mermaid in a Manhole. The song focuses on a painter that is suffering from depression. He finds himself wandering the sewers of the high neighbourhood and he stumbles across a mermaid that he had visions of when he was younger. The mermaid has some sort of growth causing her pain on her stomach. So the painter decides to take the mermaid back to his apartment to take care of her. He stores her in the bathtub, once settled the mermaid cuts open her growth and tell the painter to paint pictures of her with her blood. Which the painter perceives to come out in many different colours. The painter ends up butchering the mermaid in efforts to get more blood to paint with. At the end of the movie, it is revealed that the painter was actually in a psychotic state and had been butchering his wife who had been pregnant with their child. Thus he had cut out his child from his wife's womb to paint pictures with. Like Faul Mermaid in a Manhole is an older unreleased. The story of the song Mermaid in a Manhole does not really fit into our conspiracy theme we have for this EP. Which is why we decided to list it as a bonus track to give it a proper release and the band had no plans to write more true-fiction based songs. Sonically we tried to recreate the psychosis the painter was going through. We wanted to represent the chaos that must have been going on in the painter mind so have brought himself to murder his wife. There is a sample at the end of the song which has the sound of chopping and a man speaking in Japanese. This is audio taken right from the movie at the part where the painter is sitting on the ground covered in blood chopping up the remains of his mermaid saying, “My Mermaid, My Mermaid is dead. “