Track By Tracks: Forlet Sires - Holy (2019)

What is there to say about the tracks on HOLY? The music is composed in solitude by individual bandmembers or during collective sessions. While we aim to create songs that feel coherent, they usually have no underlying concepts but are rather a collection of ideas and feelings that bandmembers build upon. What inspired each member to write their respective parts is often forgotten or stays with the musician as in the end, it’s the bigger picture and the journey of each song that matters. In contrast to the instruments, the lyrics in each track revolve around a central theme and is, therefore, the basis for the “Track by Track” analysis.

1. Carnage and Candor:

The first track of the album is a journey in itself, both musically and thematically. Lasting for more than twelve minutes it is also the longest song on the LP. It deals with betrayal, living with a lie and how it may affect the mental state of the culprit. As with all our songs, the music is composed first and therefore heavily inspires the lyrics, so it can be quite challenging to find a subject matter that both fits the overall tone of a song and also provides an appropriate amount of content for the runtime of the piece. Interestingly enough this wasn’t an issue with Carnage and Candor – once the music was created, the lyrics fell into place and are probably amongst the darkest words we’ve written to date. Would you betray a person that trusts and loves you? Would you tell that person, possibly hurting them, losing them or would you keep it to yourself and live with the guilt or even end up seeing yourself as the victim?

2. Where Nothing shall Thrive:

Where Nothing shall Thrive is a bleak and quite straight forward look at humanity and its perpetual state of passivity – at least when it comes to personal desires and fulfillment. We grow up, go to work, purchase a house with a mortgage, maybe have a couple of kids, get sick and then die, all while we feel too busy, too exhausted and in the end also too comfortable or afraid to pursue our dreams. It’s also the track from which the album title, as well as the artwork,  was inspired. Holy stands the one who creates...

3. Dead Skin:

This was the first song that was composed for this album. Thematically it is very close to Where Nothing Shall Thrive but just like the music, it is a more aggressive take on the topic and adds the layer of collective idleness, silent majorities as well as the fear of losing face by speaking one’s mind and doing what feels right. In the end our lives are ephemeral, we already have to deal with personal issues and again, we’re just too tired to be bothered with the bigger picture and the direction we’re heading.

4. We Roam this World Alone:

The closing song is almost as long as the first one and also represents a journey in itself. Unlike the previous two songs, it is written from a first-person perspective and deals with the utter coldness of existence. While Carnage and Candor incorporates a variety of emotions, We Roam this World Alone dwells on the fact that we are merely the result of a series of coincidences both on a biological and psychological level. It also represents the feeling of emptiness when no one is around to distract us from the realization that in the end, we’re on our own.