Track By Tracks: Ancient Thrones - The Veil (2020)

1. Transient:

This track is our character traveling to purgatory, and both open the album as well as properly cycles the ending of the album. Prepare to enter Oblivion.

2. The Sight of Oblivion:

The record is about the 5 stages of grief, and we begin with denial. Our character has entered a new dimension and is in denial about being dead. He walks the ground freely and describes the world around him through a naïve perspective. Our other character in the record, Viduus, appears to paralyzes our character. As the song ends there are swarms of graves opening before him. The dual solos at the end of this song are meant to highlight the two opposing forces. 

3. The Millionth Grave:

The Millionth Grave is the Grave we will all face, our own. Our protagonist attempts to defy his own death by angrily challenging Death (Viduus, the roman god of soul separation) for his life. Viduus brushes him off and looks into his mind to show him that he’s dead. When it sees something more to the man's story, it claims the ability to bring him life. This song is a burner from start to finish and takes a moment to dwell in the pain of the character when he is being shown his own corpse.

4. The Soul to Flesh:

Now on their journey to the lair of Viduus, the man begins to bargain with the God for his soul. Viduus tells him of the vessel required for rebirth. They enter the lair among a room of lights, with one beginning to glow around the dead man. Musically, this is the pinnacle of speed and progressive thrash on the record. This was the first song we wrote together and it quickly shaped the sound and idea to conceptualize the album.

5. Viduus (The Veil):

Viduus, knowing the meaning behind the resonating glow, begins to describe to the dead man that he must remove the veil behind his thoughts and attachments to his pain. It describes his job in purgatory as the omniscient soul separator and shows him the mirror in which brings the portal to life back to our world. It tells him to find his body by following the path of the soul. Our character begins to make his journey home to find his body and gain life once more. This is one of the most versatile songs on the record, as it takes twists and turns musically to correlate with the narrative happening in the lyrics.

6. Sentient:

This is an instrumental track that describes awakening back on earth and slowly remembering and feeling everything left behind. He describes the pain of death as not the first thing he feels. For the first time, our character begins to realize there is something greater than himself he may have lost as he hears a nearby rushing river. We wanted to symbolize the single instruments entering like thoughts the character is remembering, something that comes in the end of the record.

7. The River of Rain:

He finds his body washed up in a river, face down having died by his own hand, a picture of someone he loved placed firmly in his grasp. He tells Viduus he is ready to accept his death, but Viduus tells him there is more to his acceptance, as he reveals he also left behind an unborn child. The resonating glow.

8. Divided/Dissolve:

Our Character feels the weight of massive depression and as he feels himself dividing from the material world with the lair returning before him. Viduus begins to tell him he must dissolve this pain to find the peace that is required for a new life. Viduus comforts him and tells the man there may be one more chance for him. The man reflects on his life and subsequent pain and finally accepts what has happened, as the two travel through the portal to the Infinite Eyes.

9. The Infinite Eyes:

Our character begins to plead his case for life to the other Gods. They tell him there is nothing that can be done, as the man describes the lessons of life he has learned. The Eyes grant him the ability to see his child in the womb, as he agrees to finally die. We were heavily inspired by atmospheric black metal while writing this song and Nick’s solo towards the halfway point of the song really presents that landscape of cosmic anguish we strive for.

10. Permanent:

In the bittersweet finale, the man returns to his grave with Viduus, and lies down as his body sinks into oblivion. He reflects on his journey, and the lessons he learned of permanence existing in our legacies, not our psychical forms. We wanted to detail the sinking grave by pulling away individual instruments in the final moments. We visualize this track as the funeral song of the record.