Track By Tracks: LYCANTHRO - Mark Of The Wolf (2021)

1. Crucible:

Crucible was technically the 1st official Lycanthro song, I wrote this song back when I was in high school because we read the book “The Crucible” in English class. Also, I actually wrote the lyrics of this song while I was in English class instead of doing my school work. The story of “The Crucible” really fascinated me and I felt as though it would translate perfectly into a metal song. There are also references to other witchcraft stories such as William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” as well. In terms of the music, I was aiming for kind of a Judas Priest meets Death vibe and I think that got pulled off on this track.

2. Fallen Angels Prayer:

This song is the epic of the album. Lyrically it tells the story of the “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and Quasimodo’s sympathy towards the gypsy’s for being oppressed in the story, as well as his love for Esmerelda. I knew this song had to have a big and epic feel to it. I would akin this song to kind of our take on a Kamelot style song with lots of diverse instruments such as Piano, Flute, Violin, and a full-on choir! The choir we recorded live off the floor and it added the gigantic feel that we wanted out of this song.

2. Mark of the Wolf:

This song is a great straightforward headbanger that is akin to the styles of Iron Maiden and Motorhead. It also has some of the weirdest and difficult guitar passages of the whole album in the song verses. In terms of the lyrics, this is 1 of 2 songs on this album that is based on the videogame Skyrim. This song in particular talks about the Companions, a group of mercenaries in the game who can turn into werewolves, and it details their exploits hunting their enemies, mainly the group of werewolf hunters the Silver Hand.

3. Enchantress:

Enchantress tells the tale of a man who is wandering through the woods and happens across a woman. She descends from the sky and the man instantly falls in love. He thinks he has already died and that she is an angel but in reality, she’s a demon who’s there to lead him to his death. It’s sort of a similar plotline to Triumph’s “Spellbound” video but with a much darker edge. In terms of the music, this song’s 1st half has sort of a power/groove feel to it with lots of odd chords and guitar harmonies. Then in the 2nd half, it gets a more distinctive Iron Maiden/NWOBHM feel to it with the fast chugging guitar parts. Also, this track has one of my favourite moments on the album at the very end where there’s an Yngwie Malmsteen-style guitar run to close the song.

4. In Metal We Trust:

We figured that we needed a sing-along song for a live setting that will be a crowd-pleaser so then we wrote In Metal We Trust. We wanted a song that really channeled the spirit of old-school Priest style metal with catchy riffs and memorable melodies, along with a chant they everyone can sing along to.

5.Into Oblivion:

This song is the 1st of 2 songs on this album that was written before Lycanthro was a band, Into Oblivion was actually the 1st or 2nd song I’ve ever written. It also probably the old ball song on the album with having a groove metal vibe to it along with one of the few breakdowns we have in our songs along with an Annihilator-esque guitar solo. Lyrically it has to do with zombies, but the inspiration for the lyrics came from a fungus that is known as “Zombie Fungi” as it can claim control of the host mind, but this fungus has only been seen in bugs, but it fascinated me so that’s what the lyrical basis of the song is.

6. Ride the Dragon:

Ride the Dragon is the 2nd of the songs that I wrote before Lycanthro was even a band. It is also the song that has gone through the most amount of changes. Lyrically this is the 2nd song about Skyrim, more specifically when the Dragonborn rides the dragon Odavigg to Sovangarde. This song has a vibe that I can only describe as Iron Maiden mixed with Triumph with some great peaks and valleys within it. As well as most of the vocals on the song being layered with is something I’ve wanted to do a long time and it turned out amazing!

7. Evangelion:

This song is the closest thing we have to a power ballad on this album. This song was a passion song for me as it took me a year to write it! Mainly because I wrote this song bit by bit while I wrote some of the other songs. Lyrically this song is based on the anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion” which is a show that is very near and dear to my heart. As for the music, there’s a few cool synth lines in the song that gives it an epic feel as well as one of the more melodic guitar solos on the album. This song I find has some epic Dio vibes to it reminiscent of tracks from him like “Last in Line” and “Stargazer from Rainbow. From the get-go we knew this song would be perfect to close the album on an epic and triumphant note.