Track By Tracks: Intaglio - II (2021)

1. Midnight Sonata:

The first and the longest composition on the album is written in sonata form and consists of the three main sections that make up this classical musical structure: “Exposition” (The Night Sky), “Development” (Melting Like Ice…) and “Recapitulation” (Always Return). The track introduces the philosophical opposition between the dark and light essences, which is the primary theme of the album. The contrasting sections of exposition and recapitulation are performed with groups of clean voices, while the central part of the piece is performed with growled vocals.

2. Subject To Time:

This is one of the heaviest tracks on the album, but it has an unexpectedly light and melodic ending. The lyrical idea here is that everything in this world has its logical end, but this ending is neither a positive nor negative event. It’s simply the nature of our time-based reality. Growled vocals are dominant here, informing us that everything is subject to time, and nothing is eternal. Clean vocals are used as an opposition to the growls throughout this track (as well as throughout the rest of the album) and inform us that light actually IS eternal.

3. The Memory of Death:

This piece continues the lyrical theme of the previous compositions, but with a focus on the tragic aspects of death. While death is the final stage of existence as we know it, its looming presence is also one of the driving influences during human life. This idea is conveyed through lines like "The memory of death puts everything in its place", and "You can take with you only what is in your soul."

4. Depths of Space:

This is one of the most experimental and philosophical tracks on the album, and it gives the impression that all of the previously discussed questions and problems of humanity are miniscule in the larger context of the universe. The most avant-garde track on the album, it blends funeral doom riffing with mouth harp sounds to create a unique and cosmic feeling.

5. Everything in its Place:

The final track on the album sums up all of its themes, stating that everything in this world is and always has been in its correct place. The presence and confrontation of light and dark, positive and negative, is a fundamental part of our reality, and to obsess or over-inflect in either direction will disrupt the balance. Our task is not to ruminate on which side of the coin is “good” or “bad”, but rather to maintain this order. The song ends with some of the same lyrical lines from “Subject to Time”, but this time the addition of vocal melody changes and brightens the meaning.