Track By Tracks: Bludgeoned - Summary Execution (2022)

1. PTOLOMEA:

This track is actually an instrumental, so we knew that we had to come up with a song title that would give the composition its own deep meaning and lore. We dug into a metal classic, the oft-referenced "Dante's Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, only to quickly realize that most of the ones we thought were cool ended up already being taken! The first idea was to call it "Abandon All Hope" which is of course a well-known song by the legendary Dying Fetus. Derp. So instead of starting at the beginning of the inferno (where that sign is posted), we decided to go to the very deepest depths of Hell to find a fitting title for the beginning of our journey through this EP. There's 9 circles of Hell in the inferno, and the 9th one closest to Satan is "Treachery". A barren and frost-bitten landscape with 4 different rounds, each progressively more grave before finally reaching Satan. The sinners all encased in ice to varying degrees. The first circle is Caina, for Cain who murdered his brother. So Treachery against Family. Here the sinners are frozen up to their necks, so they can at least bend their heads down to avoid the bitterly cold winds. The second round is Antenora, named after the Trojan general Antenor who betrayed his country. The sinners here are fully frozen up to their chins, so they cannot even bend their necks and are forced to suffer the frostbitten gales And finally, the circle referenced by our song, Ptolomea, which was named after Ptolemy, Captain of Jericho and Son of Abubus. Who was infamously known for murdering his esteemed guests after serving them a feast in his home. Because the treason was against friends and guests, those not tied to one by blood or by country, it was considered especially heinous. The sinners here are frozen face up in a lake, so that only their faces are exposed. They can't cry because their eyes are frozen over, and their tears are trapped inside for eternity, creating an even more intense form of suffering. Only in Judecca, the final round, does it get more dire, with Judas himself completely frozen and encased in ice along with all the rest of those who had blasphemed or betrayed God himself.

2. CIRCADIAN SERVITUDE:

This track title was inspired by the time change, honestly, and a sort of hunch that it only serves as a tool to keep the populace from ever gaining equilibrium and always keeping us tired and downtrodden as a whole. The whole daylight savings time made sense in our former agrarian sort of economy that revolved solely around farming, but in the modern day it almost seems like a bit of an insult. Jon's experience with this was especially cruel and he was happy to write about this topic, as he was working for many years in the geoduck department of an infamous multinational seafood corporation. Workers were exposed to massive amounts of danger and exploited every possible way, and during tides most were forced to work grueling 16 hour shifts in order to make ends meet for themselves and their families. The lyrics touch on how the modern blue collar lifestyle here in America and abroad as well, essentially trades in one's humanity for a paycheck. Overuse injuries are exceedingly common in most professions where people literally work their body until it falls apart, well beyond the point of reason. Some end up addicted to opioids or other prescription meds. All while chasing the carrot on the end of a stick, known as economic independence. Guys will give their back to a company only to be discarded once they get hurt or outlive their usefulness. During COVID people working in his division were asked to either be laid off or forfeit all of their pay increases and continue doing their same work for their starting pay. Jon was the first to hand in his notice and it started a revolution in the company, with wave after wave of higher-ups and other management quitting alongside him.

3. FADING INTO OBLIVION:

This track is about wanting to fade into obscurity, to no longer have to suffer the burden of human contact, of wanting to completely drop out of society and become one with nature. Jon went through a dark period of time in his personal life when he initially retired from music and this song touches on that. To go from the world renown I Declare Goddess vocalist and maybe the most recognizable guttural vocalist on planet Earth and then putting out Pathology's to date best selling albums before completely falling off the face of the Earth. It's always been a difficult topic for him to talk about at length or really discuss his feelings on, so we felt it best to simply put it into the form of a song. This song deals with feelings of wanting to end one's life, bitterly lamenting that there's no reason to feel sad about him leaving this world - for he is too far gone, anyways, in his eyes. It also draws a bit of attention to the symptoms of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE, which is a degeneration in the brain thought to be caused by repeated head traumas. Which is common in both athletes and extreme sports practitioners, of which Jon is both. During his years riding BMX he had suffered multiple concussions and repeated head traumas, as well as broken plenty of bones, all of which are haunting him with age as the sands of time continue to drop into the hourglass. This song explores the deepest, darkest depths of self-loathing and misanthropy.

4. GENOCIDAL PROCESSES:

This song is about the end of the world, and the utter apathy and carelessness that our narrator feels when watching it all come crumbling down. When death happens on a small scale, like a single person, society can mourn collectively - a funeral can be attended, and healing can happen. But when death happens on a massive scale, with millions dying, its simply too much for our human brains to process. We decompartmentalize and it simply becomes another statistic rather than the massive tragedy that it truly is. The stress test that has been COVID has honestly brought out the worst in human nature that we've seen yet, on all sides of the political spectrum. Between the hoarding and other selfish acts of self-preservation, along with the misinformation and politicizing of certain events, it's made it a quite miserable time to be alive as a human being. And it's something that affects not just one country or region but literally the entire world. It touches on the concept of hubris and nemesis, which is as old as the tale of Icarus and how he flew too close to the sun. Humanity, in their infinite hubris, thought they could play around with deadly viruses like COVID-19 until it escaped from containment like something out of a horror movie. Except this time, it's real life, and over 5 million people have died from COVID-19 worldwide. Rather than taking a side or a stance on it, we merely lament how far society has crumbled and how disappointing it has been to live through it all. In truth, we are hopeful about the outcome of this whole thing, but took this song as our opportunity to vent out our frustration and express how disgusted we are with the state of it all.

5. PALE HORSE:

We won't sugar coat it, this song is about hardcore drug addiction to narcotics and the path it leads from addiction to insanity to eventual imprisonment or death. This song chronicles the degeneration of an addict, and how far one can fall once the drugs have them in their clutches. We kept the lyrics vague enough so that it could be either cocaine or heroin our narrator is speaking of (or even crushed up pills). Often starting with "benign" prescriptions to controlled substances like adderall or percocet, the user quickly becomes addicted and eventually turns to the street once they can no longer legally procure the prescription version of the stimulants or downers they are now dependent on. We picked snorting (aka "insufflating") as the consumption method of this individual because so many people think that it's somehow a more innocent or "lesser" form of drug abuse than, say, smoking or intravenous use of narcotics. In reality, the same addictive compounds are entering your bloodstream and crossing the blood-brain barrier in the exact same way, and if one has a predisposition to addiction, they will be hooked one and the same. Our user has a family history of addiction and alcoholism, so his use begins to spiral out of control. His personality begins to degrade, character and morality begin slipping away - the drugs have replaced who that person once was. And finally, while chasing that same initial high, and attempts in vain to quit, our user finally does one last huge dose and actually overdoses this time, finally having that out of body experience of pure ecstasy, if only for a few moments before dropping dead of a violent heart attack. The "white walls surrounding me" line could also refer to the mental institution one may end up being incarcerated in once the drugs have totally robbed you of your entire former self.

As a whole the EP sort of exposes the ugly reality of many of us living here in America, the country of grand opportunity that is now seen by few rather than the many. For those working beneath the poverty line, America can be as Hellish as any other place on earth. We are seen as cannon fodder, meat for grinding, our bodies broken as bread to feed the rich. Even the rich aren't safe, with themselves and their children dropping dead of drug overdoses - 194 dead in America of a drug overdose every single day of 2019. And it's only getting worse. Depression and anxiety now affect the entire population, whether they are the haves or the have-nots. In light of the last few years, we thought no subject matter could possibly be more brutal and violent than actual reality. That is the essence of what the Summary Execution EP is. We wanted the grave vibes presented in the songs to be real, not theatrical made-up nonsense about monsters, serial killers and women being disfigured. Some of those bands are undoubtedly sick and especially for that very different time, but those lyrical themes have frankly been done to death already, quite frankly. We were trying to bring a new perspective to brutal death - one perhaps more introspective and solemn, more similar to bands like Brodequin and Defeated Sanity (both who have heavily influenced us musically, as well as our art and aesthetic). Maybe it comes with us being in our 30's and not hot-headed guys in our early 20's anymore, haha. I won't lie, it was oftentimes painful making these songs and bringing a lot of this stuff into reality, but ultimately, I think it was good for us and overall very cathartic, especially for Jon and myself.

Thanks again for asking us to do this article, it was a pleasure!