Track By Tracks: Parius - The Signal Heard Throughout Space (2022)

 

1. Spacelog.0245:

The intro to this was the very first piece of music written for the album - years ago - and then the rest of the track was the very last stuff we wrote. I don’t remember if it was supposed to be a proper “overture” when we started it, but we eventually realized we wanted it to serve the same purpose as Rush’s “2112” Overture, or one of Dream Theater’s. It was a unique challenge for us to try and connect all these different themes from the album. I’m not quite sure how recognizable these themes will be even to repeat listeners, but I think if nothing else the track serves to introduce listeners to the production style we created with Jamie King for the whole album.

2. The Signal:

This was a really chaotic song during the writing process that almost got cut because it was this 15+ minute song that had all these sections - which probably sounds exciting to prog fans - but it really was a mess before we started to chisel away at it. So its unconventional structure is a result of cutting it down to probably half of the sections we had as well as looking at some other stuff that never really repeats itself like a lot of Protests the Hero songs and the first Enfold Darkness record.

3. Suspended Animation:

Our career-ending ballad. This was a really tall order to give our vocalist Louis Thierry in hindsight. This track completely lives or dies on his performance here, and I think he really dug deep and solidified himself as a bona fide singer. This track is definitely reminiscent of “Through My Words” from Dream Theater’s Metropolis Pt. 2 album - as it’s sort of a quasi-interlude between “The Signal” and “Spaceflight Dementia”. Metropolis Pt. 2 was a massive influence on this whole album. We even tried to call ourselves out with a nod to it in the previous track’s lyrics before anyone else could.

4. Spaceflight Dementia:

Similar to “The Signal,” this track nearly didn’t make the record. All we had was the intro but Louis was persistent about us doing something with it. It turned into one of the most exciting songs instrumentally on the record, with some really intricate parts for us. Part of the mission statement for this record was to dial back some of the shredding and technicality (which many bands do much better than us) in favor of writing something with as much personality and musicality as possible - but we decided to let loose with this one and show that we still had some chops. 

5.. The Acid Lakes of Ganymede:

This is probably not what people would expect to hear, but in late 2019 a band called Ninja Sex Party put out a song called “The Mystic Crystal”. I think we were already talking about trying to close out each act with some longer pieces comparable to where we left off with “Crashing Black Moon,” but when this was released, guitarist Ryan Rauch and Louis were insistent on it. Ninja Sex Party’s song is an homage to Rush’s “Hemispheres” track I think, and I remember writing out the song structure and trying to build off of that. We definitely wanted to end the song similarly to “The Mystic Crystal” or “Hemispheres,” but we certainly took a lot of liberties elsewhere with a lot of Ozzy influence on the A section, and pulling from a trove of other stuff throughout the B section. Act II

6. The Human Molecule:

This, I think, is probably the quintessential Parius song to me. It kicks in with some really exciting guitar riffs, there’s so much personality in the vocals, we play around with some odd time signatures, there are some great synth tones from keyboardist Sean Gallagher… I think if we make another record, we will try and build off of this one.

7. Contact!:

This one is really fun. It’s sort of an homage to the mighty GWAR, which Ryan is a massive fan of. Louis really complimented that by writing about this alien biker gang who are sort of comedically chasing down the protagonist. 

8. Dimension Y:

Definitely the oddball of the record here. Drummer Dan Silver and Jamie used absolutely no drum sample blending at all on this record, but Dan used some electronic drums on just this track - the majority of which is only two chords. I honestly can’t quite recall where this track came from, but I remember Jamie saying it sounded like Depeche Mode. I think this 60- minute album format, it really allowed for us to experiment a bit more on the “B-side”. 

9. The Outer Limit:

This one sounds like it could have been on The Eldritch Realm to me. There are also some fine details that really make this song nice to listen to with headphones on. We used a 12-string electric guitar on it, Louis did some throat singing, Dan and Jamie added some interesting percussion sounds, Sean created sort of a theremin patch on his keyboard, and bassist Kenny Rentz got this great distorted wah tone for the outro that harks back to our song “Between Hell & I”.

10. Arecibo:

When lockdowns began across the world in late March 2020, we decided to seize the opportunity and grind out the closer for the album. “Arecibo” was finished in about two weeks and we proceeded to wait until we were able to book studio time to record The Signal Heard Throughout Space. Once again, you can hear some strong Rush influences in this song, especially in the intro and the unison section before the last chorus. This is our longest song to date, so it really helped to take inspiration from some of those titans of progressive music to learn how to keep the song interesting and prevent it from feeling like it overstays its welcome.