Track By Tracks: Unchosen Ones - Sorrow Turns To Dust (2023)

1. Far Beyond the Thunderdome:

This fast opener can really pack a punch, huh? One of the fastest songs in the album is also an homage to the, yeah, you guessed it, Mad Max movies. Not any of the four movies in particular, but the whole saga, although the name of the song is taken from the third installment.

“We don't need another heeeero”.

Honorable mention of the synth-wave keys by Christian. Nice!

2. The World is Ours to Take:

Yep, this song is catchy. Lovely choruses, uplifting lyrics, and sweet guitars...ah, sweet dopamine. Probably, the happiest track on the album and one of the most euro-power metal-influenced songs too. You'll love it!

3. Infinite Gear:

Elden Ring struck me hard last year, and Infinite Gear is undeniable proof. This 7-guitar-driven mid-tempo is a colossus, an unassailable wall of sound whose lyrics are inspired by the From Software's latest creation, and tells the story of “Starscourge” Radahn, a demigod fallen from grace and infected into his very core by the Scarlet Rot, an affliction that transformed him into a living corpse driven by bloodlust. He is waiting at the battlefield for someone to end his miserable life, but it won't be easy.

Really, it won't.

4. Sorrow Turns to Dust:

Probably, the catchiest song on the record, and considering the level of the catchiness of the whole album, it ain't an easy task if you ask me.

The presence of synths is very strong on this one and features the only keyboard solo on the entire record, and it's super nice.

Lyrics-wise, the song is about solitude, loneliness, mistrust, (of course) sorrow, and the strength to overcome it and get rid of your fears. Another uplifting song.

5. The Accursed Moon & Kill the Night:

Ok, these are one of my favorite lyrics of the album. A humble tribute to Castlevania, more precisely, Lament of Innocence, the origin of the saga's lore and the birth of the Belmont clan as the feared vampire hunters they are known today.

Symphonic keyboard layers and the strong guitar riffs are the icings on the cake of the most theatrical song of the album.

6. Too Late:

Well, this is a strange one. This is the only song that was composed before I joined the band and the lyrics were written in Spanish, so I did an English transcript/adaptation...which ended up being something different, I also changed all the vocal melodies and did some tweaks here and there.

If you ask me, the song is about evil and deception. If you ask Jose (our drummer), he will probably tell you that the song is about a long-lost love or a girl who blew him off. The answer is up to you to decide.

And speaking about Jose, I love the intense double-bass parts of the chorus and the drums overall.

7. Shadow Dancer:

Keyboards and Dio-esque guitar riffs on this one act like a time machine, that takes you to the year 1985, or 1986.

This tribute to the golden age of hard rock music is also an homage to the action movies, the songs, and the tight pants of that era. And as if that were not enough, I was playing “Shadow Dancer” on my Megadrive while I was writing the lyrics, so, it all came naturally.

Yeah, I know that Shadow Dancer was released in 1990, but it was developed during the 80s, so, it does count (wink wink).

8. Ashen Wasteland:

The fastest track on the album contains intense riffs, soaring vocals, and death, death everywhere! Dark Souls 3 DLC campaigns “Ashes of Ariandel” and (especially) “The Ringed City” inspired this trip to madness and narrate the fateful misadventures of the ashen one on a very very hostile land.

Trivia: This is the shortest song on the album, followed only a second behind by The World is Ours to Take.

9. The Call of the Rain:

We are heading to the final part of the album!

This one is a demo I wrote three years ago, and was rearranged by the time we were about to record the album. The synths here are awesome and the guitar solo is probably one of my favorites in the album. Anxiety is the main theme of this song, but again, I tried to shed some light on the lyrics.

10. True Warrior:

The Mandatory power ballad / epic ballad of the album, but no love here! Only sadness, unfortunately.

This song honors the memory of Kentaro Miura, creator of Berserk, and the lyrics focus on the figure of the true warrior, an everlasting fighter condemned to fight through a living hell, however, even in his scarce moments of peace, he still yearns the heat of the battle.

The song explodes in its final part, drums attack, guitar shreds, and keyboards sharpen the epic chorus. And then the music fades. The end?

Thanks for reading this, and I hope you enjoy “Sorrow Turns to Dust”