Track By Tracks: Authors Of Fate - Seat’s Taken (2024)

1. Rashes:

The Music: This song is fairly straightforward in structure. It’s a rocker that was inspired by some riffs from our old guitarist, with lots of HM-2 crusty hardcore/metal influence. We dance back and forth between D-beat/punk beats and two steps to keep the momentum, add a hard-ass chorus, bring in the blast beats to build tension, to a drop-off followed by a big pit to get the crowd going. That’s the main purpose of all our songs. What will get a big crowd response? That’s what we like, and what we want to give any concertgoers.

The Lyrics: Rob is poking fun at conspiracy theorists but also warning about how bad ideas can spread quickly and dangerously, from seemingly insignificant places.

2. Terra Firma:

The Music: Terra Firma is the first one fully written for this release, and is a collaboration between Bob and Elan. Bob wanted to do a mid-tempo ass beater, ala Power Trip and Gate Creeper, and Elan was happy to oblige. We wrote the drums first with fill in guitar riffs, then went back and made the best riffs to fit the beats and structure. We also wanted to go faster in the bridge outro instead of the typical other way around, so we brought in a rad thrash break that we “stole” from somewhere (that we won't say, but would be stoked if someone noticed) and burn it all the way out. It was a lot of fun to write something thicker and slower than we had before. Especially with the thrash pit end payoff...

The Lyrics: Lyrically this one is a pretty straightforward anti-war song in Rob’s eyes. With a bit of musing as to the irrelevance of who is actually in control.

3. Leather Liver The Music:

The Music: Most of us came from thrash roots. This song is an homage to that and is especially tailored for Joe. Elan relentlessly borrows from early Slayer and other contemporary “black thrash” bands. It’s fast as fuck, originally 211 bpm as a tribute to the malt liquor, but slowed to 203 for playability and groove, it’s full of pits, a gang vocal chorus, it’s about drinking, and has trading solos. What more does a patched-up vest and long hair want? Nothing. That’s what.

The Lyrics: This is a good old-fashioned drinking song as far as the lyrics go. It’s the anthem of “waking up your friend who always passes out first and dragging them into another bar.”. For the record, Rob has never been the type to do this to a friend, but we all know people who do, and this one is for them.

4. Mark Our Arrival an Ominous Sign:

The Music: Mark our Arrival is sludgier and grimier than the others. It has some of the first riffs written after the first EP and some weirder time grooves. As fans of early Gojira, Morbid Angel, and Cannibal Corpse, Rob and Elan were looking to make something thick and thumpy, and we think we achieved just that. Sliding around on octave chords peppered with tremolo single-note stuff just feels so good to play. Similar to Terra, to change it up in the bridge, we went faster and topped it with a dirty death grind atonal solo. Elan is especially proud of the harmonic drive that hard cuts into the chugs at the end of that section.

The Lyrics: One of the few songs Rob wrote using a thematic metaphor the entire way. It started with just the very first line “We are the vultures who prey on the dead” and continued along that train of thought throughout. Not much in the way of deeper meaning here, just simply thinking like a scavenger and saying the most metal-sounding shit possible.

5. Seat’s Taken:

The Music: This one is Elan’s baby and surprise favorite. It’s short, wild, and gritty, with constantly fluctuating tempos. It’s a mix of a couple left over Dying Fetus-esque riffs from Gephyrophobia, and everything else that sounded cool around them. All of the guitar parts and structure were written in one night. At first, everyone thought it would be too hard to get tight with the tempo changes, but luckily it was actually pretty easy when we all played together since it kind of just “fit”. Dissonance, speed, angularity, and of course a big mosh are the name of this game.

The Lyrics: The call and response with the vocals and overall ‘shit talkiness’ of it really works with our take on life and music. You’re not that cool, because none of us are that cool. If you want to try hard to be, then don’t sit with us. Because you’re not cool enough. And neither are we.

6. Gephyrophobia:

The Music: Geph wasn’t going to be the last song on the EP, Seat’s was. But once we wrote the end of it, we knew it was the final outro. Gizmo and his immense amount of musical knowledge and influence really drove this one. Elan wanted to make sure to capture as much diversity and musicality as possible while keeping it cohesive. It starts insane and violent and ends very melodic. The journey between those two points takes the listener through most of the styles we love. Achieving that without making it boring or nonsensical was a bit of a task, and it took a while to get it where we all liked it, but we think it really paid off with our most ambitious song to date. The music is further reinforced in the lyrical theme, don’t give up just because you're afraid, or it’s hard. That’s life. You’ll miss out on the big payoffs if you don’t push through. The world won’t care either way, but you will know.

The Lyrics: This song is about self-harm, substance abuse, and trauma. There’s so much in this life that simply happens TO us. Through no fault of our own, the world wounds us, and the only choice we are presented with is what to do about it. Sometimes things can be buried so long and hurt so deep, that even the simple idea of being rid of them is terrifying. Your old, abusive friend. The devil you know. The wolves are your past and trauma. The bridge is catharsis and acceptance. The river is your fear. It’s not the bridge you should be afraid of.