Track By Tracks: Mass Of Amara - Through The Ether (2024)

1. Unspoken:

Ella: There will always be a time in our lives when we have to make hard decisions like letting loved ones go that are not good or healthy for us to continue having in our lives. This song was basically a goodbye letter to someone I have always held close to my heart and still do. It’s someone who showed lots of care and love to me but they had been struggling with drug addiction for a long time I thought I could help them get out of the toxic mindset they kept living by but they never seemed to want to do better for themselves and having someone like that around me took a toll in my mental and physical health. When I realized I had to cut them off from my life I was too scared to say anything because I knew how hurt they would be. My friendship with this person ended up in a bad fallout and so I wrote this song so that I could fully express how much I cared and still do and that I only wish them the best this life has to offer and that one day they will understand what I was trying to do for them all along.

Preston (Guitarists and Producer of this EP): Unspoken came about when Victor and I were sharing song demos back and forth one night, and all I remember from hearing that demo, was that 90% of it was already there, it just needed some polishing up, making sure the drums and everything were more in line with what we'd go for life, I jumped in and just wrote the conclusion of the song with him in the studio and the song was ready for Ella to get vocals goin on that soon after. Fast forward to when we tracked the song, it was like clockwork. We had the pre-pro already done and when I was recording Victor's guitar parts I just remember hearing it back through the speakers and off the rip it just sounded so massive.

2. Ripped:

Ella: This song was written during a time of inner healing and reflection. I was seeing new ways of controlling my negative thinking and understanding that self-pity only worsens one's own growth. I also saw what my obsession with wanting to succeed in music did to the people around me and my mental health. I forgot about the simple things that made the world around me so beautiful. I told myself I couldn’t let the negative energies speak for me or for the process I had already made in the past 3 years. I had been going around in circles letting self-doubt control how every day went for me, but with the help of self-awareness and change it all took a turn for the better.

Preston (Guitarists and Producer of this EP): This one is basically Unspoken PT. 2 Victor brought this song to the table, and I fell in love with the heavy first half of the song followed by the jazzy chord bridge that's in there. Same situation where we just needed an outro for it, so I was tasked with reeling the song back into the heavy side of things coming after the jazzy section. Once that was taken care of I mean the song was there and slamming. funny enough the structure is very similar to unspoken, we joke about it all the time. It's got the same slammin intro, brutal verse, melodic chorus, and clean break, then comes in with the gut-punching "breakdown" outro.

3. Ascended:

Ella: I have had my fair share of spiritual-induced psychosis and that is what this song is about. I had to find a place of comfort in myself every time I approached these states of insanity and I learned a lot about the power we hold inside our minds. The human brain is a scary powerful place but with the right discipline and care, it can do wonders for us haha. There was a lot of growth in my discernment and willful thinking during this time and I had to basically learn how to get myself out of these states and panic attacks I was having. I had always been someone who kept things to myself and just dealt with the confusion to myself. So I had been inspired by themes like Alice in Wonderland and fantasy-themed lyrics like Dio had written and used these sources to pull a perspective of being lost in the dark but magical wonders of the mind. We must use the power of perspective and I thought of myself as a warrior on a mission to find freedom from this dark place, while still enjoying each wave of distress that came my way.

Preston (guitarist and Producer of this EP): Ascended is FUN! I wrote the intro riff one night and loved the swinging vibe this song has while also keeping the intensity going. My issue in the beginning was where to go after the intro, but then Victor came in, sat down for maybe 5 minutes, and wrote the main verse guitar run and I just looked at him and was like "Track that dude! That's the verse all day!" I wanna say after that, the chorus came right out of me. Some days later I pulled up the project and heard like a weird Slammy section in a different time signature. I tried it and thought it sounded cool but honestly, I felt it was a little out of place. but when I showed everyone the idea they loved it, and that's definitely enough for me to run with it. My favorite part of this song though is the outro where we hear the loud and massive “cracks”. One night I was working on the production elements for the song, stuff like 808s, Synth textures, samples, and stuff. Well here I am at the very end of the song and I just felt like the ending just needed some sort of loud ass "punch" to just really exaggerate and heighten the ending. I just dialed in this gnarly guitar tone purely for the sole purpose of this effect. And it's just this really loud guitar pluck on the 7th string, layered with a pitched version of the same thing and maybe also a high-pitched one for the loud "cracking sound" Once I played it back to hear it in context I was in love. it's something very similar to Jason Newsted's bass cracks wherever I may roam. Love to see my roots shine for something small like this.

4. Storm:

Ella: At the end of every lesson, there is a moment of reflection and our soul shows how resilient it can be in these moments. I wanted the lyrics to Storm to be uplifting and empowering, we choose to walk the higher path, and at the end of every day we need to accept the situation we are in even when it seems that things are going against us when, on the contrary, the universe is preparing you for better things. It is up to us to remain committed to our mission, the thing that fulfills the soul with every step and breath we take toward it. In acceptance, there is peace and renewal. One of our most powerful weapons is our voice, we can say out loud what it is that we want and the universe will listen. That is why this song has a lot of self-affirmation-inspired statements and I wanted to take the listener to a place of change and how powerful it feels to do better for ourselves. I want to remind people that nothing has power over your free will, so stop making excuses for yourself when you come face to face with opportunities to change.

Preston (Guitarists and Producer of this EP): The Ether and Storm are technically one song, Storm is a song I wrote probably 2 years ago, it was absolutely supposed to be more of a deathcore heavy song. It's got the haunting intro track and then kicks off to a gnarly fast brutal song. Now back then the drums were off the walls so when I brought this song back and heard it I was like "This can definitely be a MoA song. Just gotta pull back on the drums" The song was also much longer, but I remember one night Ella and I were just chopping it up and wanting the song to move much faster than it did before. This one is definitely the black sheep of the EP cuz nothing repeats. There's no chorus or repeating verses. it's just from the moment we start, you're getting something new every time, crazy concept on paper, but I definitely think we pulled it off well and it's got some really fun slam sections that hit hard. In the studio, I wanna say we pulled the drums back even more just to let some of the riffs breathe and in the room with Joseph tracking the drums. The vibe was there in some sections, and I found myself saying "Do that instead of what I got programmed!" Simple is better a lot of the time!