Track By Tracks: NightWraith - Divergence (2024)

1. Fruitless:

This might be one of our most musical songs because it has multiple key modulations and a proggy bridge section. We felt it was a good opener to the album because its not overly aggressive, has a chorus that’s easy to sing along with, but still has blast beats. It’s a good overall representation of the sound of ‘Divergence’ and foreshadows what can be expected in the rest of the songs. There is also a short clean vocal section in the bridge with one of my favorite lines on the record: “We’re better off, skeptical and Godless.” This ties into the lyrical theme of the album, that after years of spiritual searching, we have only found it through music and not any type of religion or deity. I’m sure plenty of people can relate to this feeling which is why I wanted to write about it. There is also a Rudolf Steiner quote during the bridge that helps button up the lyrical concepts around natural law and ancient wisdom.

2. Perpetual Night:

This song could be the most ‘classic NightWraith’ song on the album, it's got it all! It has a catchy black metal sound to it, a dynamic bridge section that brings the energy way down and picks back up with back-to-back guitar/keyboard solos, plus the chorus is fun to sing along with. Lyrically, this song is about how our global society is kind of blindly going all-in on technology, and how we should maybe take a step back and re-establish a connection to nature. In my experience, I get much more meaning from life through the physical world around us, and not through the dopamine-driven logic of tech. The lyrics also explore what our world might look like if we continue down this path, which is the overarching theme of the album: “Colorless dreams in perpetual night”.

3. One Flower:

This song wins the award for most solos! The bridge section, it also has one of my favorite guitar riffs on the entire album, which captures a cool 80s kind of vibe. There are killer back-to-back guitar solos and a really fitting saxophone solo performed by the talented Andreas Wild of The Night Sweats. Lyrically, this is probably the most pissed and anarcho-punk out of all the songs, as it's mostly about the many failures of capitalism. Additionally, the lyrics were inspired by a publication titled ‘Expect Resistance’ where the forward highly encourages anyone to plagiarize or reproduce the contents with or without citing the sources, so I am definitely not the first person to use these analogies. But for all of the frustrations expressed in the lyrics, there is also an offering of hope: “Where one flower blooms, more will follow”. This theme of hope also ties into the album artwork, where you may notice a single flower growing in a pile of rubble.

4. Whispers of Dragonflies:

This song really showcases our musical range and has a cool ‘circular’ song structure which makes it really stand out on the album. The song kicks off with a John Carpenter-style synth intro. The main riff for the beginning/end of the song is very intense, and then the song has a dynamic shift to clean guitars that help the synth chords really shine through. The vocals go clean for this section too, but have enough grit on them to sound haunting. There is also a clean guitar solo, a rock fusion section with a synth interlude that sends you to outer space, and a lovely flute solo performed by our friend Kelly Schilling from the band Dreadnought. Lyrically, this is a poem I wrote about about an area in Colorado called the Lost Creek Wilderness. My Dad took me there for a multi-day backpacking trip when I was a kid, and the area completely blew my mind. I still return every few years and hike the same 25-mile loop I did with my Dad when I was young. It’s an inspiring area in the Pike National Forest and I highly recommend visiting if you ever have the means.

5. Invocation:

This is an instrumental track and picks up where the song ‘Offering’ (from our previous album) leaves off. It’s interesting because this song takes the two main riffs from Offering and stacks them on top of each other, creating somewhat of a ‘movement’ and putting a fresh twist on the original parts. This song also starts with a proggy ‘King Crimson-esque’ keyboard solo and ends with an incredible guitar solo performed by our friend Joey Truscelli from the band Wayfarer.

6. Fallen Kings and Queens:

This song starts with a bang and goes directly into one of three verses that have a driving ‘NWOBHM’ cadence to them. Between the bridge with harmonized guitars, the melodic chorus, and a 4 bar drum solo, this is definitely the ballad on the album. Lyrically, this is our most emotional song because it's written for some friends of ours who are no longer with us. There are three verses in this song, each written for an inspirational Denver artist whose life was tragically cut short. The goal was to use this as a way for us to personally heal from these losses, but non-specific enough that a listener could also apply the meaning to any fallen loved ones in their lives. Guest vocals were performed by our friends Dan Phelps and Chuck French, who were both closely connected to the fallen.

7. Nothing Left to Lose:

Every NightWraith album has one song that falls within the umbrella of punk/hardcore, and this is that song! It includes a combination of riffs from the toolshed that needed a home, but they all work together perfectly. The chorus riff is actually a play on the main riff from ‘The Sentinal’ by Judas Priest, one of my all-time favorite Priest songs. The verses have one of the coolest-sounding drum sections on the record, and the bridge has an awesome half-time breakdown - but its also very melodic so it fits perfectly with the rest of the album. Lyrically, this one is pretty cynical. It’s about how being in bands for many years has been all-consuming and caused issues in other aspects of my life, namely relationships and jobs. As pessimistic as the lyrics are they certainly ring true, and anyone in a band or in the music industry can probably relate. There’s a line in the song that reinforces an unhealthy stereotype about artists, but it’s fitting: “the best songs occur when we’re tortured”.

8. Divergence:

Musically, this song is our most cinematic sounding, which is why it is the title track of the album. It starts with a rhythmic verse that is followed by a huge blues guitar lick. This sets the stage for the second act of the song which is an arrangement of super melodic chords on top of some furious blasting. There is an awesome rhythmic section that we lovingly refer to as the ‘Deftones’ riff, then a break in the song that includes an auxiliary percussion section performed by our friend (and Abhoria bandmate) Jeremy Portz. Our drummer’s kiddo Xander also recorded some bongos on this percussion section, and it was really cool having a new generation involved! The end of the song has a super climactic synth section with blast beats underneath it, again lending to the cinematic quality of this track. Since this song is divided into two halves, the lyrics represent two possible paths that humanity could go down in regard to technology, specifically AI. If this technology is left unchecked, it could have disastrous consequences for everyone. This also ties into the cover art which represents the destruction of humanity and civilization, and is even represented by the ½ and ½ color vinyl scheme. It’s not all doom and gloom though, there’s still time to unify as people and put some guardrails in place. This might also be a good time to mention that this album was 100% written and produced by humans, no AI whatsoever was used in the making of this record!