Track By Tracks: Tyraels Ascension - Hell Walker (2024)

Unpacking Tyraels Ascension is no easy task. There is far more depth to what is going on than what we can explain in one article, there are songs that would take an entire book to explain, let alone the entirety of a trilogy of albums. There are many things that are just beyond me to explain in writing, as well as, many things that we are not ready to fully talk about.

Tyraels Ascension: Hell Walker is not only an album that is written about many of the problems, issues, and struggles that we as individuals have faced in life, but it is about seeing others who have faced those same issues, and our desire to come alongside them.

Tyraels Ascension was born from the many talks Sean and I would have about what we were facing in life and how we chose to deal with and get through, those struggles and hurts. We would watch so many of our friends and family members go through similar things and not be able to find their way out, stuck in the hurt and pain, and not making decisions to better themselves, either due to the fact that they were not ready to face the reality of their situation or their absolute denial of the truth of what was actually happening.

Every person is on their own walk in life, and even in similar situations, the pathway towards healing might look different for each person, but, there are certain truths in life that cannot be ignored if you wish to be a complete, whole, and unbroken person.

We decided to write this album, or rather, a trilogy of albums, from a cinematic perspective. We created a fictional story of an Angel, Tyrael, who sees a broken people, on a broken earth, incapable of handling the demons they are forced to fight. Tyrael takes it upon himself to come to earth and fight the demons, and teach us humans how to fight them as well. Each song is another part of the story, a different demon, a different struggle that Tyrael must help a person overcome. Each song is a true story, about a real struggle. Each and every song has a deeper meaning, that at this time, I am just not ready to write about. With that said, I will do my best to break down each song as best I can to explain the parts I can currently write about.

1. The Prophecy:

An overall view of what is happening, people don’t actually understand how strong they can be, we have been made to feel so destroyed and hurt as people that we have completely forgotten the fact that we don’t need to be.

Story Perspective – Tyrael Confronts the demon who lies to all the earth, telling humans they are worthless and things can never get better. Humans truly believe this about themselves and thus their failures and hurts become a “self-fulfilling prophecy”. Tyrael must find a way to speak to all the earth and renew their hope.

2. Descent:

A young man is torn apart by the actions of his father who abandoned the family. His soul is fractured between the need to love his father and the need to hate him for what he did. He is unable to find balance or understand how to feel in the situation.

Story Perspective – Tyrael faces the demon who would use emotional wounds in this young man to break his mind and cause him to descend into madness. Tyrael teaches the young man that forgiveness for his father is the only pathway toward healing for himself. Tyrael helps the young man see that forgiveness does not mean he has to allow his father to hurt him, but that setting proper boundaries in his heart and life will help protect him while he works to see if a relationship with his father can be restored. However this situation ends up, the young man will be able to move forward in life with his head held high.

3. Architect:

A man has worked very hard to build a life for himself, but it didn’t work out the way he planned and now he has lost everything and everyone he's ever loved, but he just cant figure out where he went wrong in his life plans, thus he gives into self hatred, depression, and despair.

Story Perspective – Tyrael faces the demon of despair, telling the man that no matter how hard he works and no matter what he plans on trying to make of himself, it will always be pointless and things will never get better. Tyrael shows the man the truth that failure is a learning opportunity and how to keep pursuing dreams and moving forward in the face of failure and adversity.

4. The Dead Lights:

Someone who was abused as a child and ever since has been locked inside themselves, trying to forget everything that happened to them and yet it is that very thing that controls every choice, action, and step that they make. Metaphorically “walking on glass” so as not to disturb the trauma that lies deep inside.

Story Perspective – Tyrael faces a demon who preys on children. The person who abused this individual as a child has since passed away, there is no revenge or retribution to be had, and this torments the individual who now wants nothing more than to get revenge. Tyrael teaches them that revenge and justice are not the same and helps the individual find love and healing, and how to face the trauma of what happened so that it never affects them ever again.

5. Prelude to War (Instrumental):

The calm before the storm.

6. The Art of War:

A retired soldier was the only one in his platoon to return from war and suffers from PTSD and survivor guilt.

Story Perspective - Tyrael faces a demon who revels in forcing people to relive trauma and make them suffer guilt. Tyrael commiserates with the soldier at the horrors of war, helping the soldier accept that he will never be the same, and helps the soldier realize that although his brothers-in-arms may be gone, what they stood for and fought for can live on in him. The fallen are not truly dead. Each day we have is a gift, and we can embody the spirit of our fallen comrades.

7. When the Hero Dies:

A young man lost his best friend tragically to suicide, at a very young age.

Story Perspective - Tyrael faces a demon who tortures a young man with grief. His best friend took his own life and now the young man doesn’t know what to do with himself, and he is scared because now he is all alone. The grief is all consuming and the young man can't function. Tyrael teaches the young man how to grieve, and that tears do not make us weak, but rather, make us human. Tyrael simply sits with this young man, listening to all the stories from their years together, and eventually just holds him and cries with him.

8. Holy Fire:

People come and go from our lives, even our closest friends may take a different path than us in life and we move on, drifting apart. Sometimes we have fallingouts that end friendships or relationships. And then there are those precious few people who have parallel lives to us, whose spirits resonate with our own callings in life, that resonance we like to call, the “Holy Fire”

Story Perspective – Tyrael fights a demon who tries to keep people stuck in their past, focused on trying to hold onto relationships that will never be what they once were. Preventing them from growing into the people they need to be. This holds us back from moving forward and growing as people when we are focused on what was instead of what is ahead. Tyrael helps these individuals recognize those in their life who they need to let go of. You can always love them, but they must walk their own path, and we must allow them to do so. Tyrael helps these people find peace as they enter new stages of life, and find those in that stage in life, that have parallel lives, who have the same calling for that season of life, those who have the Holy Fire.

9. Cutting Ties:

A man who struggles with a generational curse. He comes from a line of fatherless homes and is worried that his family will fall apart as well.

Story Perspective – Tyrael fights a demon who is keeping a man from reaching his potential by whispering lies that he is just like his own father and grandfather, it is inevitable that he will leave his wife and daughter. Because of this, the man is refusing to make decisions that he must make, because he fears it will take him from his family. Tyrael helps him see the truth that he is, in fact, his own man. That he doesn’t have to repeat the cycle of fatherless homes. He can pursue his dreams and reach his potential all while being there for his wife and daughter. He is not his father, he can cut the ties that held him to the curse and walk in freedom of who is called to be.

10. Twin Angels:

There are multiple paths in life that can open up to us and it can be hard to know what the right decision is.

Story Perspective – Tyrael fights a demon who looks exactly like Tyrael himself. The demon appears to people pretending to be an angel and putting paths in front of them that look good, but ultimately lead to destruction. An individual is stuck, unsure of what to do, every decision this person has made at this point has led to destruction and hurt and now they can't make any decisions at all. They are stuck in their past, lost in their present, and scared of the future. Tyrael helps them to discern truth from lies and make good choices in their lives. He teaches them how to let go of their past mistakes and move forward, looking to the future with hope.

11. The Inferno:

We all have made poor choices in our lives that we have come to regret as we grow older. Owning up to those poor choices is part of growing up. We must accept the responsibility for those choices and the hurt it has caused ourselves and others. However, we cannot live in shame and guilt, we cannot be whole and complete people if we continue to punish ourselves for the ignorance of our youth. It is a fine line between not allowing what others think of us to dictate how we feel about ourselves and thus, dictate our actions, while at the same time, respecting the fact that others may have legitimate grievances against us. Sometimes others want us to hate ourselves because of what they feel we have done to them. Even if it is true, to have a repentant heart in those things does not mean that we must punish ourselves to fix or “balance” the issue.

Story Perspective – Tyrael comes face to face with a demon who constantly accuses people of the mistakes of their past and never lets them live it down. A man made terrible decisions in the ignorance of his youth. Years later he sees the pain and hurt that those choices have caused for his loved ones and he regrets them all. His loved ones need him but he is too scared to step in and be who they need him to be because he believes he has lost the right to love them and to be loved by them. He continually punishes himself for all of his past. Tyrael helps the man face the reality that everyone makes mistakes, and that self-inflicted punishment will not save his loved ones. He must move forward, and be the man that his loved ones need him to be.

12. Time of the Witcher (Instrumental):

Tyrael has fought many demons, now he must descend into hell to fight the source. He has trained a group of humans to keep fighting the good fight here on earth. As Tyrael descends into the depths, it is now the “Time of the Witcher”