Track By Tracks: Dragoncorpse - The Fall Of House Abbarath (2024)

This track-by-track article is separated by band members, where each one will describe the album. Enjoy it!

Kris Chayer: "Welcome Home" is my own "homage" to classic instrumental songs from Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica, so lots of tremolo picking. "I Live... AGAIN!" is probably the heaviest on the EP, as we still want to put out heavy stuff. "A Quest For Truth" is a mix of everything we do, but we added electro elements and such, and to me, these parts were kind of a way to show appreciation to TK from Ling Sigure who is one of my main inspirations musically. "Whisper On The Wind" happens to be my personal favorite, as I always wanted to release a song that my mother could listen to and be proud of me, so if you read this Mom, I love you. The last track, "Fear and Hunger," is a song with a little interesting retro gaming twist to it as an homage to the great era of the SNES JRPG's and I believe we capture that vibe.

Justin Gogan: For our first EP, The Drakketh Saga, we wanted to build a world and story concept that we could expand on with later releases. We did this through interludes between each track that explained where we were in our story, and the feedback was clear. People hated it! Universally, fans loved the idea, but breaking up the EP with interludes between each track did end up hurting the flow. With this release, we listened to the masses and switched it up, while keeping the idea of a flowing concept alive.

"An Introduction to [ HEROISM ]" is exactly that, our way of telling our story without interfering with the rest of the flow of the EP. "Welcome Home," being the first true track, starts out with a bang, showcasing our approach by blending all of our styles together and introducing the listener to our new sound. “I Live… Again!” sprinkles the concept of the album throughout, with banter back and forth between our story's characters. Mardy [Leith] really went above and beyond conceptualizing the entire universe that the EP takes place in, and this track really demonstrates how we have approached storytelling this time around. “A Quest for Truth” was the first single that we released, and I thought it was the perfect representation of the newer sound that we were pushing. A lot of symphonic elements, clean singing, brutal screams, with a mix of crushing breakdowns and a heavier atmosphere. This track has it all and showcases the smorgasbord of styles that we have brought for this release. “Whisper on the Wind” was the outcome of us wanting to write a true ballad. We never wanted to be put in a bubble of what we could do, and this track is so special to all of us. It is such a different track compared to the rest of our music, and I hope that anybody listening to the EP appreciates what we went for. “Fear and Hunger” is a crushing finish to the EP, and one where we all really went all out. We go from heavy breakdowns to happy choruses, to dueling solos, this track has it all. It is the perfect send-off to the EP and one of my personal favorite tracks.

Mardy Leith: On "An Introduction to [HEROISM]"

I really wanted a rock-opera-style of opener for this EP, to front-load the exposition/story, rather than interludes between each song (which had mixed reception).

As the title, The Fall of House Abbarath, implies, it is a story of tragedy and revenge, so it kicks off after the events of SUNLOVER, and then ends during Blood And Stones.

"Welcome Home" is meant to be subversively triumphant, Nox returns victorious, but not unscathed. The general public see him as a hero, but the rulers view him as a threat.

"I Live… AGAIN!" is inspired by Caleb from One Unit Whole Blood, as that is how I viewed Nox rising as an undead wraith, set on taking heads for what was done to him and his family.

"A Quest For Truth" is arguably our cheesiest song on the EP. We really leaned into the power metal vibes for this one, and I think the lyrics line up with that as well.

As for "Whisper On The Wind," we have wanted a ballad for a while, and so when Kris showed us the general idea of this track, we knew we needed to expand on it and add it to the EP. The back-and-forth male and female vocals represent Nox and his murdered wife, or rather, what he believes is his murdered wife.

Inspired by the games, "Fear And Hunger" takes place right before the events of Blood And Stones, and is about the character Sturm fleeing from being used as a ritual sacrifice, which results in him living in darkness and being forced into cannibalism to survive.

Mark Marin: For "An Introduction to [ HEROISM ]," Mardy already had the main structure and ideas for everything. I just added the layers it needed to make it fuller sounding and make it make sense with the story. I’m happy with how it turned out and I’m looking forward to more dialogue type storyline tracks like this.

"Welcome Home" is a perfect first song for an album. It comes in right away with a catchy, high energy melody. I really wanted to make the theme of it as Medieval / Ren fair as I could.

I would say "I Live...AGAIN!" is meant to be played when riding into the battle of the Morannen. Also Nick Miller’s solo really is the fire blazing-sword-cherry on top of this epic battle track.

"A Quest for Truth" is a unique track. Very much a contrast compared to the previous track on the album. The themes and melodies are a bit more playful on this one and the video Mardy made for it entirely enhances all the feels.

Having an almost completely metal, riffy-screamy background in songwriting – "Whisper on the Wind" was a huge breath of fresh air to work on. I’m extremely happy and grateful for how this song came out and everyone killed it in tracking it. Matt Schmidt is a genius in knowing what the song needs to sound its best, and this track is no exception. I didn’t go too crazy with too many synths and mostly let the song breathe and naturally build up.

"Fear and Hunger" is the closing track of the album. I love this song. It’s very balanced and uplifting, but then hits you with that breakdown towards the end. Mardy’s vocals never disappoint, but this part really brings out the stankiest stank face in me.