Track By Tracks: Marche Funèbre - After The Storm (2024)

The entire track-by-track is written by Arne Vandenhoeck - Vocals

1. In a Haze:

This was the first lyric written for the new album, shortly after a heavy break-up in 2021. I had the feeling my relationship just vaporized, hence the use of ‘in a haze’. Musically it was also the first song that we worked on, although it needed a lot of time and re-arranging before we got to the final form.

2. Palace of Broken Dreams:

Same story here actually. Written a few days after ‘In a Haze’. This time displaying another part of the process I went through in my break-up. Also musically a very tough one to finish. Lots of ideas were tried, leading, after putting it away for maybe a year or so, to this version.

3. Devoid of Empathy:

These lyrics come from a personal experience where I felt a complete lack of empathy from someone close. It was written during one of the covid-lockdowns, so human intercourse was mainly through messages, etc. It didn’t help in this situation. In the grand scheme of the album, one could place it along the break-up songs easily I think. Just like the first song, this song was written based on an idea from Peter. Probably the last one he brought from home to the band, as he left the band after the recording of the new album. Writing this tune went way smoother than the other songs we talked about so far.

4. Enter Emptiness:

This song tells about the viral disease I’ve been carrying for almost 20 years and that took away a lot of ‘lust for life’. One could easily read it as a song about covid too I guess. The music was brought to the table by Boris.

5. Stranded:

The last song written in my break-up period (there’s another one too actually, it will be released somewhere next year). Here I’m looking back with regret, asking myself how we could end up like this… stranded. The opening riff was written by Kurt during some lockdown jamz he did with Dennis. It sets the tone for the song, where most of the other riffs and melodies were written by Peter during songwriting sessions in our rehearsal place with the 5 of us (just like all songs where Peter wrote the main riff(s)). The ending was the most difficult part of the song to write, as we had at least half a dozen versions before we ended up with this great ending riff. The solo was the very last thing Peter recorded for the band. The cool bass riff in the middle part was conceived by Boris in a really original way. He recreated the vocal melody in his home studio with some midi flutes to work around them getting this particular line.

6. After the Storm:

Sometime in the last months of our creating process for the new album Peter let us know he wouldn’t make it to the rehearsal. So we questioned what else we could work on when Boris suddenly notified us that he might have a song ready in the evening. And yes, he succeeded in finishing a demo version with 2 guitars and programmed drums in time for Dennis to learn the basics for this unnamed new song. While Boris was explaining the riffs to Kurt, I wrote a lyric on the spot, with the only suggestion “something about the beginning after the end” if I recall correctly. So, I wrote a lyric that could bring some light after all the troubles someone can go through. A fitting end to this album, with some references to similar lyrics from the previous album.