Track By Tracks: Dismalimerence - Tome: II (2024)

1. The Grand Narrative:

This track was written with the concept of writing a message to yourself about your own value. When I was writing this song instrumentally, I wanted to build from a soft and somber intro to something epic and melodic. When I was growing up, I felt like I didn’t have a voice of my own, and The Grand Narrative is just that. I wanted this song to be a moment of clarity in self-worth while gazing in retrospect about past struggles; how we all can find our passion, and that shapes who we are.

2. Relics of Woe:

This song began as a poem I wrote about seven years ago. I was living out of my backpack, life was at an all-time low, and I felt very alone throughout it all. I was holding on for dear life at those times and I turned my attention to writing how I felt. It wasn’t until a few years after the poem that I finally started composing alongside the lyrics. Since the lyrics were written first, I actually wrote every section according to the words and how they rang in my head for a little while. I am incredibly proud of this song. To see the reception we’ve had from playing it live recently has been incredible.

3. Hereafter:

I think back on this song quite a lot since I started writing it. It’s been through a lot of growing pains, to say the least. I began writing this song with our previous guitarist and things just never made any progress. Months would pass and I would grow tired of hearing it a certain way or another. After Alex joined the band and heard the song, he gave me a lot more confidence to rework a few ideas to get his contributions in and it’s worked like a dream since! You’ll hear a lot of different styles in this song. From shredding solos, symphonic elements, progressive riffs, and even a deathcore breakdown. We love to see where the music takes us with no bounds.

4. Reticent Waters:

This has always been one of my favorite songs I’ve written. Reticent Waters is a labor of love from every member in the band. You’ll hear a lot of faster tremolo guitars, intense blast beats, and a beautiful atmospheric section in the song. The lyrics in Reticent Waters also were written as a poem before I introduced the words into lyrics.

5. Moonlit Passage:

Moonlit Passage is a slower-paced song that focuses heavily on the moments. The lyrics carry the song across multiple key changes and into a death metal-like journey to the end. The lyrics are closely about feeling subjected to loving someone who is not worth your love anymore. I wrote these lyrics with a lot of different meanings and emotions to convey that. To feel shame for yourself when you know you deserve more, but instead, you’re idle.

6. At First Light:

At First, Light is one of our favorites to perform live due to its lively tempo and upbeat pulse in the song. There’s plenty of melodic guitar and bass in this song that packs a punch. The lyrics are related to the feelings of superiority and inferiority. As soon as you feel up high and standing tall, life has a good chance to humble us and make us feel small again.

7. Undying Troth:

This track has a lot of new things included in it that the rest of the album doesn’t. There’s plenty of fast paced and melodic guitars with solos. There’s a middle section that hearkens to early influences of mine with a straight up chugging riff and intense drumming. The lyrical aspect of Undying Troth is directly correlating to living with a mental illness. “An heirloom passed from blood unto me” meaning the mental illness being an Undying Troth. This song a journey through mental and emotional anguish.

8. Drowning Silence:

This song closes out the record with a ton of symphonic and melodic black metal influence. In a strange way, the song is written like a ballad. You will be thrown into this upbeat and thrilling sound that begs for a climax and denouement. The lyrics are about embracing your pains, strife, and hard times because those are just as important as the good times. While I was composing this song I wanted it to feel different than the rest of our discography and give the lyrics a platform like no other.

It’s okay to have faults, mistakes, and sorrow in life. It’s a natural occurrence for everyone in some facet. I just believe that embracing them is the first step in getting better and overcoming the pain.