Track By Tracks: Ignitor - Horns And Hammers (2024)

1. HORNS AND HAMMERS:

This lyric came a bit late for me. the idea is a tribe or convoy of settlers, having to protect what they have. They have land, but they have to move around a bit to keep their enemies at bay, and to help their army prevent and create surprise attacks from their foes. This story has a history behind it, as the tribe and its army have been at this game of avenging their forefathers for decades, if not a century. or more. the lyric reads as a celebration when they have moved the friction away from camps, but then they find themselves planning for it to happen again, and it does. They craft weapons and have scouts. They commit arson after they take back what has been stolen. Arrows, spears, hammers, horses...I think we have all seen this movie, but the perspective makes for great metal.

2. IMPERIAL BLOODLINES:

This could come from watching too much Game of Thrones, or maybe not. This is the king and his family, committing centuries of incest, only to come through with what he hopes to be a clean bloodline, A king, for a king and a queen for a queen, he will take whatever is not of the embarrassment of the child being born deformed, or worse. he does not care, zero empathy. Set in his ways, he will destroy any idea of an outsider in this bloodline, all for what? It all ends in death. He is mocked by the outsiders. He may be more evil than any other the other kingdoms have witnessed or has been recorded in scroll.

3. DARK HORSE:

The theme is dripping. This is about the black sheep of the family. the child of incest, who becomes hated, and works for a general who may be his father. The Dark Horse is the metaphor, it is not his steed at all. The front art depicts the horse, but look into the warrior's eyes. he is not right, he has not a sound mind. he is the darkness of his hate and fear and even more, the scorn, for his family he found to be sinister and had created him within the 'Imperial bloodline" the king creates. It was all part of the plan. He does not know his family but is smart, and truth cannot be held within the realm. He will die soon and alone. He mentions of the possibility of warlocks and oracles, soothsayers within the board, and the general's table, whom he also hides from, but also keeps close. They will try to cheat his mind, to clean him of hate for the family, only to be a good soldier for the King's men, longer than his predicted days. Not a chance.

4. SHATTERED CROSSES:

On my apple crate yelling at folks again, about the religion and government messin it all up for us. So sending young folks off to war, with a license to kill, is not an answer. Metallica, calling their version Disposable Heroes, which is one of my all-time faves, said it before me, and I am sure the 60's protest songs had the same message. They, being the system, sure seem proud of their deadly patriotism. I understand the protection and service, but, over religion, whoever started the war, this one or that one, is a literal nightmare and setting off a confused crazy topic, and opinion. Sacrifices to apparition is the church praying for what seems to be death. I do not need to remind the church that (We) are killing children. Proudly standing on the mountain of "Shattered Crosses", is almost literal, when you visit the military graves. Another Metallica reference I did not realize until I wrote this synopsis, The Master of Puppets cover art. This track is one of my favorites. The band killed it on this one.

5. CYBER CRUSH:

Stuart wrote the lyrics for this, and I added the chorus lines to finish. He literally had a dream, whether it was a "fever dream" or not, I have not figured it out yet. He swears it was.

I recall he actually wrote the words for a different track on the record, and I do not remember which track, kinda funny at this point. The idea of artificial Intelligence, robots is what I call them, is real, and has been real for a long time. It seems crazy that people say and think it is ok to use them to make art. What happened to have your own ideas from nothing, from your imagination. The other side is, that this tech can help save lives, I get it. The internet and AI are just other people dressing you up. Can you dress yourself anymore? I tend to use the concept for basic decisions being made for us, for humans, on a subconscious level, for algorithms, not so much. Maybe Stuart saw something else, but the lyrics are great and my interpretation took me into a frowning fit. "You robots get off my lawn"!!! See where I am at with this? I will leave with this, we are addicted, and it is unhealthy.

6. CHAOS MAXIMUS ETERNAL:

If this were a real thing, and not sounding like a video game character, which it might be, it sounded so metal when I said it out loud, that I had to write the story. This overdriven, relentless destructive power is unleashed upon anyone who comes into view. This could be a person, obviously beyond human. No love of life, no empathy or love for anything, anyone. mayhem destruction at a top level. The song is a bit of a stomp, for the most part. I think of tanks and monsters, a transformer works, but, leaving nothing but a trail of noise behind him.

7. SUICIDE ANTHEM:

Aokigahara, otherwise known as the Sea of Trees, or the Suicide Forest, has even many more names. It is on the island of Honshu, in Japan. The forest sits at the base of Mount Fuji. The forest floor is hardened lava from the mountain/volcano above. The lava rock floor makes the forest super quiet, almost soundproof. very creepy. The trees and greenery have become so dense, making it severely easy to become lost.There are ice caves in winter, yet some of the caves are ice-filled, solid, year-round.

In the 20s and 30s, families with sickly elderly members who were in their last months would be taken there, almost ritualistically, and left to die a natural death, starvation, or the elements. It is, at least since the 1960s also and more popularly known for depressed to go and take their own lives. Drug overdoses or other means. Sometimes the hikers and naturalists, visiting the forest, which is a sort of state park, are the ones who discover the remains of these downtrodden. There are movies and video games, etc, that reference this place. The wiki page is spooky enough. The government places signs to warn visitors that basically, the place is haunted and you are to enter at your own risk.

I had to write a song on this topic. dark and twisted, and fits the track very well. For someone so down, to want to go here and end it, to disappear, they obviously have no fear left in them. their last song is a "Suicide Anthem". ( I do not condone suicide in any way. I have lost many friends to depression-invoked death. I do not speak of this as lightly as this may seem).

8. FEROCIOUS THE MARTYRS:

Important to know, that this was hard to write for me. To understand, at first, that someone who comes off as deranged, can have this way about them. To stand in the face of their own demise, all for something they desperately believe or practice as a religion, a faith, and or opinion. History will prove that the idea of this exists, daily. I think about the story, the book, the movie, the Exorcist. The little girl, innocently, all of a sudden, was in danger, possessed by something she could not have just brought upon herself, yet, made everyone else go mad trying to figure out why this was happening. It turns the tables, everyone else was putting their faith in jeopardy to try and save her. This fits the theme in an upside-down place. The other is war protesters, and terrorists, who have a religious belief in something that seems to be outrageous, and they are willing to die for the cause.

I can rest my case here, but, this is just a glimpse, into something I admit, I do not know much about, or understand it, but can write about it to only question it. The idea scares me a bit. Another favorite track on this record.

9. TAKING UP WITH SERPENTS:

Basic " you cannot save me now" type of message. The prisoners who have been called a witch, or a blasphemer, whether they are possessed and have done the unbelievable crimes that they have been accused of, they are doomed. The storyline calls upon the idea that if you lie with dogs, you become them. the old religious stories about Jesus, make me think, they thought of him this way, for certain. he stayed and tried to nurture poor, and leperous people. I am in no way religious, and nor do I believe that if I hang out with criminals, I will be one. This is the story of how, again, some people believe in this weak but real idea. We all have friends who are trying to get it together. If it goes on for a lifetime, it might mean they just need some help and maybe a sponsor. This character is admitting to the fact that they might not want to be saved. The dark place they are is the song lyric.