Track By Tracks: Asasara - 777 (2024)

1. Myself Made Perfect:

This song has a dual meaning: on the surface, it takes inspiration from Crowley's Bornless Ritual but is also a parable of the quest for self-realization and the desire to be remembered forever through art. It reflects a want to destroy all challengers while continually leveling up and perfecting oneself - mentally, physically, creatively, etc.

2. The Jaws of Life:

I believe that existence as we know it is a construct of our consciousness and we have the ability to shape it however we want. The more knowledge you obtain on life itself, the more adept you become at changing it. However, a lot of this information has been purposely obscured over time, often for good reason. The theme here is about being aware of the power you hold when you obtain knowledge of certain hidden things, and how it can come back to bite you if you're not careful, destroying your mind and leading to madness.

3. Limitless Vision:

Bodies are finite. But there is a difference between a body and a soul, they are not one. A human being is not a body with a soul but a soul with a body. The soul is part of something much greater and beyond material space. In material space, we occupy a vessel (a body). All bodies and things that exist in the physical realm can be altered and will eventually dissolve. However, not every living being is part of the mortal realm, and our soul or consciousness descends from the eternal. Basically, the song is about how your soul lives forever but in another plane that is not part of the physical. Death is not to be feared as we are just visiting material space currently in our vessel until we have done the work required to return to the eternal source of all that is, was, and shall be.

3. O Koumartzis:

This is a reimagining of a 100+ year-old Greek song by the legendary lyra player Xarilaos Piperakis. He was the first person to ever record Cretan music in history, in the early 1900s into a gramophone. I've studied traditional Cretan music for a while now and have always wanted to bring some of these songs to life in a heavier setting. Greeks love gambling and that is the theme of this track - poker, dice, etc. Unfortunately, the gambler in the story doesn't have the greatest of luck - much like my uncle in Crete who was shot from under a poker table, and killed over a card game gone bad. So this song holds a bit of a personal meaning to me.

Musically, the rhythm is called a zeibekiko, it's a cool 9/8 time signature that really can throw people off who aren't familiar with it. Cretan music in particular is so rich with different, unique sounds, rhythms, and plenty of dark vibes. This won't be the last time I take a song of this style and bring it into Asasara.