Track By Tracks: Divine Sovereign - Autaxia Chronicles: Dawn Of A New Age (2025)

A few words about the general concept for the album:

The idea of making a concept album, where the story is told not only through music and lyrics, but also through didascalia, came from a former buddy of mine who was hooked on the so-called “conworlding” - the process of gradually creating the presented world and the rules within it. On one of the Facebook groups focusing on this activity, he showed me how different people approach it - some create lists of rules, some use descriptions, and others create small stories presenting the reality of a given world. And it was the latter method that I found most interesting and exciting. That's why the narrative is based on archaeological research of the destroyed planet - because by studying old archives, we can gradually learn about the norms, customs, and laws of the universe, without the need for excessive exposition. Besides that, I'm a big fan of concept albums, and "Crimson" by Edge of Sanity is the most important representative of such an approach for me. Although I didn't create "one big song", the narrative style created by Dan Swano had a huge impact on me.

Track-by-track Breakdown:

The Ruins Of Autaxia - A short instrumental intro to the album. In the booklet to the album you will find only a brief introduction, describing the landing of a research ship on an unknown, destroyed planet and the discovery of mysterious archives, which are the carrier of the story described here. We know that the civilization that created them no longer exists, but the fact that they left behind traces of a culture indicates that it was once a powerhouse. However, we don't know what led to its end or how, so the researcher will have to delve into the traces the Autaxia people left behind.

Musically - while writing this material, I was heavily influenced by bands such as Ethereal Shroud, Panopticon, and Atlantean Codex. Albums by these artists are also conceptual material, telling a story or relating to an idea or vision. And most of them start with some kind of instrumental intro. Given that the next track on the album already tells one of the triumphant legends of the people of Autaxia, I thought it worthwhile to show the listener a completely different perspective - that of an explorer who, instead of a proud people, found only ruins. In this way, I want to show that this heroic tale will come to a sorrowful end.

Enshrined Kind - It took me a long time to figure out where I wanted to start this story. Initially, I assumed something like a galactic war or a planetary conflict with a religious background. However, just as I was about to start writing lyrics for the album, I started reading about the rise of Spartacus. The uprising, though it eventually collapsed, was the largest slave revolt in ancient Rome. The march of 100,000 men was stopped only by an internal dispute among the rebels. As a result of the division of forces resulting from the fact that many nationalities were involved in the revolt, the Roman legions eventually caught up with the smaller slave groups and crushed the uprising.

And then I started thinking... what would have happened for such an uprising to have a chance of success? What power can match the bonds resulting from sharing history and culture with another person? What power ultimately defeated Rome? Religion. 450 years later, Christianity triumphed in Rome and became its national religion. That is why, in addition to describing the rebellion, I wanted to show in this piece how religion is born. How, as a result of oppression, resistance grows in the heroes of the story, but at the same time, a bond based on faith is born, which will make them remain united. Of course, there is no mention of a formalized religion here. The text mentions that the rebelling slaves heard some parables about the chosen people, but there is still a long way to go before it is formalized.

The Absolution - I come from Poland. Anyone who has learned about our country's recent history knows that it is not pleasant. My country did not exist on the world map for 123 years. Right after regaining independence, it was taken over by a military junta, only to be invaded by Germany and Russia in 1939. Then came 50 years of poverty and communism. Only the last three decades can be called a time of prosperity.

Poles are somewhat defined by their martyrdom. And I think that is why I wanted to give the residents of Autaxia their own. The first part of the piece shows how the heroes of this story, several thousand years earlier, were enslaved by invaders from the east and how they gradually lost their original faith, at the same time losing hope of regaining freedom. The arpeggio in E minor and the slowing down of the tempo convey the hopelessness of this situation and the lack of the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel".

However, in the second part, the narrative reverses. The successful rebellion gives the species hope to regain power and establish its customs. However, years of repression, hard labor, and disappointment that Autaxia's people have brought to their original religion caused a new belief to emerge - much more fanatical. Focused on the cult of self.

Essence - What is a good science fiction story without some macabre, mystical secret? So far, we have learned about the fate of the planet's people and the rebellion that is to change the order that prevails there. The rebels fight for their freedom by occupying subsequent headquarters of their oppressors, but in the distant mountains, in the north of the planet, they come across strange research facilities.

As it turns out, representatives of the rebellious species are sent there to conduct macabre experiments on them. The shock for everyone is the discovery of powerful chambers in which our heroes' loved ones are processed into a characteristic, blue liquid. When taken by their former masters, this puts them in a trance - they become faster, stronger, but also impossible to control. A wild instinct awakens in them to devour the bodies of both their enemies and their comrades in arms.

I am a nerd when it comes to World War II. And what happened in German concentration camps or the infamous Japanese Unit 731 remains one of the darkest pages of human history to this day. Within such facilities, pseudo-experiments were conducted, for example, to facilitate the induction of twin pregnancies or to test human resistance to frostbite and pathogens. Many such experiments did not yield any results and resulted only in human suffering. It is similar here - the research was intended to strengthen the species that oppressed our heroes, but despite years of research, the substance obtained from the bodies of slaves is unstable and causes side effects.

The story presented in this work gives our heroes a new motive for action - the desire to protect themselves not only from slavery, but also from pseudo-experiments that translate into the suffering and death of millions. "Essence" itself is certainly a concept inspired by Frank Herbert's "Dune". Although as a slightly lighter and more amusing curiosity, I can say that the idea for the heroes of the story to be "liquefied" came from an episode of "Rick and Morty". In s05e01, when Morty travels between his world and the "world a'la Narnia", he enrages the inhabitants of that world, who perceive him as a mortal threat and try to kill him. One of their warriors is sent to Morty's world to neutralize him, but before he sets off, we see three representatives of his species being liquefied into his suit, which is supposed to strengthen him in battle. So... yeah.

And in this song, I was trying to convey Atlantean Codex worship - slow intro riff with epic sol,o or slowly phrased vocals at the first part of choruses are the things I took from them. And "Amadeus". I meant the movie. It is a biopic about Mozart, wherethe  main hero expresses an idea of creating a sort of "conversation" between a couple of melodic lines played in the same key. I tried to do something like that in the middle part of the song, with no drums.

The Weakness Of Own Flesh - The trauma from the previous piece makes some of the characters wonder if the substance in their bodies can offer them anything. As a new religion gradually emerges among the rebels, some of its priests begin to conduct psychedelic experiments and preach about the uniqueness of their people, gifted with supernatural power.

As a result of one of the rites, the high priest is able to unite with the power dormant within him - he can see the near future, is able to use the power of his mind to move objects, and hear the thoughts of others. In other words, he discovers psionic potential. And yes, you can smell Star Wars a mile away. But I derive the concept of "force" here from other sources, actually - seeing the future is also a feature of Muad'Dib, as well as... a perk in the game Stellaris. Since I really like games by Paradox Entertainment, I thought that using concepts from their game, which actually takes place in the distant future, would be appropriate here. The name of the project comes from it, because I have trouble coming up with proper names myself.

Musically, this is probably the most "blackgazeish" track. It was created under strong inspiration from the album "I Want To Be There" by Sadness - their ability to write bittersweet melodies is unmatched. And the mixture of pain and pleasure is an important factor here - besides ecstatic rituals, pain is a force able to unleash the full potential of Autaxia people.

Dawn Of A New Age - We reach the last song. The enemies gather their armies to stop the rebellion in a last, desperate move. The rebels, now united by their mission and new religion, are ready to face the odds and take control of their home planet. Fueled by rage and the essence pulsing in their veins, they head towards the final battle.

At the same time, this is also the last chapter of the first act of this story. The triumph of the heroes, the legitimization of the new authorities, both religious and secular... and the birth of the fanaticism that will mark the rest of this story. The newfound powers make this person constantly seek out the most outstanding among themselves, who, through pain, have the chance to unleash their full potential and become the demi-gods worshiped by the rest. However, this will have dark repercussions, expressed in the words "The only way to paradise must lead through genocide", which I will want to elaborate in the next albums.

Although musically the song is inspired by the album "Autumn Eternal" by Panopticon, the idea of a triumphant end for people of Autaxia, after millennia of being oppressed, comes from "2112" by Rush. I mean... "To all that can hear this message, the chiefs' army has been crushed" is my version of "Attention all planets of the solar federation, we have assumed control", if I'm being honest.

In general, you can see that I have an approach of Ray Manzarek from The Doors. In one documentary, where he described how the band created their first album (Classic Albums series), he showcases us a melody from one of the song saying something like: "You see? This is Ray Charles. And this is player x. And that is player y. We stole from everyone. However, from that our new, fresh style emerged". And that is the philosophy I'm following - I'm taking from multiple places, to create something new and authentic. Or at least I'm trying to.