Some of you have written to me wanting to know what a particular song means. One good use of this newsletter would be to tell you all what the songs mean (at least to me) as well as give some other comments about how they were written and anything else interesting. This issue will continue to look at the songs off the Fireaxe CD "A Dream of Death" with the seventh and eighth tracks, "All in Flames" and "Where's the Sun?".

All in Flames. This is an epic Fireaxe song which charges through a number of movements at breakneck speed. The song was crafted to represent the ferocious war between the protagonist and the powers that be. The music reflects this conflict with speed, power, and an overarching sense of grandeur. This is the protagonist's final assault on the world which has caused him so much pain. He harnesses, redirects, and unleashes his pain upon the world in an attempt to destroy the dreams that enslave it.

The opening line sets the stage for the song:

"Damn the false prophets and the true believers, full speed ahead!"

The music breaks into a very fast rhythm with pulsed double bass drumming which gives it the power and feel of a locomotive. The sound is intense and doesn't let up for several minutes, shifting from strong lyrical lines to guitar solos and back again. The protagonist attacks what the world holds the most sacred: God, Joy, Dreams, and the Future. The challenges eventually attract the attention of the powers that be who fight back in their defense. The music changes depending on which side is speaking and meshes together well. The protagonist's challenges are made backed by energetic speed metal while the powers that be are backed with thunderous power metal.

The conflict shifts back and forth until the protagonist realizes that the powers that be are hiding behind their dreams. He changes tactics and accuses them of blinding themselves with lies in a much slower and rather dark section of the song.

Enraged, the powers that be pass judgment on the protagonist and accuse him of trying to destroy the world. He is sentenced to death. The music changes to match the despair and laments of the protagonist. His challenges were never answered, only brushed aside. He is swallowed whole by a world in denial.

I really enjoy the final solo guitar part, it stands in such contrast to the way the song begins over 11 minutes earlier. Who would have thought a song that began so fast and full of energy would end up so slow and sorrowful. The song is truly epic, capturing the plight of the protagonist wonderfully.

The four sacred concepts that are attacked in the song are all prevalent in the world today and each could use a good debunking. The first is God, an unfalsifiable concept which can only be proven to exist via circular logic or an unsupported claim. The second is Joy, the necessary compliment to pain and suffering. The third is the Dream, the promise of a better future in exchange for hardship today. And the fourth is the Future, more specifically a better future for the children. The assault on this concept is truly brutal:

"Don't you see the pain your children
suffer on the brutal rack?
Don't you see the fear you teach them
as you force them to adopt your dreams?"

"The dream needs your kids to remove
all the pain in the world
but they must be taught on the rack
which propagates all of the pain
makes it worse makes them hurt makes
them need a more powerful dream
to ease the pain makes it worse
and they pass it all down to their children."

Instead of making the world better for our children we only make it worse. We infuse them with our fears, our pain, our anxieties, and all that torments us. We try to alleviate their suffering by passing down our empty concepts of God, Joy, and Dreams. And finally we charge them with the task of fixing a world that is becoming more fierce, competitive, and hostile with every passing generation. They inherit a legacy of pain.

Faced with that kind of reality what choice do we have but to cling to our dreams and rationalize their absurdities? No reality can compare to the dreams that we have created. No person can give us what we request from our imagined gods. No reward can satisfy us compared to those in the distant future or which await us after our death. And no Joy compares to that gained from the release from a greater pain than you have ever known before. It is not that we do not want to face reality, it is that we cannot bear to do so. We are dependent on our illusions.

Where's the Sun? I consider this to be one of the best Fireaxe songs of all. At times I think it is the best. It captures the existential fear of the protagonist so well, flowing perfectly from the ending phrases of "All in Flames" and descending down into a dark and silent emotional pit. The goal of any art form is to make the person experiencing it feel the same emotions that the artist is trying to convey. I feel that I've done so with "Where's the Sun" better than I have with any other song.

The music begins with a pair of layered guitars played with a two second delayed echo. I'd played around with the delayed echo for years and liked what I could do with it, but I never found a good place to use it until this song. The layered harmony sounds beautiful in the context of the song. It is like wave after wave of rain washing over you, taking you deeper and deeper into the song. The solos add to both the mood and the harmony, superimposing themselves upon the music like fleeting memories.

In the second half of the song the distorted rhythm guitars kick in. The waves of rain have given way to a torrential downpour that is drowning the listener. The lyrics give way to a single wailing lament "Where's the Sun?" which itself is lost in a beautifully layered descending solo guitar part. The delay works well at the end making the fade out ebb and flow like the tide. The listener disappears into a sea of entropy.

My favorite verse of the CD occurs in this song:

"I never wanted to live forever,
rejoice in heaven or be born again and again.
All I ever wanted was just a simple pleasure,
to be alive, and feel the warmth of the sun."

"Where's the Sun?"

It eloquently captures the theme of the CD. It symbolizes not only the plight of the protagonist, but that of the entire human race. Humans are simple creatures who once lived at peace with the world. There was no need for dreams to insulate them from reality, and death was not feared. Perhaps their lives were like ours during those long summer days when we were young. We had no cares or concerns and the world seemed eternal. But one thing is certain, and that is that we cannot go back. Once a child is indoctrinated into the world of fear and pain, no simple pleasure can fill the void, but the romantic image of a much simpler time can only serve as yet another elusive dream.

Although the story could easily end with this revelation, there is one more chapter yet to be written. The bottom has not yet been reached.