The Making of Relevations: A City of Tyrants Guest Blog
Between January and May of 2018 we wrote and recorded what became our concept album, Revelations. I had a general idea of the story line very early on in the writing process which I forwarded to vocalist Charles Horning to further expand upon.
The basic idea was to create a character chosen to be a hero in a post-apocalyptic world. Someone chosen to bring peace. Throughout the story, this character would be in battle with his own psyche and questioning his ideology.
Once that idea was laid out, we thought it would be interesting to introduce an "evil" character to the story. Someone who was an important part of the hero's life and had a very strong hold on him mentally. This made the story more dynamic. It also helped to develop the inner turmoil and conflict the hero was dealing with. The evil figure can be thought of as a friend, mentor or even his father. We tried to leave this open to interpretation.
What I believe makes this story very interesting is that the verses of each song reflects on the past while the choruses reflect on present day. This way we were able to detail both how the hero felt in his broken mental state and how he chose to deal with those feelings.
Musically, we tried to have some recurring melodies and themes. There's a few synths and guitar lines that tie the songs together. It was very important for us to create a soundscape which would be specific to this album and easily recognizable.
From beginning to end, the hero's story progresses and becomes somewhat dark, ultimately ending with his death or demise, if you will. In the chorus of album closer "Reflections", the character has dealt with the things he has done and is calling out to the evil figure to "lead him home". Listeners can take that to mean whatever they'd like which we believe is what makes the album fun and engaging!
Check out the album and follow along on our social medias:
The basic idea was to create a character chosen to be a hero in a post-apocalyptic world. Someone chosen to bring peace. Throughout the story, this character would be in battle with his own psyche and questioning his ideology.
Once that idea was laid out, we thought it would be interesting to introduce an "evil" character to the story. Someone who was an important part of the hero's life and had a very strong hold on him mentally. This made the story more dynamic. It also helped to develop the inner turmoil and conflict the hero was dealing with. The evil figure can be thought of as a friend, mentor or even his father. We tried to leave this open to interpretation.
What I believe makes this story very interesting is that the verses of each song reflects on the past while the choruses reflect on present day. This way we were able to detail both how the hero felt in his broken mental state and how he chose to deal with those feelings.
Musically, we tried to have some recurring melodies and themes. There's a few synths and guitar lines that tie the songs together. It was very important for us to create a soundscape which would be specific to this album and easily recognizable.
From beginning to end, the hero's story progresses and becomes somewhat dark, ultimately ending with his death or demise, if you will. In the chorus of album closer "Reflections", the character has dealt with the things he has done and is calling out to the evil figure to "lead him home". Listeners can take that to mean whatever they'd like which we believe is what makes the album fun and engaging!
Check out the album and follow along on our social medias:
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