Guitar(s) used: The Jabberwock


Explanation: The Jabberwocky Suite is an amalgam of a few different musical pieces that just seem to go together. The pieces were written in the reverse order as they appear.

The star of the suite is a number I like to call Jabberwocky, which is the first song I ever wrote. The main riff was inspired by a song from a scene in a movie where a man wakes up and finds that he's the last person alive on earth. As a whole, Jabberwocky, though devoid of lyrics, is about a story I made up where a young man returns to his home village after a year of spirit training alone in the mountains, only to find the entire village in flames, and all the inhabitants trampled, half-eaten, or scorched to death. The cause of this unholy destruction is a beast that was obviously inspired by the monster from Alice in Wonderland - a dragon, perverted by evil.

I wrote When My Blood Flows Like Crimson while in a mindset inspired by hearing The Primatives' perform The Dragon Song live. Although, it wasn't so much the song as it was bandmember Jesse Hanson's explanation before the song that inspired me. He was explaining about a dragon, nearing death, having to face his own mortality, and the fact that, even after living for a hundred million years, it feels much too short when it's time to leave. Listening to this, I started thinking about what it must be like to feel your life slowly draining away, and how you would approach death. Later that night, I sat down and wrote When My Blood Flows Like Crimson.

Nightmares is a couple different riffs and runs that were largely inspired by a scene from another movie, where a young kid has nightmares and is afraid to go to sleep. He wakes up only to find that his bedroom is being stalked by a malicious, shadowy figure. He runs into the bathroom and hides in the tub, with the bright white light of the bathroom shining out into the hallway. The camera angle backs out of the bathroom slowly, gradually revealing a flowing, shadowy figure clinging to the wall outside the bathroom, in the area between the ceiling and the top of the doorway.

River of Fire: You are walking down a long dark hallway in an unfamiliar mansion. The only light is from the flickering torch you hold, and it is slowly fading. You realize that soon you will be left in complete darkness, so you quicken your pace. The hall continues, and you run faster. Suddenly, the torch fizzles, and you trip in the darkness, knocking your head in the process. You roll over on the floor, and look straight up into the face of death, come for you.


Lyrics:

When My Blood Flows Like Crimson

when my blood
flows like crimson
and my spirit flies
free into the sky
I feel you, but
I can't touch you now
I look into your eyes,
but I only see through them
soon the tide begins to pull me away
and my spirit spreads
into the vast sea

all the details fade,
leaving a haunting memory
I can't see your face
in my mind anymore
my heart grows cold,
and I too will fade
a cold wind is blowing
me into that wide void
where all will return to nothing