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... 13. Styx Overture/ Symphony of the Underworld (21:08) (Experimental Metal/ Symphonic Metal) (Smith/ Del Petro/ Demmel/ Edwards/ Thornton)Styx Overture begins with an orchestral build up of wind and brass instruments slowly. It gradually gets quieter as it progresses, although it is still fairly large. After the build up, a lone violin comes in playing a reprise of The Stranger. The percussion, wind and brass section join in at this. There is a drum roll for about 10 seconds and then it disperses into silence. This is the end of the Styx Overture. Out of that nothingness, comes a quiet acoustic guitar. It is playing a traditional English folk riff and it continues to do this for a while. After about 2 minutes, a Theremin joins in with them, playing eerie, spacey music over the top. Sitars are also present again now, playing the same riff as the acoustic. The only vocals in the whole of the piece are quietly sung cleanly here, with Jason almost breathing the lyrics out slowly. Gradually, the riff gets slightly more upbeat, and all the other instruments disappear. The acoustic riff gets faster and faster, until it reaches a breaking point. Then, suddenly, a huge flurry of drumming and a solitary power chord from Jason’s guitar comes flying in. Then Aaron, who was on the acoustic, plays the riff, except on his electric. This carries on, with dual guitar solos erupting in random places everywhere, and occasionally drumming ones. After a few minutes, all the instruments drop out, apart from the bass, which plays a technical solo for half a minute. Once again, all the instruments drop back in, except this time; they’re joined once again by the orchestral instruments playing a grand backdrop to this piece. It then goes more solemn and downbeat again as it all goes quiet and Aaron returns to his acoustic. Instead of the normal riff, he plays a completely different riff, fast paced, but mournful and melancholy. Then slowly, a little drum build up erupts into a doomy, loud, gargantuan riff with the two electrics back to dual guitar solos and a riff like thunder playing heavily. The violins are also still playing at this point. It then sinks back into the mournful riff on the electrics, with the drums sounding like they’re being played on a sheet of metal. Then, the riff picks up and Aaron goes into a huge guitar solo for around about a minute. The whole piece then unexpectedly all fades out, leaving a slow, emotional piano piece rounding it all up. The glockenspiel from The Stranger then makes another appearance, except the section’s played backwards this time, leaving a spooky aftertaste. The sound of church bells chiming ends the song. Slowly, in the background, you can hear the quiet voices of children playing and laughing, for a short period of about 10 seconds. This is taken from a childhood video of Jason, which has been re-mastered. Then, silence. Nothing but silence.
Jason: “This song is naturally about death, as you can see. Loving the ones you hate, hating the ones you love. Love isn’t always such a joyous thing. In this song, the said paladin is in the underworld, back with his friends, loves and enemies who have died. This is our biggest piece yet, musically. It’s fucking huge. It’s like a proper orchestra we hired, except we played our pathetic instruments over this grandiose, magnificent thing. Probably the highlight of our career, this song. Fuck it, we’ll never get any better than this, so there’s no point in trying! It’ll give our critics a rest. The intro to it, Styx Overture, was written after the actual song. We thought it was so big, it needed a sort of intro, ya know?”
Lyrics:
You, you were,
The thorn in the side of my ego,
The crown of thorns on my head,
Yet I love you,
Love you for reasons I don’t quite know,
Reasons that don’t exist,
This symphony,
Is dead.We from Mind would like to thank from deep within our hearts for supporting us through this album we have made here... we didn't expect it to be quite as well received as it has been! May you all live long and happy lives. Lots of love, Jason, Aaron, Harry and Robert. Produced, engineered and mixed by Jason Smith.
Recorded at Trident Studios, London.
Additional vocals courtesy of Swavesey Village College, St. Cecilia Choir and Anna Barnett.
Art and Layout by Robert Edwards.
Music by Mind.
Additional musicians:
David van der Dijk on Keyboards
Greg Taylor on Hurdy-Gurdy and Sitar
Our thanks go to: All of the bands we've toured with and are about to tour with. We love you all and hope that we can remain friends. Of course, our families for supporting us on our ascendancy and their patience! Everyone in Cambridge for coming out to see us frequently. John, Jamie, Kevin, Cam, Emma and Jake, you guys have been awesome! And of course, you, our loyal fans. Without you we would be nothing. Every song on this album is for you.OOC: I hope this has been an interesting read! Thank you guys for commenting and generally being lovely. |
Awards (stroking myself and thinking I'm superior): @Chaos awards:Best Band - Mind Best Album - Shattered Fairytale by Mind Technical Ecstasy - Jason Smith (x3) Best Solo Male - Jason Smith Birdies:Best Producer - Jason Smith   |
