Thursday, October 05, 2006

Track by Track with The Horrifics




Going beyond the covers, going deep into the process and diving in the world of horror lyrics

1.The Overlook

This track is actually a sample from an old record my wife has in her collection.
The original title was "the Whispering Foxtrot" and it originally came out in 1907.
We changed it up a bit and re-named it after the haunted hotel from the King movie "the Shining."
We actually took Mz.Gruesome's old record player into the studio, set up a mic and recorded it as it played
and then manipulated it later with the digital tools we had at our disposal.
The coolest part about this track to me is that it's over 100 years old.

2.Uzumaki

This song lyrically was penned about a Japanese horror manga by the same name written by Junji Ito.
"Uzumaki" translates from Japanese loosely as "whirlpool" or "spiral."
It's about a small town in Japan that becomes morbidly obsessed with the spiral pattern and all of the dark consequences that
spawn from their obsession. There's also a really good movie adaptation that came out not too long ago.
Creepy as HELL! Alot like a more demented Tim Burton flick. I stongly urge folks to go check it out for themselves.

3.That Which Lurks

The music was written by Wretched before the HORRiFiCS formed for his previous band with PHiBES and RiCTUS, the Blue.
If I remember correctly all I did was change the composition a bit and re-write the lyrics to be about
the early 70's Marvel Comics' horror character the Man-Thing. A sad, shambling swamp creature who instills fear into everyone it touches.
The way that character looks was always cool to me when I was a kid and always stuck in my mind.
The title was a nod to horror writer H.P.Lovecraft.

4.Forever the Night

Yet another song about an early 70's Marvel Comics' horror character.
This time the tortured soul that is the Ghost Rider.
My brother HELL Hound and I grew up reading the old issues about Johnny Blaze and his fall from grace.
Eventually becoming the flaming skull faced motor psycho nightmare.
Interestingly enough our father was in an outlaw biker gang in the 70's named the Ghost Riders so that kind of makes it a bit more personal
to me.

5.Under My Knife

The title is a funny play on the title of my favorite Rolling Stones song "Under My Thumb."
I always end up playing that song on old juke boxes long after I've gotten slobbering drunk at whatever beer joint I've ended up at.
Our tune is about the legendary Haddonfield killer Michael Myers from the "Halloween" movie series.

6.This Hungry Suffering

We wrote this song in like 10-15 minutes.
Wretched was sitting by himself while the other guys were outside on a smoke break at practice one day plunking out this somber,
sad sounding bass riff and it just got my mind to working. The title is a referance to a line out of the Samhain song "the Birthing."
When it was written I was about to take off to get married to Mz.Gruesome so I wrote the lyrics about our love transcending the grave.

7.In Dark Descent

I wrote the lyrics to this song about the religeous figure Lillith.
Adam's first wife before Eve, Lillith left Adam and the Garden of Eden to spawn with demons.
She is the mother of abominations. Credited in ancient times with crib death. At the end of this song we are invoking Lillith's secret name-Lamashtu Strix.

8.Do You Remember Hate?!

This is an old song originally written by my first band EERiE Ln. Musically written by EERiE Ln. original guitarist Von Creepy,
arranged by me. One day I got to thinking about Jesus and Dracula so I wrote a the lyrics as a comparison of the 2 iconic figures.

9.SCAREcrow Fields

This one is hard to explain. It's gone through alot of changes over the years.
Originally written as a blues ditty for EERiE Ln. but although we recorded a version of it we never released it.
A few lyrical changes, a complete musical overhaul, and 2 bands later here it is.
Lyrically written about the lonely life of a scarecrow strapped to a pole alone in a huge corn field.
The title is taken from a stage of an old Playstation video game I love called "Medevil."
If you're a gaming nerd like me there's also references to "Street Fighter" and "Dark Stalkers" found in the chorus.
See if you can figure them out. A bit slow for me to really get into live but the recorded version is one of my favorite tracks
we did for the album as it gave me the chance to actually sing and we sunk alot of atmosphere into it.

10.GO! GO! Godzilla

Self explanatory. I like giant radioactive lizards hell bent on the destruction of man. :)

11.HELL-O Mary Lou

An old EERiE Ln. tune originally recorded for the "BLiXX" album.
It's about the 80's b-movie "Hello Mary Lou:Prom Night 2." This version actually has MAD Mike GHOUL from Cali horror punks Plan 9
playing the drums.

12.Target Earth

Named after an old Sega Genesis video game, I later found out that there's an old black and white sci-fi flick by the same name.
About little green men vaporizing the un-suspecting people of the Earth with their death rays.

13.DEAD Kidz

The last EERiE Ln. tune to end up on the album. This is actually the first song I ever had a part in writing on guitar
and the first original EERiE Ln. song ever written.
I wrote the verse riffs and got the lyrics written and arranged and then Von Creepy came up with the catchy chorus riff.
Originally titled "Dead Kids In Black." It was written about us as kids and now it's more about the kids who come to the HORRiFiCS' shows.

14.Fury of the Goat-Man

This one is a crowd favorite. Fast and furious. This song, as short as it may be, took us forever to finish.
It's about a local Ft.Worth Texas urban legend.
Supposedly there's a half-man half-goat creature that roams the wood surrounding Lake Worth who likes to jack with the kids
who end up out there knecking and what not.
Known to fling tires at cars on the lonely back roads and to jump on the hoods of parked cars when people are making out.
He's been spotted several times over the years since the original sighting in the early 70's
and has ended up in local papers more then a few times. A crypto-zoological mystery.
No one know were he came from or were he hides by day light.

15.R.I.P.(Ripped In Pieces)

This a loose re-working of another un-released song from EERiE Ln.
About the cannibal killer family from the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie series. Dog will hunt.

16.Shadowcaster

The title has been floating around for years.
I wrote this lyrically about the creepy Count Orlock as portrayed by Max Screck in the classic vampire movie "Nosferatu."

17.The Overlook Reprise

Another sample from the "Whispering Foxtrot."
A fitting end to an album about the macabre and mysterious working of the dark side of things.
I thought it book ended "Now FEAR THis" rather nicely.

All text contained herein; © 2006-2007 Talesfromtheshadows. All Rights Reserved.

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