In brief, this album is about a family’s struggle, who is brought down by tragedy and mysticism. Various elements of Malverde’s story, power struggles, and zombism are blended together with some tasty riffs to create a pleasingly dense album.
The characters of this album belong to a cartel, likely in Mexico. This assumption is based on the name of the first track: "Malverde", who is the folk-saint of drug-traffickers in Mexico (1). Beyond location, nothing is really revealed about the setting for this album. This song does play with time in a non-linear way, with various portions of songs talking about events in the past, and also skip over portions of the narrative.
Track 1 - "Malverde". This track starts with some huge sounding chords and a shrill, ominous riff. If you listen to the background of the track, the band have added a Gregorian-like vocal part to add to the effect of the intro. It feels very much like the curtains opening at a stage show. These verses bounce between two different characters. The vocals at 0:26 start the story with the line “I’ve been running with the gone right people, we’ll be coming for you.” This is a character later to be revealed as Mama, who is asserting her position to the other party, referred to as “you”. Essentially this is the beginning of an internal coup d'etat led by Mama. The next line is “I’ve been dying with the unclean people, I know that.” The unnamed character is acknowledging to themselves that their involvement with the standing leadership has put them in line with evil people. The next line reflects regret. That their relationship with Mama no longer carries any weight or meaning, “what will she do now that she don’t love you.”
The first chorus (or chorus A) starts with “That’s the trick, that’s the trick. I can’t believe that you’re falling for it. That’s the fear, feel it grow, shatters the ground as it comes from below.” This is solely through the voice of Mama. She believes that her relationship will still allow her to get closer to the unnamed man and complete her coup d’etat. The intensity of the music underneath the lyrics suggests that she wishes to kill him. Considering the lyrics about shattering the ground as it comes from below it appears she has been rising up the ranks and building relationships in preparation for the coup. Mama is trying to reconcile her desire for secrecy with her desire to fill him with fear.
Next is the second chorus (chorus B) which is through the perspective of the man. It’s lead off with a trudging sounding riff starting at 1:08. “Thousand miles to go, now you’ve got to go. Thousand miles to go for you.” A trusted friend has warmed this character of the upcoming coup. The lyrics are an internal monologue to tell himself to get out now, while he still can. It continues on with another repetition of this mantra with a different ending: “Thousand miles to go, now you’ve got to go, thousand miles to go, what will she do now that she don’t love you?”
This section is immediately followed up a repeat of Mama’s chorus and continues repeating it until the end of the track. It creates the feeling she’s climbing up a staircase closer and closer to his room, repeating this under her breath. “That’s the trick, that’s the trick, I can’t believe that you’re falling for it, that’s the fear, feel it grow, shatters the ground as it comes from below. That’s the trick, that’s the trick, that’s the trick, that’s the trick.” There is an instrumental section starting at 2:00 that continues on with this trudging, thick riff. This section is the man making his escape into the hot desert sun. The lead guitar section starting at 2:25 is mimicking the hot rays of the sun beating down upon him, and as this passage continues it only grows more and more in intensity.
Mama’s voice comes crushing back in at 3:17, repeating the lines once again: “That’s the trick, that’s the trick, I can’t believe that you’re falling for it. That’s the fear, feel it grow, shatters the ground as it comes from below. That’s the trick, that’s the trick, that’s the trick, that’s the trick.” At the 3:57 mark, there’s a quick closing musical passage that feels like Mama kicking in the door.
Track 2 - "Wires". This track takes place sometime after Malverde. It’s the man talking to a young adult/child, who is only referred to as Kid on the album. The man also reveals his name to be Captain. Before jumping into the line by line on this track, something happens in Malverde that is not explicitly stated in the song but is alluded to it by the choice of name. According to the story, Jesus Malverde was a bandit who was offered a pardon by a member of the Mexican government if he could steal the sword from the local governor of the town. More importantly, in some stories, it’s the Governor's daughter. What is inferred here is that Captain abducted Mama’s child to ensure Kid survived the coup and to act as an insurance policy for Captain’s life. Wires starts with a conversation between Kid and Captain.
The song jumps in with a pretty interesting riff that jumps between this bouncy repeated note and these fast strumming chords. A great interplay between relaxed and tension. As the vocals start the riff takes on the plodding marching tone. Captain is talking with Kid as they walk through the desert during their escape. “Kid, don’t lose your cool, it’s still too soon to have to choose a brighter doom.” Captain explains to Kid why he abducted him, and that Kid is too young to have to make a decision in a life or death situation. “It’s hard to believe, but I can see how there could be so little left to lose.” He’s trying to explain, using his age and experience, the decision to leave was safer for both of them as there wasn’t much left to lose beyond their lives. Kid remembers in a whispered memory watching Mama deal with insubordinate members “cracking open skulls like cans of beans on Christmas Eve.” The song infers this lyric is an actual memory because it’s a whispered take placed after the line “so little left to lose…”, like a memory that flashes back when someone’s talking.
The vocals continue right on into “Mama’s not okay, she lights a candle for every day that you’re away. Today could be the one she burns the motherfucker down, her final act of grace in an endless, pointless race.” This is an interesting section of the narrative. Captain is both comforting and warning Kid, Mama misses him, and she is lighting a candle every day Kid’s gone. Candle lighting is a standard method of remembrance in Western culture. In the same breath, he explains that her obsession with running the cartel is strong enough that she runs the risk of burning the organization along with her relationship with her child. The last line of this stanza, “in an endless, pointless race,” is Captain experiencing a revelation that pursuing a living through crime in a cartel is pointless as it has no end but death.
At 1:20 there is a replaying of the intro with a solo guitar dialed in with an extremely fuzzy tone. It is trying to describe the sense of shock Kid is experiencing while they are walking through the desert in an escape. Very soon the situation changes as the band starts playing the next section of the song starting at 1:49.
“Kid, you’re under fire, your life is coming down to the wire. Maybe you’ll take the Captain’s hand, carry his ship through burning sands. Cradle your rifle like a man.” Mama’s soldiers have caught up with them and the soldiers have opened fire upon them. Captain tells Kid he will not leave him and that he will get them out here and through the burning sands once this conflict is over, however they will have to fight their way out of this. Lastly, he urges him to grow up in the moment, and act like a man. I believe Captain intends to steal whatever vehicle the cartel goons arrived in, which is why the word ship is used in the lyric, “carry his ship through burning sands.” Because of the plodding nature of the riff, the music indicates the vehicle is destroyed during the conflict forcing Captain and Kid to escape out into the desert sands. The next stanza skips over the description of this conflict, but the key takeaway is that Kid is mortally wounded in the conflict.
Captain successfully fought off the soldier and got away, however this is not a victory. “Mama, she says ‘No way,’ she’s lost it all, so you’ve got to stay and make her pay.” This line has a double meaning. First, the soldiers radio in and explained the situation, and Mama says they are not to return until they’ve completed their mission. She’s lost her child and that means she’s lost it all. The second meaning is Captain pleading with Kid to hold on to life. Mama is losing her baby, who is the cause of Captain and Kid’s pain, so Kid must stay alive to make her pay for what she’s done.
“She knows the fiend upon the throne’s a goddamn sucker for the stone until the day he dies alone”. Here Mama reflects on what she started, and what she had hoped it would be like. However as the events have played out she realizes perhaps she is the fiend on the throne, and that power has made her a sucker until she can prove her enemy (Captain) is truly dead and gone. The fact that he survived her initial attack shows he can outsmart her.
At 2:41 the music takes on a more somber tone with some excellent harmonized tones. Musically we are experiencing Kid starting to fade, as his wounds fester with infection. At 3:37 the music takes the listener to a different group of people who were observing the conflict. They whisper from afar “Succumb” over and over urging Kid to let go of their life. This is of my favorite riffs of the album. It’s groovy, heavy, and menacing. After the line “Succumb” finishes out the music speeds up and grows more and crazier. The music suggests Mama’s soldiers have regrouped and successfully located Captain and Kid once again. Captain is sprinting away, under fire from the soldiers in a chase through the desert. The song ends just as the Cartel closes in upon them.
Track 3 - "Hank is Dead". Between tracks, the Cartel’s vehicles crash into the dunes. Miraculously Captain survives the accident and cradles the passing Kid in his arms. A strange man comes up to them as Kid continues to fade and introduce himself as Hank, Kid's father. The title of the track refers to Captain’s knowledge that Hank is supposed to be dead, Captain executed him long ago. Hank explains in cryptic fashion “Burn the flesh that had long been rotten, he is gone but he’s not forgotten. Save his name, but don’t replace the time you spent to make his place.” Hank was gone, but time hasn’t forgotten him. He was a victim of a failed execution from Captain to “burn out” a rotten part of the cartel. Before Captain can speak Hank speaks up again, pointing to Kid, “he’s the only one to keep alive.” As he said this the cries of cartel soldiers sound as they start to check for survivors. Hank looks at Kid and says “Here they come again, with their bloodshot eyes. Leave the promised land, shed your earthly skin.”
During the second verse, Hank flashes back to his time after the failed execution. “Left alone in a tiny capsule. He’s the king of an empty castle.” Hank was left in a coffin as Captain’s crew walks away. In agony, he fumes on this betrayal, kept alive knowing the oncoming coup will bring Captain’s reign to an end. “Went away to fill a grave, and made you stay a human slave.” Hank was brought to the desert to fill a grave, but somehow, something saved him. Something made him a human slave. Before Hank’s flashback can illuminate what this was, we are shown his greatest regret, “never got to meet that son of mine.” The music changes reflect these moments of the flashback at 1:16.
At 1:52 the song returns to the chorus where Hank returns to reality and repeats “Here they come again, with their bloodshot eyes. Leave the promised land, shed your earthly skin.” Hank, Captain, and the Kid are saved from the soldiers by a mystical event, as shown by the last section, starting at 2:19 where sonically, something is fading in and out with a magical whining noise.
Track 4 - "Dirt Wizard". This track bounces between several viewpoints during the verses and choruses. It initially starts as a back and forth between Captain and Hank. Hank explains “It’s alright I know.” To which Captain responds “there’s no place to go.” Hank then, again in a cryptic fashion, explains “Put the gas on the fire, cause I like it that way.” What he is trying to say to Captain is that the mystical rescue that just saved them is about to complicate things in ways Captain can’t imagine. Hank enjoys toying with Captain as it’s Karma coming back around to Captain, who made an attempt on his life. Hank’s internal monologue about this outcome is described with the line, “things all seem the same, nothing seems to change.” Bad things always happen to bad people.
Captain is lost in the piling details of the last few moments. Between the conflict, the dying child, and a mystical rescue, all he can fixate on is how his actions have brought him here, “Turn on my friends until none remain.” If he had been a better leader, he probably would have stayed in power. If he’d been a kinder person, Hank wouldn’t have ended up like some bizarre, burned-out hermit in the desert.
Hank starts leading them into the desert, and all he says to Captain, still carrying kid, is “ramble on, on and on, back to where the shadows gone. Oh yeah, oh yeah.” While they are traveling Captain can’t help but think, mostly in annoyance, “ramble on, on and on, back to when my life ain’t wrong. Oh yeah, oh yeah.” What Captain is unaware of is that Hank is leading them to the source of their escape, the Dirt Wizard. The music passage starting at 0:53 is to describe more travel time elapsing.
Out of thin air, a being appears and says to the traveling party “We’re all lost at sea, and soon cease to be.” Seeing Captain’s shock, the being continues “I love the way you shut me out.” The listener gets a quick insight into the strangeness of Hank’s mannerisms as the Dirt Wizard waves them in to join him as he ventures deeper into the desert, saying with a sick smile “you just seem so tired, why not rest awhile? Just shut your eyes and I’ll gouge them out.” As the party wanders into the desert Captain can hear Hank mutter gleefully once again “Ramble on and on, back to where shadow’s gone. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Ramble on, on and on.” Captain’s own internal monologue mirrors this in fearful hope, “ramble on and on, back to when my life and wrong. Oh yeah, oh yeah.”
Track 5 - "Throw Up". This track focuses on the Dirt Wizard and Kid. Late into the night, the group makes it to a set of tall mountains deep into the desert peppered with caves all along the inner faces. Kid seems to only have moments left to live. The music reflects this arrival as it starts with a rising chord progression with a slight sound of menace behind it. The lead part is off-kilter and struggling to hold onto the rhythm like Kid holding on to his life. Dirt Wizard quickly pulls Kid up onto a stone altar in the middle of the tall mountains and proceeds to weave his earthly magic over the boy. As he preps he makes promises to the boy. “If it’s blood that you need to make the pills go down, I will spill the blood.” With an empathic voice, backed by some quick belting chords, the Wizard continues. “If the flies that you eat are tasting twice as sweet, they came from rotting meat.” The guitars twang again as the Dirt Wizard moves his body to and fro in preparation. “If the skin on your teeth is drawing thin like a leaf, and you are feeling weak, you can thank me.”
In an enigmatic way, Dirt Wizard is promising the boy he will save his life. “You say what you gotta say, I know. Feel the pain you feel today, I know. It’s a puzzle that we figure out.” He’s acknowledging how the boy feels, almost out of true understanding. This is matched when “I know,” is yelled out by the vocals. “Take the hate and you spit it out. Take what’s left and you let it in, let it in.” The magic is ready, and Dirt Wizard is asking the boy to let go of what he’s holding on to and let the magic enter him. The whirling spinning nature of the musical interlude is to match the body movements of the wizard casting his magic.
Dirt Wizard continues to verbalize the spell over Kid. “Now the scum from the creek is filling up your cheeks, and you can hardly speak, while the bones in your brain grind themselves away. They will make you sane.” Here in the following line Dirt Wizard hints at the powers Kid will be imbued with. But he warns not to use these powers in anger, “If the steps of your path reflect your building wrath they will be your last. And you can thank me.” If he does, Kid will lose himself in the magic. The music matches the same structures and meanings as found in the first verse.
The Wizard feels resistance from Kid and reinforces the message that Kid will survive this, and to let go of the fear and pain of death to allow the magic to work. “You say what you gotta say, I know. Feel the pain that you feel today, I know. It’s a puzzle that we figure out. Take the hate and you spit it out. Take what’s left and you let it in, let it in.”
As Kid accepts the magic, the music changes at 3:20. The pace of the music quickens and gets louder as life pours back into Kid. The Dirt Wizard moves wildly as he pulls the magic out of the ground. As Kid visibly gets better the Dirt Wizard cryptically finishes up his spell “Got all the symptoms of decay, you see disease and you look away. Begin the swarming from the caves, burning the fields of amber waves. Rising the dead up from the graves, amass an army of rotting slaves.”
It becomes clear as Dirt Wizard finishes up, that he has done much more than save Kid’s life. Kid stands up and starts looking around at the people standing around the altar, and up at the mountains surrounding them, all like it’s all brand new. Captain looks closer and still sees the festering flesh of Kid’s wounds, but it’s like they no longer bother him. This moment is caught at 4:31. The moments of calm are Captain’s relief which is broken up with frantic moments of worry that Kid is unfazed by his injuries.
The final frantic tremolo-picked riff at 4:40 is a deep rumbling coming from the earth below everyone. Kid looks up to the caves in the mountain as if he knows what’s coming. The rumbling continues as people start emerging from the caves peppering the mountains. As the people get closer Captain realizes these are half-rotted skeletons of people who’ve been buried in the mountains. Dirt Wizard has given Kid the power to control the dead and amass an army of undead to take onward over the dunes of the desert, the amber waves from the lyrics. Like a swarm of locusts, they will burn all life from the desert. The rest of the song starting at 4:51 is the journey of Kid, Captain, Hank, and the army of undead, back across the desert. Kid, ignoring Dirt Wizard’s warning, is looking to enact retaliation for being hurt by Mama. Kid leaves the army just out of sight of the compound as Captain, Hank, and himself enter the compound alone. This moment in the song starts at 5:11 when the alarm sound starts playing as alarms ring through the Cartel compound. The compound is in an uproar as three important and supposedly dead people are returning. The people are brought to Mama’s chambers.
Track 6 - "Painted Parade". In this track, Kid starts flexing the powers grafted into him by the Dirt Wizard. The song picks up right where the previous song left off inside Mama’s chambers. The music hints at the conflict that is to play out in this song by starting off with an echoing calm. This calm holds for a mere moment before the track explodes with a burst of drum rolls winding up the tension.
As the guitars kick in, the narrative begins with vocals that mimic a harsh family fight. Mama finally gazes upon her lost child. In the shock of seeing what has become of Kid, she says “painted parade, a slave to the trade. Can’t sleep in the bed that you’ve made. Daddy was wrong, you could have been strong but you’ve been alone far too long.” To unpack this stanza we need to start at the top. The painted parade is her acknowledgment to herself that the Cartel life is a circus that can only move one direction: towards destruction. She further realizes that there is no retiring from the role she maintains, she’ll be a slave to the job until she dies. This culminates in the realization that this is not the bed she really wanted to lie in, especially since it cost the wellbeing of her son.
She looks at Kid and apologies, explaining that the child’s father, Hank, always said that Kid never would have been strong enough to lead the Cartel, further explaining she had been grooming him to take over. Recent events, however, seem to have made Hank’s predictions have come true. This line serves as a jab towards the inabilities of Captain to protect Kid and also provides an insight into the family dynamic of the Cartel. Hank’s assassination likely served as the catalyst for the coup d’etat to gain momentum. Given this insight, the listener can assume Captain may have had to execute Hank due to internal strife in an attempt to retain control over the masses.
Before Captain or Mama can start ripping into each other, Kid speaks up and controls the narrative for most of the song. “You’ll never be pure, yes madam, yes sir. You’ve always obeyed to be sure. Feet to the fire, they call you a liar. This cannot be what you desire.” Kid is using some of the power imbued into him by the Dirt Wizard to look into the uncertain future of Mama and Captain. He explains they will never be pure of heart and will live lives reflecting this. Kid further explains this should not surprise them, as they’ve always obeyed the calling of this life. With the shifting power struggles and the return of Captain, Kid informs Mama that the people are already feeling lied to and that her wellbeing is as safe as having your feet to the fire.
Here the music changes at 0:44 into a tense instrumental section as if Kid starts winding up his punches for another round. He continues into the next stanza. “Council the weak, they think you’re a freak, a future that’s hopelessly bleak. Confused by success, your life is a mess, yet they can convince you you’re blessed.” Kid calls Mama out by saying her power is solely based on tending to the weak-minded people operating under her, and that they will not continue to see her as powerful once they see what Kid has become. To raise such a monster makes her a freak as well. This new future is bleak beyond all hope. He continues by pointing out that success has blinded her from seeing just how much of a mess her life is, until this moment, and that the people she leads fueled this delusion that she’d be free from harm because she’s blessed.
“Don’t come with me, I won’t set you free, ‘cause that’s not where you need to be. And no, I’m not confused although you’re abused, I see it’s this life that you choose.” Kid turns on Captain next. He warns Captain that he shouldn’t continue following Kid because it won’t allow him to be free of the Cartel life. It makes Captain realize an inner truth; the life has abused him, but he still has a deep desire to remain in this criminal world because it is all he knows.
At 1:20 the tense instrumental section starts again, however this time it is Mama who’s gearing up for retaliation in this exchange. Horrified with this thing Kid has become, Mama repeats her opening line. However, instead of self-reflection, she’s pointing this commentary towards Kid. This is emphasized by a change in vocal style to a higher pitch. “Painted parade, a slave to the trade, can’t sleep in the bed that you’ve made. Daddy was wrong, you could have been strong, but you’ve been alone for too long.” This time around Mama’s calling Kid a hoax, a phony. Unable to understand what has happened to Kid she claims that he cannot understand the mistakes he’s making. She apologies that her inability to take care of him has turned him into this fool.
Captain jumps in trying to calm the situation, “You’ll never be pure, yes madam, yes sir. You’ve always obeyed to be sure. Feet to the fire, they call you a liar, this cannot be what you want.” Captain tries to appeal to Kid and Mama saying that their relationship will never be pure again, but this cannot be what either of them wants. The music closes out with a furious riff, and the leads playing this wailing note as the story starts approaching the climax.
Track 7 - "Number Thirteen". This track breaks away from the plot of the story to develop the relationship between Mama and Captain, intermixed with brief flashes of Kid’s plans for the future. Based on previous uses of power the music and lyrics suggest Kid is probing Mama and Captain’s memories. It starts with an exploration of Mama, who’s coping with anger, and beginning to fashion her plan to overthrow Captain. The music brings the feeling of a rowdy crowd starting to feel agitated at a show. Kid can feel the pressure rising in the room as he scans the room.
Mama begins at 0:31 with a memory of an old Cartel mission Captain sent her on. “I can brave the cold alone, I’m sleeping on the ground. I hate your golden throne, but want it for my own.” The music feels very deliberate, like someone stamping to their room to fume, or up to someone to give them a piece of their mind. She’s reflecting on how she felt under Captain’s rule. Mama reveals there wasn’t much in the way of affection or acknowledgment regardless of how big the task is. On an overnight mission in the desert, Mama reveals that she hates Captain and the power he represents. She continues, “I see that I’m the one who’s breaking us in two. How could this be the end?” This is an important moment because Kid sees when Mama makes the decision, deep in the heart of the desert, to overthrow Captain and set this whole story in motion.
The chorus at 1:02 reflects the voices of each person’s subconscious in Kid’s mind as he views this memory. As Kid filters through the voices, the group yells out “You’re my, you’re my.” The music reflects this as the band layers the vocals over these lines. Kid lands on Captain’s voice as he describes how he viewed Mama in the past, “You’re my Number 13.” This is mirrored by a voice yelling the lyric over the cacophony of voices.
Number 13 has a few meanings. First, it is the common age for child assassins inside Mexican Mafia and other groups (2). This ties into Mama’s memory of the mission. It also is a common tattoo for segments of the Mexican Mafia for identification (3). It is likely Red Fang opted to use this to suggest Captain only treated Mama like a soldier which pushes her towards her action.
After scanning through the rest of the group through the next round of “You’re my, you’re my,” Again, the vocal layering suggests the scanning of the room by Kid. Kid tunes into his own thoughts, acknowledging the actions of Captain and Mama are his “loss of control.” Lastly, Kid scans through one more round of “You’re my, you’re my,” and lands on Mama who is realizing her choices have destroyed the one thing she really valued: Kid, who was her “everything.” The chorus ends with Kid scanning for more memories as we listen to, “you’re my, you’re my....,” closing out this segment.
The next stanza is from the memory of Captain as he reflects on taking Hank out to die to protect the dreams of expending the cartel. As the music transitions out of the chorus and into this verse, the riff loses all the chaos as it starts to settle in on Captain. Kid locks into Captain’s mind as a note rings out at 1:28. The verse starts with the same deliberate riff, this time mirroring the memory of the steps of their feet as they travel into the desert. “Rake our nose across the stone, we’re never leaving home,” outlines a conflict of a moment as Captain realizes he’s about to murder his partner while comforting Hank’s worries by saying there was no chance this palace would ever stop being home to them both. “We’re headed to the west, beyond the dying breath,” further shows Captain's memories during the leadership transition. He knew the Cartel needed to expand west to continue growing its power, but Hank wouldn’t agree to it. Captain felt Hank’s stance would slowly kill the Cartel, and that executing Hank would be the only way to escape the dying breath of a wish of a foolish man.
“Our boots will scratch and scrape, but we cannot escape, we’re running to our fate.” Here we return to the present as Captain reflects that no matter what actions are taken now, none of them will be able to escape the path he’s sent them down, starting with the decision to kill Hank.
We return to the chorus at 2:01 where we once again experience Kid scanning through all the thoughts in the room. After this chorus, the music pauses at 2:24, where it transitions to an interlude. This interlude signifies the anxiety of the growing room as they all feel Kid’s power growing as he probes their minds. The riffs are wild and all over the place and running at a frantic pace.
The music switches to a second part of the interlude as Kid scans through all the thoughts in the room landing on Hank. In a crazy, churning riff starting at 2:53, Hank flashes back and forth between his attempted execution and the present. The music does an excellent job of capturing Hank’s crazed mindscape. It’s likely that all the time spent with Dirt Wizard, and his magic, has made this the norm for Hank. “I know the fields are burnin’, blacks out the cruelest dawn.” In a flashback, Hank is kneeling in the dunes, Hank explores his feelings knows that his death is about to come and that it will burn the fields of prosperity he tried to grow for his family. However, knowing he did his best, he accepts his fate knowing this end will black out the cruelest dawn of seeing his empire crumble.
The music changes right after the line “I hear the God’s a-screamin’, the war goes on and on,” at 3:08 As Kid pushes deeper into Hank’s experiences, he sees the Dirt Wizard saving his father from near death, just like himself. The music is a wild harmony of dissonance and panic. As the Dirt Wizard revives Hank, the mage smiles down, and shares with Hank the future that was coming, and explains to Hank that the Gods cried out to save him. Hank sinks at the realization that the conflict he’s started will continue on and on for the unforeseen future.
The riff returns to the intro riff at 3:22. As Kid experiences this new ability, he starts learning to control it and stops randomly tuning in to each member and starts focusing back in on Mama to see her true intentions. The song replays the first verse at 3:43 as Kid tries to analyze the deeper meanings. This deeper analysis is reflected in the verse as the band adds a vocal harmony on top of the original vocal performance. This adds a menacing intention. At 4:14 Kid scans the room one more time as the chorus plays the song out.
Track 8 - "Into the Eye". This track is where the story starts climaxing. The music reflects this by providing a menacing setting right from the start of the song. It feels like it’s rising up. After meeting up, Mama has Captain, Hank, and Kid escorted to the prisons while she decides what she should do. Kid knows, after scanning everyone, that Mama won’t let them leave the compound as it will jeopardize her place of power. The lyrics start with Mama trying to sort out her feelings and sort out the situation. For safety, she’s sending them to the lockup.
“(Into the Eye) I don’t like what I’m feelin’, (Into the Eye) and I’m falling apart.” Reality has just come crashing in on Mama and it’s freaking her out. There’s a sinking feeling in her stomach that something bad is about to happen. The shift in music from the rising tonality of the intro riff to the verse at 0:14 matches Mama’s feeling. Seeing her child, assumed dead, in such a messed up shape is tearing her apart. “(Into the Eye) Your floor is my ceiling (4), until I can’t see your face anymore.” She yells at the trio they’re turning her world upside down, and that she’ll be holding them indefinitely as their presence is very troubling.
Next, the focus shifts to Hank as he watches Kid grow in power, and welcomes the oncoming destruction of the House that brought him so much pain. “(Into the Eye) You rise high above me, (Into the Eye) and signal the end.” Hank can see the magic in his child growing from Kid’s short tutelage under the Dirt Wizard. Kid’s magic is growing from the anger of familial betrayal, even though Dirt Wizard warned against using it for such means. The magic is emanating through the ground. Hank knows the end is coming. “The mirror ignores me, and now I just want this day to end.”
The music shifts with the following stanza at 0:42 when Kids respond to Mama’s concern. “We got hell, we need seed. See the light when you drink what I bleed. We got gods, that you know, Now in darkness our numbers will grow.” Kid’s magic is firing up to full bore and he needs bodies to raise. The ringing notes repeated at 1:10 acts as a broadcasted signals Kid uses to reach deep into the catacombs of the city, and the surrounding graveyards and starts reanimating the dead. As the dead begin to rise the music returns to the intro music at 1:13.
“Drink what I bleed,” is essentially a reference to the sacrament, especially when paired with the former part of the verse, “See the light when… “. Mama consumes wine high atop her tower to cope with the situation and Kid sends her a telepathic message that she’s drinking his blood, and that like Jesus he’s risen from the brink to change the world. Like the gods they prayed to, he prays to the Earth, and to Death to enact his vengeance by raising the dead lost in the deep darkness of the Earth to carry out his bidding.
The return to the intro music signifies time elapsing for Kid and the crew in prison. The next verse begins at 1:26 where, after spending days in prison reaching out to as many of the dead as he can, Kid breaks free of the prison and starts climbing the tower towards Mama, “(Into the eye) The days pass unending. (Into the eye) A scratch at the door. (Into the eye) I just keep pretending, that I can’t see your face anymore.” Kid and his creatures are about to come through the door of the tower, and all that Mama can try to do is forget about the disfigured horrifying face of her child, even though Kid keeps reaching into her mind to keep wearing her down.
As Kid’s zombies crash through door Mama cowers in the corner and waits as Kid comes through the door to reap his revenge. “(Into the eye) Their eyes are upon me. (Into the eye) I’ve been chased to the end.” As Mama tries to hide, she feels the eyes of the undead upon her. But it’s not the eyes of the corpses in the room, but the eyes of every person she’s condemned to death, every person she’s had assassinated, the eyes of her former husband Hank, and the eyes of the innocent child Kid was, before all this conflict. All these people who’d suffered by her hand have finally found her and need not chase her anymore. “Into the eye, they draw me in slowly, until I don’t have a face anymore.” Mama knows this is the end, and she starts to feel the zombies tear into her flesh. The music reflects this horror at 1:51 as one of the band members yells under the main vocalist as he sings “until I don’t have a face anymore.”
As the music shifts back to the chorus at 1:55, Kid watches what happens to Mama. “We got hell, we got seed. See the light when you drink what I bleed.” He has come to bring hell to Earth, and he’s thanking Mama for providing him with so many corpses to leverage. He revisits the biblical imagery, that if she were to take the sacrament she’d see the light that is his justice. “There you are, bent so low. In our arms now reap what we sow.” He feels good seeing Mama bent down in the corner. He is one with the magic, the center of the hive of undead as he refers to the zombies as his arms, and as we. At 2:21 Mama is starting to fade from her injuries. This is indicated by a slight shift in the music where it pedals on a chord very repeatedly (for a very short moment) like a drone. Kid brings her back so she can experience the carnage at 2:25, where the music takes on a more wild and disjointed riffing style. Kid walks away to cleanse the rest of the evil, humanity, from the land. We watch Mama’s spirit and life begins to fade away at 3:12 as a repeated tone rings out alone.
At 3:18, as his mother fades away, the magic fully takes over Kid. He’s used the powers for the wrong reasons and is now stripped of all his humanity. He’s a monster, just like the zombies. The lyrics, “(Into the eye) there was no need to worry. (Into the eye) my soul is a star,” indicates he is feeling special, like a star. The dead have been and always will surround him. The song finishes out as Kid forgets his life, his childhood, and his own identity as he becomes one with the elemental magic. “(Into the eye) they always surround me, and now I can’t see your face anymore, can’t see your face anymore, can’t see your face anymore, can’t see your face anymore.” The song closes out on “Can’t see you face anymore,” being repeated as Kid’s memories are purged from his brain.
Track 9 - "Undertow". This song takes place after Kid has cleansed the palace and has left the grounds, now headed towards the outlying towns. The bass plays this dreary riff at the intro that is peppered with these dark sounding chords starting at 0:09. This reflects Captain as he surveys the damage in horror as he comes out of hiding. There are dead bodies everywhere. Ghouls are gnawing on the remains. The lead lines starting at 0:24 reflect the distant cries of people being torn apart, but the voices are awash in this cold filter of shock that’s crashing over Captain.
The shift of tone at 0:51 is Captain’s focus shifting away from hearing the calls of the dying to his own inner voice and thoughts. Deeply searching for a memory, a moment when he could have spared all these people from this fate. It’s a dark moment because there likely isn’t one.
At 1:24 Captain makes his way to the top of the tower to see Mama bleeding out on the ground, nearly unrecognizable. The lyrics read, “Cold swells below, now it’s all he knows.” He holds her as she fades away completely. The next line reveals that Mama was his daughter, making Kid his grandson. He reflects on times she called to him as a child to leave the Cartel life. “Don’t fight the water, the undertow. Can’t save his daughter, and down she goes. She calls to him, and slips below. She calls to him.”
At the change to this ringing chord at 2:01, Captain realizes she was right, and that all this is his fault. As the music changes back to the intro riff at 2:06, he comforts Mama, holding her as she fades away. The tension of this tragic moment is reflected by the increasing amount of instrumental layers this song takes on. At 2:38 Captain is telling Mama not to fight the water, to pass on. He apologizes to her for causing all this pain, and for ruining their lives. “He has no answer for all her pain. Something is growing inside her brain. Can’t dry her eyes for the pouring rain. Watching her die made him insane. Made him insane.” At 3:20 he is pleading for forgiveness when Mama’s corpse starts to animate in his arms.
The guilt and the loss drive him completely out of his mind. His break, his insanity is reflected by the music as a break down in the song’s slow and sludgy riffs, as they become disjointed at 3:20. The music has lost all grasp on where it was. And while trying to get back there, it keeps losing its grip as it descends into madness with Captain. At 4:35 you can hear something crying out deep in the mix. Whether it’s a vocal take tucked in here, or a descending filter, it’s quite an eerie sound effect.
This disjointed closing to the track also mirrors the fading of Mama’s spirit as she becomes undead. The music reflects this as the various layers of guitar work built up through the whole song are shed away. As Mama’s spirit finally goes, the music becomes just a series of noises until it fades out completely.
Track 10 - "Human Herd". Here the music is driving, almost like cruising under the hot sun, in a Hunter S. Thompson sort of way. This song bounces between Captain’s mind unraveling, and Dirt Wizard preaching the gospel of Kid’s climb to power. The magic is also treated as a character here, thus referred to as The Magic. This verse starts off with a flashback at 0:31 to a moment before the album begins where Captain plans to kidnap Kid to save him from Mama’s Cartel dealings, to honor a promise he made to Hank to protect Kid at Hank’s execution. “We’ve set our minds to taking the babe from your arms. Our greatest fear is never to bring him to harm. It’s hard to see his flowing, golden hair, for the light that’s blind us with market share.” Captain realized that Mama was losing sight of what was good for her son and putting the financial success of the Cartel over the family. His biggest fear was that the child would be hurt by her actions.
Dirt Wizard reaches out at 1:01 through the ether from deep in his mountain cave, and speaks over Captain’s shoulder, unheard by Captain, “You can’t protect him from his life, we’ll find a way to make you lie.” The music reflects the change in character as the vocals (while the same performer) are distinctly different. Kid was destined to be the undoing of the Cartel, and humanity, from birth. The Magic and Dirt Wizard would manipulate reality in little ways to make sure Kid would find his way. “He’ll be with us and never die. This is the end and you know why.” Dirt Wizard is now speaking to the spirit of Captain, trying to assure him that Kid will be fine. This is what he was born to do, and that looking back on what has transpired, Captain should see the path clearly.
At 1:33 Captain wanders out in his madness to a river to clean himself of his actions. At 1:48 the undead swarms him and weigh him down below the water. “Out to the water you let us hold him down. They never struggle when they want to drown.” Captain does not struggle as death is his just reward for failing to protect Kid.
“They take so much from us without a word, just a little thing we ask from the human herd.” This line holds two meanings to the story. The first is a memory of Captain’s, the moment he realized he was doing evil by running the Cartel. A local rebel was about to be put to death and called out to him. He cried to the soldiers of the Cartel, and the local townsfolk saying the Cartel took so much from the people without any compensation and that the people were merely cattle to the Cartel. A resource of income, and nothing else. Secondly, it’s also Kid and Dirt Wizard calling their horde of undead to action. Humanity has scorned the Earth by stripping its resources wantonly and now has to pay. Life is only a little thing they ask of humanity to spare for the health of the world. Essentially Kid and Dirt Wizard are going to use humanity as a herd to feed the undead until Earth is cleansed to meet The Magic’s wishes.
The story starts to draw to a close at 2:19 as Dirt Wizard’s words repeat through Captain’s mind as he slowly drowns in the river. “You can’t protect him from his life, we’ll find a way to make you lie. He’ll be with us and never die, this is the end and you know why. You can’t protect him from his life, we’ll find a way to make you lie. He’ll be with us and never die, and you know why….”
At 2:50 the music changes to a new riff, an outro to the whole album. It has the feeling of the conclusion of a movie that isn’t really ending, just another chapter. It kicks this outro up into high gear as we get one last piece of vocals at 3:21 where the lyrics “You can’t protect him from his life, we’ll find a way to make you lie. He’ll be with us and never die, this is the end and you know why,” are repeated. The vocals have this crazed narrator feeling to them and the song comes to a jarring close as the final “why” is uttered.
Thank you, and happy listening.
(1) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/business/malverde.html
(2) https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102249839
(3) https://www.correctionsone.com/prison-gangs/articles/7527475-15-prison-tattoos-and-their-meanings/
(4) Your Floor is My Ceiling is a track off of the album Hawaii, by Last of the Juanitas, which is a band featuring Bryan Giles as a member. https://lastofthejuanitas.bandcamp.com/album/hawaii-2
