TRACK SYNOPSIS

1. Unholy Creation (Featuring Erich Hess)

Before "Unholy Creations" starts, the sound of a tape recorder playing is heard, and the listener is greeted with a hidden track, simply entitled "Erich's Speech"

LYRICS:
*sound of glass clinking* i remember my first brush with this thing called "metal",it was 1955 and i was chilling at charles neslon reilly's house. we had been drinking southern comfort all day long and were just fucking hammered. i'm talking cant even fucking stand blitzed. bettie page was there and was feeling pretty frisky. she spent the night sitting on my lap,but nothing came up...so to speak. like i said,drunk we were. of course,in those days being drunk off your ass was respectable,god dammit. it wasnt like today. but i digress. so we had been listening to charlie's records all day. he was a cool cat,but his taste in music just sucked! so bettie,god bless her, ran out to her car and got a record by a band called "the short cummings". they were a midget family band...i dont fucking know why,but they were. they looked like the bloody partridge family or something.which was pretty progressive mind you,this was 1955.so we put the long haired midgets'record on..holy shit,it was like the ruskies had fucking bombed us! nothing like that had ever been heard before! the short cummings music was so powerful,16 neighbor kids converted to satanism and sacrificed each other. dungeons and dragons was pretty big round that time and part of town,so virgins were in abundance. through their sacrifices to the dark lord, the stage was set for metal to be the devil's music. thank god,because before that it was kenny g. who the fuck wants to sacrifice virgins and make candles from baby fat to kenny g? the devil's marketing dept thought the same thing,and thus metal/satanism link was born. the short cummings legacy was ruined when they did guest spots on some sid and marty croft shows in the 60's. you coulda fucked mother teresa in the ass on one of those shows,and you still wouldnt have any metal cred. sid and marty croft were the anti metal. some say this was accidental,but those in the know,know those bastards did it on purpose.mother fuckers. *tape clicks off.*

after, the song, an instrumental, begins with the sounds of wind across a barren wasteland; faintly, you can hear the sound of chains clanking against each other, echoing across the barren-sounding sands. deep horns accompany this and hold a low bass note, seemingly shaking the foundations of the earth. The wind begins to grow louder, and more somber, mid tone horns come in, bringing a sense of despair to the picture, followed by faint violins and a few cymbals fluttering. The violins bring a sound of coming despair, until seemingly an entire orchestra begins to join in on this single low, ominous note, sounding like the rising of some unholy creature from the depths of the earth. The bass drums sound like thunder, and the song slowly fades into the next one, Revelations.

2. REVELATIONS
The song fades in from Unholy Creation, with a slow build up of drums until a crash hit and the guitar comes in, slow and melodic with the beat of the drums, and the first vocals hit. The first few lines of the vocals are accompanied by a slow, heavy beat, and this continues on for most of the song. The drums are heavy but not extremely fast, and the drums come in with a slow, pounding double bass rhythm, the drums get faster but only the bass, and the snare and cymbals stay mid tempo. The entire song seeming is building to a crescendo, but does not go into overdrive. It has an ominous feeling of coming doom, and as it builds to the end, it fades out slowly.

LYRICS:
I stood in the sand from the mouth of the sea.
And I watched a serpent rise from it's depths.
Upon his horns, rested ten crowns as the discord of trumpets grew unnerving.
it's perception giving an overuling metality of authority and supremacy.
All dwellers of earth shall pray and worship this form of a single demon
whose names are not written in ink or blood in the book of the life of the lamb
shall be slain from the foundation of this declining and now decaying world.

TRACK SYNOPSIS (cont'd)

3. Faith Illusions

Where Revelations is reserved, Faith Illusion breaks quickly, beginning with a rapid drum fill and followed by blast beats on the drums, with a jarring, angular guitar riff. The vocals are harsh, and at times are double tracked, with Sam's growling overlaid on top of Sam's higher, screamed vocals. The drums are extremely fast and precise, with lightning quick fills dispersed throughout. There is no breakdown, the song seemingly is pushing it to the limit, going a thousand miles an hour where Revelations seemed to lumber along ominously. About halfway through the song, there is a short but melodic guitar solo by Tony, accompanied by heavy double bass until another fill marks the return to the main riff. The song begins to slow, but only to mid tempo as the double bass backs the full force of the guitars and vocals, and a short section appears where you can hear Jeff's blaring bass over everything else. As the song ends, it only gets more frantic, almost coming apart at the seams, until it ends abruptly.

LYRICS:

Over time in a world
Where religion has dispersed
Modern times have shown these connections
To slowly deteriorate
With empires alleging their holy books
To have absolutely no flaws
All accepting everything in its deceitful print
They pursue to interpret these pages
To gather aspiration and formulated belief
Their community now only
Falls from expanding socialism
A divided population, disposed
One half putting their gods to rest
Now to only praise the antagonist against
Of what they once worshipped
His words cradle his followers
While the other half being sealed
Out of the world they once knew
Out of pure ignorance
Knowing their fate,
They absolve to relinquish themselves
Hundreds, mass upon thousands
Take on religious suicide
A religious populace reduced to mere filth.


4. Catechization

The song begins suddenly with vocals coming in right away. The guitar chugs along at a fast pace, although frequent changes into complicated, shreddy riffs keep the guitar from becoming boring. The drumming is just as fast as the previous track, with frequent double bass blares and blast beats. A minute or so in, the song slows down, to only begin an extremely heavy bridge with a melodic riff being played over an extremely heavy one, with frequent interruptions into the shredding territory with lots of hammer ons. The drums are quick and sound frantic, although they are always technically sound and on time. A short, mid tempo solo by Rob turns into an all out shred fest, although it only last for about 15 seconds and isn't long winded. It is followed by a rapid drum solo and a slow, melodic section reminiscent of Revelations before the main riff comes back and signals a crushingly heavy bridge with extremely fast double bass, this continues until the song ends, with the main riff fading out.

LYRICS:

The demon lord's son
Now a ruler of only one nation
Spreading his gospel among millions
Empires fused and bound together
By the fingertips of their distinct leader
A flesh parade of a converted public
Altered from catechization
Manipulated and influenced
Into a sense of delusive calm
Consuming every word spoon fed
Directly into their beliefs
As a shepherd carrying his offerings
Between his arms
Garnished statements maintain and keep
His people optimistic and presumptuous
A lucrative piece of propaganda
In their part of public form
A throbbing army only grows from the
Misleading tongue of their new ruler
The entire globe is sharpened to
One faction of subjugation
One army with new beliefs
Expanding through demonic designation
Ordered to butcher the existence
Of anything remotely contrary
Almost as a re-occurrence of times past
All previous enemies of the forgoing lord
Have come and gone
Having their own corresponding image of God
Through their own incoherent reflection

TRACK SYNOPSIS (finally complete!)

10. Deluge to Cleanse the Sinners

The song begins with extremely fast tremolo picking, in a jarring, alternating picking pattern. After the first line or so, it slows to a chug, almost into a breakdown until it comes back double time for the rest of the song. The tremolo picking returns, and the song ambles along at midtempo, frequently the guitar changes into more complicated and fast picking patterns that accompany the slow double bass drumming. The vocal style on this song is slightly different from the rest of the album; Sam utilizes more screams instead of growls, and inhaled vocals (pig squeals) are heard frequently. This makes some of the lyrics sound like a demonic pig grunting along to the song. The song is indulgent, and makes frequent use of breakdowns, a technique the band had been trying to not utilize as much on this record. Frequent stops give the song an odd time signature feel, with one break even being a drum and bass section with jazzy drumming and a quasi-bass solo, until it brings back the breakdown with harsh, guttural pig squeals (think 'bree bree bree bree bree') And then back into an even heavier breakdown that utilizes the growl heard on most of the rest of the tracks, mixed with the inhales. The song ends on what sounds like the beginning of another breakdown, but the harsh vocals trail off after a few chuggs and the song slows to a halt.

LYRICS:

Blood begins to spill from an open sea, dead bodies churn within the tide.

Attachment.
They drift against a now reddened sea.
These rising waters blush as their bodies decompose.
Dozens buried at sea, they swim in their graves.
They've proved themselves being too weak for this attachment,
the tide rises, the tide breaks.
Once again you've proven yourself too weak for this attachment.
The tide rises, the tide breaks
As these waters blush
Their bodies decompose,
Dozens of corpses buried at sea
I hope I have made my last point
Dozens of corpses buried at sea
The weak have fallen but now I stand alone

11. Deification

The album comes full circle on this track, the wall of sound from 'Unholy Creation' returns, with an ominous chanting in the background. In the background, the sound of guitar feedback can be heard, and the war drums return. Mournfully, a symphony plays notes that suggest the ascenscion of a fallen angel, and the entire song builds to a crescendo of noise, feedback and the ominous acceptance of the end...

12. Unearthed (Hidden Track)

This hidden track starts 6 minutes after the end of deification, and begins almost as a reprise as the ominous symphony and war drums start. Within a few seconds though, it is clear that this is no reprise, a demonic, distorted voice (Sam's) begins to wail, cry, and scream to be let out, as the sound of nails scratching against wood is heard...

LYRICS:

Let me out...
Let me out...
Oh god...
God...
Let me out...
Let me out...
Let me out!

13. Mechanical Christ (Hidden Track)

This second hidden track segues seamlessly from Unearthed, and is a recording of a fan favorite song written during the Carnival of Sounds. The song is blisteringly fast and explosive, almost sounding like a grindcore or noise song, with tremolo picking blaring over blast beats and thundering bass. The vocals are yet another return to the early sound, pig squeals being frequent along with gutturals. The raw, uncompromised energy on the song makes it clear why it is usually the last song on AoH's live setlists. The entire song ends just like it began, suddenly and violently, without warning, signalling the end of the album.

LYRICS:

What stands before us is not a machine.
It breathes, it will bleed, and it dreams.

Its body is covered,
In hundreds of wires.
And the mouth it attempts to speak,
It attempts to lie.
Only murmurs,
Collapse from its jaws.
And a world, a world without,
A world without you,
But I rise. The dead will pride.
Brings it beyond this life
So sleep. Sleep among us,
And hesitate no more.
We kneel and we plead for no,
Mourning ahead of us.
With only delayed movements,
From its figure,
We all begin to strain.
Entombment of a machine.
What stands before us,
Is not a machine.
My legs weaken at the sight,
Of this damaged program.
This program kept you breathing.
It kept you alive.
These circuits diffuse once more.
But I saw it die.
We saw it die.
But I saw it die.
I watched it die.

ALBUM CREDITS -
Sam Fischer - Vocals, Lyrics, Blasphemy
Tony Sammartino - Guitars, Bible Defacement
Rob Heath - Guitars, Coffee Machine
Jeff Koenig - Bass, Christ Abortion
Neil Willamette - Drums, Salad Dressing, Sacrilegious Masturbation
Erich Hess - Production, Bad Influences, Drug Supply, Prostitute Detection Apparatus

Sam would like to thank: My mom, for giving birth to me. God forgive her.
Tony would like to thank: Chloe Pastis, for the sex.
Rob would like to thank: The fans.
Jeff would like to thank: Erich, for constantly providing the band with enough drugs and alcohol (fuck you sam) to record.
Neil would like to thank: The NAACP, Pugs everywhere.

Tony and Jeff use Jackson Guitars
Rob uses B.C. Rich Guitars
Neil and Sam use whatever is cheapest

STAY METAL