Warp Riders: A Metal Sci-Fi Story

\By all intensive purposes, the album Warp Riders by The Sword is a Science Fiction novel. The band even opted to have a cover similar to those of old science fiction novels. But don’t be fooled. Warp Riders is a behemoth riff monster, complete with instrumentals, great lyrics, and a killer story to boot. Although brief, this blogger will attempt to explain to the best of his ability, the story of Warp Riders. It is a little unclear without having read the novel it is based on, so I will do my very best and give my own interpretation. The main character, known as Ereth, is an Archer who has discovered a mystic orb. He is banished, for unknown reasons, from his tribe on the planet Acheron, which is about to undergo a lot of trouble. It is becoming Tidal locked, meaning that half of the planet will be scorched by three suns, and the other half will be shrouded in total darkness. Unless Ereth can stop it, this will cause a huge war to break out between good and evil, and nothing will be able to stop the destruction. He is told by a mysterious old man, about challenges he must face along the way, specifically Tres Brujas (spanish for Three Witches) that will help him along his way. “The first at twilight, the second at night, and the third at the coming of day”. The impression I get is that he meets these witches and they tell him he will die before he can stop the war. He refuses to believe this, and he continues on his trek. The old man gives him more advice in Arrows In the Dark.Chronomancer I: HubrisDescribes what I believe to be the spaceship that visits Acheron, carrying the one who begins the war, the Android,referred to in the second part of the album , The Android and The Sword, The Sword referring to the time-travelling spaceship with which they travel. This android appears to stop at nothing to bring ruin upon the planet/ Lawless Landsconsists of Ereth the Archer travelling away from his tribe from which he was banished, presumably from finding the sacred orb, and across the land towards some unknown destination, with what the Three Witches said in the back of his mind, eating at him. Thus begins part II. The second half begins with an instrumental, and the proceeds with The Warp Riders.This is the name for the Android and his warmongers who wage war on Acheron after tidal locking it, giving them the advantage. As Ereth arrives in Night City, he must fight the space pirates and murderers before he finally comes face to face with the Android, known simply as Nemesis in The Chronomancer II: Nemesis.

The bearer of the orb awaits the sacred key
Into the world anew once more what was will be

Racing through the netherworld outside of time and space
He has found a hidden path to pass forbidden gates
Body left to rot as the great tidal lock sets in
The cord is cut, the way is shut, the orb goes dim

Ereth is killed by Nemesis, and the orb, the one that could save the world of Acheron, goes dim. The tidal lock sets in, and Nemesis prevailes. All we see next, in (the Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire,is the vision of the armada, ready to destory the world of Acheron in the war as Ereth is destoryed and all hope is lost.

Not a happy ending with my interpretation, but I believe there will be a true savior of Acheron before it’s all said and done.

Marvellous Album!

MY RATINGS

Music: 9/10

Story: 9/10

Concepts: 5/10

Overall: 7.67/10

Crack the Skye: A Metal Masterpiece

Let’s get this straight: Crack the Skye is confusing. I needed some help interpreting this one. First of all, let’s look at the basic concept behind the music. Mastodon has 4 albums that have used Elemental themes: Remission was fire, Leviathan water, Blood Mountain earth, and this masterpiece, Crack the Skye, is Ether, an ancient element that was believed to be the medium through which light travels, which makes sense if you look at the story of the album. The story begins with a paraplegic. He cannot move his arms or legs and can only travel using astral travel, travelling along the astral plane. inOblivion, the boy paraplegic, who is astral travelling using a golden umbilical cord attached to his solar plexus, gets said cord burnt off as he “flew beyond the sun before it was time, breaking all the fingers and the nails from my hand”. He believes himself to be dead, but he is told by spirits in the spirit realm that he is not dead. In the song Divinations, he is summoned into the body of Rasputin, an ancient Russian historical figure who was believed to have special “super” powers. As Rasputin tries to assassinate the Czar in The Czar, he himself is murdered, and the two souls (Rasputin and the boy) fly out into a Crack in the Sky (Crack the Skye) By this time, the boy’s parents believe him to be dead, so Rasputin tries to help the boy find his way back before they lose all hope and before it is too late to do so. Then, the two encounter the Devil, who tries to steal their souls and bring them to hell in The Last Baron. The story is never resolved, and it is the reader’s interpretation of what happens next. 

Whew. What a story.

Amid all the spirtual meaning of the album is the simple concept of Ether. This Ether allows the boy to astral travel. Among other things, there is a special meaning to the extra ‘e’ in Crack the SkyE. Skye was the sister of drummer Brann Dailor, and he has dedicated the album to her, a fine thing to do, especially for such a masterfully done album.