This particular story has been on my mind for some time now. It has been heavily influenced by such media as Pink Floyd, Stanley Kubrick and Darren Aronofski. It follows the story of a characters passage into madness. Looking at the current lyrics, there is a nice flow to the story.

 

"Riverview" is a representation of the general bliss of life. The complete effect of life in short. More importantly, I wanted to capture a sort of dream like element in the lyrics. The personification of the natural elements of nature seemed to fit this best. This aspect was influenced by Aronofski's "Requiem For A Dream", specifically the blinding effect that hope can have on human nature.  Furthermore, the song reveals a general happiness between the main character and the environment.

 

Unfortunately, there is a large jump in the lyrics at this point. I have yet to finish the main part of this story. "Diary of a Madman" takes place further along in the story and takes place after the fall of the main characters dreams (to be finished soon). This song was influenced by Persig's novel "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance". There is a very moving image in this book where the main character realizes that they are slipping into madness. Soon they are completely immobilized by it. The title of the song comes from a Chineese text by the same name essentially covering the same idea of a cataclysmic fall into madness. This is really a turning point for the album revealing a change in character. The songs between Diary and "Riverview" have the character more attached to reality. This song is sort of like Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" in which the main character is at his most detached state before a complete character change. However, Floyd's story has a much slower more gradual slip into madness.

 

"No Quarter" is the best Led Zeppelin song ever (as far as I'm concerned) and fit this story better than any song I could write. I'm taking many influences from the Tool version of this song, but am keeping the origional concept. "No Quarter" basically means No Mercy and is based on a Norse slaughter. I'll try and find a good link about the meaning of this song. It fits into my story perfectly. I wanted to have the climax of the album continue after the slip into madness and what better way then a song about slaughter. Of course, the song isnt that direct, I mean it more in the mental slaughter of the main characters life (i.e. relationships, activities, passions etc...). I viewed this song as anologous to the few songs after "Comfortably Numb" in the soundtrack and movie "The Wall"

 

The final song "Darker Side" is my tribute to Aronofsky, Pink Floyd and Kubrick's Clockwork Orange. Instead of having the main charcter saved from his madness, i decided to plunge him further into it. This song is basically the main characters death, wether implied or direct. Near the end of all the stories mentioned by these three artists, the main character is transformed into something worse then they ever were. I found these endings very rebellious and easier to anticipate than a happy one. Of course everyone wants a happy ending, but this is life, right? This song is sort of a sequel to "No Quarter" and follows the same poetic style as well as musical structure. No Quarter is a much heavier violent song whereas this song is quiter and simpler.

 

 I'm particularly pleased with the last line "I am the dark side of the moon" I was hoping to capture a sense of isolation of the main character and I think this does just that. However, i grabbed a connection from the previous song "Diary of a Madman" "My eyes close on the dark side of the moon"  This line essentially means even on the most calming of settings, with more stars than most people ever see, the main character chooses to ingore it all and fall to madness, making the main character sort of a martyr for himself only. A pathetic yet oddly poetic attempt to transcend the pathetic and odd reality he lives.

 

At this point you may (but probably not) be wondering if this is a reflection of my own life. And to that I'd have to say that it is in an extreme way. This work is mostly a dive into the inner workings of the mind, and since I only have my mind its the only one I can truely use to research. But can one really examine the mind with a mind? (gotcha thinkin') Can a box contain itself? (ooh...even think-ier). Even though the work is reflective, it is by no means direct. At most, it is a representation of possibilities as is much of music today. I'll try and finish it all up as soon as I can, any questions, comments or ideas are very welcome: masterkool@hotmail.com -->Just put something desciptive as the subject (i.e. "Darker Side Idea")