Track By Tracks: Iscuron - The Nothing Has Defeated Atreyu (2021)


1. The Silent Storm:

This album was mainly written during the worst phase of the Covid-19 crisis that stroke my Country (Italy) very badly in many ways. This track is probably the one that was most influenced by the situation. The pandemic, especially in the first months, was like a silent, slow but unstoppable storm easily wiping away all defenses of ours one by one. In a wider meaning, I see a storm made of many components leading humanity and our civilization to decline. By my point of view Covid- 19 is only one of those components, it is just more visible and perceptible than some other components. 

2. Princess of a Dead Land:

I think human civilization, or at least the system we have been living in for the last decades, is declining in many ways. However, we (humans) pretend, consciously or not, that it’s not the case and actually we think that we’re making progress and improving. Like a princess that thinks that she’s shining when her kingdom is clearly defeated and dead. 

3. Mighty Winter Night:

Humans live in the self-illusion of being “central” in space and time, if not even ruling them. I think we are not and we can learn this lesson very easily if/when we find ourselves in a situation where we have to face the forces of nature. No need of mass catastrophic events, simply facing 1:1 a winter storm for example is more than enough to earn some humbleness. I recently moved from a big city to the mountains and I realized how fragile we are against nature and how our civilization is weakening us even more. 

4. Everlasting Realm:

The concept is somehow similar to “Mighty Winter Night”. I see the phases of human history as a sequence of temporary realms: all of them born, grow, decline and dye. We always think that the realm (system) we’re living in is the best and it will be the everlasting one. That is never the case, we are mythomaniacs, what is everlasting on this planet is not driven by humans. My feeling is that the forces of nature are looking at us through the centuries as they are watching movies…and they are probably having fun. We are their “Netflix”. 

5. The Nothing Has Defetaed Atreyu:

The title track of the album is clearly inspired by the book “The NeverEnding Story” by Michael Ende. Forage reason, also the movie was a relevant milestone in my childhood. I’m assuming most of us are familiar with the book and/or the movie, then “long story short” I believe that different than the story we did not manage to get to a happy ending. The Nothing won and I don’t see room for revenge…” no one will call the Empress name” me is the most meaningful wording in the lyric. From a music point of view in this track, electronic elements are more present than in others, in fact, the song probably sounds a bit different than others. That is not by chance, I think technology is helping The Nothing destroying Fantasia. Not technology itself, it has many good things as well, more our increasing dependency on it. Myself included. When I talk about humans I always include myself. I don’t feel neither better nor worse than average humans, I don’t think we really have a lot of room to escape the average. 

6. Caterina 1667:
 
From a musical point of view, this track is the one with more “medieval” influences especially some melodies. I love medieval black metal, especially a few bands in France and Canada. And it was the first song I had written for this album. Also the lyrics are different than the ones of the other tracks from a concept point of view. I was reading some old historical sources about the small place in the mountains where I live most of the year and I was fascinated by this episode of a girl that killed the local priest and his assistant with a sickle in 1667 and then she was imprisoned and finally executed publicly. No special meaning, really an “instrumental” use of this story for this song. Although I can’t exclude exploring medieval themes further in the next albums, probably this song can be considered a “bonus track” in the context of this specific album. 

7. In the Darkness:

Musically this might be considered as a Black Metal “ballad” (not a love ballad by the way). I believe Limbonic Art, and probably other black metal bands too did something similar many years ago. Lyrically it is describing my relationship with Black Metal…then maybe yes, actually a love ballad somehow 

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