Track By Tracks: Fifth Ring - Masochist (2022)

When it comes to my lyrics I just go with the flow of things. I do put some conscious effort into my message, but I more or less feel the music out and what my guitar player Chris is trying to tell me. Like a conversation of sorts. Chris will always make a working title and I more or less go with it and use that as the theme.

1. Ten Horns:

One of our earlier made songs for the album. Chris came at me with this working title name and I had the idea of some kind of demon. What the lyrics turned into was more of a person battling inner demons and allowing them to take control and posses them. There is a part where I speak Latin…

“Dominus

Clamo ad vos

Sacrificium meum

Tibi me do

Ego te voco

Posside me”

Which translates to “master I cry out to you. My sacrifice. I summon you. Possess me.” As if the demon being conjured is possessing the individual and they begin growing horns from their skull. A lot of ritual killings and sacrifice kinda stuff.

2. The Snake:

This was the first song I did for the new album. Chris hit me with the name “snake” and I got creative. It’s about a cult-like organization that feeds innocents and virgins to a beast snake. The snake also is an analogy for the “PENIS”.

3. The Crimson Mask:

This one is fun. Quinton and I are big fans of pro wrestling (WWE, AEW, etc.) and wanted to include something on the subject. This is more or less about that…..if you can’t tell by the audio clip of the infamous UNDERTAKER vs. MICK FOLEY hell-in-a-cell match. But yea, just talking about being a badass wrestler.

The chorus

“Blood blood

Witness the crimson flood

Another victim to the undisputed champion

Red

How long can this one last

I break the skin and dig within and dawn crimson mask “

Like a chant almost that you would hear in the audience.

4. Head on a pike:

Head on a pike was fun to write. It is about the changing of the guard in a way. How the all powerful leader will always fall to someone else. It's about dominance and determination really.

5. Dust to Dust:

This was an interesting one. What started out as an instrumental slowly became its own beat….now this song has a secret. It is basically two songs bridged together. One-half Chris plays guitars and the other half I’m playing guitars. The part one section I speak about my struggles. I hit a very low point in my life a few years back after I graduated college. I was severely depressed and suffering from many addictions. The bridge I see as my transition to a new person. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” I see that as “the past is the past”. Part two is who I am now, motivated, determined, and much more positive.

6. Maggot King:

Maggot king is like a part 2 from head on a pike. The king that dethroned the last is now an apathetic ruler. He’s experienced every pressure, has total power, and is still bored and depressed. Basically about the idea of power-hungry people and how power and money grant you bliss.

7.Waste:

Waste I feel is more personal to me. I used to surround myself with things and people that only wasted my time. The idea of waste is the waste of time. I’m 31 and am tired of wasting my time. I use to waste my time on drugs, women, and senseless gossip. I reflect on this now not in regret but in understanding.

8. The Pit:

The pit is an analogy for the darkness inside of us. Digging deep within us is a monster. Falling into the pit is falling deeper into the beast.

9. Lurking in the open wounds:

This is a special song for us. This song actually was co-written by a good friend and guitarist. He was struggling with some addictions and has since then become sober. These lyrics reflect fighting addiction. The name “lurking in the open wound” is to paint the image that the monster is never gone, the wound is never closed, it is always there.