Track By Tracks: Absolute Darkness - Failure Of State (2022)

1. Rounded Up:

This song was inspired by the Hong Kong democracy movement and other pro-democracy groups and movements, past and present, that fight against authoritarian rule. This song was originally written by Ron though after Doug joined the band he added the overlaying harmony to the middle break riff and also added the harmonizing guitar solo that we are now doing live.

2. Mob Rule:

This song predicts the coming riots and violent protests against income inequality. The governments that blame problems on the poor and underclass, instead of the rich and powerful who advocate for policies that help make the underclass larger and larger, they will fall if they do not do at least something to alleviate the real issues before it is too late. This was the first song written for the album and the only song that was played live before the pandemic hit and shut things down.

3. Sanity Is Gone:

More and more ridiculous and insane conspiracy theories are believed and politicians are catering to these theories for their own gain, the truth is irrelevant...can I get money/votes is all that matters? The samples that were recorded at the beginning were done by Matthew Legare from Thud Bukit, Ron’s wife Margaret, and then Ron. The ending sample was recorded by Doug.

4. My Forever Rule:

This song is about a dictator who wants to hold onto power and will face his end when the people have had enough of him.

Ron: The way the harmony in the chorus and guitar solo in the middle overlap and harmonize is my favorite part of this song.

5. Failure Of State:

A song that envisions our potential dystopian future and how we got there.

6. My Assassination:

Inspired by Russian, North Korean, and other dissidents who have been assassinated by their own governments.

7. The Republic:

A song that laments the fall of our Republic and the reasons why it's going to fall apart in the future if problems are not resolved.

8. Unite!:

This anthem is a call to action to unite against the forces that want to divide us.

9. Chaos Unleashed:

Originally recorded for the album Disaster Awaits The song is about war and chaos that is always part of it.

Ron: This is one of my favorite songs to play live.

10. Mad King:

Originally recorded for the album Disaster Awaits. This song is about a king whose insanity leads to the destruction of his country and his own death.

Ron: This song started out to be about Trump specifically in the lyric writing process, but as I got further into the song and needed to come up with an ending, I wanted to have him impeached and talk about preserving our democracy. However, getting those complex topics to fit into the lyrics just felt too forced and did not flow in any way that felt right. The way to end the song was to kill the tyrant, and once that was decided it could NOT be about Trump specifically. As much as I want him out of our political system, assassination is not the way to preserve democracy. So it was pivoted to a middle ages style king and the lyrics were modified to fit that.

11. On My Way To Death:

Originally recorded for the album Future Imperfect. This song is about how even the strongest of soldiers can die in battle. War is always about the deaths of those involved in it. This song was the first Absolute Darkness song written.