Track By Tracks: Grimskull - Awake Asleep (2022)

1. Awake Asleep:

This is our tribute to Nightmare To Elm Street and 80s horror movies. The song is about a girl who is haunted by a killer in her dreams. We wanted to start off the album with a typical fast one, like Aces High by Maiden and Neon Knights by Sabbath. We've had this one laying around for a while, so we decided it would be the perfect song to open with.

2. Grimskull:

This song is about fighting for what you believe in. Everybody is fighting something, whether it's something serious like an illness if it's bullying at school or just life in general. We're all in the same boat, we all have our own personal fights to get through, and we want to inspire people to hang in there.

3. Our Finest Hour:

This is a WW2 dog fighting song, inspired both by local historical events but also aerial battles in general. War-inspired songs are usually big and epic, but we wanted a fast one that matched the adrenaline rush you would feel in a Spitfire.

4. Enforcers Of The Night:

We've been big fans of the Death Wish movies all our lives, so this is our version of that kind of vigilante story with a gritty early 80s feels.

5. Count Of Darkness:

This song is classic horror meets 80s hard rock. Inspired by fast rockers like 2 Minutes To Midnight by Maiden and Cold Sweat by Thin Lizzy.

6. Iron Eyes:

We originally recorded this in 2009 on our first demo as Grimskull. A few years later we got the opportunity to record a song with Blaze Bayley from Iron Maiden, and we decided this was the song we wanted him to sing. His version turned out really great, and we are very proud of that song. So then we wanted our own, updated version of the song on this album. A little faster than the original to make it different. The story of the song is basically just a sci-fi horror story, about being controlled by aliens.

7. Gathering Shadows:

Marita is the world's biggest fan of Lord Of The Rings, so she wrote the lyrics heavily inspired by the evil character called Sauron. Every metal band needs a Lord Of The Rings song, so we felt it was our duty to have one too.

8. Live For Today, Die For Tomorrow:

We wrote this song in the mid-90s when grunge, self-loathing, and depression were almost like a trend. And as proud metal heads, we were totally against all that, so we felt the need to make a song that embraced life, even though it's tough sometimes. So this is basically a tribute to life in general.