Track By Tracks: Absolon - A Portrait Of Madness (2022)

Randolph Bathery: A Portrait of Madness-Story Synopsis

The year is 1920, London England. Its been three years since the end of WWI when Randolph Bathery, a soldier in the English army, returned from the war a broken man. As the years passed, Randolph grew more depressed, his personality dark, foreboding and menacing. Those around him came to believe he had brought something back with him from the war and that he was, in fact, possessed by a dark entity. After a terribly botched exorcism leaves Randolph near death and utterly insane, the Catholic Church has him secretly committed to the Lancaster Mental Asylum in order to cover up their failure and incompetence. Now, not only is Randolph trapped inside his own mind, he’s trapped with the entity that still possesses him. The doctors and staff of the Lancaster Mental Asylum, thinking he is just another insane mental patient out of many, are unaware of the danger they are in until it’s too late. Accepting that the entity is now part of him, and no longer being able to handle life as a prisoner in the Lancaster Mental Asylum, Randolph Bathery reeks havoc and chaos upon the staff at the asylum and, with the help of the entity inside him, finally escapes into the night.

Songs-Explanation:

1. Into the Darkness-opening sequence (written by Ryo Pike & Ken Pike) 00:56:

We begin at the beginning with Dr. Smithe announcing over the facility intercom that Randolph Bathery has escaped from his room and is loose in the asylum. We hear glass shatter as Bathery enters the room the Dr. is in. The Dr. screams.

2. This is my Dream (lyrics & music by Ken Pike) 06:35:

Bathery lets us know that he lives in his own world and if people don’t like it, too bad.

3. Breathe Again (lyrics & music by Ken Pike) 4:46:

Bathery wanting to be free from whatever it is possessing him and from his prison at the asylum. He wants to breathe again.

4. 1916 (lyrics & music by Ken Pike) 04:15:

Bathery is a young man in the middle of the bloodletting that is WWI. He’s on the battlefield, everyone around him is dying and he just wants to survive. This is when he first encounters the entity that promises him survival, but for a price.

5. The Demon Waltz (written by Ryo Pike) 00:36:

Say hello to the demon.

6. Let Me Be ( lyrics & music by Ken Pike) 03:59:

Bathery recounting the demon’s promise that it is his salvation from the war.

7. Drive You Out (written by Ryo Pike) 01:09:

Priest’s from the church attempt an exorcism.

8. The Men in Black Robes (lyrics & music by Ken Pike) 04:30:

Bathery recounts the exorcism that almost kills him and the failure of the priest to rid him of the demon. This ultimately leads the church to commit him to the asylum to conceal their neglect.

9. Blinded by Lies (lyrics and music by Ken Pike) 05:31:

Bathery in the asylum agonizing over what he had done all those years before. He realizes he was blinded by the demons lies and that he might have survived the war without the demons help.

10. It Is Done (written by Marc Vanderberg) 00:56:

A musical interlude.

11. Into My Hell Your Cast (lyrics and music by Ken Pike) 06:07:

Bathery can’t live this way any longer and desperately wants out of the asylum. He wants freedom. He finally decides to reconcile with the demon and just accepts that it’s part of him. It has been for a very long time. With the demon's help, he lays waste to the staff at the asylum and escapes.

12. Forever One (lyrics and music by Ken Pike) 03:47:

Bathery and the demon are one now as he flees into the night….forever.

13. Out of the Darkness- closing sequence (written by Ryo Pike & Ken pike) 02:35:

We return to the beginning. Bathery is free. Now, outside the asylum and free, he relates to the listener that he warned them all that he wasn’t crazy, that he was possessed, but they wouldn’t listen and paid for it with their lives.