Track By Tracks: Amuse To Death - Phantasmagoria (2024)

About the album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

Grotesque, extreme, and experimental are the main keywords. Hot-swing horn lines meet blasting metal, and melodic hooks alternate with manic screaming. All that tied together with progressive elements like fretless bass, instrumental solos and irregular metric structures. Both music and lyrics work together to illustrate the universe of a fictional central character named Al, who is suffering from mental illnesses and is guilty of drug abuse. His emotions, mental state, and ways of coping with his situation are topics of the EP Phantasmagoria.

Track By Track - (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

1. Ill Fated:

As the first single and opening track on the EP, Ill Fated offers a "gentle" introduction to the band's relatively extreme sound concept. The contrasts between swing and death metal elements are initially rounded and bridged with gradual transitions. The clean passage after the first chorus and the fretless bass solo after the second chorus shows the first signs of "progginess." All of this is packaged in a compact and clear song structure, providing a smooth entry into Amuse To Death's grotesque sound world. The lyrics describe the dire mental state of the central figure "Al," whose inner voices drive him insane as soon as the band in his head stops playing music.

2. Blacktoothgrin:

The listener's musical openness and willingness to withstand abrupt emotional fluctuations are put to the test with this song. Styles are not gently blended here; they are thrown into a cement mixer and wildly jumbled together. Duke Ellington and Count Basie-inspired hot swing horn lines meet technical death metal à la First Fragment, Necrophagist, and others. Again, the fictional main character Al is the focus of the lyrics. This time, it is about his drug addiction and the internal struggle associated with it.

3. Lowlifer:

The rough edges of Blacktoothgrin are somewhat smoothed out here. This song, in contrast, stands out with its wit and emphasis on the grotesque. Countless horn interjections and comments and the dance-like groovy instrumental section before the last chorus almost have the slapstick character of a Laurel & Hardy comedy. The choruses grow bigger, broader, and more colorful with each repetition. Lyrically, the song paints the difference in perception between the gray everyday reality and the colorful fantasy world of a morphine trip.

4. The Alibi:

This piece is probably the closest to the term "prog aria" among the four songs. It ticks all of the following boxes: contains a slow, balladic section; contains a fast metal section; contains odd time signatures; contains at least 10 different instruments; contains what feels like a dozen instrumental solos; lasts longer than 5 minutes; has no typical song structure; contains tempo changes; fluctuates between multiple keys... Here, the band’s range in all musical aspects is further expanded and showcased. The lyrics are about a dream the singer Carmen has, in which she observes herself as a corpse and the sole witness of a murder and is accused of being the perpetrator.