Track By Tracks: SPESIMIN - SPESIMIN (2025)


SPESIMIN is our complete discography LP, compiling the three EPs we've put out to date–BORN IN THE CRYPT (2020), ROTTING ON THE VINE (2022) & our newest, SKULL WORSHIP. Arranged chronologically, the compilation shows our progression as a band. I'll start by saying a bit about our overall songwriting process, the individual EPs, and then each song.

We write together, never having too much of a game plan of what a song should be or where it should end up. Starting out with riffs that Alejandro or Jeff brings to the table, we let parts cook for a while, arranging them by what sounds good to our collective ear. Ian writes vocal parts after the song structures have been nearly finalized.

BORN IN THE CRYPT EP (2020)

Our debut was very punk/thrash/crossover influenced, with stripped-down riffs, a few basic grooves, and gruff, shouty vocals. Alejandro and Ian wrote the songs together before Jeff came in to contribute his parts.

1. Spesimin:

Spesimin is the origin story of a horrific creature stitched together from dead tissue and brought to life in a laboratory. The verses draw from the plot of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which is the ultimate gothic morality tale, warning of the dangers of playing God and questioning the nature of monstrosity. Unfit for existence and thrust into consciousness burdened with impossible desires, “SPESI” has no choice but to turn the tables and exert its suffering on others.

2. Mentally Mutilated:

As the body deteriorates and the mind struggles to hold on, you question whether you're the same person you used to be. Addiction transforms a person from having a rich, robust inner life to being driven completely by the whims of their brain chemistry. Walking through life like a zombie, only concerned with where to get your next fix, you struggle to recognize yourself.

3. Violent Sanctification:

John List murdered his family in New Jersey in 1971, claiming that he feared for their souls and wanted to make sure that they would go to heaven. This same narrative of sanctimonious murder has occurred throughout history–from the sacrifice of firstborns in the Old Testament to the religious wars of Crusades to ethnic cleansings being waged today. With a goal of eradication, they all hypocritically claim some “greater” purpose.

4. Sycophant Slaughter:

This song is about the need for solidarity in the violent revolution against billionaires and parasitic politicians. Only out for themselves and always hungry for more power, anyone who plays their game or cooperates with their agenda is on their level and needs to be extinguished. This was the last song that we wrote on the EP and our most melodic so far, a direction we’ve continued to pursue.

5. Born in the Crypt:

Born in a tomb, clawing your way out of your dying mother’s corpse, doing whatever you need to survive–never having known anything else, you see this as a normal way of life. Figuratively, this is about existing in a realm that others can’t relate to, as people have fundamentally different realities, separated by wide gulfs of experience. It’s for anyone who feels like they have no place in normal society or those who are exiled, never having a chance.

ROTTING ON THE VINE EP (2022):

On our second batch of songs, we expanded our approach to include more mid and down-tempo parts, opening us up to new grooves. Vocals got growlier, lyrically moving away from linear narratives, and embracing abstraction to a greater degree. We also became more melodic and used more guitar harmonies.

6. Rotting on the Vine:

The earth has been polluted to the point of saturation, making it impossible for anything to take root, grow, or prosper. Even ideas seemingly full of potential and promise are doomed to fail, with rot and ruin having taken hold everywhere. Life has had its turn, and now it's death’s turn to blossom and thrive.

7. Severed Ties:

When betrayed, you make the switch from seeing someone as an ally to an enemy, and we’re the most reviled by those that we once loved. It’s also about absolutism and showing no mercy, exploring that on a personal level and applying it to wider contexts–about tearing down statues, banishing people to the realm of the profane, and writing whole time periods out of history.

8. Nest of Nightmares:

Another one for my fellow morbid freaks, is about surrounding yourself with horror and negativity to the point of being comforted by it. Prisoner to your mind’s vicious thought patterns and unable to pinpoint causes, you free yourself only to realize all the ways you’re still tied up. Eventually, you have no choice but to embrace your never-ending nightmare.

9. Violent World:

The Misfits are my favorite band, so I had no problem writing a song directly referencing and reimagining their song of the same title. Instead of the violence of nature as a whole, I wanted to focus on the more insidious violence seemingly invisible to so many. About how everyday life is cutthroat, and it’s kill or be killed. Musically, this song was a stylistic break for us, feeling very lush and full because of the wah pedal and prominent rack and floor tom part.

10. Mouth of Hell:

I’m in love with the Renaissance paintings of Hellmouths–personifications of hell as big grotesque faces with multi-layered mouths, surrounded by flying demons torturing transgressors with pitchforks as they're being swallowed, which is only a small taste of the torment that awaits. As a kid I thought hell and damnation were literally real, which made existence terrifying–walking a tightrope, with danger all around, if you miss one step you’re gonna burn for all eternity. Turning that oppressive religiosity and understanding of literal hell on its head, the song is about being consumed by ideology. Going past the point of no return, you’ve willingly entered a hell of your own making–a hell on earth, which is all there is.

SKULL WORSHIP EP (2025)

Our progression continued on our newest record, with songs and parts having more room to breathe. With doomier riffs, more minimal vocal parts, and heavier breakdowns we’ve expanded our sound while honing the same basic framework of anthemic and spooky death n’ roll.

11. Stubborn Beast Flesh:

H.G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau is about a mad scientist who creates human/animal hybrids. Spoiler alert–they refuse to be changed, with their beastly natures “creeping back” as they rise up and violently overthrow their ruler. The book and its film adaptation Island of Lost Souls made me think about invasion, colonialism, and the possible meanings of “true” nature. Whether it’s an invading power, or altering oneself to meet perverse societal expectations, it's futile to battle nature, as manipulation or violation will be met with resistance–supposedly inferior “beast flesh” is powerful and will protect itself, emerging victoriously in the end. It’s also a rallying cry to accept yourself and revel in your humanity, as it's pointless to try being something you're not or to aspire to anyone else’s values. For another creature-feature track, we revisited and refined the approach we used on our earliest, most ripping, and straightforward songs.

12. Skull Worship:

People have always venerated skulls, from displaying the remains of conquered people to the protection of religious relics. Believing that remains or other inanimate objects hold innate power, people have also been driven to accumulate them as a symbolic act of conquering, comprehending death, or metaphorically transcending one's own mortality. Fixated, you fall in love with death and are consumed in the process. The song has a lot of space in it and is very open and flowing, especially the chorus, which is a new direction for us.

13. Recovered Abduction Memory:

Traumatic events, from alien abduction to satanic ritual abuse, involve supposedly buried memories and their recovery through hypnosis or suggestion. Missing time–being transported through time and not knowing what your body went through in the interim–occurs when the mind seeks escape or is forced to cease operating. Whatever the reality, the mind is fallible, and whether memories are based on reality or entirely imagined is ultimately unknowable.

14. Dyer’s Remorse:

The Enlightenment sentiment of “carpe diem” is the ideal of living authentically and following your calling. But under late capitalism, “living life to the fullest”, is seen through the lens of consumption and weighing yourself against others. Endlessly ruminating on all the things that could have been better, every decision is marred by anxiety, paranoia, and fear of lost opportunity. Being at the point of death is the great equalizer, where you get perspective on these trivialities, but still wish you could have “more”, whatever that might be. It’s our longest song to date, with non-repeating parts incorporating a lot of different styles.

15 .Barren Night (Jersey Devil’s Flight):

All monsters are created in some way, as those who victimize others have usually been victims themselves. But monstrosity can also be passed down, pointing to the existence of true, unexplainable evil. This final creature anthem is my love letter to the King of Cryptids, and my homeland, a weird place filled with fucked up freaks and hellish haunts. It's about being the master of your domain and looking down from up above, taunting and tormenting your prey to the point of madness. It’s in the style of evil rock n’ roll perfected by masters of the genre, Motorhead, Venom and Sodom.

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