Track By Tracks: Ampicore - March Up Country - The Rock Opera (2025)

1. The Broken Busts of Hermes:

The melody of this song is actually taken from the opening of the title cut, March Up Country. I extrapolated the slower tempo into an Iron Maiden inspired opening. Since this song was the kick-start to the album’s story, it made sense to set the background of the mercenary’s motives to follow the Persian satrap Cyrus the Younger against the events that preceded it, hence, the Peloponnesian War. The broken busts were a bad omen for the Athenians’ attempt to defeat the Spartans. The song went through several renditions with different singers and guitarists before reaching the final version on the album.

2. Hoplites and Barbarians:

I had a first version of this song recorded, but I ultimately didn’t like it, so I re-wrote the whole thing. I think I had Saxon’s Crusader in the back of my mind for the feel of the song. This is when Cyrus tries to enlist 10,000 Greek mercenary soldiers to join him engage against the Psidians, a common enemy of Greeks and Persians. However, he eventually had to confess he really needed them to depose his brother Artaxerxes II, king of Persia, so he could gain the throne for himself. I wanted the song to be strong and motivational. Jamie Jordan’s vocals make this song unique from all the others.

3. The Death of Cyrus:

It just seemed too obvious to me that The Death of Cyrus should be mostly sung Death Metal style. My inspiration for this was Sepultura. But, once Cyrus dies, I knew it should be sung differently. That’s why I needed two singers.

4. We Need Xenophon:

After the death of Cyrus, the troops turn to their fellow Xenophon (who happens to be the author of the book all of this is based on) to lead them home to Greece. The origins of the song started as a totally different song I had written, with totally different lyrics. That song had never been completely finished, so I resurrected it for Xenophon. There was no particular band or style I had in mind. Just something engaging and upbeat.

5. Stouter Hearts:

The musical inspiration for the refrain in this song was Dio’s Holy Diver. Other than that, it was fashioned in my own way. The text of the book really informed the lyrics, since Stouter Hearts was a phrase used by Xenophon himself, as he tries to motivate his fellows to prepare for the hard march ahead of them. I intended the refrain Stouter Hearts to be sung as an anthem. The phrase “those willing to die might live the longest” is a direct quote from the book.

6. Kurdishland:

I invented the name Kurdishland, rather than modern-day Kurdistan or land of the Kurds. It just had more impact. For this song, I wanted to convey the struggle that the soldiers experienced through heat, desert, and mountains. There’s no indication of how much time has actually passed, but it has already been months since leaving Babylon. The melody is up tempo, which is why I wanted the bridge to go slow, as the soldiers are forced to march under the hot sun.

7. Coming to Armenia:

This time it’s snow and freezing temperatures for the soldiers to endure. The song begins with the sound of cold wind blowing, and I wanted the song to feel that as well. There is a haunting guitar line resounding throughout, conveying the desperation the soldiers are going through. This song was composed on a keyboard, rather than using a bass guitar that I used for most of the other songs. Since Kurdishland was up tempo, I slowed this song down for contrast. I wanted a totally different vocal for this song than the others, and Eric did a superlative job.

8. No Ships Cheirisophos:

Getting closer to home, the soldiers have reached the sea, only to be denied the use of enough ships to sail home to Greece. General Cheirisophos sailed off, promising to return with a fleet, but never did. In actuality, a few of the elderly and sick were able to return home in ships, but there was no place in the song to describe that. Basically, the majority of the soldiers were forced to continue their march. I wanted a hard hitting piece to follow Coming to Armenia, along the lines of Judas Priest’s Pain Killer.

9. Thrace:

Rather than the drums going full tilt boogie (like in No Ships Cheirisophos), I wanted them going at a steady, slower tempo while the guitars are blistering fast. The soldiers are forced to march through deadly Thrace (home of Spartacus). I wanted the lyrics to be deliberately wordy and expressive.

10. The Message That It Sends:

For this song, I wanted to express the impression left behind by people’s actions. What we do affects our children and the future and how they look back on us. The constant in-fighting between the Greek city-states was unsustainable and this song asks the question “is there anybody who can bring us together?”. Those in the know realize that somebody would be Alexander the Great. Musically, I wanted the song to have an engaging rhythm and a compelling refrain. I also wanted “dueling guitars” in the solo, except one of the guitars would be a Greek bouzouki. I am very happy with the results.

11. March Up Country:

This piece was composed and recorded first. It was originally intended to be a stand alone, until someone told me that because of the way it was structured, it reminded him of an opera. And, so the idea of a “rock opera” came to me. It seemed a great opportunity to extend the story-telling in spite of the enormity of the prospect. But, March Up Country (like all the songs on the album) just seemed to write itself. Sure, I had to think about the lyrics (and I re-worked a lot them), but basically, I never felt like I was really the one composing it. I just let Xenophon’s text guide me. The most challenging part was putting all the pieces together. I pretty much did all of it myself. And, since I’m not much of a sound engineer, I made a lot of mistakes and overloaded the number of tracks on the workstation. Unlike the other ten songs on the album, this one was not professionally mixed. I did what I could with it. But it seems to have a raw and organic quality to it that makes it sound so compelling.