Track By Tracks: Airborn - Lizard Secrets Part Three - Utopia (2025)

1. Kings of Melody:

In any respectable Power Metal album, the opening track must be a fast and melodic number. “Kings of Melody” is no exception to the rule. Our aim was to bombard listeners with a rapid sequence of very catchy yet heavy sections to put them in the right mood for the album. Lyrics-wise, it introduces these King's characters to Airborn’s growing gallery of mythical figures. They’re sort of Power Metal Gods bringing justice through melody and harmony to a world growing more and more dissonant and grim.

2. In Utopia:

This song addresses directly the album’s main theme: a future (or is it already here?) where everything is sold as perfect by corporations and powers that be. There’s also a hint of insanity in it, because the song is told from the perspective of the bad guys, bragging about their successful grip on the human race. Galloping rhythms and choruses double down on the lyrics’ ambiguity. Utopia is actually a dystopia.

3. Forever Is a Long Time Coming:

This tune is actually sort of a sequel to “Edge of Disaster” from our previous album. In that song, the unnamed main character was haunted by the consequences of his evil actions, and in “Forever Is a Long Time Coming”, he realizes the final result will be eternal damnation. He struggles for redemption, but there’s none. The song intertwines hard rock-influenced verses with power choruses, and it climaxes in an epic bridge where all the drama explodes. There are also lengthy solos on this one. We made a lot of solos on this album as a tribute to our favorite Power Metal records from the 80s and the 90s.

4. Futuremaker:

This is another song that is a bit crazy. In a nutshell, it’s a song about bad luck. This Futuremaker character is kind of a demiurge of everything that can go wrong in life. Again, we see things from the monster's perspective, so the song is surprisingly upbeat compared to the evil stuff the Futuremaker tells. It is particularly evident in the section we humorously call the “Disney musical from hell”. You’ll see what I mean when you hear the song. This one is a 100% Classic Power Metal number, anyway. What we do best.

5. Midnight Riders:

The Midnight Riders theme is a pure sci-fi story about clandestine races in a cyberpunk city environment.

Music-wise, it’s got a lot of influences from 80s Hard’n’Heavy bands. A lot of heavy riffing is going on in the background, and vocal melodies act as a counterpoint to that, making it very interesting. It all culminates in a fast melodic solo symbolizing the race itself.

6. Magic Bullet:

Back in the day, Power Metal albums used to have at least one true rocker track, so we thought we should bring back this tradition. It’s a vitriolic, but somehow humorous take on everything that doesn’t work in the world. Somehow, I was inspired by Alan Moore saying it’s no use to look for conspiracies everywhere. We’re simply out of control! So, there’s no magic bullet solving problems. On a side note, it features great bass guitar work by Domenico.

7. Oil’s Well That Doesn’t End Well:

I have no problem saying this is my favorite track on the album. It’s about the peak oil crisis looming and tangentially about climate change, as well. Now that’s the crazy idea: every time we talk about these topics, the catchphrase is always: “We knew about it since the 70s!”, so why not make a song about it that’s also a tribute to our favorite bands from the 70s? So, there you have it: a bit of Priest style riffing, Sabbath heavyness in the verse, Uriah Heep’s Hammond, even a bit of Blue Öyster Cult and Dire Straits(!!!). Even with this premise, I think the song fits well in the album, and that’s of course because our genre is standing on the shoulders of those giants anyway.

8. Soldiers of Misfortune:

This is a song that was in the making for many years, and it finally found its definitive form on this album. It came out so well that it was chosen to be the first single from it!

Lyrics are connected to “In Utopia”, but it tells the story from the perspective of people living under the Utopia regime.

It’s a fast, melodic song that features the amazing skills of our new drummer Gianluca in full.

9. Skeleton Crew:

“Skeleton Crew” is another sci-fi story, and it’s about a spaceship on its first mission. The twist is that behind the enthusiasm, they are running low on funds, hence the title “Skeleton Crew”.

When a mysterious evil entity approaches the ship, all illusions are broken, and it’s a fight for survival.

This is a heavier song compared to the rest of the album, and the music captures the compelling atmosphere of the story.

There’s something in the dark... of space!

10. Lizard Detective Agency:

We always had this lizard detective character on the cover artworks of Lizard Secrets Trilogy, created by our amazing artist Trevor Storey, and, since this is the final chapter, we really needed to feature him in a song.

So here we delve into his adventures, tracking suspects in decaying cyberpunk slums.

It’s got a bluesy riff that goes well with the noir element of the story, but often explodes into melodic metal outbursts. I particularly love the solo our guitarist Roberto made for this one:

sort of an unholy mix of Eddie Van Halen and Tom Morello!

11. Steel Rat:

If “Lizard Detective Agency” told the story of a private eye, “Steel Rat” is about an invincible criminal rogue that’s got no respect for the law and complete shamelessness to admit it.

The song is hard rocking and energetic, and I feel it’s an instant earworm. I think it’s important to have an immediate song like this one just before the album’s grand finale. At the very last minute of the recording sessions, we added a twin guitar solo to the song, because... why not?

12. My Own World:

This song is a sequel to our previous song “Soultraveller”. The Soultraveller is a character that is almost immortal and has the ability to move in space and time, watching the universe evolve. In this part of the story, the Soultraveller decides it’s time to end the journey and return to his home world to finally rest.

It’s a bittersweet epic song that closes the trilogy with a hint of nostalgia. It’s a very layered music piece, almost a suite, and choruses feature probably the highest number of multi-vocal tracks ever recorded for an Airborn song to date. I’m also particularly happy with my solos on this one. I think I completely nailed my vision of how a melodic solo should sound in a Power Metal song. Both “Soultraveller” and “Lizard Secret” themes from previous records return at the end to give the trilogy complete cohesion.