Interviews About Albums: Caged Bastard - LIGHTHOUSE (2026)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Black Metal project Caged Bastard to ask questions about their album, "LIGHTHOUSE".

1. What can you say about this new EP/CD?

LIGHTHOUSE is the fourth full-length album. It revolves around the idea of standing your ground, remaining true to your values, and refusing to become driven by animalistic instinct when surrounded by hostility. The album explores pressure, restraint, discipline, and the transformation of hostile/negative experiences into something with structure rather than allowing them to become another cycle of destruction.

Musically, I wanted the first four tracks to feel physically heavy and claustrophobic, almost like moving inside solid concrete. The final instrumental piece, The Wayfarer, opens that space, It simply leaves the listener with distance and reflection.

2. What is the meaning of the EP/CD name?

For me, a lighthouse isn't just a structure that helps ships navigate through darkness or withstand the sea. It has always meant something much deeper.

Whenever I move to a new coastal city, one of the first things I look for is its lighthouse. That's also where the title Transcendental Stillness came from. Whenever I found myself surrounded by chaos or hostility, I would stand in front of a lighthouse and focus on its blinking light for minutes, sometimes hours. It became a way of grounding myself, of not losing who I was or becoming driven by the same animalistic impulses that chaos often demands…

3. Which one is the composer of the CD/EP?

Everything was written, arranged, recorded, and produced by me under Caged Bastard. Like every release from the project, it is a very personal process where composition, sound design, recording, and visual direction all become part of the same work.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

Transcendental Stillness.

For me, it represents the core process of the entire album: the ability to remain grounded and still, without being controlled or defined by external chaos/confusion/hostility.

The final chaotic section of the song represents a state of confrontation with the darkest parts of myself. It felt like being destroyed and reborn repeatedly, standing in front of a metaphorical screen telling me, “Release the demon inside you. Let it take control. It exists, so set it free so you don't die again.”

But the meaning is not about surrendering to that darkness. It is about acknowledging that this “demon” exists within me, understanding what it is capable of, and refusing to let it control me. True strength comes from recognizing those darker impulses, integrating them, and consciously choosing when they have a place and when they do not.

Transcendental Stillness is about reaching a state where chaos can exist around you, and even within you, without taking away your ability to choose to be a human being.

5. Is there a special message in this EP/CD? If there is, what is it?

The album isn't trying to tell people how to live, but if there is a central idea, it would be this:

Trauma should not be passed on. The choice is whether to transmute it into something that builds or to keep repeating the same destructive pattern.

Pressure can become discipline. Chaos can become structure. The strongest foundations are rarely built in comfort.

Sometimes, the only thing that matters is finding a point within yourself that remains when everything else keeps repeating the same destructive cycle.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

From the track Transcendental Stillness.

There is no dignity.

in collapse.

There's no integrity.

in performing.

There’s no life.

in hypocrisy.

No morality.

in borrowed masks.

and

He did not survive discipline

to kneel before impulse.

He set limits

so something could remain intact.

He withheld himself

from the feast

so something human

could live.

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

The biggest inspiration behind LIGHTHOUSE wasn't a particular artist or record, but life itself. Living in different places, experiencing different cultures and social dynamics, observing people, observing myself and my own thoughts, witnessing both the best and the worst of human nature, and spending long periods in solitude all found their way into the album and my music in general.

The sea also became an important influence. There's something about standing in front of a lighthouse while everything around it is in constant motion. It doesn't resist the storm or try to control it; it simply remains. That image slowly became the foundation of the entire record.

I'd also like to thank everyone who crossed my path, whether through kindness or hostility. Every experience leaves something behind, and in one way or another, all of them contributed to shaping LIGHTHOUSE.

8. Something to add?

I'd like to thank everyone who has listened to Caged Bastard over the years. Independent music survives because people choose to spend their time with it, and that means a lot.

I hope LIGHTHOUSE is an album that reveals something new with each listen.

"Choose to heal and rise, rather than repeat the same pattern. Don't pass your trauma on and drag others down simply because it's easier, or because you're surrounded by people who normalize it and feed off it. people's mental health is not entertainment or a performative theater for whatever destructive generational pattern you've inherited or chosen to continue."

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