Track By Tracks: Tyraels Ascension - Grave Seeker (2026)
Once again, we are writing about real-life situations and people, including ourselves, but from a cinematic, fantasy perspective. This album, as before, is based around human nature, the human condition, and the human experience.
We have walked through hell and faced our demons; now it is time to put those things to death. Seeking the grave of the things that haunt us.
Just like with Hell Walker, Alex wrote the vast majority of the lyrics for Grave Seeker. Sean and I gave him the story perspective and told him the stories that the songs were written about, but gave him freedom to write about what he wanted. For Alex, some of these songs have a deeper personal meaning for him, more than what was intended when we first gave him the initial direction.
Story Perspective: Hell Walker ended with an instrumental song called “Time of the Witcher.”
Tyrael has fought many demons; now he must descend into hell to fight the source. He has trained a group of humans to keep fighting the good fight here on Earth. As Tyrael descends into the depths, it is now the “Time of the Witcher”
The story now takes a leap forward in time; Tyrael is gone, and the small number of the humans he helped and trained up are given the name “The Swords of Tyrael.” They each go their own separate ways and continue on the work that Tyrael trained them to do.
1. No End In Sight:
Even after healing and finding closure to old hurts, sometimes those things come back to try and haunt us. It can feel like these things will never go away, especially if we feel like we have already dealt with this. Forgiveness, renewing your mind, and standing in truth can sometimes be a daily thing. Sometimes each and every day we must again choose to forgive those that hurt us. Sometimes we must choose every single day to let go of the past.
Story Perspective – With Tyrael now gone, having descended into hell to confront the source of the demons, he has left a group of his disciples, humans, to continue his work on earth. This group who become known as “The Swords of Tyrael.” They separate, and each travels in a different direction across the earth to continue the mission of confronting demons and renewing the hope of mankind.
One of them becomes overwhelmed, looking at what must be done; there is no end in sight to the mission. They start to doubt and begin giving back into the lies they used to believe about themselves. They remember what they have been through and what Tyrael had taught them. They refocus their mind and hold on to truth. Regardless of the doubt, regardless of the cost, regardless of the fear. There is a mission that must be done.
2. Darkened Soul:
Struggling with self-worth is normal; it is very easy to believe the bad things about ourselves and very difficult to believe the positive things about ourselves.
Story Perspective: Another one of Tyrael’s Swords struggles with the mission, although not with feeling overwhelmed at the task at hand. They question their own soul and if they are actually worthy to be called a “Sword of Tyrael.” They have defeated demons, both their own and others', and yet they still feel as if their soul is too dark to truly be worthy of the call. They recognize that how they view themselves could very easily give a foothold in their life to another demon, and it does.
The demon tells him he is not worthy and that life will forever be a struggle of fighting the demons; there is no end. There will always be a foothold, a problem, a hurt of some kind. The demons do not tire, and they want nothing more than to destroy and torment all of mankind for eternity.
This, however, backfires as the Sword remembers the words of Tyrael: “You are not a sick person fighting to become well. You are a healthy and whole person fighting off sickness.” The Sword defeats another of his demons by remembering that he is not defined by the past, but by who they became and the choices he makes in the future. They will continue the fight for as long as is required.
3. Bittersweet – A continuation of the song Holy Fire off of our album Hell Walker:
From Hell Walker Breathing the Core – “Holy Fire – People come and go from our lives; even our closest friends may take a different path than us in life, and we move on, drifting apart. Sometimes we have falling-outs that end friendships or relationships. And then there are those precious few people who have parallel lives to us, whose spirits resonate with our own callings in life; that resonance we like to call the “Holy Fire”
The song Holy Fire is actually about several people. The song Bittersweet is a focus on just one of those people and looking back on the past relationship that they had to let go of. Even right decisions can be hard and painful.
Story Perspective: One of Tyrael’s Swords remembers the love he had to leave behind. He and his significant other were living a destructive lifestyle, tormented by their demons when Tyrael found them. At the time, his significant other was not ready to fully give up what was needed, but the Sword knew it had to be done and move on to a better life. This created contention and strife within their relationship as the two started living different lifestyles.
Eventually, he had to let her go and move on without her. His love for her remains, and he continues to hope and pray that she will find the healing she needs. He knows it was the right decision to leave; he accepts the pain and consequences of his choice.
4. Fire From The Sky:
One of the few songs where I wrote the lyrics. About a real situation I went through. I wrote about this in another interview, so I am going to copy and paste that response. “...Track 4 on the new album Grave Seeker. It's one of the few songs that I wrote the lyrics for. It's about a person who had no business being a leader, had no real-life experience, and ended up hurting a lot of people.
They were a leader at a religious organization. They were very arrogant and self-righteous. They truly believed they had the answer for everyone in every situation. I have found that this can often be the case in people who have never truly been broken, who have never actually dealt with the harsh realities that life brings us. Their advice never sat right with me, and I always worried about others who went to them with their struggles.
In the end, they were called out by another leader, rightfully so in my opinion, for many reasons. As they were removed from their position, they became spiteful and hate-filled. They lied, gossiped, and slandered anyone who dared to try and hold them accountable. They tried to get as many people as they could on their side. They left a trail of destruction in their wake and ended up really hurting a lot of people. They were fake, false, and had no real love in their heart. They were in love with their position and their authority, and they loved being praised by others, and they felt they deserved it. For the fantasy story perspective, I wrote it about a “false prophet” who is lying to the masses, and one of Tyrael’s Witchers comes across him and calls him out for the fake that he is. Explaining that he has actually battled the demons and has actually dealt with evil, and this false prophet is nothing but a fake who has no idea what he's actually talking about.
The false bravado of lies can never stand to the authority of authenticity. “
If you are interested in the story perspective, this song was the basis for the novella written by author Lilla Glass. It is a free download for anyone who purchases the Grave Seeker album on Bandcamp.
5. The Serpents Demise:
In our mission to love and help others, we must never fall into the trap of pride. We must always remain humble and teachable.
Story Perspective – The strongest of all the Swords of Tyrael makes his way to a port town where he faces off against a terribly strong demon that takes the form of a giant sea serpent. The Sword of Tyrael has delivered fatal blow after fatal blow, and yet the demon lives. He realizes that the demon is feeding on his own pride. His pride in his own strength is keeping the demon alive. Only after humbling himself, and remembering where he came from, and what he used to be, is he able to finally vanquish the demon serpent.
6. The Summoning:
Tragedy, hurt, pain, and suffering can change us. Often we think healing means going back to who we were before those things happened. The truth is, you are not that person anymore. Often you won't be the same person after going through trials or hardships, and trying to be that person again is not the answer. This does not mean that scars must remain or that we are forever negatively changed by our life situations or choices. It means those situations should grow us and make us stronger.
Story Perspective: A girl is tormented by a demon who lies to her and tells her that if she completes certain ritual summonings to bring more demons, he will leave her alone and erase her memory of all the hardship and suffering she has gone through, and she can be who she used to be before hurt and suffering entered her life.
One of Tyrael’s Swords intervenes and tells the girl that bringing more demons into her life will not solve the problems that demons have already created. That being who she used to be before is not actually what she should be searching for. What she should be “summoning” is the strength and courage to face her trials.
7. Search For The Cure:
A continuation of the song Descent on our first album, Hell Walker. Story Perspective – The young man who learned how to forgive his father for abandoning the family takes the next step to try and have a relationship with his father. It does not go well; the father chooses to remain distant and seemingly uncaring toward his son.
Now the real test comes. It was hard to let go of the hurt and forgive his father, but now, faced with rejection yet again, he feels that maybe he was right to hate his father all along. One of Tyrael’s Swords happens to enter this man's life and reminds him that forgiveness isn’t about the other person being sorry; it's about letting go of the poison of hate within ourselves.
8. Ethereal – A continuation of the song The Inferno off of Hell Walker:
From Hell Walker Breathing the Core - “The Inferno – We all have made poor choices in our lives that we have come to regret as we grow older. Owning up to those poor choices is part of growing up. We must accept the responsibility of those choices and the hurt it has caused ourselves and others.
However, we cannot live in shame and guilt; we cannot be whole and complete people if we continue to punish ourselves for the ignorance of our youth. It is a fine line not allowing what others think of us to dictate how we feel about ourselves and thus, dictate our actions, while at the same time, respecting the fact that others may have legitimate grievances against us. Sometimes others want us to hate ourselves because of what they feel we have done to them. Even if it is true, to have a repentant heart in those things does not mean that we must punish ourselves to fix or “balance” the issue.
A great story of redemption. Being able to admit your faults and failures and own up to them, but not let it affect your character or the view you hold of yourself. Sometimes those we have wronged have a hard time forgiving us, and we have to be okay with that. All we can do is make amends for our wrongdoings and be truly sorry and repentant.
However, that's not enough for some people sometimes. They will hold things against us and continue to remind us about how we have wronged them or others. This can feel like you're in “enemy territory” when others around you feel this way about you. But taking those hits and not making excuses for what happened, while also not allowing others to hold those things over you, is a very powerful place to be mentally and emotionally.
Story Perspective: A Sword of Tyrael steps into the ethereal realm to speak to an already defeated demon before the demon is forced back into hell. Seeking information only this demon knows. The demon states that the Sword is in a place where they have no authority and cannot force the demon to reveal the sought-after information. As demons tend to do, it begins accusing the Sword of all the wrongs he has ever committed in his life. The Sword simply starts naming off all of his faults and failures along with the demon and shows that none of that affects him anymore. The demon, unsure of what to do and realizing that the Sword does take authority in the ethereal realm, reveals the information.
9. Impossible Decisions:
Saying “YES” to something almost always means saying “NO” to something else. In this world, we seldom get to “have our cake and eat it too.” Sometimes we are faced with decisions that are mutually exclusive to each other and once we make a choice, we don’t get to change it. So how do you deal with the regret of making a decision you can’t change? What happens when neither decision is actually bad or good, and there isn’t a defined right or wrong answer? What if there is a wrong answer but you didn’t realize it was wrong until after you already made it?
Story Perspective – A man who had been saved and healed by Tyrael continues to travel with the angel and his disciple. However, although he has defeated his demons, he is not fully ready to change his life and give up some of the things in his past; this leaves a pathway open for the demons to return. Tyrael offers to make the man a “Sword of Tyrael,” but after realizing that he would have to truly give up his old life, the man declines.
Years later, this man runs into one of the Swords of Tyrael he used to travel with. Filled with regret, the man asks his old friend if there is any way he could still become a Sword of Tyrael. Seeing that the man is still unwilling to change his old ways, the Sword is honest with him, telling him that he cherishes their friendship and the time they spent together, but that it is not possible, as Tyrael is the only one who can bestow that blessing, and Tyrael is now gone. No one knows when, or if, Tyrael will ever return.
10. Fragmented Pieces:
What happens when you have beaten addiction, or changed your life for the better, but a parent, a loved one, an authority figure, or someone you respect disagrees with your life change? How do you handle that relationship moving forward? We must learn to have patience and understanding with them. Not striking back in anger, but accepting that they have a right to feel what they are feeling.
Story Perspective: One of Tyrael’s Swords has had a very successful mission. Defeated several demons that terrorized an entire village. However, there continues to be demonic activity in the village; it is then learned that the village elder never got rid of his demon. He secretly held on to it, unable to let go of his own misery. The village is angry and distraught, now fearing that if the village elder won't defeat his demon, it will give rise to all the other demons, or new demons, coming into the village.
The Sword of Tyrael, however, does not respond in anger. They hold out their hand and say, “This is to be expected at times. I will stand with you at this cliffside, holding your hand through this; we will wait for the sun to come.” Seeing his compassionate response. The villagers' anger subsides, and one by one they join in, standing alongside their leader to help him overcome.
11. Tears:
No matter how much you love someone, or how badly you want them to change, need them to change, want to see victory in their life. It will always come down to their choice and decision to make the changes necessary in their life. The truth is, unfortunately, that not everyone will make the correct choices, and we can’t force them to. Sometimes all you can do is cry for them.
Story Perspective: A sword of Tyrael has spent a long time mentoring someone who turned out to never actually take to heart the teachings or lessons. The Sword then sees their apprentice be fully consumed by their demons. Feeling a range of emotions from anger to sorrow to grief. In the end, shedding tears for someone who refuses to change is all you can do.
12. Tyrael’s Curse – Instrumental:
The story changes scenes, and we are now back with Tyrael as he has entered hell; the song starts with a creepy hopelessness... then ends in full evil, chaotic destruction...
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