Download “The Forbidden Library”
Story
April 6, 2008- This is very much my contribution to the sort of fantasy/sci-fi genre of lyric matter that you see out of a lot of power metal bands. Except this isn’t really a pwoer metal type of song at all, being that I very much lack the guitar skill to do something like that. Other fun notes:
- Getting a decent distorted guitar sound continues to elude me. I’m unconvinced that “lots of treble, crank the distortion” is the answer. This particular sound is..not great, but better than when I went with the super high-frequency saturated route.
- The title of the song comes from a discussion on the Snopes Message Boards. I forget how it came up, but I noted that it would make a good title for a song, and then, well, took it as such and went and wrote the lyrics.
- This is also my first time experimenting with doing something resembling actual production on the vocals–I added a touch of reverb to them, and whether it was that or the sound card/preamp combo I used, the result is a lot cleaner sound quality-wise than my previous vocal attempts to this point.
- Speaking of vocals, I was attempting to go for a sort of droning quality to them, which is why there’s a barely audible harmony track throughout it that goes below the main melody line. Interestingly, my main influence for that–Dream Theater’s “In the Presence of Enemies Part II”, used only one vocal track in the specific line I was trying to take the influence from, to my surprise.
- I originally picked this tempo because I had a very specific idea for the song that required it to be at roughly this tempo. I’ve since scrapped that idea, and so the final version will likely end up quite a bit slower, to keep more in line with the Alice in Chains feel I have in mind for it.
Lyrics
Walk through the castle
On a quest for knowledge
Unlock the passage
That leads to ancient tomes
Look through the bookshelves
Seeking hidden wisdom
Open the cover
In here I’ve found my home
Sealed writings
Grant me knowledge
Locked by the elders
To keep us in the dark
Teach me science
How to think for myself
I read the pages
My revelation starts now
Grabbing more literature
Sit down on the floor
Absorb the written words
Why were they locked away?
Presented danger
To the hierarchy
Control the commoners
They must not have a say
Sealed writings
Grant me knowledge
Locked by the elders
To keep us in the dark
Teach me science
How to think for myself
I read the pages
My revelation starts now
Continue reading
About ancient inventions
I take the power
The books have granted me
The long-lost secrets
I’ll show my fellow peasants
A new utopia
The revolution I see
Then I hear footsteps
And the creak of hinges
Race to the entrance
And find they’ve locked the door
Barred from the outside
Not to open again
Passion for learning
Trapped here forevermore..
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