MidKnight Gallery

There are songs that settle me. Make me happy. There are songs that make me want to dance.There are songs that pick me up and carry me, pump me up, feed me with energy and determination. Fuel me.

Alongside songs such as Bring me to Life by Evanescence, and Stand my Ground by Within Temptation, The Cruxshadows have contributed more than their fair share in the latter category. Citadel. Winterborn (my Sacrifice). Sophia.

Rarer is the song that not only lifts me, but straps wings on, lights the fuel and takes off into the clouds, the audible sensation of flight at the edge of a hypersonic flight envelope. Red Sector A by Rush is one such song, Immortal by the Cruxshadows another.

So, it’s labor day weekend, and the Cruxshadows kicked off their US tour at Dragon*Con again. This of course means there’s another single due.

With their latest single release, Quicksilver, they’ve done it again. The title track may or may not take my overall “favorite” slot from Eye of the Storm, but I can imagine it hitting me with the same energy and impact Immortal did when I heard it for the first time opening the concert at last year’s con (missed this one, drat it…).

Stylistically it feels more like a lighter, more upbeat Marilyn my Bitterness, with the power chords toned down, the synths turned up, and their signature violin mostly AWOL. Nevertheless, the arching introductory keyboards get you moving, and the driving refrain and beat will carry you through anything.

The “edit” track won’t make it to my iPod. It’s a solid, shorter mix, of Quicksilver, but not stylistically different enough to justify the precious space. The “remix” track (apparently mistakenly named “Avalanche” at both the Amazon MP3 and iTunes download stores) is long, but worth it, with a trippy -trancy take on the tune, and an opening that reminds me of the intro to Daft Punk’s “Harder Better Faster Stronger.”

Avalanche is solid, lyrical, and has more violins. I seem to be in the minority of of the Amazon reviews in preferring the title track to Avalanche, but it’s a solid, lyrical, song with a variety of musical textures that will stay on my iPod.

Roland is the oddball track – a slow, sad ballad with a haunting piano opening leading into an quiet, retrospective song.

All in all, this is exactly what I’ve come to expect from their past albums: craft, depth, energy, and themes of responsibility, valor, heroism, and myth.

Posted via email from Musings and Murmurings

A crash of sound, metal and drums beat in a dancing rhythm as an ethereal violin sounds a sad and stern sirens call, drifting in and out of the onrushing music like a goddess of war, spurring it on while keeping order.

Welcome to the music of the CruxShadows.

The band, hailing from northern Florida, produces goth music, a genre known for bizarre makeup, black clothing, and spikey hair, as well as depressing songs. This has only gotten worse, as Marilyn-Manson-like, many goth wanna-be’s followed the nihilistic footsteps of industrial bands such as Ministry and Skinny Puppy. Even Evanescence, which I love, with its strain of hope and salvation, cries its pain from the depths of despair. This is why, with few exceptions, I don’t listen to much of the stuff anymore. I have no need for this level of despair and destruction in my life or as a mood setting.

Some bands followed in the footsteps of the Sisters of Mercy, and took a more danceable route, wandering into a more electronic soundscape. This base, along with a love of poetry, a sure touch, and a violin, gets translated into an epic feel with a beat you can enjoy. Best of all, while the music is dark and driving, it is not so heavily rooted in despair. Perhaps the best example is my first introduction to their music, the song Winterborn (My Sacrifice). It deals with laying down your life to save those that you love, and the heroism of ordinary people. Like the poetry of Rudyard Kipling, it resonates strongly with those I know in the military who have heard it, and even the ones who aren’t partial to the music appreciate the words:

Dry your eyes and quietly bear this pain with pride
For heaven shall remember the silent and the brave
And promise me they will never see, the fear within our eyes
(my eyes are closed)
We will give strength to those who still remain

So bury fear, for fate draws near
And hide the signs of pain
With noble acts, the bravest souls
Endure the heart’s remains
Discard regret, that in this debt
A better world is made
That children of a newer day might remember
And avoid our fate

and:

Hold your head up high-for there is no greater love
Think of the faces of the people you defend
(you defend)
And promise me, they will never see the tears within our eyes
(my eyes are closed)
Although we are men, with mortal sins, angels never cry

and:

And in my dying
I’m more alive, than I have ever been
I will make this sacrifice
For I am Winter-born

Over at Eaglespeak, an excerpt from a poem was posted. While I hadn’t personally run across it before, it’s a piece that spoke to me, and indeed, qualifies as “Words of Wisdom”:

A father sees a son nearing manhood.
What shall he tell that son?
Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.’
And this might stand him for the storms
and serve him for humdrum and monotony
and guide him amid sudden betrayals
and tighten him for slack moments.
‘Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.’
And this too might serve him.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
The growth of a frail flower in a path up
has sometimes shattered and split a rock.
A tough will counts. So does desire.
So does a rich soft wanting.
Without rich wanting nothing arrives.
Tell him too much money has killed men
And left them dead years before burial:
The quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs
Has twisted good enough men
Sometimes into dry thwarted worms.
Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.
Tell him to be a fool every so often
and to have no shame over having been a fool
yet learning something out of every folly
hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
thus arriving at intimate understanding
of a world numbering many fools.

Tell him to be alone often and get at himself
and above all tell himself no lies about himself
whatever the white lies and protective fronts
he may use amongst other people.
Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong
and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.
Tell him to be different from other people
if it comes natural and easy being different.
Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.
Let him seek deep for where he is a born natural.
Then he may understand Shakespeare
and the Wright brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov,
Michael Faraday and free imaginations
Bringing changes into a world resenting change.
He will be lonely enough
to have time for the work
he knows as his own.