ETERNITY SPEAKS

At last, freed of our Earthly lives, our matter drifts perhaps for an eternity through a literal infinity. Through the grand beauty of the universe, we will be possibly absorbed, burned for star-fuel, blasted onward, carried by the solar winds, and maybe even come to rest again on a new world. The trumpet-like guitar synths express that I feel this is a new adventure, an ultimate freedom. A celebration of death and rebirth in a natural sense without the nonsense of religious myth.






One with the silent darkness

these silver hallowed halls

one with this sanctuary

release thy need to be


Reach out to solar fortress

lose id and fragile ego

Embrace cosmic cathedral

a grain of stardust borne




Please support and buy this recording at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download


2021 Update:

When Bitter Spring Sleeps "Transmigration" is available now at PaganFlames.com and Bandcamp.


FROM SOIL TO STARS

The first part of this track is somwhat bombastic to represent the violent end of the Earth, with chanting, funereal monk-like vocals in many layers. Then, lots of oohs and aahs to give it a very surreal, ambient, spacey drifting feel. The metal aspect of the music itself demonstrates my love of incredible doom acts like SOLITUDE AETURNUS. I tried my damnedest to make the guitar riffing majestic and polished, like the aforementioned doom gods. Whether I achieved that is up to you to decide, of course.

The lyrical content represents our literal transition from decayed matter in the soil of Earth to be ejected into space when the planet dies with our star Sol. I see this not as a bad thing at all, but a complete freeing from our physical prison to the greatest journey of all. Really, none of us will ever experience the vastness of the raw universe while still alive, so this will be the next best thing. Some part of YOU will someday become life
or at least simple matter on another world.


 
Borne in the star-light

Time for your soul

to be called once again

Transtellar sorceries

carry solar wind

to be sighed for all time

Spawn cold new worlds

Distant hearts laid to seed

Sown far from home



Please support and buy this recording at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download


ASTRAL BLOOD

This track is closer to what When Bitter Spring Sleeps wrote for the Spirit in Flames album in that it is fast, powerful, and anthemic. I suppose if you knew the words, you could sing along. It's not speed metal, but it demonstrates my love for fast, driving metal. Though, Astral Blood still maintains the choral vocal style of the rest of Star-Thrown and uses many different guitar synth layers to keep the thrashing nice and smooth like a flight among the stars.

The lyrics of Astral Blood concern our cosmic ancestry. We were not created by some giant man-god, but from the matter of dying stars. This is SCIENCE, people. Deal with it.



Please support and buy this recording at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download


2021 Update:

When Bitter Spring Sleeps "Transmigration" is available now at PaganFlames.com and Bandcamp.

LOST AMIDST THIS MOONLIT VERDURE

This track is a departure from the rest of the album in that it deals entirely with Earthly life. Namely, a single moth. The lyrics take us on a journey through a moth's eyes as he follows the moon on a warm summer evening. It is believed that moths use the moon to guide them, and are attracted to lightbulbs and fire because they are confused that these items are actually the moon. Perhaps that is an evolutionary flaw that will one day be their undoing.
Regardless, I felt the song had to be quite melancholy because the idea of a moth being attracted to his own death is a sad, sad thing. This track is slow and wandering to mimic the whirling path of the little creature, with a spacious, gothic feel to represent the overwhelming size and dark green depths of the night forest verdure. I used a smaller number of voices on this track to give it a more lonely feel. But, some lyrics are harmonized to keep consistent with the sound of the rest of the album.



Please support and buy this recording at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download


2021 Update:

When Bitter Spring Sleeps "Transmigration" is available now at PaganFlames.com and Bandcamp.

COSMICATHEDRALUMINATION

Space. A lot of bands have already explored this topic. And that's fine with me. Star-Thrown does not explore space in a science-fiction sense, however. The concept behind the first song entitled CosmiCathedraLumination is part science, part personal belief. It sums up my perspective, that while I DO NOT believe in an afterlife, eternal life, or anything of the sort, I DO believe that I am part of the universe and will continue to exist as part of the universe even after I have died. And when the sun dies, the Earth ends, and everything that we know as Nature, will be thrown to stars. There's a possibility that something from Earth will one day create life on other worlds. Now, that is all just science, of course, and that's not very interesting for art.

So, I instead used the song to create an atmosphere that I'd imagined - A Comic Cathedral. That of the universe as a spiritual place made up of both reality and spirit. I conjured my version of space ambient. I conjured my version of a literal cloister of monks chanting the lyrics. All of this surrounded by Earthly metal, of course. Because I really like metal.

The lyrics will not be in the CD booklet because I wanted this album to be much more obscure and amorphous. So, with this in mind I was able to create many of my own words and experimental phrasing. At one point, I thought to make every song title one long blended word similar to "CosmiCathedraLumination", but that felt a bit silly. So, please feel free to create your own words when hearing the track and experience your own Cosmic Cathedral Illumination.




Please support and buy this recording at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download


2021 Update:

When Bitter Spring Sleeps "Transmigration" is available now at PaganFlames.com and Bandcamp.


MASTERED AND OFF TO THE PRESS

Mastering of STAR-THROWN was performed by the almighty Andrew D'Cagna, owner/engineer at Sacred Sound Recording and Mastering as well as member of such amazing acts as OBSEQUIAE, NECHOCHWEN, IRONFLAME, and COLDFELLS.



I received the mastered audio files for STAR-THROWN and I am very pleased with the result. Andrew did a fantastic job making each instrument clear and the sound is huge and expansive. He really brought out the bass, making the overall sound much fuller and warmer than I predicted. I know space is supposed to cold and dead, but I was searching for a warmer, more inviting atmosphere. The cosmos not a dead thing, but an expanding, beautiful birthing place of stars and all manners of life. I wanted the sound to reflect my perspective of reaching infinity both in life and death. It's not a matter of how we will get to space, because we are already part of it. And it's not a question of  IF we will be one day thrown to the stars, but a question of WHEN.  


Please support and buy this recording at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download


2021 Update:

When Bitter Spring Sleeps "Transmigration" is available now at PaganFlames.com and Bandcamp.

NONE OF THIS IS REAL ANYWAY

I've never had a problem with the use of drum loops or artificial drums. A lot of the music I enjoy use "fake" drums and it doesn't matter in the least to me. I like a beat, that's it. I don't care too much about flashy musicianship - solos or otherwise - from any instrument, since I've always been too interested in the song itself, or the atmosphere and emotion created by music. I've always viewed solos as an artist just trying to outperform others like this is some sort of organized sport. It's great that some artists become skilled at their instruments to the point that they can outperform others, but that sort of thing is never memorable. It's always that simple, catchy melody that you remember, not the million-note solo in the middle.


Please support and buy When Bitter Spring Sleeps - STAR-THROWN album at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download


2021 Update:

When Bitter Spring Sleeps "Transmigration" is available now at PaganFlames.com and Bandcamp.

PERFECT ISN'T ALWAYS PERFECT


The Peavey Windsor head I use to record guitar trax.

Great production can only take you so far. It's an immediate and momentary response when you hear an album and it sounds incredible. You think, "that sounds amazing!" But, the next time you listen, the newness of that great sound is gone, so now you're looking for skilled musicianship or emotion or a catchy tune, or whatever. If that is there, then you'll keep coming back, but if it's nothing but a perfect production recording of a boring bit of music, you'll stop coming back to it. A good song, with emotion will bring you back to enjoy the experience again and again.

2021 Update:

When Bitter Spring Sleeps "Transmigration" is available now at PaganFlames.com and Bandcamp.

SOUNDS COMING SOON

 
I used only guitars and vocals to create the melodies on STAR-THROWN even though I wanted lots of synth atmospheres, but I am not skilled at all on a keyboard. So I used a guitar synth on all of the tracks and also recorded sometimes up to four vocal harmonies in a song. I had an idea for a Cosmic Cathedral sound, of sorts and I believe that I achieved what I had imagined. I tried for a chanting monk vocal sound backed with drifting synth harmonies and powerful metal guitar and drum backdrops. The songs are varied in style, from fast black metal to trance-inducing Summoning anthems, to classic doom metal. But, in all, I maintained the new vocal style, to keep it all cohesive but unique. I avoided use of any vocal harmonizer software or hardware to generate the harmonies. I wanted each voice to sound distinct and completely human so I made sure to record each voice at different times using slightly different setups. 


Please support and buy When Bitter Spring Sleeps - STAR-THROWN album at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download

STAR-THROWN CONCEPT


All previous WBSS albums contained unifying concepts told through mythical tales. The concept for Star-Thrown is much less specific, but all the tracks share my belief that nature does not end at the Earth's horizon. She is merely a part of the universe and all of Nature was previously part of dying stars. All of this will someday be destroyed, transformed, and reformed into new matter. When the mighty Earth is consumed by our dying sun, everything will be thrown to the universe on a possible path to rebirth as new lifeforms or merely inanimate matter. These songs tell a tale of destruction, transformation, and rebirth on a cosmic scale.

Please support and buy When Bitter Spring Sleeps - STAR-THROWN album at these links:
--Digipak CD
--Digital Download
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