I have already written about the concept behind this song and how it symbolizes real-life fears with Apeirophobia part 1. The two were originally one long song, but I decided to split them up for better pacing of the album. The whole thing tells a better story that way. Part 2 is really the development, where the imagination can finally take all the fears of daily life and put them into fiction, make something exciting and adventurous out of them.

This part deepens the experience of the alien and unknown. With the beginning verses I imagine ancient things hurtling through the void of space for millions of years. As the song progresses, think of exploring cavernous, subterranean ruins of older beings. What might you find there? Are there still living, breathing things lurking in the darkness, or just the ghosts of a long-dead epoch casting shadows amongst the cyclopean stones adorned with strange reliefs…

This one continues use of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” chord progression and I am really proud of how the guitars express that with implied chords, rather than in full harmony. Even though this song is in standard tuning, there are some real head-banging riffs in here (the “choruses”, the bridge, and especially the post-solo breakdown). Being the first song to be completed, it really pushed my limits in terms of playing and recording. I actually completely re-recorded all the guitar and bass tracks 3 times and completely re-input all the drums as I learned how to get better sound and as my playing improved. The solo is also one of the first ones that I ever through-composed. My whole life I have struggled with improvisation versus composition. So much of my life I felt that the only true expression was improvised and so my solos were always done that way. But I think being so rigid held me back and prevented me from integrating new things into my playing. Finally I forced myself to plan a solo start to finish and execute it as well as I could. I feel really proud of it and think it has greatly expanded my potential for the future.