A few notes about As Time Turns To Dust
Some reviewers have asked questions about our new album. So I thought I could publish a few notes and details about it, that could also be interesting for our friends and fans eagerly waiting for the release. :)
First things first : the line-up. There has not been much change about it. Tristan Demurger, bass player of our first album, came back to replace Xavier Corrientes who wanted to focus on his own projects after moving from Paris to Normandy. About choir vocals, Camille left and became lead singer of Nereids, so we had the pleasure to welcome Ninia and Azadé in the Dark Whispers Choir to sing with Ségolène and Carole. For the rest, including visual styling (Vultus), the team is exactly the same.
As for the general style of the album, we are using even more orchestra than before, with more cinematic landscapes and heroic counterparts through the songs. (If you want a fun fact : on one of the songs (I won't tell which one, ha ha), I thought : 'Wow, Batman joined us !') So, well, we are very proud of the orchestral arrangements. As usual, let me remind that this is real orchestra composing, meaning that we use all parts of a real orchestra : strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion and so on, giving our sound that "philharmonic orchestra" touch that is so important to us.
Of course, technically speaking, Whyzdom is made of memorable melodies that will hopefully stick in your mind, but still with an constant search for harmonic surprise - with frequent modulations (change of harmonic key from major to minor for example). That's why we know that *some* listeners may find them complicated and feel lost (that's why Whyzdom choir are very complicated to learn - Sego, Carole, Ninia and Azade will confirm this). This is normal, because many of us are used to constant harmonic key (with a 2 semitones shift at the end of the song, ha ha ! - musicians will know what I mean). In Whyzdom case, my advice is to listen to the album several times, before finding your way... then your brain will anticipate the changes and from then on, you might find usual static harmonic songs on mainstream radio... boring. But that's another story. On the other hand, if you already know Whyzdom well, and love previous albums, normally you're already used to that, and this one should work instantly for you !
A few words about the concept and the lyrics : it all started with a latin verse : 'Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris'. Which is the equivalent of 'Dust to dust' in english. I wrote a choir part with the latin words, and was inspired by it for the rest of the album. While writing lyrics, I thought that not even mankind would turn to dust in the end, but even Time itself. That's the origin of the title : 'As Time Turns To Dust'. It reminds us that mankind is just a grain of sand in the whole universe, and while we have our own wars and stakes on this small planet, there's a huge larger plot going on around us : the universe itself. But enough 'philosophy for dummies', and back to our own world problems. In several songs, the concepts of 'dust' and 'mist' were used, that evoke the fragility and naivety of human kind. But facing naivety and innocence, there's always a reminder of how monstrous, self centered, and even criminal, men can be - especially through politics and religion. Finally, in most of the songs, hope remains... as long as we're able to reject hate. After all, we're nothing but angels banned from the Garden of Eden, we just forgot that we have wings hidden in our heart.
Let me conclude with a choir part that I like a lot from the song "Fly Away" :
Anges, exilés de l'Eden, condamnés à ramper
Loin des nuages loin des étoiles loin du ciel
Oubliez les promesses de vos dieux infidèles
La liberté n'est qu’à quelques pensées de vos ailes
Déployez-les sans peur irréelles en vos cœurs
Elles valent bien mieux que leurs promesses
Homme, envole-toi vers le ciel bien plus haut que les statues
Des dieux figés de marbre et les cathédrales de pierre
(eng - sorry for the very difficult translation, as these are typical french verses)
Angels, exiled from Eden, condemned to crawl
Far from the clouds, far from the stars, far from the sky
Forget the promises of your disloyal gods
Freedom is just a few thoughts away from your wings
Spread them without fear, unreal inside your heart
They're worth so much more than their promises
Man, fly away toward the sky, so much higher than the statues
of frozen marble gods and stone cathedrals
-Vynce
Nouvelles dates -
Stay tuned !
