Album Notes

The album opens with the song ‘Dismissed’, a literary allusion to the poem 'Das Lied von der Glocke' by Friedrich von Schiller. The German poet is directly credited in the body of the song. Additionally, Schiller's most familiar philosophical concept is uttered and tied in to the song’s concept of youth in revolt and spiritual death by the conformity of adulthood. Just as church bells were once forged into canons in times of war, the school bell is made into a handgun and the calls to prayer and education now call people to death. Note the demented bell tolls played on the guitar, particularly at the song’s close.

This sets the pace for the material to follow which is heavily informed by classical German philosophy and poetry. That said, human suffering facilitated by modern society is a common theme, however, so is hope. The lyrics are essential to Compact Deity’s musical style. Wordplay is also central to the writing where sentences are deliberately constructed to lend themselves to duality in meaning and different interpretations.

Guitar sounds are often used to help evoke the imagery of the songs as in the above example. This is a clever and effective detail in Compact Deity's music. Some songs swirl with textured layers of guitars; others are hypnotic and inspire a relaxing introspective trance (note the album title). The deep voiced vocals appropriately express the mood and add some darkness. But, make no mistake, Compact Deity rocks and never forgets to do so. The album is laden with awesome, high octane, face melting rock guitar riffs complete with skillful solos not heard in rock music for a very long time. The electro-industrial dance beats may inspire dancing. The lyrics could get you thinking. Or, just turn it up loud and rock out.