What a strange weekend THAT was. For two days I was immersed in the studio with J.J. Flash (a.k.a. Rob Joeckel ).
Now as a conceptualist, I need a support team. If I was Marilyn Manson, I'd have my Twiggy Ramirez. If I was Meatloaf, I'd have my Jim Steinman. However, I have neither. Twiggy was more of a muse, Steinman was more of the key collaborator. The more I look back at last weekend, the more I see I may have found my Steinman.
What am I getting at? Ok. In those two days in the heat of the summer, we built a masterpiece of a skeleton. Never have I fallen in love with the mere raw dump of unmixed tracks. I usually go home and hate it for weeks. The first version was so....not there. I KNEW the first tracks we recorded last December would eat at me, so I went in with the idea to scrap pretty much everything but the drums and the second verse and chorus. Nope. We practically rebuilt it ALL.
Before I bore you with details, with which you still would have no idea about what I'm blathering about, let me try to describe in words the ride this mere instrumental takes you on.
From the start, you're hit with a loud, slow throbbing gong type sound. Behind it a very crystalline tone resonates and fades into a reverse bell rift (eerie bells played backwards). Heartbeats begin midway then culminate to a moment of silence. It may scare some. Rather horror film style if you ask me. This was built for the intro speech. Then the strong dark string section kicks in. Nothing but heartbeats for percussion along with the strings. By the second verse, a rather unique and funky high hat beat slams in with Elfman-esque bells while eerie choir-ish moans linger in the back. That's before you even get to the first bridge.
This is a mere taste of a tune so full of mysticism, that my unknowing engineer turned to me and said "it's almost as if we were channeling something..." . I smirked when I realized he had no actual clue what this song was about. "Consecrate-Anthem of the athame", I feel, is destined to become one of the great occult anthems of our time. Covens would play it before ceremonies and high holidays. Sort of a mystical carol of the sabbats... Be they dark, light or gray.
The song is different than "Darkside". Much slower in beat and somber in tone, yet with an air of the magickal within. It's sultry, sexy and alluring. It's sensual, dark and mysterious. It's ending will make you want to do one of three things: strike a christ-like pose and hope to fly, fall to your knees and pray, or cry as it's heavy choir operatic ending and J.J. Flash's surreal guitars carry your mind away. All this from a rough instrumental I'm so flabbergasted with, I'm afraid to sing to it.
J.J. Flash: Hats off to you sir... Although you tell me I could be doing this myself in D'Sari Studios back at D.C.P.I., you were able to keep me grounded and centered when I wanted to go way to far or push the envelope into the land of cheesy. THAT'S why I won't go without you. I'd like you to be my Jim Steinman. Walk the path with me, Mr. Joeckel. It's a long journey, but I think you're the man to have along for it.