The Arcani have everything—and still, they want more. Roxas sees their joy fray into desperation, their power feed into fear. Anthromancer watches it all. Ylias calls it a test. But Roxas feels only sickness in the Dragoon Destiny. He speaks his doubts aloud. Ylias tells him to walk alone.

In Mercenarium, Avarice lets you steal mercenaries—even freshly summoned ones—defying normal rules. In Dragonfruit, it symbolizes desire and temptation, but also warns: unchecked craving hollows the soul. True joy fades when consumption becomes the end itself.

Sonically, this is the album’s most accessible track: synth-pop with an 80s beat, regal, haunted, forward-driving. Jason 'Kermit' Jennings co-composed it in a live session that birthed three tracks back to back. Where's the secret tone, though?

LYRICS

Give all you hold to your stars
Form the stories of your halls
Keep them from the cold
I say, to save is suicide
Falling up, there’s nowhere to hide

Inherit this, Avarice
Ignore the stone, you’re all alone
What bliss

So do what you must
Lose what you trust
Use what you’ve got to give 
If justice lives
Then it’s rusted shut with Avarice

It’s all beautiful, what they’ve made fall
So adore, break through, anew
A lonely light, shining bright
Must have roots, or it’s useless

Inherit this, Avarice,
Ignore the stone, you’re all alone

So do what you must
Lose what you trust
Use what you’ve got to give
If justice lives
Then it’s rusted shut with Avarice

Avarice

Cursory glance
To deliberate blinds
The realities of the knowing eyes
Pushed me to move
Rearrange a few lies
Love showered me in praise left me to dry

Prodigy child 
To prodigal son
The fascination in “be all but one”
Left me to be
Mediocre at some
Couldn’t take it alone
But couldn’t give up the gun

Now everything is so heavy
Heavy on my mind
Wanna say I’m not ready
But time isn’t mine
Try to keep it steady
And hold on tight
But everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time

Love of a child
To love for a day
The narrowing of life swept years away
Urged me to beg
Forgotten lives to stay
Memories are strong but not enough to sway

Now everything is so heavy
Heavy on my mind
Wanna say I’m not ready
But time isn’t mine
Try to keep it steady
And hold on tight
But everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time

And I could pretend the hurting wasn’t here
But closing both of my eyes it won’t make
All the weight disappear
And I could ask to lay my cross down for the day
But it can’t stop now
It couldn’t stop anyway
Could you help me carry it 
Could you help me carry it
Could you help me

‘Cause everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time
Wanna say I’m not ready
But time isn’t mine
Try to keep it steady
And hold on tight
But everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time

Everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time x4

Heavy

Mythic synthpop for the end of the world.

Anthromancer is the sonic wing of a transmedia myth created by Daniel James Drake—a fusion of game, oracle, and concept album. The debut LP, The Hymnal, scores the fall and rebirth of a fictional civilization, blending icy electronica with poetry into a 13-track spiritual epic.

Our sound is somewhere between The Postal Service, Muse, Aesop Rock, and Nobuo Uematsu, with shades of Röyksopp and our venerable RPG nostalgia. The sound is cinematic, existential, and driven by a hunger to be known.

Support the work through Patreon. Or just listen closely. The secrets are already in the songs.

Avarice

Anthromancer

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