Shaman

Strangler

In The Court Of The Dragon

Like A Sword Over Damocles

UNBØUND

UNATØNED

ØUTSIDER

BØNESCRAPER

THESE SCARS WØN'T DEFINE US

Pieces Of Me

This was another song I wrote during those same emotionally turbulent high school years in the mid-1980s. If "Breakin' My Heart" was about the immediate shock of betrayal, "Shattered Illusions" dug deeper into the aftermath - that hollow feeling when you realize everything you believed about someone was built on lies.

The opening line "Midnight shadows, a phone that won't ring" perfectly captured those sleepless nights, waiting for someone who was never going to call. I remember writing that verse thinking about how naive I'd been, how I'd "built castles on empty words." The metaphor felt so real to me then - all those promises and dreams just crumbling down.

What I'm proud of in this song is the pre-chorus structure. Adding that extra emotional build before hitting the chorus made the impact stronger. "Shattering my world" felt like the perfect phrase to describe how completely someone could destroy your sense of reality when you're seventeen and think you know everything about love.

The bridge represents growth - moving from victim to survivor. "I'm done with your lies, done with the pain" shows that progression from hurt to empowerment that I was learning to navigate as a teenager. The outro ties it all together with "Your love was fiction, but I'll rise from this fall" - probably the most mature line I wrote at that age.

Like my other lyrics from that time, this sat dormant for decades until AI technology gave me the opportunity to finally hear these words with music. There's something magical about bringing teenage angst full circle with today's creative tools. The song now has that dramatic, emotional sound that matches the intensity I felt when I first wrote these words.

Shattered Illusions

AxAxC – Am I the Monster?

An 8-track concept record diving into the fear, guilt, rejection, and rage of existence. This is AxAxC at our most vulnerable. From the heartbreak of First Choice to the suicidal abyss of Barrel of a Gun, through to the climactic title track Am I the Monster? and the furious closer Seeing Red.

This album questions whether our unique experiences, ancestry and choices we make, lead in us becoming monsters. We ask for everyone who’s ever asked: Am I guilty just for existing? Am I safe, but never chosen? Am I the monster?

Tracklist:

- First Choice (4:33)
- Fear of Me (3:52)
- Guilty of Skin (4:49)
- Eye of the Street (4:12)
- Barrel of a Gun (4:32)
- Am I the Monster? (5:34)
- Corazón (4:22)
- Seeing Red (4:29)

Band Statement:

This album is the sound of fear, rejection, and survival distilled into music. We’ve written from the darkest corners of ourselves, in heartbreak, in prejudice, in alienation, suicidal ideation and bled them into deathcore, ambient ballads, and spoken word interludes.

We are AxAxC. 
We distort. We distrust. We destroy.

For Fans Of:

#Slipknot #Skillet  #Lorna Shore #BringMeTheHorizon #FallingInReverse #SleepToken #Architects #Beartooth.

#deathcore #metalcore  #screamo #ambientmetal #nu-metal #gothicballad #cinematicmetal #AxAxC #AmItheMonster #First Choice #FearofMe #GuiltyofSkin #EyeoftheStreet #BarrelofaGun #Corazón #SeeingRed

AxAxCStudios™ (2025)

Am I the Monster?

Black Waltz

Use Your Tongue

Shogun

Kirisute Gomen

Bay Area metal titans MACHINE HEAD, will release their highly anticipated new album, CATHARSIS, on January 26 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.

UNBØUND

Machine Head

Recent comments

Kyle I.D

feel my darkness

Cheetoxx

Related tracks