Just testing.

The Woman That Went to Hell.

Broken Promise.

Chopin's Op.28, No.4 (Prélude In E Minor) arranged for some heavy guitars, bass, drums, and choir. Due attention to phrasing and tempo.
Note: I'm dissatisfied with the way this track sounds compared with what I hear on my recording software, so I'm attempting to work out the cause and will update it fairly soon.
Second Note: This is my second version.  I'm still not sure what's making my DAW bounce the track this way but it's an improvement anyway.

Prélude In E Minor (Chopin, Metal) (new version)

This one's about a man that he used to be a man but he is a desert now.  How sad.  You are sad for him.

Makes a Desert of a Man.

Probably not the final version of this, but it's a jazz piece inspired by things like Sing, Sing, Sing (benny Goodman version) and Armstrong's Stardust.  It's not as good; I realise that.  But if I may say so, it could be worse!

The chord progression uses a fair amount of tritone substitutions, more so in the first section.

The composition is held together by a recurring single bar of syncopated stabs that turns the whole common time bar into a septuplet.

There is a fierce lot of action in the 'middle eight', which is definitely more blues-orientated, and this level of action is maintained through the end of the piece.

The ensemble is a simple piano, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, trombone, tuba, upright bass, drums, and a bunch of lads humming at times.

I Done It And I Don't Care.

Full title:
Upon the Seven Twilights of Baphomet's Tempest in Nihilistic Predilection towards a Costly Fashion's Nether Abyss for Colder Dawns at Dusk's Pale Remains 'twixt a Blacken'd Soul in Neverending Exsanguinations circa Mortem per Satanan a Tergo.

I take my black metal seriously.

Upon the Seven Twilights of Baphomet's Tempest in Nihilistic Predilection towards a Costly...

I look towards the open black sky
An endless gaping maw
Fear grips me inside
As we lie in wait past the wall
Impassive snow rains down
Black coats dotted with white dust
The guards are coming now
This machine is about to rust

The world is changing, we can’t go back
There’s nothing else for it, we have to attack
We built this kingdom, we’ll cut off its head
And the masses will preside instead
We tried with words, we tried with silence
The world is dying, isn’t this violence?
We cast off our chains, they put us in cages
We ready our weapons, it’s one for the ages.

People were fighting, people were dying
There was no other way
Dehumanised soldiers, how unifying
But who didn’t play that game?
At least we were fighting to save more than kill
When you need to win, you do what you must
They took orders to slaughter us, then send a bill
The machine crumbled into dust

The world is changing, we can’t go back
Nothing else for it, we had to attack
We built that kingdom, then cut off its head
So the masses could preside instead
We tried with words, we tried with silence
People were starving, isn’t that violence?
We cast off our chains, they put us in cages
We’re building a nation, it’s one for the ages.

Do you remember the old days
When we were free to choose
How to be enslaved
How to be denied
How to die
How we died young

One For The Ages

Lyrics:
I.
Our patriotic heroes fought and died
Are we free?
Are we free?
The common man still toils day and night
To be free
To be free

From highborn crown to highborn coin
What has truly changed?
Day by day, the things we won
Grow ever more estranged

Carving up the nation into pieces to be sold
To the highest bidders as if ambits of control
Giving no recompense for the livelihoods they stole
And if we should survive it we shall have to pay the toll

Many with the means will depart
Relinquish the nation they adore
Many will not choose to break their hearts
This choice will be denied to many more

II.
At the risk of persecution they arrive
Are they free?
Are they free?
Competing with the natives to survive
To be free
To be free

From native soil to new lands
What has truly changed?
Day by day, the dreams they had
Grow ever more estranged

Just a few more places you can sign your life away and
Deplete your nerves and muscles to be kept within your station
Or tread your fellow man until you reach a higher plane
One begins to wonder can there be no other way

One of us at times will be picked
But they'll never let us all win the prize
It's just another trick
To keep the unrest neutralised

III.
Retouching this programme has
Never changed a thing
Let down your guard for but a trice
And the poison rushes in

We've let them split us all apart
For far, far too long
It's time to act together now
Together we'll be strong

IV.
Our patriotic heroes fought and died
Are we free?
Are we free?
The common man still toils day and night
To be free
To be free

From highborn crown to highborn coin
What has truly changed?
Day by day, the things we won
Grow ever more estranged

We can't let them erode the things we fought for nor allay
Our disquiet with conceded bait to keep us in our places
This system seems designed to keep us passive and complacent/complaisant
So we don't get too zealous when we see how they betray us

Designed to keep us faint and isolated
To squeeze out our vigour and time
But we won't be alienated
We rise up against their crimes
---------------------------------------------------------

Question:  Are those Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords, secondary dominants, mode mixture, chromatic mediant relationships, fully diminished seventh chord enharmonic modulation, augmented and diminished dominants, deceptive cadences, borrowed chords, Brahms-inspired motivic development and saturation, suspensions, and smooth voice leading that I hear in this composition?
Answer:  Why yes, yes they are.  Thank you for asking.

Are We Free

I.
People around me are dropping like flies
A sweeping contagion is taking our lives
And all they can tell us is please stay inside
As minute by minute the numbers just rise

As homes become prisons the homeless are mired
As livelihoods rot, we are losing our minds
Some are coerced and some are denied
But how can we eat if we can't go outside?

This wasn't sudden, nor a surprise
Their greed and incompetence left us to die
Neglecting the sick, time after time
There's blood on their hands if you open your eyes

Chorus:
Open your eyes
Sift through the lies
The structure of power must be scrutinised

Because of their pride
We fear for our lives
We are all pawns and we're on the front line

The system is failing
What can we do now?

Resources are tight
My head's growing light
But if you are vital you must risk your life

If you don't comply
Provisions run dry
Sometimes the uncertainty cuts like a knife

The system is failing
What can we do now?

III.
Inoculant tinctures and tonics in time
Once lucrative then become prioritised
Until then research is left gathering grime
And then once in crisis we ask ourselves why

Why is our treatment so short in supply
Why is so little concretely advised
Why are the bodies piled so high
That they toss them en masse in a hole undefined

Why do they act as if after a time
We'll look back and laugh and continue our lives
Why all the heedlessness, why so behind
There's blood on their hands if you open your eyes

Chorus.

Master of Unlocking

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