Lyraka Volume 1
Encyclopedia
Lyraka Volume 1 is the debut studio album from the metal opera project Lyraka. It was released on November 2, 2010.
, she enlisted her husband Andy DiGelsomina
to begin writing music for the project. At first DiGelsomina's role was to score the script as a soundtrack, but as work progressed the project developed into a full blown metal opera. According to DiGelsomina's blog, "Lyraka as a musical project draws inspiration from the operas of The Who
and Richard Wagner
, as well as the guitar hero stylings and concept albums of Uli Jon Roth.".
The Lyraka lyrics
are influenced by the writings of Carl Jung
, Friedrich Nietzsche
, and Søren Kierkegaard
, and are essentially allegorical.
Another primary theme introduced in the song is the dichotomy between the "world above" (Errandia, desert), and "below" (Lyraka, oceanic). These two landmarks are based upon archetypes that the psychoanalyst Carl Jung
expanded upon. The ocean depths represent the inner depths of subjective experience, while the desert symbolizes the "real world", or how "others" see you. The desert also represents the place where one takes his or her dreams, in order to subject them to the harshness of reality and thereby submit to them to trial by fire. How the landmarks oppose, interact, and complement each other is a vital variable in the development of the Lyraka story.
The song features Graham Bonnet
on vocals.
, with lyrics influenced by both psychoanalyst Carl Jung's writings on the "shadow" portion of the psyche, as well as Saint Augustine's writings on the "felix culpa" and its relation to the Fall of Man. The lyrics refer to Scatherus as being an "entropic void", asserting that when the emptiness of despair is used as the quantitative measure of disorder in human experience, it reveals itself to be a vital, positive constant. This song features Veronica Freeman
on vocals.
on vocals again, singing as the musical narrator. The song closes the album for good reason: following the despair and negativity in the suite "Scatherus-Errandia-Neires", "Beyond the Palace" attempts a reaffirmation of the starry-eyed ideals introduced earlier in the album, by both "Coronation" and "Palace Guard". The song is the most repetitive of the set, because mindful reinforcement can be required to continue belief in lofty ideals. Nietzsche's concept of self-overcoming is manifest in the lyrics "(by) knowing that it had to happen, you redeem your past". There are instances of irony
in the track as well, most evidenced when Bonnet sings "ascend beyond the rainbow, all your fears are through", his voice cracking on "through".
was very complimentary toward the album, calling it a "strangely irresistible yet measured flood of fresh, catchy, creative, NWOBHM-ish ideas that draw you to the conclusion that with a pile of work, this is the next Led Zeppelin."
History
The Lyraka opera was first conceived by Jasmine Lyraka in 2006. Her plans were for a multimedia fantasy experience: movie, website, video game, and a line of Ken Kelly artwork. Upon creating the characters and storyline for the original screenplayScreenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
, she enlisted her husband Andy DiGelsomina
Andy DiGelsomina
Andy DiGelsomina is a composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He came to prominence working with internationally acclaimed vocalists Graham Bonnet, Veronica Freeman, and Tommy Heart for his heavy metal opera, Lyraka...
to begin writing music for the project. At first DiGelsomina's role was to score the script as a soundtrack, but as work progressed the project developed into a full blown metal opera. According to DiGelsomina's blog, "Lyraka as a musical project draws inspiration from the operas of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
and Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, as well as the guitar hero stylings and concept albums of Uli Jon Roth.".
Characters
- Neires: The main character of the story, a young man that loves heavy metal and guitar.
- Lilliput: Queen of the desert land Errandia.
- Semmonet: Neires' father, the pharaoh-ic vizier of Lilliput.
- Empress Jasmine: Monarch of the underwater sovereign, Lyraka.
- Locke: Head of Lyraka's palace guard.
- Scatherus: The serpentine ruler of the abyss.
The Plot
The plot itself centers around the protagonist Neires, a rebellious metal head who finds an enchanted guitar and embarks upon a journey to find himself. The antagonists are Semmonet, Lilliput, and Scatherus.The Lyraka lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
are influenced by the writings of Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
, Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, and Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
, and are essentially allegorical.
Coronation
This song serves as an invitation to the opera, and coincidentally introduces a recurrent theme: the reinforcement of belief in an ideal via repetition, vivid imagery, and hyperbole. Through the use of these techniques, the protagonists of this song make the underwater empire of Lyraka seem to be a paradise, abstractly conceived and thus inherently imperfect.Another primary theme introduced in the song is the dichotomy between the "world above" (Errandia, desert), and "below" (Lyraka, oceanic). These two landmarks are based upon archetypes that the psychoanalyst Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
expanded upon. The ocean depths represent the inner depths of subjective experience, while the desert symbolizes the "real world", or how "others" see you. The desert also represents the place where one takes his or her dreams, in order to subject them to the harshness of reality and thereby submit to them to trial by fire. How the landmarks oppose, interact, and complement each other is a vital variable in the development of the Lyraka story.
The song features Graham Bonnet
Graham Bonnet
Graham Bonnet is an English rock vocalist, and songwriter. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist, and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, the Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri.-Early days:Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947...
on vocals.
Scatherus
The opera character Scatherus is the anthropomorphic representation of despairDespair
Despair may refer to:* Despair , hopelessness or lack of hope* Despair , a 1936 novel by Vladimir Nabokov* Despair , a 1978 film adapted from the above and directed by Rainer Fassbinder...
, with lyrics influenced by both psychoanalyst Carl Jung's writings on the "shadow" portion of the psyche, as well as Saint Augustine's writings on the "felix culpa" and its relation to the Fall of Man. The lyrics refer to Scatherus as being an "entropic void", asserting that when the emptiness of despair is used as the quantitative measure of disorder in human experience, it reveals itself to be a vital, positive constant. This song features Veronica Freeman
Veronica Freeman
Veronica Freeman in San Diego is the lead vocalist of the American heavy metal band Benedictum. Her most recent album with Benedictum is Dominion released through Frontiers Records in 2011- Biography :...
on vocals.
Beyond the Palace
This song features Graham BonnetGraham Bonnet
Graham Bonnet is an English rock vocalist, and songwriter. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist, and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, the Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri.-Early days:Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947...
on vocals again, singing as the musical narrator. The song closes the album for good reason: following the despair and negativity in the suite "Scatherus-Errandia-Neires", "Beyond the Palace" attempts a reaffirmation of the starry-eyed ideals introduced earlier in the album, by both "Coronation" and "Palace Guard". The song is the most repetitive of the set, because mindful reinforcement can be required to continue belief in lofty ideals. Nietzsche's concept of self-overcoming is manifest in the lyrics "(by) knowing that it had to happen, you redeem your past". There are instances of irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
in the track as well, most evidenced when Bonnet sings "ascend beyond the rainbow, all your fears are through", his voice cracking on "through".
Reception
Critic and author Martin PopoffMartin Popoff
Martin Popoff is a Canadian-born music journalist and critic who covers the genre of heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine, he has additionally written over twenty books that both critically evaluate heavy metal and document its history...
was very complimentary toward the album, calling it a "strangely irresistible yet measured flood of fresh, catchy, creative, NWOBHM-ish ideas that draw you to the conclusion that with a pile of work, this is the next Led Zeppelin."
Track listing
All Music and Lyrics Composed by Andy DiGelsominaAndy DiGelsomina
Andy DiGelsomina is a composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He came to prominence working with internationally acclaimed vocalists Graham Bonnet, Veronica Freeman, and Tommy Heart for his heavy metal opera, Lyraka...
- "Coronation" - 5:10
- "Palace Guard" - 7:43
- "Scatherus" - 3:54
- "Errandia" - 12:32
- "Neires" - 5:21
- "Beyond the Palace" - 6:13
Personnel
- Andy DiGelsominaAndy DiGelsominaAndy DiGelsomina is a composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He came to prominence working with internationally acclaimed vocalists Graham Bonnet, Veronica Freeman, and Tommy Heart for his heavy metal opera, Lyraka...
- Electric Lead Guitar Solos, music and lyric composition. - Andre Maquera - Production, Mastering, Rhythm and Acoustic/Nylon-string Guitars.
- Jasmine Lyraka - Opera Concept, Story, Characters
- Graham BonnetGraham BonnetGraham Bonnet is an English rock vocalist, and songwriter. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist, and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, the Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri.-Early days:Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947...
- lead & backing vocals on "Coronation", "Palace Guard", "Errandia", and "Beyond the Palace". - Thom Carvey - bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... - Gary Spaulding - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Hannah Beth Crary - Solo ViolinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Tommy HeartTommy HeartTommy Heart is a German heavy metal and hard rock vocalist. He is a founding member of the bands V2, Fair Warning, and Soul Doctor, and has contributed vocals to albums by the artists Uli Jon Roth and Zeno....
- lead & backing vocals on "Neires". - Veronica FreemanVeronica FreemanVeronica Freeman in San Diego is the lead vocalist of the American heavy metal band Benedictum. Her most recent album with Benedictum is Dominion released through Frontiers Records in 2011- Biography :...
- lead & backing vocals on "Scatherus". - Tim Luce - Vocal EngineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
for Graham BonnetGraham BonnetGraham Bonnet is an English rock vocalist, and songwriter. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist, and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, the Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri.-Early days:Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947...
. - Jeff PilsonJeff PilsonJeff Pilson is an American bass guitarist, best known for his stint in the heavy metal band Dokken...
- Vocal EngineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
for Veronica FreemanVeronica FreemanVeronica Freeman in San Diego is the lead vocalist of the American heavy metal band Benedictum. Her most recent album with Benedictum is Dominion released through Frontiers Records in 2011- Biography :...
. - Ken Kelly - Cover Art.