By Malcolm Brown
The dropped-pitch tubular bell intro (the same motif as Stellarum Salve) falls away in a hurry, in exchange for a heavy metal guitar jam. It meanders on from there, from high shrieking electro-thrash (1:20) to a calm, echoey bridge (2:00), to a gothic synth march, complete with chanting (2:30 on). The whole track foreshadows Eternity Served Cold a bit in tone.
It’s nigh-impossible to compare Flash tracks to non-Flash tracks.
When I first heard this one, long ago, I liked it, but I didn’t really consider it to be anything special. My description’s more technical than anything.
Now it’s paired with a fantastic, cinematic Flash, the capstone for months of buildup in the storyline. Each of those transition points in the song are a jolt, a gut-punch, a cataclysm. And now I can’t help but finding myself a fan of the song in a big way.
The combination of story, art, and music is massively greater than the sum of its parts.