Aydan comments on each song on the album The Winter Wake (2006):
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Trows
Kind - No intro this time. We wanted something aggressive and direct
to fill in and to show a new face for Elvenking. Trows Kind is a furious
track to open the album, that mix fast drums, heavy guitars and a string
quartet since the beginning. The central part is really magic and you
can hear different voices and different approaches to the song. The "Trows"
are a kind of evil fairies and the song sees the death a fairy as the
lost of the connection between reality and the world of fantasy. Definitely
one of my favourite Elvenking tracks.
Swallowtail
- Another heavy cut with more folk touches. Also here you can hear a catchy
verse, a thrashy bridge and a very melodic chorus. The acoustic parts
are really sweet before going into a 80s feeling solo. The lyrics tell
of a fantasy story but you can easily read between the lines searching
for deeper readings.
The
Winter Wake
- This a song which some of the fans surely won't like but that
everybody in the band love! :) A song which we would like to film a video
of or doing a single out of it and will surely will become a fix place
in our live sets. In it you can hear the guest contribution of Schmier
of Destruction: we needed a different vocal style in the song and wanted
a thrash metal vocals to sing the verses and Schmier is simply the best.
The lyrics are about dark feelings compared to the dark cold season.
The
Wanderer-
A song about loosing yourself in the world a fantasy not being able to
find the path to return to the real world. Maybe an autobiographic song?
;-) Musically "The wanderer" has the characteristic of Elvenking
sound, a little bit more on the heavy side. Good work of the violin here.
March
Of Fools - Often I look around and
I ask to myself if everybody's mad or maybe it's me that is wrong. And
I'm talking about the little thing of everyday life. This is the theme
behind March of fools. Musically the song started with a string quartet
part with also some oriental influences on it, before turning into a cut
with lots of violin going, female and death metal vocals and a catchy
chorus.
On
The Morning Dew - A ballad with only acoustic guitars, strings
and vocals. The ideal that for only one night a dream can become true.
A speech between a male entity and a female one, once again delivered
by the marvellous voice of Laura De Luca of Tystnaden.
Devil's
Carriage - Another pretty heavy cut. Fast and direct, it slows
down in the middle section with string quartet and acoustic guitars. The
lyrics are about (see the title) the devil.
Rats
Are Following - Kind of a strange song. It's a slow song for our
standard, very heavy in certain points, but with a lot of choirs and melodies.
Rouse
Your Dream - Another quite atypical song here. A lot of 80s and
hard rock feelings, and some Def Leppard guitar licks on it. In the way
of the song also the lyrics are pretty simple and are about reaching your
dreams even if everything seems lost.
Neverending
Nights
- Long song of the album. It's a very epic and aggressive song, but the
chorus after the tempo change is happy and melodic. The string quartet
does a strong work here, and the central part is totally folkish. The
choirs are really present everywhere, and the guitar work is complex.
Anther one of my favourites.
Disillusion's
Reel - This song was originally written by Damnagoras for the "Wyrd"
sessions. Since he left the band the song was not included in the album.
Once back I immediately asked him to use the song for "The winter
wake". It's just a short acoustic song, but intense as hell, in my
opinion. I love it!
Related links:
www.elvenking.net