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John Berry comments on each song on the album Drama Of The Ages (2005):

Hello, this is John Berry. I had the privelege of writing a lot of the lyrics on this cd. Of course all of the guys had a hand in it too but they let me give them the theme and melodies since at the time we didn't have a lead vocalist.

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Drama Of The Ages - This was the first song we wrote for the cd. We started it just as the last gigs promoting Theater Of War were winding down. James had a cool bass riff. The one you hear between verses and choruses. He asked me what I thought of it and I said it was very inspiring to me and we started to work on some riffs to go along with it. We played it for the other band members and tried to start motivating them to think about writing the next cd immediatly rather than waiting till the last minute. Anyhow they soon left the band and Jon Gary liked the riffs very much and we soon had a basic structure of the song. The lyrics reflect a question of how the United States fits into biblical prophecy. Or if it does.

Keeper Of The Crown - This was inspired by a documentary my wife and I watched one night about the tower of London and its history. I started to write a song about that but it was getting very long and soon I realised it needed to boil down a bit. So I injected a little fantasy into it and came up with a medival story about a wicked king who abused his authority, not realising that it was a privelege to lead a nation and that he was actually a servant of God in his capacity as king. Anyway the subjects of the kingdom pray that God would intervene. He does, and the lords and nobles of the kingdom take the king for a fishing trip with him as a bait.

Spinning Leaf - Chaz wrote this song. I don't know what inspired him, but when he played if for us at rehearsal one night, I was convinced that it should go on the cd. He wrote the music and lyrics, in fact I only played synth and lead guitar on the song.

Stand Or Fall - Jon Noble had this riff for a while, I think it was the third song we wrote for the cd. It is primarily his riffs and arrangements, we may have flattened out his grooves a little but it's his creation. Lyrically he let me have this one. It changed themes a few times but was in the end heavily influenced by the events of 9-11. And how we felt about the international reactions to it.

Tempest - Again Jon Noble riffing away. He had a few lyrics and a general topic and we helped him flesh it out from there. It's a song about hard times and wondering why God seems to let things happens to us that we really feel like we could have done just fine without.

Third Way - It's a song about socialism and how politicians try to put a new face and name on it and convince americans that it beats our current system. We will have to agree to disagree.

Forever Winter - Words were written mostly at work one day watching the wet winter of -02 outside the window at work. Another C.S. Lewis inspiration to some degree. The music started as the instrumental offering for the cd but eventually merged with the song Forever Winter. I think it has a rather epic feel and kindsweeps away your imagination with the first half.

Drowning Man - A song I wrote bout a time when a family member was breaking his addiction to cocain and alcohol while he was living in my house. It also has a little to do with my experiences with smoking and drinking.

Deceiver Of The Nations - I think it is primarily Jon's riffs and my lyrics inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and the bibles account of Lucifers past and future.

Cutting Words - A song we all had some riffs in. Alot of fun to write the music, but a little painful to write the lyrics. They deal with relationships and how we wound one another with careless words. We can forgive and heal if we try. But we need to remain vigilant about watching what we say.

Victory - I had most of this song mapped out but the guys helped me streamline it a lot. It's a synopsys of our goals and vision as a band. And about unity perseverance.

At The Gates - Much the same as Victory but in a more poetic sense. The intro with the combat sounds is meant to convey that life is a war. Wether you chose to fight or not you are a part of it. You can get run over by it, you can be a mercenary and seek your own reward, or you can be valiant and victorious.

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This is the perfect heavy metal album in my opinion. It's about swords and God and destiny. I think some people don't appreciate those kind of things and therefor they just don't get it. In the long run I think it will go down in history as not just the best Jacobs Dream album but also as a seminole work like"Operation Mindcrime". One that will define a band and a genre. That may sound a little conceited but time will be my judge.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Your headbanging Don Quixote, JB.
Stay True!

Related links:
www.jacobsdreamusa.com