Forest Cathedral by Forest Cathedral

All of the songs on this album are inspired by the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson, and their titles are pulled pretty much directly from the text. Since the music is all instrumental, I thought it’d be fun to include a little explanation for each title. The below text contains what some might consider minor spoilers for the later books.

The Sea Does Not Dream of You
I’ve always loved the Shake Prayer from Reaper’s Gale, so I had made my mind up to use this as a title for a track on this album before this specific song even came into existence. The dissonant, ringing notes remind me of the feeling of being adrift in a rolling seas. The big riff at the end feels to me like it would fit well with Yedan Derryg’s stand at the First Shore as well.

Mistress of Thieves
When I first worked out the chords for this song, it created this feeling of longing and wistfulness that reminded me a lot of the story of Apsalar and Crokus, so naming it after Apsalar’s namesake felt appropriate.

Thrones of War
The main riff here struck me as powerful and foreboding, and reminded me of the Perish ships, which the Malazan Wiki describes as “a catamaran of cyclopean proportions”.

Deliverer of Midnight Tides
The dirge-like, plodding quality of the riffs in this song remind me of Rhulad’s story arc, constantly being brutally killed and brought back again and again.

Felisin's Lament
When I was trying to sort out this chord progression, I felt stuck - I liked how the first four chords worked together, but I felt like I couldn’t find a way to resolve the progression that felt satisfying. As I worked on it, I realized that this reminded me of Felisin’s story arc - she was forced into this hellish set of circumstances and never really had a chance to break out of them. And then at the conclusion of her story, she gets no resolution. A chord progression with no resolution for a story without one.

The Holy Desert
The riffs in this song started as an homage to the band Om, whose music gives me desert-vibes, so it felt natural to name the song after Holy Raraku


You can download free NAM captures and IRs for the guitar tone on this album here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1U32-LuIwX4Thtq81xznjJxrfuenRW3Ri?usp=drive_link

Doom Riffs from Minnesota


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