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Singled Out: Attackhead's Dark Ritual

01/19/2011
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Hey Metal Maniacs and Gutter dwellers, Mark Chapman here from the So Cal thrash metal band Attackhead. As part of the Day in Rock report I am going to give you all some insight into the writing process and inspiration for our song Dark Ritual. This song is based on the Aztec ritual of human sacrifice and pretty much tells a story from beginning to end.

I remember I can up with the opening riff, which is also the chorus, one day while sitting around practicing some time back in 2005. Like most of our songs I just tucked the riff away in my mind and played around with it until something else came to me. Before long I had the verse to go along with the chorus so the song was pretty well structured. I wanted to have an evil part in the middle to break up the song so it would not be boring. After playing with the verse and chorus for a few weeks I came up with the break down riff in the middle and subsequent solo break. George and I worked out a nice dual guitar solo for the second half of the solo break and we were basically done. This song is a little strange as it ends on a verse instead of a chorus. I then brought the song to the band and we massaged it a little further until everyone was happy with the feel.

Once I knew how the drums were structured and had a good idea of the tempo of the song I started writing the lyrics. I usually come up with the theme first then put myself in the role and write the story. I believe I was watching something on TV about human sacrifice and thought it would be a good subject for this song. I did a little research and began writing. I usually sit down with my guitar and play the verse when I am writing the lyrics so I have the proper tempo and beat to match the words. After an afternoon I had the finished product and began memorizing the lyrics for our next rehearsal.

Dark Ritual has a fast tempo and a very Slayer like sound. It is a great song to play live and is very popular with our fans. This song is on our Debut LP "Voices in the Dark" and was redone with our new Label for "Voices in the Dark � Second Attack" out Jan 25th, 2011. Grab a listen here

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