Singled Out: Derelict's Perpetuation

We never really stop writing in Derelict. Right after the release of our 2009 album, 'Unspoken Words', we were already working on new stuff. In fact, everyone in the band writes music and we currently have songs from myself, our guitar player Max, and our drummer Jordan in the works.

However, mid-2010 we went through a bit of a crisis on tour with some important lineup changes. The remaining core of the band was left pondering our future and trying to envision what to do about moving forward. It was around this time that I started working on the music for 'Perpetuation'. It wasn't entirely intentional, but I think I wanted to remind myself, in one streamlined song, what Derelict meant to me musically. I endeavored to include all of our best characteristics into something that would scream, not only to the fans, but to us, "we're here, we're alive, and we're not going anywhere!"

The song starts with a relatively simple melodic riff, but in true Derelict fashion, it is tremolo-picked, backed by a blast beat, and arranged in an odd time signature (14/4). The verse kicks in right after, and is a sort of ballsy death/thrash riff that utilizes the low end of our 7-string guitars. The chorus is a bit of a hurricane (and really hard to sing over on beat) with Jordan opting to do some insane drum stuff I don't even understand rather than playing it safe. The first bridge is head-banging riff, but if you listen to the guitars closely, it's also really technical. It ends with a harmonized melodic run that foreshadows the end of the song. The intro then comes back, and I decided I wanted to really push my vocals. I hold an ascending high scream, followed by a few staccato words, followed by another held scream, this one lower. The next riff after that is kind of a breakdown. When I first brought it in, Jordan thought it was too simple, and he explained an odd time signature idea he had in 13/8. We included that and it makes the part more of a tech-down than a breakdown, haha. Another verse-chorus-bridge run leads into the outro, which is a giant melodic/blasting/blackened death celebration. It contains a dual sustained scream by Max and I, and another sort of vocal experiment at the end where I pitched my vocals a little bit and let some of the emotion from my "normal" voice peek through. The whole thing is at 220 bpm and is a bit of a workout for everyone.

So that's that, be sure to check out Jordan's drum video for this song on our youtube page: [here] so you can see those parts I described.