Sean: Each song I write is influenced by environment and the state of my mind at the time. For 'Chemical Reign' I was building our rehearsal space with a friend out of salvaged materials of an old factory from the neighborhood we live in, Kensington Philadelphia

For those not familiar with Kensington, it's an American neighborhood that fell into depression after the fall of the industrial revolution, which left it resembling a post apocalyptic wasteland for generations.

It's only right now that the neighborhood is feeling a revitalization and rebuilding period. I felt myself wondering what it would be like to live in the past knowing what the future was. That perspective is what inspired the lyrics.

Lydia: I'm not a girl that writes a song strumming chords and singing to an acoustic guitar. Quite the opposite. I approach music composition as if I'm composing a piece of classical music. I grew up playing cello in chamber groups and orchestras, and have always been influenced by the darker end of classical music, which is why I like metal.

'Chemical Reign' started with the beginning intro/theme, from there I elaborated and played with different variants to come up with different sections. I feel like I work backwards sometimes, reverse engineering parts. I work in layers so I can explore the different harmonic and melodic possibilities to each piece Sometimes I write twelve different guitar tracks for one section of the song, and then later, figure out the best options for each part of the song.

In the studio, our producer Kevin [Antreassian] (Dillinger Escape Plan, Mike Portnoy, Russell Allen of Symphony X) had the interesting idea of trying the main theme part with an evo, it reminds me a lot of a violin which I love. I love anything that's epic and haunting.

The lyrics are below.

chemical reign
over the mind
under the skin
controlling the eyes

hope to find
clearer skies

chemical reign
industries child
mother forbids
what brother allows

falling to
the earth from sky
a golden plume
the prophet of disease

chemical reign
hide your disguise
smelling so clean
while covered with flies