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Becoming The Archetype Singled Out Week: The Time Bender

09/17/2012
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Becoming The Archetype release their new album, "I Am," this week and we asked the band to tells about some of the tracks. Today Seth Hecox tells us about the song "The Time Bender". Here is the story:

When we started the writing process for this album, we had discussed our desire to make the songs very focused and cut out all the extraneous instruments we had on Celestial Completion. We wanted to experiment in a way we hadn't before: we wanted to explore the depths of purely heavy music. So as riffs were written and songs were fleshed out and completed, we all started to realize the lengths to which we could go to craft intensity in song form.

"The Time Bender" was the second song written for the album, musically. We had the lyrics for it before the music was written and in a sense, the music was an expression of the lyrical concept. The idea of bending time and the sort of metaphysical aspect that the concept implies helped to create a direction for the style of this song.

I remember when Daniel first brought this song to practice and played it for us from his phone (he recorded all the pre-production). We were all blown away by the riffs and when that second riff came in, it was a crazy experience. I could almost feel my brain grind against the strangeness of the minor 2nd harmonies. I've been doing this for 8 years and after that length of time, you start to settle into a comfortable area and rhythm with your music. This was so far outside of that sphere of comfortability that I had to wrestle with my feelings on it for some time.

In time, I was able to wrap my head around it and I came to love the fact that our new album would maintain the experimental tradition of BTA. Instead of experimenting with sitars and trombones, we were going to be experimenting with a level of heaviness that we hadn't attempted before. I realized that we were going to be writing songs that were still some of the most difficult things we could play. We were going to be working with riffs that hit you in a new, unfamiliar way. I loved that. We've been making music like that for years and even through a lineup change, we were still embracing that spirit of new frontiers in heavy music.

"The Time Bender" is the most straight-forward song on the record and that's a large reason why we chose to make it the song everyone heard first. We started playing it live this summer as a way of previewing new material for fans. It was the obvious choice because when people hear new music, it's difficult for them to remember much of what they heard, especially in a live setting. So "The Time Bender" was a perfect fit because it wasn't super-long and a few of its riffs repeated. That allowed people to grab onto something and remember some aspect of the song after the concert was over.

Now it'll be the first song released online and we just wrapped up shooting a music video for it. We're leading with our best foot, so to speak. It's our best foot because it's a microcosm of the record: it's uncompromisingly heavy, focused, and showcases that experimentation in heaviness that I spoke of earlier.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!

Becoming The Archetype CDs, DVDs and MP3s

Becoming The Archetype T-shirts and Posters

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