Devanation's new album, Dominion of Oblivion came out last Friday. For the occasion, we asked vocalist Jacob Shaw to tell us about each track. His commentary on the full album can be seen below.

Some songs are musical explanations, some of them are quick summaries of the storyline.

1. Dominion

This is the Strangers emergence into the new world. The Silhouette King approaches, and explains what the Dominion of Oblivion is. The intro features a number of synth textures, and then switches gears to a driving, dissonant riff.

2. Gray Conclusion

Musically, this song is similar to the sound that most people reading this probably know me for, but with a few twists here and there. The verses are kind of like, this rapid fire snarl rapping, going into a call and response type chorus. The lyrics are the Strangers struggle with the aura of this new world infiltrating his thought process, and turn him evil, as is everything around him.

3. Lost

This is where the album starts to shift moods. The verses are the kind of driving open chug that we're all familiar with, but done slightly differently, in a swing pattern with the drums only working around the downbeat. The chorus was done by my homie Dan from LGND/ex - Acacia Strain, and we started doing this a few months before the new LGND album dropped. I first heard him sing about a year and a half ago, and I knew that he would be perfect for this song.

4. Psalm of the Raven

This is definitely one of my favorites from the record. Lyrically, it's the Stranger kind of fighting back against the atmosphere of the Dominion trying to take control over him. The Raven noticed when he entered the world, and began following him and Meeko when they started venturing out into the world. "Waiting for the storm" is the Stranger believing that there is no way he can be beaten, and calling upon the Silhouette King to return to him for a final showdown.

5. Neverlights

The Stranger has been traversing the Dominion for days at this point, and his spirits are starting to drop back down. He believes that his purpose in this place is to simply die, and he begins to make peace with it. 

6. Legacy

This is another one of my favorites, mainly because it's so much fun to play. The post-chorus is a 4 on the floor with some crazy electronics behind it, and a fast power chord riff jumping around behind it. When we finished the song, I felt like it had a strange "nostalgic" quality to it, and I'm really excited to play this one live.

7. The Spark

This is the Strangers introduction to the Faithbreaker, the Dominions parallel universe version of his real-world wife. Her appearance is evil and grotesque, and she causes him to fall into a semi-conscious hallucination. In this hallucination, she tries to convince the Stranger to commit suicide. This song is his struggle to break out of the hallucination. When he finally does, he awakens to see a giant body of water below him.

8. Suffering Bay

The Stranger walks out across a rickety bridge, spanning the bay. Halfway across, dozens of ghoul-zombie things (souls that have fallen to the Dominion) jump up out of the water, and drag him down into the depths. The Faithbreaker begins to speak to him again, telling him to stop struggling and let them kill him. A light begins to shine near him under the water, and he swims towards it, to see that it is a giant blade. He grabs it, and the blade jerks him up and out of the Bay. When he emerges from the water, he sees a sign that says "Doomspire ahead".

9. Doomspire

This song is the Strangers confrontation with the Faithbreaker, who's lair is at the top of the Doomspire. A short battle ensues, and he kills the evil spirit.

10. Sharp's Curse

It's really hard for me to pick favorites, because I'm so stoked on so many of these songs. But this one is definitely a contender. There's a lot of movement in the guitar and the drums, and the chorus has a huge 3 part vocal harmony that ties everything together perfectly. It's awesome.

11. Rain & Sugarcane

This song is probably the darkest and most unsettling on the album, and I encourage everyone to listen to it in complete darkness with headphones on. There's a few little subsonic frequencies layered underneath the track that make your skin crawl, and I love how it came out. Then, the synth part in the final chorus is a reprise of the synth riff in the album intro.

12. Saturnine

Very short, sweet, and to the point, the verse is somewhere between a circle pit and a blast beat, and serves as a good contrast for the overall pace of the album. A quick final burst of fury before the dramatic conclusion.

13. Of Oblivion

After the Stranger murders the Faithbreaker, her body transforms into the appearance of his real world wife. Seeing her lifeless, slain by his own hand, is the breaking point for the Stranger. The Silhouette King approaches once more, and the Stranger begs to be destroyed. He had, after all, just murdered his wife (to his knowledge). The King swoops down, towards the Stranger, and....that is where we leave off for now.