Wes Cage's solo debut album, Prehistoric Technology, was self released earlier this year. For the occasion, we asked vocalist Wes Cage to tell us about each track. His commentary on the full album can be seen below
Heathen Sanctuary: This song allowed me to channel one of my perspectives of “decadence” artistically. The story I created to express this feeling is about a human that gets invited to a 1840's Victorian mansion in modern day France that contains disembodied souls that weren't able to cross over into an ethereal paradise due to constant acts of hedonism and debauchery. The guest winds up dining with the souls and partaking in the decadence as decades pass by quickly. The guest then winds up staying there with the party of ghosts for eternity. My meaning behind the story is that even carnality and the vices of the flesh can be revered as sacred. We can create our own heaven. Something to think about is, perhaps these beings who are now ghosts refused their keys to heaven's gates so that they could continue stimulating themselves with instant pleasure forever.
Blood Legend: This track symbolizes a celebration the hidden wealth within, not just my own, but everyones unique being. We are all made up of millions of codon’s, that individually are shared across the board, but when combined, form each miraculous creature. Blood Legend is about you. The unique
lineage that exists in all of us and the hidden wealth and wisdom spiritually passed down to us from our ancestors. This song is simply about unlocking the greatest you possible and harnessing the inner God or Goddess. I don't like when people forget that they are uniquely different from all other things and that alone should be celebrated hence why I created this song.
Vampire Sentiment: Like all my songs Vampire Sentiment can be interpreted in many ways. It came from a place deep inside my soul, where my love burns eternally. For myself, love is immortal, when I fall in love, death is not an end, but rather will be a new plane to express my emotions on. The song’s main focus is on an ancient Vampire that awakens from his 2nd longest sleep to feed. This being is extremely emotional and romantic therefore he is distracted from the hunt and more interested in love. Despite his massive intelligence and experience he gets his heart broken and returns to rest after terrorizing a town to cover up his vulnerable side. Another way to look at this, no one can really tell you that Vampires aren't real if you have an old soul and a thirst in life that can't be quenched.
Ghost In The Machine: For me this track has to do with when the spirit lives in, or comes through, us. Ghost In The Machine is based off of the Greek phrase "Apo Mekhenes Theos" which was later Latinized and more popularly known as "Deus Ex Machina" meaning "God from the machine". This song focuses on the original and initial origins of the phrase's meaning. It's hard to bring anymore clarity to the meaning behind this song than that due to it's being so enigmatic. Aside from the primary meaning the song is a reminder of the fact that there is more than what we can see. There is an Egyptian energy in the song as well and it does feature my chanting in both Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek.
Divination: Divination is about the battles that we can encounter when raising our vibrational frequency and how taking the punches in life will let out your true essence. The strongest version of you has to hatch otherwise failure is more likely. By raising the vibrational frequency I literally mean developing a
connection with higher powers, the higher self, nature, the cosmos or even something as simple as an idea. When we do these things we often attract great things as well as very bad people in our lives that will try to prevent us from reaching our goals because that's their mission. I've been aware of these frequencies my whole life and have seen the bad individuals and good individual attract.
Stupicide: Stupicide is quite self explanatory, as well as violent. It is a vengeance fueled composition that is literally about destroying the people that I hate as well as bringing justice. A lot of people have wronged me, just like most people have been, and that did change me in some ways. While more people in history have been obsessed with genocide, I am more infatuated with annihilating dishonorable and thoroughly unjust people and this track delivers a small yet tame dose of my disappointment.
Tell Me Why: Tell Me Why is about toxic energy and how that can effect you. This song warns us that you never know who'll be the most toxic person in your life, occasionally that person is closer than you might think. Maybe even related to you.
Mansion Dweller: Mansion Dweller takes place in Renaissance era Italy. A man lives his everyday life while feeling quite strange, he then realizes that he is the one that is haunting the halls of the mansion for he is now a ghost amongst his own family.
Phantom Clockwork: Like Vampire Sentiment I've heard the intro of this song in me before I could truly compose. Phantom Clockwork is a small visit into the internal dialogue of my hearts hateful region. To be honest, after writing this track prior to recording it in the studio, the lyrics spilled out of me in one take as if something that lived in within spoke through me. This energy has been with me for a while. Listening to this track is like listening to my coldness and my fire through a device.
Black Sun Damascus: This is a personal favorite of mine. This song represents the healing powers of depression or darkness and the symbolic force that is the black sun. The Damascus blade is a particularly metaphoric cutting tool because it's been folded over thousands of times just like hardened and
sharpened people have often felt the wrath of life. You come out stronger. I meditated while imagining a forgery on the sun and played every track channeling fire. The session was stopped for a minute because someone actually smelled fire, we all looked for the flame and there was no physical fire in the building. When we finished the track the fire department came in the middle of the night. I do encourage anyone to ask the engineer of this album what happened when I recorded Black Sun Damascus. Magic goes beyond bunnies and top hats.
Soulless Eyes: Soulless Eyes once met my actions of kindness in a very volatile relationship where I wasn't loved. A heartless individual and her family wanted to change me and labeled me as things far from the truth to cope. This person tried to damage my reputation for selfish gain. This is the hardest track for me to sing and the only track on the record that was made when I wasn't sober.
Contagion: Contagion is the exact opposite of Soulless Eyes. Reciprocal love and healthy lust. This track expresses my immeasurable love for my wife and the endless lengths that I would go in order to bring her happiness. This song is something all lovers can live. This track is about when you know true love is real and that nothing could stop the power you were granted in order to protect that love as well as the person you love. It's interesting because it's factual, true love has to be contagious. It's something one of the two catch at their own pace or at the same time.
Where I'm From: Where I'm From is about celebrating your heritage and your soul. To love your roots and to not lose touch with them as well as not letting them define you. I used to be hated for where I came from, presumptuous or negative things would be said to and about me out of envy, this song is a rebuttal to those that have disrespected me. I was never defined by where I came from but they asked for it so Where I'm From, is stepping from the shadows. Which really means something as well. This track contains a lot of Italian for I felt like celebrating the Italian side of my blood just as I hope to see people celebrate their blood. Every culture has something to be proud of, if everyone knew that there would be less prejudice towards ethnicity as well as upbringing.