Here I will post all the details of the new Viking album. This entry will be updated as soon as I know more details of the new album, so keep an eye to this!
Album name: No Child Left Behind
Artwork: Here's a sneak peek from the album cover: On the left is the original ink, on the right a preliminary quick color. In the center is where they are so far with the final coloring.
Release date: Coming Soon
Tracklist:
First, it was looking like the final track list would be these 11 tunes:
"9:02 on Flight 182"
"Blood Eagle"
"Helen Behind the Door"
"A Thousand Reasons I Hate You"
"Debt to Me"
"Wretched Old Mildred"
"By The Brundlefly"
"An Ideal Opportunity"
"Turning The Tide"
"Princess"
Right now it's looking like the final track list will be these 9 tunes:
"9:02 on Flight 182"
"By The Brundlefly"
"Blood Eagle"
"Debt to Me"
"An Ideal Opportunity"
"Eaten By A Bear"
"Wretched Old Mildred"
"A Thousand Reasons I Hate You"
"Helen Behind the Door"
Other interesting things: The songs on 'No Child Left Behind' are said to be musically close to Viking's 2nd album, Man of Straw.
TRACK BY TRACK DESCRIPTION (By Ron Eriksen):
1. "9:02 on Flight 182"
When I was 11 years old, I saw a 727 crash into my neighborhood, right by my house. Almost 150 people died, and it messed me up inside like no one can imagine. This is the tune that opens up the record, and sets the tone for the whole thing. It's got killer halftimes and stops and screams and everything you expect from a good Viking song.
2. "By the Brundlefly"
This one seems to be most people's favorite. The main riff is just as heavy as hell. It's written from the perspective of scientist Seth Brundle (from the movie The Fly) after he's teleported himself and is discovering he's suddenly got more strength, agility, and quickness. This is great, until he starts falling apart and looking like he's diseased or dying.
3. "Blood Eagle"
"Blood Eagle" is a fast tune that's written in the lyrical style of classic Viking. It's about the Nordic method of torturous execution called "the blood eagle." Here's the Wikipedia synopsis: "It was performed by cutting the ribs of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out through the wounds in the victim's back." That tells you pretty much all you need to know, LOL! Lots of headbanging opportunities in this song -I think it's a killer.
4. "Debt to Me"
Every one of these tunes has been my favorite at one time or another throughout this project. But every time I hear the intro to this tune, I think "Yeah, that's freakin' heavy." This one is about someone's helplessness when they're in prison. Being tortured, physically and mentally, and the bitterness that results.
5. "An Ideal Opportunity"
"An Ideal Opportunity" has probably the most transparent lyrics I've ever written. I've struggled with major depression my whole life - it's just something that happens chemically and I've learned to recognize it for what it is. It's like a storm front that moves in and covers me in darkness for a few hours or a few days and then fades away and I'm fine. One day I decided that if I was going to have to put up with this crap, at least I could get a song out of it. The next time the storm started moving in, I started writing down everything I was feeling. Good screams and solos in this one, too.
6. "Eaten by a Bear"
This song actually replaced one I had slated for the album. Pretty late in the project, I read a news article titled "Teen Made Cell Phone Calls to Mother While Being Eaten by Bear in Siberia." It was the saddest and most tragic true story I can ever remember hearing. I thought, "This has to be turned into a Thrash song." Mike's bass playing in this intro is simple but perfect, and Gene actually throws in a couple of ridiculously fast blast beats as highlights, along with some crazy heavy playing. Lyrically, I switch the narrative voice around between different perspectives.
7. "Wretched Old Mildred"
The intro to "Mildred" is what I remember Heavy Metal doing to me when I was a teenager - being heavy as can be and continually building up. Of course in true Viking style, we jump into speed, and then give you brutal half-time parts to headbang to. The lyrics in this song are about Mildred Ratched, the black-hearted authoritarian nurse from the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
8. "A Thousand Reasons I Hate You"
Have you ever met someone you just hate from the minute you meet them? And everything they do and say and are just makes you seethe with rage? This tune is written about one of those guys. Most of these lyrics weren't even written down. We hit "record" and I started screaming about why I hate this person. Lots of cool riffs in this song, and a tempo change near the end that I almost turned into a second song called "The Boy Who Was Ignored to Death."
9. "Helen Behind the Door"
There was a time in my life when I had a stalker - a beautiful young woman who became obsessed with me. She'd been in and out of mental institutions, and actually ended up stabbing a guy who tried to keep her from getting to me. Needless to say, I lived with some paranoia about when she would show up and what she would do when she did. Once I was lying in my bed and looking at the open door to my bedroom. The door started to slowly swing closed, and there was this woman standing there with a huge knife. She started coming towards me, with that familiar expression of love and hate on her face. I didn't realize that I'd fallen asleep, so the whole thing felt very real and very horrifying. I still get chills thinking about it. This was the first tune I wrote when we decided we were making a new Viking album. Classic Viking intro of lots of riffs and parts layered on top of each other. Great speedy tune.
NOTE:If you click to the link on "Abortuary", you will hear a 1989 demo version of this song on Youtube.
