You’ve heard Celldweller.
Let me clarify. If you’ve played a modern video game or watched a movie trailer in the past dozen years, you’ve heard Celldweller. The band, which is really stellar musician/composer/engineer/producer Klayton, has had almost every track its recorded licensed for use by major movie studios, video game companies, and more. The pop-tech tunes, driven by Klayton’s emotional vocals, cranked guitars and adrenaline-filled drums, are infectious, even when they’re written in a style you wouldn’t expect.
Celldweller’s latest release (and that honor won’t be around long due to Klayton’s prolific output of new music) is titled “Wish Upon a Blackstar.” The disc is a culmination of years of work by Klayton and his cohorts, Grant Mohrman, Brian Gardner and Tom Baker. Blackstar is a concept disc that was released in pieces. Many of the disc’s songs are remixes of previous versions released while it was a work in progress.
One of the most interesting aspects of the disc is that it was recorded vocals-first, allowing for the many different re-mix opportunities for those who wanted to make their own revisions. Klayton loves to allow others to paint with the palette he creates. The band, and associated label and merch company, FiXT, love to host re-mix competitions for fans. Winners often find their own versions released on the label.
Blackstar contains 16 songs, if you include the introduction and some of the shorter connecting pieces. The 30-second intro piece, “The Arrival”, is meant to build tension, and launches into the up-tempo, mile-a-minute “Unshakeable.” That first song introduces the concept of off-world beings who can alter the reality of humans, with the proper inspiration. The next song, “Blackstar”, introduces the titular concept. The protagonist has caught the attention of those off-world beings, for better or worse…or both. (“You must have wished on it, because I saw them riding in on a Blackstar…”)
Track 3 is “Eon”. If Track 1 is energy and agility, “Eon” is pure, pounding aggression. The song balances Klayton’s growls and rich tenor voice very well. The is the first song where the desperation of the lead character is introduced, and the first chance for listeners to sense how trapped he feels. The composition is so powerful that the bridge features a catchy piece that would be a best-selling hook in a different song, without losing the flow of the story. (“If time’s a song, I won’t wait for its reprise, I am done wishing farewells and goodbyes, I won’t wait let this place overshadow my birthright, I won’t wait another eon.”)
Klayton tempts the lead character in the next track, “Louder than Words”, pressuring him further with the refrain, “Actions speak louder than words do.” It’s peer pressure from the artist and the character he has created. The driving bass drum and swirling effects help to deliver the protagonist’s self-imposed need for action. The next song, “Memories of a Girl I Haven’t Met“, is to the CD what a cut scene is to a great video game. It acts as a pause in the action, but one essential for the second act of the story.
The disc’s most chaotic song, “I Can’t Wait”, follows. The listener is pulled from the dream state of the previous track, right back into the tension. The direct link is established between the lead and Elara, the girl from the heavens who may or may not be everything he has wished for. Elara’s multi-faceted nature is further explained in the next track, “Gift for You” (feat. Jenny Jackknife on vocals). This song returns to the dream state first felt in “Memories.” (“Poison in the well, a special place in Hell, the perfect place to dwell…”)
“The Lucky One” gives the impression to listeners that the hero knows that he’s been given the poison pill, and he sarcastically replies that he’s cool with it. The verses are nearly free-form, leading in to a chorus with huge harmonies and layered guitars. The song hints at the disc’s final act, without revealing the finale’.
Next is “The Seven Sisters”; a powerful flashback that Klayton’s layers with octaves of music and voice. This technique is powerful in showing how deeply rooted the main character’s relationship with his father has determined his own future. (“Look up at the stars, son, my father was saying. Now go wish upon one, and spend your life waiting…”)
The signature bass guitar riff opens “Birthright”, a song which brilliantly connects the weight of the past with the desperation and gravity of the hero’s current state. Everything in the previous songs leads to this, the clash of forces that will set the future for all the characters in motion. (“Don’t let go, I’m so sick of feeling like I’m helpless, Don’t let go, This is over tonight!”)
Once again, Klayton paces the story well, with the huge, deep choir of voices chanting the title of the next song. “It Makes No Difference Who We Are”, “when we have wished upon a Blackstar.” The song delivers a sentence predetermined and set up by every other action and motion on the CD. The next two songs, “So Long Sentiment”, and “The Best Its Gonna Get” speak to the defiance of the hero to fight to his final breath. (“Time to erase the rest of me…”)
The final two songs speak to the destiny of Klayton’s hero and his wish, Elara. It’s impossible to speak to either song, “Tainted” or “Against the Tide” without introducing spoilers. Let me simply say that the story ends in a brilliantly composed piece that mixes tension and acceptance with skill and emotion. The entire build up of the disc leads to a beautiful and powerful pay off.
I have respected Klayton’s work throughout the evolution of Celldweller, and in projects like Circle of Dust and Brainchild before that. He remains a visionary, and it is no coincidence that his songs have been the voice behind action-themed projects for more than a decade. Celldweller songs are a great listen in the gym or while writing sci-fi stories. I have enjoyed his work for years, and I look forward to many more.
All the best,
nK
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PS: A Gamer’s Ramble
“Blackstar” hit me at the perfect time. I began playing a Japanese RPG early this summer, titled “Xenoblade Chronicles.” The premise of the game is that you begin as a human character, alive and occupying a colony on the body of a God. The entire game takes place on the body of two gods who spent thousands of years fighting; one made of biology, one of technology. The two forces have been at war forever. Initially, the lead character is a human who has to fight against the technological enemy.
Over the course of the game (no spoilers), his female love becomes both human and machine. He is forced to find the balance. That great challenge of revenge vs compassion drew a great parallel with the characters in “Blackstar.” Despite the fact that the soundtrack is one of the pinnacles of Xenoblade, I found myself putting on the Celldweller disc more than a few times while playing. I loved the experience of mixing a game and a composition that I really enjoyed. I would recommend either of them, and I would strongly recommend them together.
If you’re a fan, leave a comment and let me know. Anything I left out? Anything you’d say differently?