Phoenix Terra

Thank you for talking on this mammoth of a piece. Phoenix Terra is one of my prouder achievements as a composer, and it is the longest and final track on The Human Element, my solo heavy metal album. The idea behind this track was to take the rough narrative of the entire album and find a satisfying way to conclude the story. I wanted to end the album on a contemplative note, but I also wanted the energy of the final track to incorporate all the emotions and ideas from the preceding tracks. This is how I came up with the title Phoenix Terra: a planet reborn from fire and smoke. This piece is bookended by two large sections dominated by acoustic guitars. Actually, the form of the piece is somewhat of a mirror image of itself, like a rondo form missing some repeats of the “A” section: ABCBA. Of course, this is not a hard and fast truth, but it is the general structure I kept in mind while writing. The heavier riffs take inspiration from classic doom metal and thrash metal, the two genres I became obsessed with in middle school when I was exposed to Black Sabbath and Metallica. I hope you enjoy this one. If you’ve made it through the whole album and are now working on this, or even if you just purchased this piece to perform, I want to sincerely thank you for your support. I could not do what I do without people being interested in my music, and I always dreamed of creating a project like The Human Element. Thank you for being a part of that journey.