About

Frozen Taco presents the eleventh album: Dark World. Copyright 1992-2004, Frozen Taco. Music: Theron Welch. Lyrics: Matthew Reiss. Dark World was recorded at the Bedside, Columbus, Georgia during the summer of 1992. CD insert photo: Frozen Taco at the Bedside, Summer 1992.

Notes from the band

I wrote the lyrics for Dark World in the summer of 1992 - a year of great turmoil for me. I had just graduated from college, and I was about to travel 1,000 miles west to Kansas to begin law school. This impending drastic life change weighed heavily on my mind. Dark World was a therapeutic way of exploring some of what I was feeling.

Dark World is perhaps the most subtle member of the pantheon of FT’s “theme” albums. Myth & Man, Illumination and Visions, Dreams & Nightmares all have identifiable themes. In Dark World, each song is dedicated to a different emotion: fear, pride, loneliness, doubt, hatred, loss. It’s a fitting title for an album filled with somber, gothic tones.

Westward Bound is the song that best encapsulates my state of mind that summer. Even now, listening to that song evokes a vivid memory of that difficult year. My mood definitely had an impact on what turned out to be the most pessimistic FT album, ever. It’s also one of our best works. All of the songs were carefully crafted, and the attention to detail shows. The first time I heard Theron’s musical concept for House of Years, my jaw dropped; it is an undeniably great tune. Starfall, our first swing beat song, is an FT classic.

-Matthew Reiss, December 2003

If it were possible to pick my favorite Frozen Taco album, I’d spend a lot of time, maybe a majority of the time, pondering Dark World. To me, it’s the most consistent of all Frozen Taco albums. The sounds and themes are so closely related to each other that each song unmistakably belongs with the next. This album came from a time when I was really interested in harmony and applying new and exciting chord progressions, modulations, and so on. I was also listening to a lot of new classical music at the time. I often practiced taking interesting sections of pieces, like a short sequence of chords, and, while isolating them just to the guitar, taking them in different directions and applying my own flavor to them. I recall using this technique in such songs as Westward Bound, Final Farewell, and Transitions. However, of these three songs, I only recall using Chausson’s Poeme for Violin and Orchestra for inspiration; the others sources I don’t recall! It wasn’t always the hearing, but noticing a passage of music that looked interesting, playing it on the guitar, and moving the song in my own direction until it eventually transformed in to something completely new. It’s also interesting looking back on the songs because I did not consciously intend to write so many minor key songs, but the result worked nicely with Matt’s lyrics. Of all the Frozen Taco albums, this one, and a handful of others, easily stands the test of time for me as quality compositions and are just as much a delight to listen to now as they were when they were freshly recorded.

Theron Welch, January 2004

Music and Lyrics

  1. Transitions
  2. The House Of Years
  3. Dark World
  4. Starfall
  5. Westward Bound
  6. Final Farewell

Sheet Music

Transitions

Innocence in mind. Perfection lay at every turn. The shadow’s murk hid its face. It’s secrets mine to learn. Success was my religion. Failure never came my way. So much for ideal dreams. That’s all they are today. Mature eyes view the world now. They reveal what is and what is not. We must do the best we can. Imperfect battles must be fought. But dreams inspire greatness. I don’t regret their gift to me. Beyond realities constraints, a fleeting glimpse of what can be. So much for ideal dreams. That’s all they are today. Wrapped in nature’s grace - try to understand. We tread the path of knowledge. It leads us by the hand. Mature eyes view the world now. Success was my religion. Failure never came my way. So much for ideal dreams. That’s all they are today.

House of Years

A house with many rooms and vaulted ceiling high. Echoing my footsteps, my lonely lullaby. The first room is empty, the second barer still. The footsteps echo louder; the music drains my will. Nothing else exists here - a museum to my soul. The lonely lullaby plays on, mocking my unhappy role. No windows look outside the house. I race to find the door. Instead I find some faces there; I’m lonely no more. I’m lonely no more.

Sighing like a furnace, breathing empty air. Whispers in the darkness, though I know that no one’s there. Mimicking my spirit - at once alive and dead. If only I could shake away this house within my head. No windows look outside the house. I race to find the door. Instead I find some faces there; I’m lonely no more. I’m lonely no more. Mimicking my spirit - at once alive and dead. If only I could shake away this house within my head. The first room is empty, the second barer still. The footsteps echo louder; the music drains my will. Nothing else exists here - a museum to my soul. The lonely lullaby plays on, mocking my unhappy role. No windows look outside the house. I race to find the door. Instead I find some faces there; I’m lonely no more. I’m lonely no more.

Dark World

Frightening people, frightening times; the promise of a mortal hour; The empty house of loneliness - sinister signs of fear’s power. I am frightened by so many phantoms. Few reveal their cause. Most fears lie just outside the senses, posturing with snapping jaws. Icy fingered nightmares grip me in my sleep. Freezing in my frightened mind. My instincts betray me. I am frightened by so many phantoms. Few reveal their cause. Most fears lie just outside the senses, posturing with snapping jaws. But what are we afraid of? All these facets of our fears. Edges of the undiscovered stone; the unknown cuts us as it nears. All these facets of our fears. The unknown cuts us as it nears. Just outside the senses; just out of sight. Backed into a corner. Fearful of the night. I am frightened by so many phantoms. Few reveal their cause. Most fears lie just outside the senses, posturing with snapping jaws.

Starfall

Your enemy across the waves, claims you’re nothing but a weak fool. You yearn to make him bow to your rule, and for this cause your subjects dig their graves…and for this cause your subjects dig their graves. Monarch, king, emperor and lord. Your kingdom stretches past you vast and far. Servants treat you as a shining star, and if they don’t, they’ll feel your sword. Mirror cracked and fallen on the floor; you’ve used it far too many times now. Your worn out servants will no longer bow. Your kingdom lies in ruin ever more. …Your kingdom lies in ruin ever more. Monarch, king, emperor and lord. Your kingdom stretches past you vast and far. Servants treat you as a shining star, and if they don’t, they’ll feel your sword. The clock winds, years go passing by. You’re a peasant but a wiser man. Toppled by another’s kingly hand. A victim of the cycle known as pride. Monarch, king, emperor and lord. Your kingdom stretches past you vast and far. Servants treat you as a shining star, and if they don’t, they’ll feel your sword.

Westward Bound

Made a pilgrimage to search my past. There my future I hope to find. My time is coming fast, but what do I leave behind? Thought that I might slip away, unseen by omniscient eyes. Avoid the dues the I must pay, but I had to cut my ties. Balancing my history, I yearn to go and stay. I lie somewhere in between. Tomorrow will be yesterday. Tomorrow will be yesterday. In the hourglass, sand declines. Erasing time, grain by grain. I would like to turn it over. Escape effects of future pain. Past glories mean nothing now. New triumphs lie in wait. Reflections always looking back. Now it’s time to clear the slate. Balancing my history, I yearn to go and stay. I lie somewhere in between. Tomorrow will be yesterday. Tomorrow will be yesterday.

Final Farewell

It’s all I can remember - feeling anger when I look at you. I’ve forgotten how it started, now it’s all I know to do. No thought of second chances. I broke our lives in two. Strangled by what binds us. Stayed within the lines we drew. Is it worth the hatred and pain that we suppress? Wasting time on what once was. Embrace the good and forget the rest. No care for how it started. No care to make it end. I have been your enemy so long, I’m afraid to call you friend. Slow fuse that burns me with its fire. A vicious snake that wounds me with its bite. A churning wave, drowning me in white foam. A reckless urge makes me turn and fight. It’s all I can remember - feeling anger when I see your face. It’s greater than the two of us. Its roots too old to trace.

Outtakes

The Dark World takes are some of the most enjoyable to listen to. For one, they very accurately describe what the later song turned out to be. Plus, some aspects of these “live” versions I like very much and wish that they could have somehow made it into the final result, but capturing the spontaneity was always difficult. For example, there are some parts of “Westward Bound” that I think work better in this version than the final version. We should have kept the “Alright!” at the beginning of the song. The two “Transitions” tracks listed here are not takes, but rather real versions of the song. This was a tough song to do, and I can’t remember why, but we did at least three versions of it. Here are two of the earlier versions. “The House of Years” begins and ends with a silly anthem that’s become popular with us; a song that we call “Battle of the Guitar Lords”, basically a collection of silly tunes that we’ve heard over the years.

Listen to the sessions:

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