Seven Crowns and the Article Introduction
The story goes like this:
In an age of dark and boundless riddle
An artifact of reflective glass was discovered
And brought to a King of eld, encroaching irreversible decrepitude,
During a laborious search for any and all demented fruits,
Bearing any unknown wonder or remedy for timely death,
Above or below the broad aberrant land that which he ruled over.
Then uncertain of its hidden wisdom,
The artifact was unearthed,
And with haste, taken to the kingdom
Where it gained control.
These are the opening lyrics to Archspire’s “Seven Crowns and the Oblivion Chain”. Throughout three albums of excruciating tech death, this band tells a sprawling, disjointing multiplex of a story. It’s not always easy to discern what’s going on in the lyrics to one song, let alone piecing together every piece of the puzzle. But it’s intrigued me, and this article is me trying to do just that.
I’m starting with “Seven Crowns…” because, near as I can tell, this is where the story starts. I’m going to quote ever lyric as I go through annotating with my interpretation of what it means. Partly this is because I admire the flow and wordsmithing of Archspire, and partly so that you can double check all of my inference work.
Let’s start with the quote above.
Essentially, there’s an old, dying king in the dark ages, and his men search for anything that might help him. They search the land and evidetly dig down into caves, and they find this reflective glass artifact.
Before we move on, there’s two interesting notes here: this story takes places “in an age of boundless riddle” and in “an aberrant land”. Taken together, I think this firmly places the tale in a fantasy world, rather than having any pretense of historicity.
The glass proved to be most abnormal,
Even more so then where it was first found.
For this living mirror was discovered nesting
Deep within the dank dark bowels of an ancient well,
Below an army’s worth of old boiling blood.
Entrenched amidst a windy maddening maze of sand dunes,
In the great blistering dead black desert.
Here we are given facts and hints about the mirror’s true nature. It’s a “living mirror”, and somehow, it was “nesting”. (I’d like to take a moment to point at the subtlety of this line. It’s an exemplar of weird horror technique; to describe a mirror as “nesting” is unsettling, it almosts fits but not quite, an uncanny valley metaphor).
Furthermore, the mirror was found within an ancient well (PUT A PIN IN THIS), below a lake of blood, below “maddening” sand dunes, below black sand. None of this is directly relevant to the nature of the artifact (although one wonders where the blood came from, and one wonders what is wrong with the dunes), but it sets the mood wonderfully.
Next we get the real meat of the story:
As the king received this treasure from the netherworld,
Immediately he could sense
The power that it held was not from earth.
Reflecting with imperfection as if it was imitating.
First only what stood before it,
Then whomever it desired.
Yes - it had desire.
It would cast the king with obsessive reprise,
For this was a mimic, not a mirror.
The glass was very much alive.
There’s not much to unpack here, it’s remarkably clear. It’s worth lingering a moment on the delightful image of a mirror “reflecting with imperfection as if it were imitating”. (This illuminates a more general fact of writing, small details breathe life into a fiction.)
Becoming of many as each reflection came to life.
The dilated pupil of the mirror started dripping liquid.
Leeching out from its maternal well was the first duplication.
Tearing through its keeper,
Fiercely ripping out the retinal membrane.
Born ripe in slime,
Summoned from its slumber with inherent malice for man.
Cloaked in black embryonic fluid from an ominous cosmic womb.
Put a pin in that third line, where it describes the mirror as a “maternal well”, and the fifth line, about “ripping out the retinal membrane”, and the last, regarding the “black embryonic fluid”.
Hypnotized in awe and wonder
As one by one, they crossed over.
Replicants from beyond.
Blood lust…
As the deathless ringers arose.
I am only going to ponder that first line, “hypnotized in awe and wonder” — is it describing the replicants? Would be an interesting note of characterization if so. I believe it is, because the keeper was “torn through”, and I doubt anyone who witness that would feel awe and wonder watching more cross over.
The artifact grew roots,
Planting itself into the castle’s centre.
Burrowing its living venom deep into our planet’s core.
Drilling the portal into oblivion.
Birthing spawns from evermore.
This is our first look at the true power of the artifact. Here’s a hint: it’s not just a mimic.
Mutations from parallel dimensions,
Then conspired against the King.
When his six reflections had crossed over
Their transfer linked the realms together.
Creating a chain of worlds
That although remain separate,
Share a new born centre.
The centre of this link is the endless pit into oblivion.
The infinite and non-linear chamber of Kairos.
This line raises a question: is oblivion synonymous with Kairos? Or was Kairos created as a side-effect of or in parallel with digging the pit to oblivion?
The King was bound and cast into this pit
By his evil duplicates.
The infinite hells created by his deepest fears,
Torment him endlessly in a moment of frozen time.
Put a pin in this “moment of frozen time”.
Sacrifices to the pit were necessary
To restore the rightful order,
Ending the King’s reign.
This line is confusing. Is the rightful order rule under the six clone-kings? But weren’t they described as “evil” and full of “inherrent malice”? Or do the sacrifices keep the replicants at bay, which either way ends the king’s reign?
Seven crowns and the oblivion chain.
now roll credits
Six, seven and nine.
We are the six, with you we are seven.
The artifact and the portal make nine.
This revelation of sacred numerology
Is the key to unlock a life without time
When these numbers align then the gates will open.
It goes without saying that these numbers crop up again. Once more, please remember this mention of time.
And we wonder, what gates are these?