7. The Piper's Call - A Song for The Slaughter

CW: Blood, Dismemberment, Glorification of violence, Gore, Hemophobia, Murder, Violence, War

LYRICS:

Come, my soldiers, heed this song
Take up arms my rabid band
Fuel your fury, keep it strong
Turn the world to no-man’s land

We will come with weapons raised
Tasting metal, seeing red
King of Carnage be you praised
Pied with entrails of the dead

Seethe, my soldiers, harness wrath
Let its power putrefy
Meet your kin on the warpath:
Share your rage and unify

We will seethe, our pity shed
Purpose to our anger yoked
Ruthless legion violence-fed,
Iron-willed, and crimson-soaked.

Sing, my soldiers, lend your voice
Pipe a manic, clamorous hymn
Howl at rivals and rejoice
As you tear them limb from limb

We will sing through throats scraped raw
Descant over dying cries
Murder is our Maestro’s law
We will sing and war will rise

Charge, my soldiers, swarm their trench
Reap the pain on which you thrive
Thirst that only blood can quench
Guarantees that none survive

We will charge and grant no grace
Clemency’s a craven grift
Viewing Slaughter’s trinal face
Is your last and greatest gift.

Come my soldiers, heed this song
Take up arms my rabid band
Fuel your frenzy, keep it strong
Turn the world to no-man’s land

We will come and heed your song
Take up arms, your rabid band
Fuel our frenzy, keep it strong
Turn the world to no-man’s land (etc.)

Light SPOILERS for season 1 ahead:
Another one where I was really struggling to find a theme/perspective I wanted to follow. And once again, the good folks at the TMA wiki page came through. I remembered who The Piper was, and that he showed up during war. I did not remember he’s got a bunch of arms, and 3 fucking faces. 3 faces immediately translated for me as ‘3 voices’ which meant ‘3 part harmony’ which is good because that’s something I can do (unlike, say, play the bagpipes).
I wanted this to have sort of a simplistic/repetitive thing going because I still very much associated this creature with The Pied Piper and in turn I associate that with nursery-rhyme/fable-type songs. I think that’s where the call and response thing came from – picturing a line of kids singing along to a friendly tune. But make it e v i l.
Initially I was worried it was a bit too chipper, so I tried to ground it with the harmonies to give it some oomph. This one also reminded me how miffed I am I don’t know how to music with various instruments, or create sound digitally. I sort of got over that with most of the songs, but for this one I really, really wish I could have had bagpipes. Oh well.
It is very interesting to me that of all the Fears, this is the one that seems to be tied most directly to music (another fact gifted to me by the TMA wiki). I would love to know why that is. The best I can guess is that music can really fire you up? Like sometimes you hear a song so hardcore you feel like you could rip the roof off a house. Something like that, maybe?
Initially, I thought the pipes being referred to were recorders, not bagpipes and that made sense to me. Because I had to play the recorder as a kid in elementary school. Does this ring a repressed bell for anyone? 30 children with no breath control simultaneously failing to shriek out hot cross buns into a cheap woodwind at a pitch that could shatter glass? Nothing will drive you into a murderous rage faster. A grade 2 choir could give The Piper a run for his fucking money, I’ll tell you what.
If you were to scroll back a few years on my channel you would find exclusively poorly recorded rounds. I love rounds. I’m such a sucker for them. And I was hoping to use one in this collection somewhere, but the problem is, rounds are kind of notoriously difficult to write and wrap your head around – especially if you have a tenuous-at-best grasp on music theory. So I got lucky, basically. Something must have twigged with me after I banged out a rudimentary melody for this and I went “wait….wait a minute…really? Does it…is it…does it work???” And with a few edits it did, in fact, work as a round. This wasn’t the song I expected or planned to use a round in, but that’s what it became because I didn’t know if it would happen again.
At the risk of sounding deeply pretentious, I do quite like how it ended up kind of working as a musical metaphor for the endless cycle of violence (or what have you).
Okay, I’ll put down my brandy snifter and monocle now.

[JH-cpwf]

Going back through the entity songs, and I think the thing I like most about this is how seductive it is?

Like, the regular rhythm and verses make it easy to just get lost in the song and gloss over the horrific lyrics. Maybe sing along. Maybe even dance to it.

Which is of course exactly what the piper is going for. It's a really neat bit of meta musical theming.

[Kuwagumo]

That song could be easily a war-hymn for slaughter cultists! The melody is eerily entracing, I love it!

[Liv-ofdc]

If the piper would call me with this song I would instantly join them.

[heresthadude]

*IT AIN'T ME*
*IT AIN'T ME*
*I AIN'T NO FORTUNATE ONE*

[zs]

"we will sing and war will rise" The Risen War

[Quazex]

The slaughter is in my top 4 entities this is poggers

[olliemalvarroza]

I can easily picture people marching off to war to the beat of this song

[Wes]

Its so simple but so amazing and catchy at the same time! Keep up the good work!

Edit: The reason music is tied to the Slaughter is because songs have always been sung before battles, the most notable example is the marching tunes meant to keep the troops march at a desired pace, the faster the song the faster the troops subconsciously go

[ytdude]

You thought you could hide a grifters bone reference in there hehehe

[hamstrbaxtr]

I absolutely love that song has the even rhythm of a military march. It feels evocative of the unified chanting of soldiers headed off to their doom.

I think the slaughter is so associated with music because as others have pointed out, music has served many historical purposes in warfare. Notable examples I can think of include boosting troop morale, helping soldiers maintain formation, discreetly conveying commands, and demoralizing the enemy. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, many modern militaries still have a band, do they not?

I also love the reference to Grifter's Bone!

[Croike]

Doing my part to feed the algorithm and hope it can help your astounding talent noticed.

[tish]

Ooh! Very different from the others but very fun!!

[zarlsalamandersspacemarine]

Ah this is the perfect song the the slaughter.
The only thing that would improve this in my opinion is some nice snare drums and or some pipes in the background

[lalas]

Okay so, the Stranger one is definitely my favorite out of these that I've listened to so far, but oh my stars this one is a VERY close competitor!

Once again you've gotten me to feel instruments where none exist. Mostly heavy, steady drums. Once I read the description I recognized an unplaced Instrument Vibe™ as bagpipes as well, so even without being able to actually play them they got through anyway. Even if I did have a few moments of "???? Violins???? No what why that can't be it" beforehand :P

[sagedelphin]

You have a beautiful singing voice. I relisten to this song, and the others from its playlist, frequently when I write. Thank you for this creation :)

[crumbsintopebbles]

Add some bagpipes and a drum and you're all set!

[thechaosman]

They came when the night came and I heard there bloody hyme I could hear my brothers scream and yell. I ran as there stood a three head creature sing a song of slaughter.

[evangardner]

“harness wrath. Let it’s power putrefy” is this referring to how Annabelle said the corruption and the slaughters are similar?

[AniAni-svgm]

It's probably a coincidence since you don't mention it in the notes, but I like how the last line seems to be the same notes as the first phrase in L’homme armé?

[scottanastasi]

This is so awesome. It fit perfectly for a video I needed a song for (unmonetized) and I tried to push some people to come check you out. I only now realized your channel name. Awesome. Now I wonder if this is a world eater's situation. I used it to reference the "Lord of Carnage" based on Yeenoghu from Dungeons & Dragons. I love your work.