Sons of Perdition's first album, The Kingdom is On Fire, was released in 2007. The Hank in Chains Review had this to say of it: "Sons have delivered a beautiful brimstone masterpiece with The Kingdom Is On Fire... an absolutely phenomenal album from start to finish."
Kingdom was followed by Psalms for the Spiritually Dead in 2010. James Carlson called it "a musical sermon unlike any other."
Trinity, the third and final album in Sons of Perdition’s Dissolution Trilogy, was released on GraveWax Records on November 12, 2013. At over 72 minutes, Trinity is a long, metaphorical narrative that tells of a man’s hellish pilgrimage through the American Southwest.
Zebulon Whatley was raised outside the rural settlement of Scrougout, Texas on a diet of fanatic religion and weird fiction. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.
The Party
Sons of Perdition Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That drove me to the axe
But I confess that no hand further
Made me chop and cut and hack
Deep inside my curdled mind
A murky abyss yawned
And at my feet, in endless sleep
Children, mothers, beasts of burden
Not one life was spared
Gazing on the piles and pyres
I rendered clothes and tore my hair
Deep inside my troubled mind
That gaping hole was filled
With blood and moans and fingerbones
Of all my party I had killed
On ground and clothes and hard packed snow
Just how much blood I cannot tell
What Neptune's oceans could not cleanse
Did grease my footing down to hell
The song "The Party" by Sons of Perdition is a haunting story of a man who confesses to having killed his entire family and their guests. He blames the monster known as the Wendigo for driving him to do it, but acknowledges that he alone committed the violent acts. In the first verse, the singer claims it was the Wendigo that made him pick up an axe, but admits that no one else made him "chop and cut and hack." He clearly feels a deep sense of guilt and responsibility for his actions.
The second verse is even more disturbing, as he describes the aftermath of the massacre. He has killed "children, mothers, beasts of burden" and left them "piled in pyres" while he "rendered clothes and tore [his] hair" in anguish. He also reveals that he has "deep inside [his] troubled mind" a "gaping hole" that has been "filled with blood and moans and fingerbones." This is a clear indication of the trauma and guilt he is experiencing after the horrific event.
The final verse takes a surreal turn as he describes the physical evidence of the slaughter, stating that "just how much blood I cannot tell" and that it has left him "greased [his] footing down to hell." The singer's reference to "Neptune's oceans" suggests that the amount of blood is beyond what could conceivably be washed away by a regular human's actions. The final image of him being pulled down to hell leaves the listener wondering if there may be supernatural forces at work beyond the obvious psychological trauma.
Line by Line Meaning
I swear it was the Wendigo
I blame the evil nature spirit, Wendigo, for my actions
That drove me to the axe
It caused me to pick up an axe and potentially harm others
But I confess that no hand further
But I admit that no one else pushed me to commit these acts
Made me chop and cut and hack
Except for my own inner demons that led me to harm my loved ones
Deep inside my curdled mind
In my disturbed inner thoughts
A murky abyss yawned
An obscure, dark area in my mind opened up
And at my feet, in endless sleep
My family lay motionless on the ground
My family waited for the dawn
My loved ones waited for the arrival of morning that they would never see
Children, mothers, beasts of burden
Innocent people, mothers and even animals, were not spared in my violence
Not one life was spared
Everyone I knew was a victim of my brutality
Gazing on the piles and pyres
Looking at the bodies and fires
I rendered clothes and tore my hair
I was full of sorrow and regret for my actions
Deep inside my troubled mind
In my disturbed inner thoughts
That gaping hole was filled
My emptiness was filled
With blood and moans and fingerbones
With the sounds and images of death and destruction
Of all my party I had killed
I had killed all those that had accompanied me
On ground and clothes and hard packed snow
On the earth, clothing and hardened snow
Just how much blood I cannot tell
I do not know how much blood was shed
What Neptune's oceans could not cleanse
Even the god of the oceans could not wash away the blood and horror of my deeds
Did grease my footing down to hell
My actions led me to a spiral of despair and certain doom
Contributed by Cameron W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
catfishking1996
Frickin wendigos i hate em
embrassemoi04
Sounds like Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, and The Black Heart Procession played together at a Jim Jones Sermon.
tehsplunker
"The wendigo ... is a creature appearing in the legends of the Algonquian people. It is thought of variously as a malevolent cannibalistic spirit that could possess humans or a monster that humans could physically transform into." ...yeah, I had to wikipedia it.
Shmuel P
tehsplunker, thank you for sparing me from Wikipedia.
omegaburn
inspiration. I can taste it
Sergio
Anyone knows the tabs?
Mrgone454
Ah, The Donner Party.