Vampire Rodents was the name of a sound collage and experimental music ense… Read Full Bio ↴Vampire Rodents was the name of a sound collage and experimental music ensemble active ca. from 1988 to 1996. They were based out of Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A. although its core members originally came from Canada. The creative nucleus of the project comprised vocalist and composer Daniel Vahnke and keyboardist Victor Wulf. Daniel Vahnke was primarily influenced by 20th-century classical and avant-garde music, whereas Wulf drew from new age, ambient and synth-driven pop music. Their work also dabbled in big band, bebop, musique concrète, industrial, electro, Indian classical and Greek music.

Vampire Rodents' last recodings were made in 1997 when Vahnke was working on a follow-up to Gravity's Rim. Legal issues with Fifth Colvmn Records unexpectedly halted activity and the project was put on hiatus. After over a decade of inactivity, Daniel Vahnke officially announced his musical retirement and the project's abandonment in 2009. In 2016, Vahnke established an official youtube page titled Rodentia Productions and began issuing unreleased material.

Major discography:
War Music (1990)
Premonition (1992)
Lullaby Land (1993)
Clockseed (1995)
Gravity's Rim (1996)

Catacomb
Vampire Rodents Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Dreamtime linen
Dragging tremor
Shadows eat all I remember
Silver gaze robotic
Engine pulse narcotic
Saw her from the cockpit
Just before the missiles hit
Black-winged angels coming down

They are coming to your town

Chiseled leather-face technician
Barometric detonator
Slabs of fat piled in the kitchen
Mother is a traitor

Bamboo in the roses
Border in our sight
Eclipse never fades
Flame consumes the night
Cold gray stone to cheek
Touchwish pressure seek
Wounded beast in a gutted crescent
An evil past
A hollow present

We will know where you have been
We can smell your starving sin

Overall Meaning

The lyrics in Vampire Rodents' song Catacomb paint a dark and dystopian picture of a world where shadows consume memories and silver gazes are robotic. The singer in this song appears to be flying a plane or helicopter, identified by their view from the cockpit just before missiles hit. They sing about "black-winged angels" coming to town, which could reference some sort of demonic or ominous presence descending upon their location.

Line by Line Meaning

Dreamtime linen
A peaceful state of mind

Dragging tremor
A sense of unease

Shadows eat all I remember
Memories fading away

Silver gaze robotic
Cold and unfeeling eyes

Engine pulse narcotic
The hypnotic sound of the engine

Saw her from the cockpit
View from above

Just before the missiles hit
An imminent attack

Black-winged angels coming down
Dangerous foes approaching

They are coming to your town
The threat is close

Chiseled leather-face technician
A skilled and hardened warrior

Barometric detonator
A device to cause destruction