History Music / PoetsOfTheFall

* ExpositoryThemeTune: "[[https://youtu.be/Ocqtd4SYo7M?list=PLIXpL9mz02mJS0ox-8Ll9lxlOzM8D6I7- Grinder's Blues]]," the {{Rockabilly}} ThemeSong of SciFi {{Platform|Game}}er ''VideoGame/{{Rochard}},'' where the AsteroidMiner protagonist laments that he and his crew can't deliver on the quotas set forth by their boss, and he can't think of any solution.

** In the ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' games, they're the real talent behind the HeavyMithril FakeBand known as Old Gods of Asgard, and play all of the original [[https://youtu.be/8-l_kbZbXRQ?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUo3MfGtqogz7P3u5JUm3c- songs]] that the band play in-game. They reprise this role in VideoGame{{Control}} with the song known as "Take Control".

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0QsHKH77MI&ab_channel=PoetsoftheFall%28Official%29 Take Control]]," which plays during the Ashtray Maze segment of VideoGame/{{Control}}, basically speels out both the backstory of the events leading up to the start of the game, as well as [[spoiler: Jesse's eventual 'taking control' of the Oceanview Hotel during the endgame]].

They appeared again as the Old Gods of Asgard in Remedy's 2019 video game ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', providing the soundtrack to one of the game's most memorable sequences.

** To further complicate matters, this happens again in ''VideoGame/{{Control}}''; ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRQGOtBVELo My Dark Disquiet]]'' appears in a side-room in the Research area where the Bureau appears to be asking listeners what the song sounds like to them (''c.f.'' {{Mondegreen}}) and several other questions, and they later appear as the ''Old Gods of Asgard'' again for the Ashtray Maze sequence with ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0QsHKH77MI Take Control]]''.

* HeavyMithril: As their [[FakeBand fictional personas]] in the ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' games, Old Gods of Asgard, who combine Myth/NorseMythology with Franchise/CthulhuMythos imagery in a seventies[=/=]eighties metal package, and aid the hero through ThePowerOfRock.

** In the ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' games, they're the real talent behind the HeavyMithril FakeBand known as Old Gods of Asgard, and play all of the original [[https://youtu.be/8-l_kbZbXRQ?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUo3MfGtqogz7P3u5JUm3c- songs]] that the band play in-game.

-->He took her in without a word, for he saw his gave mistake\\

* PurpleProse: They do this with a few songs, while proving that TropesAreNotBad.

** [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the [[MonsterClown sinister]] jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://poetsofthefall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/PotF_-_Twilight_Theater-550x550.jpg album art]] and VillainProtagonist singer of ''Jealous Gods''' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7NMssrqsE Daze]]" is a Harlequin in black-and-red motley who's AdaptationalVillainy has him behaving far more like the devil of the character's roots than as than a mere {{Trickster}}. He's alternately depicted with a nasty SlasherSmile or moodily antagonizing the object of his jealousy as OrcusOnHisThrone.

* GenreRoulette: They can play a wide variety of styles, ranging from metal to hard rock to symphonic. [[IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] ''Revolution Roulette''.

* TuxedoAndMartini: While performing their live CoverVersion of ''{{Film/Casino Royale|2006}}'''s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcjZZIRRBNA You Know My Name]]," for The Voice's ''Livenä Vieraissa'' compilation album, they engage in Film/JamesBond cosplay, in stereotypically immaculate tuxes and {{Bowties|AreCool}}.

Shortly after the band was formed in 2003, Sami Järvi, a friend of Saaresto’s and a scriptwriter working at Creator/RemedyEntertainment, asked him to turn a poem Järvi had written into a song for ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2''; this would turn into "Late Goodbye", which serves as the game’s end credits theme and a recurring motif. Additionally, Kaarlonen had previously worked at a software company, which contacted them to use the song "Lift" in a benchmark program. Both of these helped expose the band to a wide audience. Their debut album, ''Signs of Life'', entered the Finnish charts in the number-one spot and remained in the Top 40 for over a year.

** "[[https://youtu.be/GLxb7m0j5Jg?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUo3MfGtqogz7P3u5JUm3c- The Poet and the Muse]]," ''VideoGame/AlanWake's'' folky MurderBallad by HeavyMithril FakeBand Old Gods of Asgard, which reveals the terrible fates of the protagonist's predecessors, and offers a way for him to escape their EternalRecurrance.

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: MonsterClown Hamartia, the sinister jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] and VillainProtagonist singer of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7NMssrqsE Daze]]," personifies the concept of the TragicMistake, and finds watching others make them a source of fun.

* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]" describes struggling and reaching a détente with one's own potentially destructive creative impulses, represented alternately by an agitated "madman" or a rampaging bull running loose in the singer's head.

* CasualHighDrop: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," this imagery is how the lyrics characterize the LeapOfFaith necessary to harness the creative impulse, including an in-context SingerNameDrop. The band is so good at managing this descent, they're ''Poets'' of the Fall.

** The [[http://www.madsupply.com/binary-3516/binary_3516.png album art]] for ''Clearview'' features a silhouette of a knight piece filled with a [[UnmovingPlaid flat]] black marble texture.

** [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the [[MonsterClown sinister]] jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] and VillainProtagonist singer of ''Jealous Gods''' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7NMssrqsE Daze]]" is a Harlequin in black-and-red motley who's AdaptationalVillainy has him behaving far more like the devil of the character's roots than as than a mere {{Trickster}}. He's alternately depicted with a nasty SlasherSmile or moodily antagonizing the object of his jealousy as OrcusOnHisThrone.

* EnemyWithin: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]" has the singer doing [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind battle]] with his rampant GhostInTheMachine before deciding to TakeAThirdOption and "embrace" its chaotic influence.

* EscapedAnimalRampage: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," the singer conceptualizes his creativity using bull imagery, and its depicted as running rampant.

* {{Flight}}: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," flying to absurd heights with the agitated "madman in [his] mind" is one of the ways the singer describes embracing his creativity.

* GhostInTheMachine: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," a "prolific designer" that personifies the singer's unrestrained creativity is [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds off-leash]], alternately depicted as a madman or rampaging animal with which the singer is in conflict.

** {{Subverted}} with the hat sported by [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the MonsterClown jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]]. While ''he's'' menacingly happy, his hat is far from jolly, ending not in bells, but the shadowy head of a [[SnakesAreSinister snake]].

** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," embracing and working with the rampant creative impulse in his head results in the creation of a "mental Versailles" for the singer.
* HearingVoices: In the opening seconds of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," unintelligible vocalizations represent the singer's unstable creative impulse, a "madman in [his] mind," as a GhostInTheMachine nattering away from inside his head.

* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," engaging in the creative process itself is an "aggressively primal cultural high."

* InItForLife: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," while the singer thrills to his BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, embracing his inner creative impulse and embarking on a risky adventure, he acknowledges its not without tradeoffs, admitting he's "sentenced to [[TitleDrop drama for life]]."

* MentalStory: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]" is about a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where the singer attempts to grapple with and embrace his creative GhostInTheMachine, and its aftermath, never really leaving the symbol-filled confines of the singer's head.

** The [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] for ''Twilight Theater'' introduces [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the SlasherSmile-sporting jester with a HappyHarlequinHat that terminates not in jingle bells, but a coiled serpent's head.

** [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]], wears a typical Harlequin red and black diamond motley, but the flap of his HappyHarlequinHat terminates in a [[SnakesAreSinister snake head]] instead of bells, and he has a nasty SlasherSmile, both of which mark him as a MonsterClown.

* RulesOfTheRoad: The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Jealous_Gods_cover.jpg album art]] for ''Jealous Gods,'' who's CentralTheme is JerkassGods, is a battered yellow road sign with a black lightning bolt against a clear blue sky, warning of a potential BoltOfDivineRetribution from out of the blue.

* SingerNamedrop: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]" has the singer explaining the ethos behind the band name, comparing struggling with one's rampant GhostInTheMachine to {{Flight}}, and how full embrace of the creative impulse turns a LeapOfFaith into a fulfilling CasualHighDrop.

* SlasherSmile: The [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] for ''Twilight Theater'' gives us [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the MonsterClown jester who finds perverse humour and joy in others' disastrous errors. No wonder he's smiling.
* SnakesAreSinister: [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the MonsterClown SlasherSmile wearing jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]], sports a HappyHarlequinHat with a flap that turns into silhouetted, coiling head of a serpent.

* TakeAThirdOption: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," when [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind battling]] with his EnemyWithin, an out-of-control creative impulse compared to a rampaging bull, the singer elects to stop fighting and take a chance on riding it out, seeing where it takes him.

** [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Personified]] in MonsterClown Hamartia, the sinister jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] and VillainProtagonist singer of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7NMssrqsE Daze]]," who finds perverse humour and joy in others' disastrous errors.

* ChessMotifs: The album art for the radio edit of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UX9UaCd_qI Drama for Life]]" features a red silhouette of a king piece topped with the band's [[MacabreMothMotif Morpho]] logo instead of the usual cross-shaped finial.

* CasualHighDrop: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," this imagery is how the lyrics characterize the LeapOfFaith neccesary to harness the creative impulse, including an in-context SingerNameDrop. The band is so good at managing this descent, they're ''Poets'' of the Fall.

** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8wYwvlmBE Drama for Life]]," embracing and working with the rampant creative impulse in his head results in the creation of a "mental Versailles for the singer."

** Personified in MonsterClown Hamartia, the sinister jester mascot of ''Twilight Theater's'' [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] and VillainProtagonist singer of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7NMssrqsE Daze]]," who finds perverse humour and joy in others' disastrous errors.

* ExpositoryThemeTune: "[[https://youtu.be/Ocqtd4SYo7M?list=PLIXpL9mz02mJS0ox-8Ll9lxlOzM8D6I7- Grinder's Blues]]," the {{Rockabilly}} ThemeSong of SciFi {{Platform|Game}}er ''VideoGame/{{Rochard}}.'' where the AsteroidMiner protagonist laments that he and his crew can't deliver on the quotas set forth by their boss, and he can't think of any solution.

* HappyPlace: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644&list=PLjACqN5i5sDWjx8wkdUyCl4MjctV4SE6o Lift]]," Poet County Jail inmate and MadDreamer Mark sometimes retreats to a mental house stuffed with framed and flapping [[MacabreMothMotif moths]], children's toys, and illusory band mates during his psych screening.

Shortly after the band was formed in 2003, Sami Järvi, a friend of Saaresto’s and a scriptwriter working at Remedy, asked him to turn a poem Järvi had written into a song for ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2''; this would turn into "Late Goodbye", which serves as the game’s end credits theme and a recurring motif. Additionally, Kaarlonen had previously worked at a software company, which contacted them to use the song "Lift" in a benchmark program. Both of these helped expose the band to a wide audience. Their debut album, ''Signs of Life'', entered the Finnish charts in the number-one spot and remained in the Top 40 for over a year.

* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: {{Ambiguous|Situation}}ly {{Implied}} in the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZpPNzt3II Choice Millionaire]]," with the [[TheMerch Hopecatcher]], a steel {{feather|motif}} pendant that the subversive DeusExMachina gives a labourer to facilitate escape from the Machine. Still, it is quite literally depicted as a MagicFeather.

** In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZpPNzt3II Choice Millionaire]]," the DeusExMachina subversive against the Machine also wears black feathers on his armor, one of which he plucks off and transforms to gift an imprisoned labourer with a "[[TheMerch Hopecatcher]]," a steel feather pendant that functions as an {{Amulet|OfConcentratedAwesome}} to aid the labourers in escaping from the Machine.

* {{Hallucinations}}: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644&list=PLjACqN5i5sDWjx8wkdUyCl4MjctV4SE6o Lift]]," Poet County Jail inmate and MadDreamer Mark suffers from persistent visions of [[MacabreMothMotif moths]] during his psych screening, even in an InkblotTest that's later revealed to have a very dissimilar shape. He pleads with them to make him fly, and they similarly feature heavily in his HappyPlace, from which they bleed into reality.

* UnpluggedVersion: Frequently in concert.

* BoltOfDivineRetribution: The cover of the album ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Jealous_Gods_cover.jpg Jealous Gods]]'' alludes to vengeful dieties when paired with the title, showing a [[RulesOfTheRoad road sign]] with a lightning bolt.

* InteractiveNarrator: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di7NMssrqsE Daze]]" [[MonsterClown jester]] Hamartia is narrating the thoughts of an absconder from a MasqueradeBall, (which includes punctuating a particularly wishful lyric with a hard eyeroll) the twist being its ''his'' ball she's fled, and, as OrcusOnHisThrone, he's feeling jealous enough to retaliate.

* ObsessionSong: "[[https://youtu.be/MKk1u5RMTn4?list=PLjACqN5i5sDWIIpg-5EB4WcitMMqnXhFP Carnival of Rust]]" has its LoveHungry singer advertising his deeply dysfunctional, passive-agressive fixation on his listener via an opening verse that takes the form of a TrialBalloonQuestion ''lathered'' in WishfulProjection.

* SlasherSmile: The [[http://www.poetsofthefall.com/discography/twilight_theater_cover/ album art]] for ''Twilight Theater'' gives us [[TragicMistake Hamartia]], the MonsterClown jester who finds perverse humour and joy in others' disasterous errors. No wonder he's smiling.

-->D'you breath the name of your saviour in your hour of need\\

* SadClown: The video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]" {{Deconstruct|ed}}s this with singer Zoltar, a ragged fortunetelling automaton with peeling paint and a [[CommediaDellArte Pierrot's]] black and white makeup. He's become so warped by playing his role at the [[CircusOfFear frightening Carnival]] where he works that all that's left of his clownishness is his decaying facade. In desperation, he sings an ObsessionSong pleading with his latest customer to love him so he can be free, but its sentiment is so LoveHungry that it frightens her off, and he weeps a SingleTear as she leaves.
* ScareChord: An electric guitar variation precedes the chorus in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]." In its video, it accompanies Zoltar the fortuneteller pulling "The Nine of Swords" (anguish, entrapment) after declaring his customer a "savior," and she staggers backward in startlement as he begins his LoveHungry demand that she love him to set him free from the [[CircusOfFear Carnival]].

* SingleTear: In the video for ObsessionSong "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]," fortunetelling automaton and SadClown Zoltar cries a black, make-up stained tear when he realizes his customer is leaving the [[CircusOfFear Carnival]] and will never return his affections.

* SolemnEndingTheme: '"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzsiE44Lz_w Late Goodbye]]," a melancholic, country-inspired tune implying a never-ending SternChase, is the end credits music and RecurringRiff of ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne.''

* TarotTroubles: The video for "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]" has Zoltar the fortune-telling automaton give his [[PostApocalypticGasMask gas-masked]] customer a tarot reading via a pair of trivision-style prismatic signs flanking his case. He considers her "The Star," a good-hearted MessiahFigure, but the second card he pulls (complete with electric guitar ScareChord) is one of its opposites, "The Nine of Swords", symbolizing anguish, despair and being trapped. On doing this, he begins the song's chorus, a blatant demand that she love him or he'll be stuck there, all but confirming he's tainting the reading with his desperate WishfulProjection.
* UnpluggedVersion:

** ''Temple of Thought Bonus Edition'' has unplugged live studio versions of love song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfVGvY7p1sU Temple of Thought]]" and LoveNostalgiaSong "[[https://youtu.be/YEa8dgcQAc8 Skin]]."

* BalladOfX: "[[https://youtu.be/il3c14eR9C8?list=PLjACqN5i5sDXIEWRmx4uLQDw-yU66E-dh The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper]]" a {{Western}} inspired EnnioMorriconePastiche about an implicitly {{Messianic|Archetype}}, ReluctantWarrior lawman.
* BodyToJewel: Referenced in "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Rl8WMqejc Diamonds For Tears]]," where the singer observes his lover's TenderTears and TearsOfJoy and interprets them this way while he wrestles with CommitmentIssues.
* BoltOfDivineRetribution: The cover of the album "[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Jealous_Gods_cover.jpg Jealous Gods]]" alludes to vengeful dieties when paired with the title, showing a [[RulesOfTheRoad road sign]] with a lightning bolt.

** ''Temple of Thought Bonus Edition'''s [[BonusMaterial Bonus Track]] and FollowYourHeart anthem "[[https://youtu.be/IhVAjhDgrvk Signs of Life]]" shares a title with their first full album, a title frequently [[TitleDrop dropped]] in the song's chorus.

* CircusOfFear: The "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]." The Carnival is run down and creepy, and the staff is menacing and vaguely predatory. The video's plot revolves around Zoltar, a [[SadClown depressive]], decaying Carnival automaton with flaking paint, and the experiences of the [[PostApocalypticGasmask gas-masked]] female customer who he tries to persuade to stay with foreboding, increasingly desperate pleas and demands for a relationship while [[HostileAnimatronics banging on the walls]] of his case.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]'s" singer Zoltar, a fortunetelling automaton with tatty clothes, peeling paint and tell-tale black-accented white makeup, is a {{Deconstructed|CharacterArchetype}} Pierrot. While genuinely [[SadClown tragic]], pining after the woman in the gas mask who visits the Carnival, he's rendered [[MonsterClown sinister]] because his idea of love is deeply dysfunctional and self-interested, since he thinks it will fix his life[=/=]free him from the Carnival. Though his desperation is sincere, there's a reason his demanding chorus is signalled by a ScareChord.

* CommitmentIssues: The subject of "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Rl8WMqejc Diamonds For Tears]]," as the singer searches for reasons to bolt, precisely because he suspects his lover is worth keeping.

** The video for ''Signs of Life'' track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," sees a prisoner declared "Illusionist," and "Dreamer," a reference to "[[https://youtu.be/FqJqdp2xdk8?list=PLjACqN5i5sDWjx8wkdUyCl4MjctV4SE6o Illusion & Dream]]," another track on the album.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 music video]] for TitleTrack "Carnival of Rust" contains references to other songs on the album. Among them:

** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]," the Carnival customer conceals her face behind an impressive gas-mask, while its workers are all bare-faced, implying that the environment is toxic.

* CulturePolice: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," an {{Ambiguous|Situation}} interpretation of the Poet County Jail officials conducting MadDreamer "Mark"'s psychiatric evaluation (with which he would agree) is that they find his brand of creativity threatening. The lone female psychologist finishes the evaluation form by checking boxes marked "Illusionist," "Dreamer" and "Menace to society."
* DastardlyDapperDerby: {{Downplayed}} in the video for ObsessionSong "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]," where several of the vaguely menacing male [[CircusOfFear Carnival]] staff wear them, including SadClown Zoltar the fortuneteller, who manages to put off a customer by being so LoveHungry he becomes intimidating as a result.
* DestructiveRomance: "[[https://youtu.be/DwmNefMrVB0?list=PLjACqN5i5sDXDvaCSm4yTRQBZpdod7HHD Kamikaze Love]]" has a pair reveling in their illicit, volatile and presumably doomed romance.

* EnnioMorriconePastiche: PlayedForDrama in "[[https://youtu.be/il3c14eR9C8?list=PLjACqN5i5sDXIEWRmx4uLQDw-yU66E-dh The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper]]" a {{Western}} inspired tale about an implicitly {{Messianic|Archetype}}, ReluctantWarrior lawman that borrows Morricone's tone.
* FakeBand: As HeavyMithril band "Old Gods of Asgard" in the ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' series. Just to muddy the issue, they appear as themselves in a cameo; and before playing the Poets' song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f_hewSrAH4 War]]", a radio host [[LampshadeHanging compares]] the two bands, saying the Poets remind him of the Old Gods for some reason he can’t quite place.

* {{Hallucinations}}: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," Poet County Jail inmate and MadDreamer Mark suffers from persistent visions of [[MacabreMothMotif moths]] during his psych screening, even in an InkblotTest that's later revealed to have a very dissimilar shape. He pleads with them to make him fly, and they similarly feature heavily in his HappyPlace, from which they bleed into reality.

* HappyPlace: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," Poet County Jail inmate and MadDreamer Mark sometimes retreats to a mental house stuffed with framed and flapping [[MacabreMothMotif moths]], children's toys, and illusory band mates during his psych screening.

* HostileAnimatronics: {{Downplayed}} in the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]," as Zoltar the [[SadClown depressive]] fortunetelling automaton begins to beat on the walls of his case when he realizes the customer he's been pleading to love him in a bid for freedom is leaving the [[CircusOfFear Carnival]].

* InkblotTest: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," Poet County Jail inmate and MadDreamer Mark thinks he sees a highly defined image of a pinned [[MacabreMothMotif moth]] in an inkblot during his psych screening. The video's final seconds confirm we've been looking ThroughTheEyesOfMadness, as the image resolves into an ordinary inkblot with a very dissimilar shape.

* LecherousLicking: {{Inverted}} in the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," when Poet County Jail inmate and MadDreamer Mark lifts his cuffed hands and licks his fingers suggestively to blatantly {{Troll}} the token female psychologist evaluating him. It works, as she stands up in a rage, throwing papers into disarray, and a guard has to be restrained from hitting him by his peer.
* LiveActionAdaptation: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIG1xnYdlFo music video]] for "War" adapts a few scenes from ''Videogame/AlanWake,'' featuring Ilkka Villi, Alan's model and live-action performer, fighting [[TheHeartless Taken]] played by the band members, while the vocalist also plays a solitary camper singing the lyrics.
* LyricsVideoMismatch: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," the lyrics depict someone struggling to articulate both enthusiasm for and anxieties about their romantic relationship. The video follows a MadDreamer prisoner undergoing psychiatric evaluation. In a bit of LampshadeHanging, the psychologists transcribe the lyrics as his speech, and treat it in-Universe as the rantings of a TalkativeLoon.
* LoveHungry: ObsessionSong "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]" is all about this dysfunctional approach to love. The video has its singer Zoltar, the [[SadClown depressive]], decaying fortune-telling automaton, so desperate for escape from the [[CircusOfFear Carnival]] that he causes the object of his fixation TarotTroubles in an attempt to compel her affection, and utters these lines preceded by a ScareChord:

* LoveNostalgiaSong: "[[https://youtu.be/SSEIuy7J1t4?list=PLjACqN5i5sDXDvaCSm4yTRQBZpdod7HHD Skin]]," deals with a speaker meditating on his grief at a failed relationship he can't get over, in the house he and his beloved once shared.

* LovingAShadow: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]"'s singer Zoltar is a decaying automaton stuck in his fortuneteller's booth, desperate to leave the [[CircusOfFear Carnival]], and its clear that his pleas and demands for love from his customer stem from WishfulProjection. He taints her {{Tarot|Troubles}} reading by declaring her "The Star," his MessiahFigure, instead of recognizing her as a person in her own right, and as a result, his affections go unreciprocated.

** In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," Poet County Jail inmate and MadDreamer Mark is very attached to his {{Hallucinations}} of moths, pleading with them to make him fly, and consistently makes the shape with his cuffed hands when undergoing psych screening. He's diagnosed with delusional parasitosis and finally deemed a "Menace to Society" as a result.
* MadDreamer: In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ompevuR1644 Lift]]," "Mark" is a mentally ill prisoner of Poet County Jail who has {{Hallucinations}} of [[MacabreMothMotif moths]] and a HappyPlace filled with illusory bandmates. The psychologists examining him make an effort to transcribe his in-universe WordSalad, which looks suspiciously like song lyrics.

** In the video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]], this is {{Invoked}} by Zoltar, the [[CircusOfFear Carnival]]'s fortuneteller, during a {{Tarot|Troubles}} reading, as he pulls "The Star" (a hopeful savior figure) and "The Nine of Swords" (despair, entrapment) in succession, and in his chorus, demands she love him so that he might be free of the Carnival. His attempt is {{Subverted}} when she is taken aback, and ignores his advances in favor of visiting other attractions, then leaving.
** PlayedStraight in "[[https://youtu.be/il3c14eR9C8?list=PLjACqN5i5sDXIEWRmx4uLQDw-yU66E-dh The Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper]]" a {{Western}} inspired EnnioMorriconePastiche about a self-sacrificing, ReluctantWarrior lawman who's mission is "to keep your peace"

* MindScrew: Some of the music videos are really weird, but the best example has to be "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]", where a woman with a [[PostApocalypticGasMask gas mask]] and a lollipop visits a dilapidated [[CircusOfFear Carnival of Fear]].

** {{Downplayed}} in "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]," as the singer Zoltar, an automaton performer in a CircusOfFear carnival, serves as an unusually eerie and foreboding [[CommediaDellArte Pierrot-figure]]. Though a SadClown, his obvious decrepitude and increasing desperation make the air of menace that much thicker.

* ObsessionSong: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKk1u5RMTn4 Carnival of Rust]]" has its LoveHungry singer advertising his deeply dysfunctional, passive-agressive fixation on his listener via an opening verse that takes the form of a TrialBalloonQuestion ''lathered'' in WishfulProjection.

** ''Videogame/MaxPayne2'''s ending theme, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzsiE44Lz_w Late Goodbye]]" was their first release, which suddenly became the BreakawayPopHit that properly launched their careers as perennial chart-toppers.
** In the ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' games, they're the real talent behind the HeavyMithril FakeBand known as Old Gods of Asgard, and play all of the original songs that the band play in-game.

* AwardBaitSong: "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLn4_Wz3Tc0 Late Goodbye]]," the country-inspired end-credits theme and recurring {{leitmotif}} of ''Videogame/MaxPayne2,'' which netted a 2004 Game Audio Network Guild Award.

* SolemnEndingTheme: '"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzsiE44Lz_w Late Goodbye]]," a melancholic, country-inspired tune implying a never-ending SternChase, is the end credits music (and recurring {{leitmotif}}) of ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne.''

** The single for BreakUpSong "The Ultimate Fling" includes "[[https://youtu.be/Cy-PlCBnm9E?list=PLjACqN5i5sDVO4HgjvSj475vj7drkiFF4 The Impromptu Alternate Version]]," an acoustic version that sands of the original's hard rock edges.

** The single for BreakUpSong "The Ultimate Fling" includes "[[https://youtu.be/Cy-PlCBnm9E?list=PLjACqN5i5sDVO4HgjvSj475vj7drkiFF4 The Impromptu Alternate Version," an acoustic version that sands of the original's hard rock edges.