I found another in the You Tube comments!:
edited 27th Aug '16 9:58:37 AM by Blazer_the_Delphox
Hey, guys! Guess what day it is? You Tube comment day! In response to the previous one:
The album has subtext about the dangers of curiosity and the negative outcome that can come from it.
edited 27th Aug '16 9:52:19 AM by Blazer_the_Delphox
These next few I was questioning putting here, but I'll dub this the "Missing Tracks" compilation. These comments neglected at least one or two songs on the album, for whatever reason.
"Rise Lazarus Rise" is a man showing people an invention that brings people back to life
"Personal Demons" is a man losing his mind
"From the Dust Returns a Titan" is the crazy man stole the invention and accidentally awakens an ancient demon
"Worlds In-Between" is the monster releasing demons and destroying the earth
"Ingenious Forms of Torture" is the demon torturing others
"Body In Revolt" is the same as previous
"Dead Air" is the one man who survived the attack
"Miss Me To Death" is the man's punishment after death
Missing tracks: "Buckets of Blood" and "You'll Never Guess"
"Personal Demons" is a Lovecraftian god giving a man knowledge beyond that of a normal human, and he goes insane.
"Rise Lazarus Rise" is that man making a machine that resurrects the dead, and displaying it to the public.
"Worlds In-Between" is the machine going haywire and resurrecting them as empty shells of their former selves who kill for fun and pleasure.
"Dead Air" is the last survivor looking for other survivors.
Missing tracks: "From the Dust Returned a Titan", "Buckets of Blood", "Ingenious Forms of Torture", "Body in Revolt", "Miss Me to Death", and "You'll Never Guess".
1. "Rise Lazarus Rise"- A street magician finds the secret to reviving the dead and successfully attempts it at a street show, gaining an immense reputation.
2. "Worlds In-Between"- The entities in the "World In-Between" find out about the magician's "God Game", and decide to strike back at him.
3. "From the Dust Returned a Titan"- The Elder Ones emerge when they find that their minions have failed to kill the magician, and destroy the whole of humanity to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
4. "Personal Demons"- The magician, having used up all his life power to save himself, wanders the destroyed earth and eventually goes insane.
5. "Dead Air"- the insane ex-magician attempts to reestablish connection with any group that survived the Apocalypse, failing to do so but trying until his eventual death, sealing the fate of mankind for eternity.
Missing tracks: "Buckets of Blood", "Ingenious Forms of Torture", "Body in Revolt", "Miss Me to Death", "You'll Never Guess".
I can't be the only one interested in this sort of thing, right? Seriously, is anybody else even reading this?
edited 8th Oct '16 6:10:02 PM by Blazer_the_Delphox
Hey man, so I'm actually the guy you quoted in your third post (the youtube response of your second post).
Yeah, it's a great album. One thing that gets me is I see a lot where people try to separate the man (hereby referred to as Rufus) who invents the resurrection machine and the man who brought back the demon, but to me this just doesn't make sense (for a few reasons).
As I stated in the quoted post, you can clearly hear a monster's roar and Rufus scream in the middle of Rise Lazarus Rise. Outside of that though, there's a few lines throughout the album that backs this up; "What unholy outcome have I engineered?" "I must take up arms and fight for my sins.", "Was I the hero or was I the villain?."
Besides that, it just makes for a better story (especially a Lovecraftian themed one such as this). What sounds more tragic; a man builds a machine that raises the dead and someone else steals it to awaken a monster or a man builds a machine that raises the dead and inadvertently unleashes a behemoth unto the world?
Here's my take on the album (fleshed out a little bit more, and "evolved" as that comment was from like what, a year ago or something?). Mind you, I could be wrong, it's just my interpretation:
Rise Lazarus Rise: A scientist, Rufus, creates a machine to raise the dead. He succeeds (sort of) but accidentally awakens a sleeping Horror. Besides the roar/scream I feel the last verse reinforces this, because he's singing the words remorsefully; lamenting on what he's done.
Personal Demons: Portraying the madness that has been inflicted on Rufus by the Horror (madness of course being a staple of Lovecraft). Really this song isn't so much describing an event as it is giving us insight on the mental state of Rufus.
From the Dust Returned a Titan: The Horror is woke and reeking havoc. Rufus is powerless to do anything to stop the destruction and exiles himself.
Buckets of Blood: Rufus struggles in his self imposed exile. Conflicted between his desire to do something, his inability to do so, and his increasing loss of sanity, he obsesses over the situation.
Worlds In-Between: Rufus is in the middle of a 'psychotic' episode and is panicking over what he sees/feels. If what he is experiencing is actually a look into the world from where this Horror comes from or is just a figment of Rufus' illness is irrelevant. (Any doubts of a Lovecraftian theme should be removed with the line "That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange eons [even] death may die!"). His panic subsiding, Rufus decides he must do something.
Note: This is the only song that has spoken words; "Try to play God?", "It's part of a game.", "Some choices are not yours to make!". On a personal note I don't like the middle line; to me it doesn't fit. Anyway, While these lines sound cool, there's absolutely no context given to them, and I feel that it was added as an audio "flair" (if you would) to the track. It reminds me a lot of White/Rob Zombie, or to a lesser degree 'Portrait' era Marilyn Manson and as such I'm putting this down as an artistic addition as opposed to a plot enhancer. It might be cheating but /shrug.
Ingenious Forms of Torture: Rufus, falling deeper into his psychosis, is now hallucinating what punishments will await him after he eventually dies and (assumedly) goes to hell. Personally I'm not a huge fan of this song. On its own it's alright, but as being part of the story; I feel Curtis wanted to write a song about forms of torture and for whatever reason didn't do it with Erik via Creature Feature.
Body in Revolt: Rufus has learned to cope(ish) with his madness and decides to end his exile. He goes back and comes across Lazarus, who is alive(ish). This song is from the perspective of Lazarus, who's lying in agonizing pain as his body is coming apart on a molecular level. Really Rufus doesn't even have to be there, it could just be letting the audience (us) know Lazarus' fate, and add that level of depth that despite the awakening of the Horror, while Rufus' machine worked he still failed because after awhile you end up lying on the floor screaming about how you preferred death, before dying from rez sickness.
Side Note: I had a conversation with someone where they said that Body in Revolt was about Rufus becoming a Lich after messing with Necromancy. While I adore the idea, I feel it doesn't work because RLR makes it clear (to me) that Science is used and not Magic. Still like to mention it though.
Miss Me to Death: Rufus returns to his home, the one where this all started and laments over everything. Not coming across a single survivor (save Lazarus) Rufus wonders if his fate is to be "forgotten in purgatory", and realizes that only the vermin are left to mourn him. He contemplates on if he was the hero or the villain of the story.
Dead Air: Rufus spends the rest of his days wandering the earth, looking for survivors. Presumably he finds none and dies at some point.
You'll Never Guess: The Horror has returned to its sleep after who knows how much time and the survivors (or descendants of) have come out of their hiding spots and begin to explore the earth anew. They come across the buried (maybe by Rufus or others, I don't know) bodies in various places and whoever is singing at this point says it's best not to dig deeper into it. Realistically probably the happiest ending you can expect to get from a story like this. While I like the song a lot, personally I think the album should have ended at Dead Air.
But yes, that's my interpretation of Dead Beat. Really, the album focuses most on Rufus' madness as opposed to the Horror itself. or, to sum it up in a different way:
Dr. Frankenstein awakens Cthulhu.
I'm actually currently running a Dungeons and Dragons game (Pathfinder, technically) where I'm using this concept for the story. Rufus (Bard/Alchemist) is in it and everything. I was looking for some more info on the album when I came across your post, heh.
edited 4th Sep '16 9:30:29 PM by Sefca
Yay, someone else posted!
I though that the roar/scream in "Rise Lazarus Rise" was actually Rufus screaming in frustration over the failed resurrection, as you can hear a flatline before the scream. You could also say that it's the resurrected screaming in agony as they die from the Resurrection Sickness.
The "It's part of a game." line actually works better with my interpretation of the storyline, as Rufus' resurrection of the demon was deliberate. Since Rufus still has some lingering madness from "Buckets of Blood", these two voices are trying to lead him onto separate paths. One is trying to tell him that he needs to focus on his immortality, while the other is trying to tell him to die fighting the evil he's created.
(Fun fact: According to the You Tube comments on the official lyrics video, the sound clip at the beginning of "Worlds In-Between" came from the film The Brain That Wouldn't Die.)
According to the Rufus Rex page on This Very Wiki, "You'll Never Guess" tells of someone finding bodies in a pre-apocalyptic world. The way I saw it, though, was that the demon had returned to its slumber, and God decided to repopulate the earth, leaving the demon and bodies as a warning: "Don't do that again."
A story I'm writing connects to my interpretation of the album. Since Rufus is immortal, he's still alive to warn people. He tells them about what happened, and the story is passed along as a legend, until no one believes it anymore. When two souls try to reanimate the dead, Rufus himself shows up and tries to warn them. While one is dissuaded, the other isn't. When the person tries to resurrect the demon again, God shows up and basically says "Stop it. I don't want to deal with that again."
I do adore your interpretation of the storyline, though. I'll definitely listen to "Rise Lazarus Rise" again just to see if I can hear the demon roar.
edited 5th Sep '16 11:05:21 AM by Blazer_the_Delphox
Well, there's two; the roar followed by Rufus' scream. It's a tad bit hard to hear though, I recommend using headphones which makes it easier (I think the roar comes from like the left speaker while Rufus' scream comes from the right), but it's most certainly there. I always got the impression from the guitar following the screams of 'running'; IE Rufus escaping from the horror that just awoke, which probably helped me interpret the song (and thus the album) the way I did.
Nice catch on "The Brain that Wouldn't Die"! It's a movie I'm familiar with but never actually saw (outside of MST 3 K but that was years ago). I think I'll go and watch it just to hear the lines in their original context.
In my D&D campaign (which there is no Rez spells) after the events are done (assuming the party is victorious in stopping the monster) The gods allow rezzing as to prevent something like this from happening again. Rufus, however, is cursed to spend his afterlife as the ferryman on the river Styx: In further campaigns when a character dies, Rufus will greet them singing lines from Creature Feature's "Netherworld" (specifically the "Well now" lines). When they get rezzed, as their spirit is pulled back he'll simply reply "You're welcome" referencing that he's still the reason people can rez, even if not the way he intended.
The thing I think I love most about Dead Beat is the variety of the music. The songs range from Metal to Punk to Goth to Weird (not a genre, but I don't know what else to call it). Between Creature Feature and Rufus Rex, I think Curtis Rx might be my favorite musician ever. That boys got talent.
My headphones must have been quite different, since I can hear the scream in both. I heard the roar, though!
I've aspired to become a writer like Curtis. He can come up with really interesting, amazing stories. (This thread is proof of that!) I've tried to build upon my own writing by using his as a basis.
I would find it absolutely insane if Curtis himself found this thread and said which interpretation was the closest/the one he liked the most. The chances of that happening are slim to none, but that would be absolutely crazy!
Hey, I thought of something! What if the story goes something like this?
"Rise Lazarus Rise"- The protagonist (I'll call him Herbert West in this post) is trying to reanimate the dead, experimenting on different animals and, eventually, humans.
"Body in Revolt"- How the resurrections feel to the formerly dead as Herbert forces them back to life. Since they are unaccustomed to living after death, they can only survive for a short amount of time before they die again, but still manage to say something to Herbert before they die. (I want to note here that when I said that this song was about the Resurrection Sickness, I meant that most of the symptoms described in the lyrics go away after the resurrection is complete, while some hints might still linger.)
"Personal Demons"- The things that the resurrected say to Dr. West start to get to him, and he goes crazy trying to make sense of it all.
"Worlds In-Between"- All of the bodies of the formerly resurrected that Dr. West buried disappear, and in their places are some of the "monsters and beasts unknown" that, unbeknownst to Herbert, are the agents of the Eldritch Abomination. Not knowing any better, Herbert kills them and then tries to resurrect them with his machine.
"From the Dust Returned a Titan"- Herbert's attempts to resurrect the demons alert the abomination to him, and it decides that he is a threat that must be eliminated.
"Buckets of Blood"- Dr. West, who is now aware that there is essentially a manhunt for him, locks himself up inside his home and tries to cope with his own madness.
"Ingenious Forms of Torture"- The demon goes around torturing people in order to get information on Herbert's whereabouts. (I guess it just thinks that Torture Always Works?)
"Dead Air"- Dr. West knows that his time is borrowed, and begins his desperate search for anyone left alive. He finds none, and gives in to despair.
"Miss Me to Death"- As Herbert bitterly laments everything that has happened, from the resurrections, to the army, to the torture and destruction, he begins to wonder what awaits him in the afterlife and asks himself one question, over and over again: "Was I the hero, or was I the villain?"
"You'll Never Guess"- The few people who have managed to evade the abomination find the bodies of the abomination's victims, and decide that it's best not to look into it. The lyrics "A tiny part of your brain/Has simply gone awry" could be one of the survivors hearing Herbert's cries of repentance, even though they're certain that no one else is left alive.
There's someone who thinks that this album connects to the Creature Feature albums to give us the real story. How does that even work, though?
I've figured something out!
"Grave Robber at Large"- A few grave robbers supply a man with multiple corpses for his experiments.
"Rise Lazarus Rise"- The man finds a way to resurrect those corpses, hiding the use of science by pretending it is magic, much like real life.
"American Gothic"- The man starts getting increasingly ominous signs from a Lovecraftian horror, hereby referred to as the Titan, trying to tell him to stop in the only way it knows how: Fear.
"Personal Demons"- The man starts to go crazy from the Titan's fear-inducing messages.
"Worlds In-Between"- The resurrections start to go wrong, and the resurrected get increasingly violent.
"The Greatest Show Unearthed"- A circus ringmaster, seeing the potential of this, asks the man to perform some resurrections for them.
"Mommy's Little Monsters"- The resurrected find themselves in the deepest, darkest corners of the circus attractions, becoming embittered with humans.
"Spill Your Guts"- The resurrected fantasize about how easy it would be to kill the humans that they so hate.
"The Unearthly Ones"- The resurrected have escaped, and are now lurking, waiting to strike.
"Ingenious Forms of Torture"- The resurrected start killing and torturing humans for fun.
"It Was a Dark and Stormy Night..."- The resurrected start to stalk and haunt the man who started it all as he is slowly descending deeper into madness.
"Buckets of Blood"- The man locks himself into his own home and mind, trying desperately to fight off the demons in his head.
"Nearly Departed"- The machine starts to go haywire, unleashing countless zombies unto the world.
"Aim for the Head"- Humanity tries, and fails, to fight back against this threat.
"Here There be Witches"- In a last-ditch effort to save themselves, the humans hunt down as many resurrected as they can, killing them in increasingly gruesome ways.
"Body in Revolt"- Despite humanity's efforts, the resurrected just keep coming back, and this song explains that even they are not free from the torment.
"Look to the Skies"- Alien creatures descend from the cosmos to try and tell humanity that they're screwed and are here to finish the job.
"From the Dust Returned a Titan"- The Titan, realizing that no one had chosen to heed its warning, rises to try and speed up the job.
"Fodder for the Elder Gods"- The Great Old Ones descend to earth to assist the Titan in destroying everything.
"Miss Me to Death"- The man that started this downward spiral into complete destruction begins to lament everthing that has happened.
"Dead Air"- The man searches for any sign of civilization in a post-apocalyptic world, and eventually dies.
"You'll Never Guess"- The few survivors of the attack explore the earth anew after the Great Old Ones return to their domains.
"Wake the Dead"- Someone tries to start the cycle anew, using real magic instead of science disguised as magic...
Hey, I thought of something! What if the roar was foreshadowing? You see, the protagonist doesn't necessarily have to go crazy during "Personal Demons". In fact, he's already crazy when the song begins! He could have gone crazy at some point during "Rise Lazarus Rise", and the roar was a figment of his imagination foreshadowing what would actually happen in the story later.
I just realized the the page for Rufus Rex may have influenced the way I interpreted the album. So, this is what it said about it, overly-summarized:
"Rise Lazarus Rise"- "I Want" Song, the protagonist tries to reanimate the dead.
"Body in Revolt"- Resurrection Sickness, from the formerly dead's point of view. (I don't know where this falls in the timeline. I'm just putting it here, though.)
"Personal Demons"/"Buckets of Blood"- Sanity Slippage Song, his psychotic episodes before/after resurrecting the demon.
"From the Dust Returned a Titan"/"Worlds In-Between"- Villain Song, describing the Lovecraftian horror he has summoned.
"Ingenious Forms of Torture"- Exactly What It Says on the Tin, Cold-Blooded Torture.
"Miss Me to Death"- Despair Speech given song form, as the protagonist laments all the destruction he's caused.
"You'll Never Guess"- People finding bodies Just Before the End.
"Dead Air"- The protagonist crosses the Despair Event Horizon as he tries to find signs of life After the End.
Have I started talking to a brick wall again?
edited 30th Oct '16 7:38:10 AM by Blazer_the_Delphox
So, I was listening to Rufus Rex, and I began to ask myself one question: "What do other people think the storyline of this album is?" So, that is the question I pose today, Tropers. What do you think the plot of Dead Beat is? If you're curious as to my interpretation, you can either read this fanfic
(I'm working on a re-write of it now!) or read ahead in this post.
Also, you can listen to the album here
, if you haven't done so.
"Rise Lazarus Rise" is our exposition of the main protagonist searching for the secret of immortality through resurrection. When this fails, he learns of the existence of an Eldritch Abomination that could grant him Complete Immortality, so he won't have to deal with Resurrection Sickness. This then goes into "Personal Demons", his Sanity Slippage after learning that the demon exists. "From the Dust Returned a Titan" is him awakening the demon from its slumber. Laying eyes on it is enough to throw him deeper into madness in "Buckets of Blood". "Worlds In-Between", is him deciding to try and fight off the demon army. He is defeated by the army and dragged, still alive, into Hell, to be on the receiving end of Cold-Blooded Torture by the demon's master, because there's Always Someone Better, in "Ingenious Forms of Torture". After being tortured to death, "Body in Revolt" details his resurrection by the demon, granting him that immortality he so desired. "Miss Me to Death" is his bitter lamentation over all the destruction he caused. "Dead Air" is him crossing the Despair Event Horizon as he tries to find signs of life in the post-apocalyptic world. "You'll Never Guess" is some people from a repopulated world finding bodies from the incident years later.
edited 15th Oct '16 8:16:26 AM by Blazer_the_Delphox