Human society exists in a world it had previously dreamed of.
Of course, human dreams are not always pleasant and what he usually remembers are nightmares.
A nightmarish reality is the result of a thought-form consequence of mass fears and fantasies.
Our fears will be experienced as a frightening reality by future generations.
Until they decide to direct their dreams to more utopian societies, without imaginary separations.
Of course, there are many songs that deal with post-apocalyptic and dystopian societies.
Definitely, the first to deal with this topic were the pioneers of prog rock King Crimson with the emblematic “Epitaph” of 1969.
The Italians Nereis, (formerly Black Star), in their latest work “Turning Point“, talk about a different dystopia in the song “Induced Extinction“.
The name Nereis comes from the Nereids, nymphs of the sea, daughters of Nereus and Oceanida Dorida
The source of inspiration for the lyrical part, as they reveal to us, is humanity.
Humanity capable of majestic creations, but at the same time destructive, trapped in the dipole of the god Shiva.
According to Gavin Flood, an expert on the Hindu religion, “Shiva is a god of ambiguity and paradox.”
In his face coexist creativity and destruction, sympathy, and brutality.
While at the same time, he creates centrifugal historical circles, with repetitive patterns, but always inside his dipole.
The presentation of future society by the Italians, Nereis, has more special features than the one predicted by King Crimson.
Greed and violence: A path to self-destruction
The Nereis, through the song “Induced Extinction“, narrates a society divided into two.
One of its sides lives in harmony with nature, with absolute respect for it and the creatures it hosts.
The other chose a different way of survival. They steal, kill, and live in greed and violence, steadily leading to its self-destruction.
This is the current way of life of societies, which according to the Nereis, can easily lead to the extinction of our species.
The lyrics of the song are at the same time a warning and a social message.
The future of humanity depends on its evolution through the laws of nature and not through greed and violence.
The melody
The melody was the result of the harmonious coexistence of the musicians, just like the message of their lyrics.
Their usual way of creating comes from their improvisation, during a rehearsal.
Step by step the lyrics follow the music like a philosophical discussion, where the words complement the notes.
However, the song did not have the easiest course and the band did not accept it at first.
The riff and the chorus were part of a specific progressive style, composed by the band singer Andrea “Andy” Barchiesi.
To the others, it seemed quite complicated for the whole album, which they were recording.
But in the right harmony, as in nature, every seed finds a way to bloom.
So the right notes find a way to get in or create, more correctly, a song.
When the time came, the musical pattern simply appeared, like a seedling after the rain.
The song “spoke” live to the band’s friends through the tour they did in 2018 to promote their album, “Turning Point“, released by Eclipse Records.
