Track-By-Track: In This Moment

 

Vocalist MARIA BRINK and guitarist CHRIS HOWORTH tell the stories behind each song on IN THIS MOMENT’s A Star-Crossed Wasteland.

The Gun Show
Brink:“The Gun Show” is about self-respect. It has a theme of a showdown about to get serious.
Howorth:It’s like a Pantera-type traditional metal song. It’s one of the heaviest and most straightforward songs we’ve ever written. Plus, it has this cool part in the center that is really going to mosh tear pits up across the nation. “The Gun Show” is tailor-made for the Mayhem Festival.

Just Drive
Brink:“Just Drive” is about finding someone special—whether or not you’re in love or if it’s your best friend in the world—and getting in the car and leaving the whole world behind. It’s about just hitting the road without a care in the world.
Howorth:Musically, it follows that same kind of idea. It’s just driving and pumping the whole time. It’s a “get up and go” song.

The Promise
Brink:This song is about when you are madly in love with somebody, but you know that you’re dangerous for that person and vice versa. They’re dangerous for you even though you crave them. You want it more than anything, even though you know it will end badly.
Howorth:It’s just a really awesome metal song. It’s got great groove and really catchy hooks.
Brink:It’s melodic, dark and vibey.
Howorth:Yeah, but it’s still heavy and really cool. We’re very proud of this song.

Standing Alone
Brink:This song is about how sometimes you have to leave everything behind and walk through solitude to really find yourself and figure it all out. It’s about how standing alone sometimes is the strongest place you can be in your life.
Howorth: Like the other songs, it’s got blast beats in it and stuff we’re really stoked on.
Brink: But it also has a beautiful middle section in it—this down section that features an orchestra. It’s got one of my favorite middle and endings on the whole album.

A Star-Crossed Wasteland
Brink:There are a lot of similar themes going on through this album and through the songs. This song is about how sometimes you have to go into a wasteland and kind of lose everything to get clear with yourself. You have to be alone to figure yourself out, what you really want in life and what is truly important to you. You have to kind of wait for a sign to show you what you need to do and where you need to go next.
Howorth: And it’s…
Brink:It’s sexy!
Howorth:She says sexy. I would say groovy. But, it’s kind of different for us; it’s got a really rocking vibe and a really cool beat. I think people are really going to like it.

Blazin
Brink:  Imagine a crazy motorcycle party in the middle of the desert with every breed you could think of: pirates, outlaws and everything. It’s just a big party in the middle of the desert where people are going crazy for us. It has to do with hitting a new city every day, living on the road and getting to see our fans and lose ourselves onstage every day.
Howorth:There are no hidden meanings in the song “Blazin.” It’s got some cool riffs and pitch harmonics. It’s really awesome. It’s kind of a “guitary” song.
Brink:It’s really fun. It makes you want to get on a motorcycle.

The Road
Brink:I wrote “The Road” for my son and my mom. No matter how hard, intense or insane things might feel, the road that I’m always on always leads back to my son. The road is to live for my son and my mother and to take care of them.
Howorth:We had [Ozzy Osbourne guitarist] Gus G do a lead on it, which is awesome. As a guitarist, I love hearing other players shred. This song is like the quintessential In This Moment song to me. It’s got melodic parts, real lush melodies from Maria, and it’s got really cool guitar parts.
Brink:This song gives me goose bumps.

Iron Army
Brink:“Iron Army” is one of my favorite songs on the album. It talks about how I built myself an iron army and their hearts are made of blood and steel. It’s about when you feel like you’re alone in the world and maybe nobody has your back. You can just go into your backyard and build yourself an iron army and go to war with them. It’s that simple.
Howorth:It’s a little more complex than stuff we normally do. It’s got a really oddly timed verse and it challenged Maria to come up with new things vocally.

The Last Cowboy
Brink:“The Last Cowboy” is more of a romantic take on things. It’s about waiting for or finding the last cowboy, which would be my other half. Maybe I know who that is. Maybe I don’t yet. But I know it’ll be presented to me one way or another. He’s gonna be a badass cowboy. [Laughs.]
Howorth: Metal lovers, don’t let that turn you off from this song.

World in Flames
Brink:For me, this song is about how nobody wants to die alone. In the end, when we find ourselves facing death, we realize the most important things to us aren’t money or our materialistic things; it’s finding that one person you know would literally walk through flames to die by your side. “World in Flames” is calling that person to me. At the time we wrote it, I thought it was about somebody who I knew, but now it might be about somebody I haven’t met yet. It’s a broken-heart song.
Howorth:It’s a really lush song, too. It has lots of layers of piano and really melodic guitars. It also has a really awesome solo at the end with me and Maria going back and forth. It’s really cool.
Brink:I think the most important thing about this album is that it doesn’t matter what my take on these songs is, you can take them as your own metaphor. You can take them and apply them to your own life, however it feels right for you. alt