“Spires” touches on the story of Axamenta’s 2006 concept album “Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture”. The concept behind that album revolves around the continuous reïncarnation of a single entity, both into malign and benign version of itself, over the course of many centuries. This process was initiated on a higher plane of existence as a source of energy.

“Spires” is set in late 19th century London and tells the story of Father Harold O’Callahan, a priest who is consumed by guilt over the loss of his younger brother when they were both children. Dwelling in the lower classes of society, the family not only lived in miserable poverty, but their youngest child, Benjamin, regularely suffered from epileptic seizures, thought to be the Devil’s work.

One day, Benjamin suffered such an intense seizure, he started bleeding from his eyes. Their parents, now convinced Benjamin truely was possessed, beat him severly and threw him out of the house. Harold followed Benjamin as he ran away, still weeping his bloodred tears, until he crossed a frozen lilypond. The ice cracked and Benjamin fell through, desperately fighting for his life.

It is in this moment Harold is faced with a life-changing choice. Wanting to spare his younger brother from further hardship, he lets him drown to end his suffering. But the guilt keeps haunting him for years. Deep down, was it Benjamin, or the rest of the family, that he wished to relieve from their suffering? In an attempt to counter this burden of guilt and shame, Harold joins the clergy and lives on in a church near the Westminster Bridge.

It is on that bridge where the apotheosis in “Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture” takes place, on March 28, 1879. The converging of two reïncarnated entities on the Westminster Bridge, and the run-up to this moment, trigger horrendous shifts in reality. Father Harold has been a witness to these mind-bending events, thinking it’s his guilt that has finally driven him insane.

Harold vows to repent for his sins and mounts the stairs to the spires in order to appeal to his Lord and Saviour. On his way up, he is haunted by harrowing visions and a deafening, machine-like noise rising from the foundations of the ancient church. “What kind of God creates such horror,” he asks himself, starting to doubt if this is his Lord’s work at all. Once he reaches the top of the tower, he looks down to the Westminster Bridge and sees the two entities, fighting violently. One of which is staring back at him with glaring, crimson eyes.

Reminiscing his brother’s bloodshot eyes, Harold thinks Benjamin has come for him to take him to Hell.
Will he save himself, kneeling before his Lord and Saviour in repentance, or will he let go of his faith, his shame and finally, himself?

Instrumental

Oh Lord God,
The comforter
The Giver of life
Bless us with your glory

“Reverend” – Whispering tongues drench my altar in fear
“Eremite” – Premonishing my tragedy slithering near
“Penitence” – My congregation is gaping at me
Clenching the pulpit, I see –  God forbid –
A sanguine abyss where their eyes used to be

Tonight at last, this must end – I put my life into Your hands
    I’m standing at Heaven’s Gate
As I aspire to reveal in you, the answers to resolve
    My clash between mind and faith

“Eidolon” – The nave returns to a cold, empty hall
“Nazarene” –  Louder once more, I hear the Westford Bridge’s call
“Trental” – A choir of slivered voices reviles:
“REPENT !”

Oh Father, my haven and fortress 
In whom I trust, shield me with your faithfulness
For I no longer can bear this guilt
These vile spectres, I’ve suffered them up to the hilt

Tonight at last, this will end, for I want to cleanse this bloodstain
    I stand before Hell’s Fires
And I avow I’ll repent to You, and mount the stairs again
    (To the spires)

Instrumental

Ere the dead appeared within my flock, the chancel bled a foul black sludge
Was I a witness to my God’s grudge?

None else witnessed

One cold night, down the aisle I saw my acolyte dressed in ice
Death glared crimson from his pale eyes

“Harold, save me”
Oh no.

BENJI !
The gravity of my sin laid bare by a revenant kin

“SAVE ME !”
In the transept I stand astound
As haunting notes of your ditty resound

Forget not brother, you’ve forsaken me when I drowned ‘neath the willow tree
    I failed to save you from Death’s shadow, the moment I let you go
Brother mine, I raised countless spectres throughout these years 
Your every nightmare I engineered

Blood that ties
Broken by the blood in your puerile eyes
Taint my hands with this tragedy.

Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning
If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!
I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments
I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say to me
and there I would be delivered forever from my judge
(Job 23:02)

Many a day has since come to pass
Memory lane runs through the underclass
Paved with contempt, ‘cause
Your fevered seizures, were devil-sent

Woe the day your eyes cried blood 
Damned to possession by men of the cloth
Beaten and broken, you ran out the door 
Over the ice ’till it held no more

On this day I let the frozen lilypond take you away 
    In a crystal coffin
Reaching hands, scratching underneath the ice
    Prelude your elegy
As I say farewell
To your fading eyes…

I beseech the storm of heaven, howling purgatorial
“Void the night that corrodes my faith in thee
By thy splendour, null the fear inside of me”

“Holy Father, a madness gathers, rumbling, vociferous
Like bronzen beasts, within these ancient walls
A harrowing fright appals”

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
(Psalm 27:1) 

To my dark and profane fiend, I kneel and beg of thee:
“Spare me from more lies, art thou God’s grudge?”

“If thou hast brought to life,  this bellowing machine,
to whom do I kneel? Who is my judge?”

Tonight at last, this will end, for I want to cleanse this bloodstain
    Art thou God’s grudge?
And I avow I’ll repent to You, and mount the stairs again
    To the spires

Deep in Maggie’s stone foundation
Awaits a spiral staircase that leads to salvation

Bronzen beasts, growing rampant
Seal this March’s eve 
Deafening, rumbling
As I approach the Bourdon bell

Atop the belfry, the mechanical pounding summits in suspense 
As the county fair’s kaleidoscopic lights bleed into the Thames
A violent brawl stirs the night upon the Westminster bridge below
Kneeling under the spires, my catharsis is brought by another carrion crow

I feared the blame

“Brother mine, no longer will I let you dwell alone in the shadow of Death
I beg of thee, absolve me, as I consecrate to you my final breath”

I bow in shame

And at the last singing echoes of the witches hour bell
Through the sudden silence, an eerily familiar tune petrifies my every cell

“That melody was Benji’s song”
There he stood, blood from each eye
“Did he come to take me along?”
The stars unveil my long-lost brother I let die

Forgive me brother, I’ve forsaken thee
I let you drown ‘neath the willow tree
    As I took my final breath, did it seem I’m better off dead?
We shared stories throughout our years  
Now I relive them through silent tears
For the last time

Behind the skies, to my distress
Concealed behind a crimson shroud of ill twilight
A behemoth stands as sole witness
“…Thou art not God”, as lightning on the bridge ignites 

Staggered, perplexed by this nightmare
Sulphur fumes hand my apostasy
Into the grave abyss I stare
And welcome darkness as I’m falling to be free