A Taste of Fire

“A taste of fire” should primarily set the irrepressible energy of a drug intoxication with all its ups and downs to music. In terms of content, this song is very charged and in a way represents the climax of “Ecstasy of souls“. In this song there is also for the first time a kind of interplay between the two vocal parts, which will occur again and again in later compositions which play a special role, especially against the background of the increasingly dense story.

The “taste of fire” thus refers to the spiritual expansion of consciousness through intoxication. Based on the word spirit, one can of course derive comparisons to spirit, spirit, alcohol, enlightenment and, of course, intoxication. However, the intoxication is not to be assessed negatively or positively, but also serves to recognize what can cause both light and dark sides. I also liked the idea that there is a kind of demon who wants to make drugs and thus the knowledge palatable, even if that seems a bit old-fashioned, of course.

The verses (“sunset behind horizon …”) each represent the moment of the immediate intoxicating experience. In the chorus (“worlds collide and stars fade out …”), on the other hand, the disillusionment (knowledge) occurs, the moment when the head is booming, but the context is clear and the demon looks on from the outside with a smile. The pace is deliberately reduced here so that the indulgent aspect becomes even clearer. The change and the knowledge that the protagonist experiences are reflected in the introduction of the two refrains when you listen carefully. The first time still lively and optimistic, the second time the drama is significantly higher and the approaching disaster is already foreseen.

The great restlessness and the partly overturning riffs are overall important elements for the characteristics of this song and the short ambient cut in the middle of the song, after which it seems to start all over again, only somehow more restless, do the rest. At this point, a theoretical U-turn could occur, as in the previous chorus the moment of knowledge was so strong that the turning away from the demon seems plausible. But since the spirit is too weak or the fire burns so strongly, the ominous journey and with it the song of course continue. The renewed intro, which this time appears in a modified, somehow rushed form, and the following second verse symbolize exactly this vicious circle. At an extremely slowed pace and only soft tones, the fire only glimmers briefly at the end and the intoxication is over. So did the demon actually win in the end or was it more of an angel who (again) steered the fate of Oddward in a new direction?