Photo courtesy of Nick Wood (@nick_wood14)
State of Illusion are sharing their new video for “Death Is Not The End” ahead of their forthcoming album Pluto’s Ghost, out independently tomorrow. Check it out below.
“We feel like ‘Death Is Not the End’ is a great song to represent State of Illusion and Pluto’s Ghost because it has all the elements of the rest of the album but dials them all to the max,” the band say. “Its riffs and rhythms are the most complicated and intricate on the album. Its clean sections are very quiet, and its loud sections hit harder than anywhere else. The vocals hit some of the highest notes on the album, while the lyrics are meant to be felt in your core. It fits the vibe of the record perfectly and, after an explosive outro, ends on a quiet, echoing guitar designed to make the listener feel as if they are drifting deeper out into space.
“’Death Is Not the End’ deals with the recurring theme of many other songs on the album: questioning one’s place and whether or not they can continue chasing their dreams. For me, I felt almost totally alone while writing Pluto’s Ghost. I had a terrible case of writer’s block and felt abandoned by something I’d previously felt was a gift in my ability to write songs. It felt like I would never play live shows again as State of Illusion because for two years, I couldn’t find band members, and it also seemed as though I couldn’t continue State of Illusion as a studio project because I’d lost the ability to write songs.
“’Death Is Not the End’ has three meanings: The first is literal, meaning if I fail here on earth and can’t live out my dreams, all is fine because I believe there is life after death. The second is that if this record is the last I make, there’s a life outside of music—so it’s the death of this part of me, but there is another life that I will discover. But as told in the lyrics, I question if I’ll find peace without music being a central part of my life.
“The people we meet at shows or who listen to our music and reach out to us are amazing and let me know that our music matters to them, so the third meaning is the realization that, regardless of how I feel in this moment, I will at least have made an impact on someone. So if this is the last record I make or when I’m gone, the impact of the music I made will live on.”
