“II (Full Album)”
II
Funeral for a Vampire
Original Release Date: 10/01/6486 (1486 AM)
Dear Audionauts, we are excited to announce that the IBP has officially decoded the entirety of the frightening 6486 album II by Funeral for a Vampire. We are now offering this exciting opportunity through our radio channels. Please use the links below to listen! To those who survived the Feast of the Ancient Ones with your blood and coupon intact, please send a signal to the Intergalactic Beets Project for your special offer!
Listen to II on: Spotify | Soundcloud | YouTube
The Vrykola Codex
Released in 6487, The Vrykola Codex is a treatise, a chronicle, if you will, of the rise and fall of Count Vrykola, who ruled the countryside of the Middle Territory of Planet Xechasmenos. The fall, of course, due to the sonic altruists we know as the band Funeral for a Vampire, a quartet who rose above the Feast of the Ancient Ones to destroy the evil Count and rid the village of Nyx of fear.
The Vrykola Codex is a companion piece to the 6486 album II, which not only brings to life the musical battles between the band and Count Vrykola but acts as a soundtrack to the Codex, giving weight to the horrors that befell Lefkó Vrykola and led him down the path of the vampire.
We present to you this hardcover-bound edition, reprinted, with permission, by the original author, Theodoros Sabbatianoi.
Read the entirety of The Vrykola Codex for free!
Purchase The Vrykola Codex
Purchase II on cassette.
The village of Nyx had fallen into disrepair in the looming shadow of the closest moon. It was not the fault of the celestial body itself, but those who lurked in the mist upon its rise and fall. The son of a carpenter, Lefkó Vrykola would have died a carpenter without the intervention of the Feast of the Ancient Ones. A yearly ritual staged in the autumnal season, the Feast saw the shambling, lost sons and daughters burst forth from their graves, bent on siphoning the blood and nutrients flowing through the veins of the denizens of Nyx. Lefkó, forewarned of the Feast and trained to offer alternatives (beast and fowl blood), witnessed the demise of his father and brother at the hands of the creatures we commonly refer to as vampires. With blood coating their teeth, the pale monsters leapt and clawed for the young carpenter, his sprint hoisting him over bales of hay and into the bowels of Nyx, darkness and waste comforting him as the screams of the innocent bayed above. The strike of a match in the void sealed his fate, surrounded by white-eyed malice. Pain stretched the sensitivity of his muscles as he floated, suddenly empty, into the arms of Count Striges, the heir-apparent. Not content to simply feed and fly, Striges, himself an undead creature of considerable age, hurried Lefkó to his manor, for time was of the essence. Accuracy has long been the enemy of history, but most agree that at the base of Castle Ifaísteio, Lefkó was bestowed the honor of becoming the Lord of Shadows, watching over the brethren of vampires across the countryside and beyond Nyx, in an attempt to keep the lineage strong and everlasting. Count Striges disappeared that night, his evil stain possibly absorbed by Lefkó, giving rise to Count Vrykola and the thousands of creatures at his command. Funeral for a Vampire, who had charmed the Universe with their debut, simply titled I, had fled the village of Nyx after witnessing a ruse in the making. A funeral for an elder in the town square was actually an ambush, unleashing vampires from the depths in an attempt to bypass the Feast of the Ancient Ones and harvest more human blood year-round. Noodles, Dex, Kyv, and Giallo took to the Bleeding Fields outside the village, wading through mud and mist, hiding their scent from briar wolves as they fought for survival. Not content with just evading the pale creatures, they made a pact to end, once and for all, the rule of Count Vrykola, who was said to have ruled for over 500 years on a throne of blood. The trail of dead leading to Castle Ifaísteio was mostly unhelpful, save for the withered hand of a journeyman, his last gasp clutching an ancient text. It was hard to read as decay and erosion had played their part, but the context was clear: an elixir of divinity. Gathering the ingredients together, the band coated their instruments in the glowing mush, supercharging them with piety and penance. Up the castle steps, their rhythm and melody soaring, they beat back the charging vampire hordes, enveloping them in sonic waves that removed their flesh from their bones and vaporized what was left in a holy light. From the crumbling anterooms, to the cistern, to the Armory of Bones, they battled, honing their music into a raging sword, swinging it with abandon until the Lord of Shadows had had enough, making his presence known. Audionauts, so too did he come prepared, a raging piano swirling the band's pathetic attempt and shackling them into invisible submission. Count Vrykola bared his fangs, ready to put an end to the uprising, but his guiding hand began to tingle, breaking the spell. Sunlight. The night had crept into dawn, the pained outbursts of his coven echoing along the Bleeding Fields as they begged for protection, unable to make it to the castle grounds in time. His attempts to disrupt the Feast of the Ancient Ones had cost him his loyalists and his kingdom. Before the sun could finalize his reign, he absconded to a coffin of obsidian and gold, locking himself within. Noodles and his sonic altruists readied their final performance, their strength returning in a blaze of adrenaline, and swallowed the coffin with their raging beats until the very elements began to splinter. Count Vrykola begged for forgiveness as his prison exploded, his skin devoured by the sun, his bones left as only ash. They had held their own funeral for a vampire, but it was short-lived. The remaining creatures, now without a master, sought a new voice. But who would dispose of those left? Or perhaps, rebuild their army? This is where part two of Funeral for a Vampire's saga concludes, with the chest-thumping melodies of II, an ode to their sonic battles with the undead, no longer afraid to run, but still fearful of looking over their shoulder. Part three, aptly titled III, has yet to be released, but, in its stead, the IBP is proud to announce the decoding of The Vrykola Codex, a tome of appreciation and lament for the members of Funeral of a Vampire, chronicling the rise and fall of Count Vrykola and the members of the band. Its cryptic epilogue is especially chilling: warning of a new threat that is rising to the West, marking, perhaps, the beginning of the end for the melodies of Funeral for a Vampire.
Side A
Request
March of the Briar Wolves
Beyond the Safety of the Moon
Rotting Coven
Side B
The Endless Bleeding Fields
Chamber of Sin
Lord of Shadows
Hallowed Ground