Vignette

There once was a porcupine man who lived contently in the forest. He was at peace with his life and his surroundings. But one day, his peace was disturbed as he heard the sounds of strangers approaching. He wanted to put forward a welcoming first impression but, unbeknownst to him, fear took over his body and his spines protuded menacingly. Through tense muscles, he tried to give a pleasant hello but all they saw were his strained posture and vicious quills. As they fled fron each other, he wondered why their faces were recoiled in disgust and fear. He tried to go back to living at ease in the forest but his peace was forever broken. Thoughts of how he disgusted them and confusion over what he did plagued his mind. He would try, time and time again, to approach strangers he would see and right this wrong but every time, fear won, the spines protuded and the strangers fled and told tales throughout the lands about the savage porcupine man stalking through the forest. Eventually his peace eroded completely and the tales became reality - of a porcupine man, foaming at the mouth, neurotic with an erratic gait and spines eternally protuding and ready for the next threat.


Lyrics

Are they going to be from the porcupine man perspective - probably not - probably from narrator

Here we see
Porcupine Man
At home in the forest
gently lumbering down the way

whats that he hears
Now we see porcupine man in dangers


Tension is rising
as arteries constrict
Spines protuding
bodily control is stripped
see who you really are

Chorus:
Danger
no more lumbering
- I guess this works - maybe incorporate more rhyming
It's Fight
or flight
be prepared to die
This is beyond your control
This is a matter of life or death
Niceties do not matter
peace does not matter
only survival

PORCUPINE MAN!!!
Can't do anything at all
Unable to enact his will
What do his intentions matter if they remain inside still


Maybe no vocals here - I like the idea of crazy vocals here -mayhbe record them and remove if no good
- or lots of vocals here.?- I think I need more ocal breaks
-maybe juyst repeat the same phrase
Disengage
back to safety
feel failure creep into you
coward
return to comfort return to comfrot return to comfort



Back to speaking but change it up a bit:
Here we see
pocupine man
don't lumber too far
be on alert
you never know who might come up in the forest
don't worry porcupine man
you can be at home in the forest
try to be at peace
but not too much
at peace
- works pretty well

Next section about peace in the forest - maybe less vox here
Try to lumber
Try to be at home
your peace is broken
you are never alone
your failure stalks you
constantly breaking the calm
with its harsh reminder
and you know it will come again
Whats that I hear?

Same as before for these parts I guess


Then the faster part
What do I write about here

Ok so pretty sparse the only areas where consistent screaming are kind of the in between things and the full blast beat

OH!
So for first part of skank beat (unintesnfied riff) - need some vocals there - maybe deeper
run porcupine man, you'll never be at peace again
run porcupine man, you'll never be at peace
AGAIN! -
at this point only scream at end of measure
FEEL IT CHANGING

LET HATE -spread out? TAKE OVER




GIVE INTO FATE FOOL THERE'll be NO more RESPITE FOR YOU

BECOME WHAT THEY THINK YOU ARE
AN ANIMAL
STRANGE, VIOLENT, VISCOUS and ..
REACH OUT TO BE UNDERSTOOD
JUST TO BE
TRAUMATIZED

CHANGED FOREVER
FOR THE WORSE

Vile
Subhuman

GIVE INTO FATE FOOL THERE'll be NO more RESPITE FOR YOU
FOREVER YOU ARE DOOMED TO BE AFRAID

maybe random screams during this part panned


LAST LINJES - on repetas

PORCUPINE MAN - one ear
CHANGED FOR THE WORSE BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW WHO YOU ARE
CHANGED FOR THE WORSE BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW HOW YOU PRESENT
CHANGED FOR THE WORSE BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW HOW OTHERS SEE YOU

feel changed that you will never be at peace again
there is no use trying
become what they think you are
porcupine man
become viscous
the peace you had can never exist again



Hey all – new logo and here’s a new song called “Porcupine Man”. This has a more involved story and was inspired by the board game “Kingdom Death” particularly in the vignette describing the porcupine man. I also took some cues from musicals and had the music more literally follow the story.
Skip to 0:40 for the song.

Vignette:
There once was a porcupine man who lived contently in the forest. He was at peace with his life and his surroundings. But one day, his peace was disturbed as he heard the sounds of strangers approaching. He wanted to put forward a welcoming first impression but, unbeknownst to him, fear took over his body and his spines protruded menacingly. Through tense muscles, he tried to give a pleasant hello but all they saw were his strained posture and vicious quills. As they fled from each other, he wondered why their faces were recoiled in disgust and fear. He tried to go back to living at ease in the forest but his peace was forever broken. Thoughts of how he disgusted them and confusion over what he did plagued his mind. He would try, time and time again, to approach strangers he would see and right this wrong but every time, fear won. His spines stood to attention for protection, he would tense up and the strangers would flee and tell tales throughout the lands about the savage porcupine man stalking through the forest. Eventually his peace eroded completely and the tales became reality - of a porcupine man, foaming at the mouth, neurotic with an erratic gait and quills eternally protruding and ready for the next threat.

First, you hear the porcupine man walking motif which plays constantly throughout this quieter part symbolizing the porcupine man happy and at ease in the forest.

As porcupine man hears something unfamiliar coming you hear a discordant chord in the bass which then transitions into the metal portion of the song with this first portion representing tension and anxiety building in response to this impending, unknown threat.

Next is the chorus, which represents the porcupine man confronting the threat which is just some harmless strangers exploring the forest. The porcupine man tries to be cordial but is unable to control his tension and fear resulting in his mannerisms appearing hostile musically represented by the more aggressive nature of this section but also in a return of the porcupine man walking motif, except this time it is minor. The porcupine man who wishes to exist peacefully is here but not quite the same.

Next is a quicker portion representing the porcupine man running from the interaction in fear.

The song returns to the porcupine man walking in the forest motif as he finds himself alone and at peace in the forest. Unfortunately, his thoughts of the encounter and his inability to present normally haunt him – represented musically as the same porcupine walking motif continuing but now distorted with a heavier accompaniment.

Again, porcupine man hears someone coming and follows the same pattern as before (tension rising, chorus (confrontation) and then running away.

The song then gets more aggressive – it’s the porcupine man transforming due to his failures and frustration.

The rhythms of the two guitar riffs here are actually inspired by Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” (Head Hunters version - check it out if you haven't heard it!) with the higher guitar riff being the 2-3 clave and the lower guitar riff mimicking the rhythm of the blowing on the beer bottles heard in the beginning of the song.

Lastly – the song brings back the walking in the forest motif but played with alternate picking and played in a more disjointed rhythm and discordant note selection to indicate that the porcupine man’s peace is broken and now he only walks through the forest in pain and frustration. The backing guitar here is the same as that from the chorus – indicating that porcupine man is now always in always in a high tension state as seen during confrontations (the chorus).