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RELEASE DATE: SEPT 1, 2023
MEDIA: 2 CD SET LIMITED EDITION
PKG: JEWEL CASE W/20 PAGE BOOKLET
Roxx Records is excited to be bringing you the debut full length release from AfterWinter.
AfterWinter features the core band that created the music on both of those exceptional BioGenesis albums, ‘A Decadence Divine’ and ‘Black Widow’. The band features James Riggs on Rhythm Guitar, Luke Nealeigh on Lead Guitar, Sam Nealeigh on Keyboards, Dan Nealeigh on Bass and Eli Closson rounding out this musical force on drums. If you followed the band back during this line up, you may recall Majenica Nealeigh pounding on the drums early on. Well this time she steps up to the microphone and heads out to handle co-lead vocals along with Jerry Grazioso on this exceptional brand new album entitled ‘Paramnesia’. ‘Paramnesia’ is more than an album, it is a full on musical extravaganza and rock opera that tells us the story of the fictional brother and sister Riley and Thomas Stone.
The story of Paramnesia focuses on Detective Riley Stone, a Christian woman from the fictional city of Howeldale California. The story opens as Riley begins to have strangely vivid nightmares where she finds herself on the scene of several violent murders. Each morning following these visions, she is called to a real murder scene by Police Sergeant Orion to discover the scenes she dreamt played out exactly as she remembers from her dreams.
Each murder is linked by a number, presented as if it is military time, leading Riley to decide the murders are being committed by a serial killer. With the spiritual guidance of her brother Thomas Stone, Riley determines God is giving her these prophetic visions so that she can stop the killer. Join Riley and Thomas as they grapple with themes of deep introspection, self-doubt, questioning faith, questioning purpose, living with mental illness, and the dangers of becoming a false prophet. AfterWinter is beyond excited to share with you the work of the past 3+ years, culminating in an album that the band feels is the best of all things it has to offer! We know you are going to LOVE ‘Paramnesia’
Also featuring brand new album cover art designed by graphic artist Rafael Tavares Gripp and it is an exceptional masterpiece to go along with such an epic story.
Check out the first single ‘Left For Dead’
Track Listing:
Paramnesia Disc 1:
1. Sleeping Torment
2. Left For Dead
3. Losing Myself
4. Connections
5. Time Runs Short
6. scene: Mistaken Accusation
7. A Glimpse in the Mirror
8. Fall
9. Imperfect Conviction
10. Unveiled
11. A Missing Piece
Paramnesia Disc 2:
1. The Final Message part 1: Chosen
2. The Final Message part 2: World Without Sin
3. The Final Message part 3: The False Prophet
4. The Final Message part 4: Purpose in Question
5. The Final Message part 5: The Final Message
6. The Final Message part 6: Set In Stone
Posted by the band on 7/29/24
Here is a LONG LONG read for any clue-seekers out there who want the FULL list of Recurring Themes and Easter Eggs on Paramnesia. Let us know how many of these you caught!
SPOILER WARNING!!!
The Dream Theme
This theme is introduced at the very beginning of the album and is meant to signify that Riley is experiencing one of the murder visions. The theme is an eerie reverb-y piano piece.
It first appears as the entirety of Sleeping Torment (0:00-1:37) and repeats again near the end of Set In Stone (0:56-2:17). This riff is also played on the harp in the background of a different riff in A Glimpse in the Mirror (3:44-3:56).
While not the same theme, a similar idea is used in Connections twice (0:00-0:37 and 5:18-5:53), and in Fall (0:00-1:29), both pieces again using an eerie piano part to indicate another murder vision.
The one in Fall is interesting in that it has a different feel than the others. Melancholy, almost. This time, the piece is used to indicate that something is different this time. Thomas didn’t mean for a murder to happen in this instance, and was initially just trying to get Riley to relax a bit.
The Crazy Run
This isn’t necessarily a theme, so much as a fun little piece that gets a very quick callback near the end of the album.
The original riff happens in Left For Dead (0:56-1:19) and is used as a tail for a different riff in Set In Stone (0:23-0:25).
A Bad Memory
This 7/4 riff is used a few times throughout the album to signify Riley recalling a bad memory, usually one of the murder visions.
It first happens in Left For Dead (2:36-2:44 and 2:49-2:54), then repeats in Losing Myself (3:20-3:31), and again in Set In Stone (0:00-0:09).
The Home Theme
This riff is used as bookends for Riley’s understanding of the events of the album.
Its first appearance is the chorus’ of Left For Dead (3:10-3:49, 4:32-4:53, and 7:09-7:48), each one of which is in a different key, moving up one half-step each time, signifying Riley’s progress in understanding the initial murder vision.
This theme is again used in the orchestra piece that starts A Missing Piece (1:40-2:28), where Riley recalls the feeling of terror and hopelessness she felt when all of this began. This time, the theme is in a key one half-step lower than the initial key from Left For Dead.
The theme is used one last time in The Final Message (4:50-5:30), coming back to the original key. Riley has now come full circle concerning the murders and is planning what to do with the rest of her life. Thus, the riff ends differently than any other time it appears.
This theme also has a preface that is not always played with the theme. It appears in slightly varied forms three times throughout the album, once in Left For Dead (3:07-3:10), once in Connections (7:04-7:07) tied to the Calling Card of the Murderer Theme, and finally in The Final Message (4:47-4:50).
Unison Bends
This is another fun callback moment regarding the tails of a riff in Left For Dead (3:48-4:04). These same 3 tails, plus the riff’s ending are used as alternate tails on the 4th appearance of The Final Message Theme in The False Prophet (2:39-2:53).
This was used to apply the same tense uncertainty of the situation in Left For Dead to the situation in The Final Message, combining the two riffs to create a new one.
Riley’s Decisions
This theme is used to indicate Riley has made an important decision.
It first appears in Left For Dead (4:14-4:26), where she decides she needs to figure out what is going on because the vision won’t leave her mind. It appears again in Losing Myself (3:30-3:45), with Riley deciding to tell Thomas about the first vision. Finally, it appears at the end of Fall (5:51-6:03), where Riley decides to turn herself in for the murders.
Deep Thoughts
This riff is used a few times throughout the album to indicate Riley really concentrating on an issue, trying to come to terms with what is going on.
It first appears twice in Left For Dead (4:26-4:30 and 8:07-8:23), with the first time showing Riley trying to focus on calming herself from the shock of the first vision, and second time indicating Riley trying to figure out what it could mean that the vision seems to have been real.
It appears again briefly at the end of Fall (6:02-6:06), as Riley mentally prepares to turn herself in for the murders.
Riff Combination
Another fun callback creating a new combination of existing riffs begins with Left For Dead. The tails on the riffs in Left For Dead’s 3rd verse (6:17-6:23) as well as part of the riff from before the solo (4:53-5:19) are used again as tails for a different riff in World Without Sin (0:36-1:00).
We’re Not Done Yet
This riff is used a coupe of times on the album to signify that the story continues when it seems as though the song is over.
It first appears at the very end of Left For Dead (8:36-8:45) and happens again at the end of The Final Message (5:45-5:54).
The Sibling’s Theme
This theme represents Riley and Thomas’ strong familial bond.
It is first introduced in Losing Myself (1:18-2:00), introducing that Riley has a mentally ill brother with whom she is very close. The theme happens again in A Glimpse in the Mirror (2:06-3:17), representing one of the last times Riley and Thomas feel close to each other.
The Plot Thickens
This short instrumental bridge is used several times throughout the album to tie certain events together.
It is first used several times in Losing Myself (2:00-2:05, 3:44-3:51, and 4:32-4:43), the reappears in Fall (6:05-6:10), and again in World Without Sin (1:10-1:16).
The Losing Myself Theme
This theme is used as the chorus of Losing Myself, representing Riley feeling as though she is becoming someone she does not recognize.
The theme appears three times in Losing Myself (2:05-2:18, 3:50-4:13, and 4:43-5:01). The first two both dealing with Riley’s suspicions that she may also be schizophrenic, and the third being Thomas’ response to Riley.
Interestingly, the second chorus is a riff that follows the same chordal structure as the first chorus. Similarly, the third chorus is the same riff and chordal structure, but this time one whole step lower in key.
Thomas’ Theme
This theme is used several times throughout the album to represent Thomas’ presence, and occasionally, just to remind or clue the listener in to Thomas being behind the events of the album. The theme is intentionally dissonant and a bit off-putting, again cluing the listeners into Thomas’ potential villainy.
It is first used in Losing Myself (2:17-2:42) to introduce Thomas into the story. The theme is used again later in Losing Myself (4:20-4:32) when Thomas gives Riley the first of many clues that the answer to the numbers are bible verses.
It happens again in Time Runs Short (2:47-2:55) as Thomas gives Riley another religious lecture. The whole second verse of this song is indicative of Thomas’ theme, but it comes in full at the time stamp mentioned above.
We get a very, very quick hint of the theme at the end of A Glimpse in the Mirror (6:36-6:38), indicating that the hooded man Riley thinks is herself is actually Thomas.
The theme reappears again on the piano in A Missing Piece (3:04-3:21) as Riley begins to piece together that Thomas is involved in the murders somehow.
Lastly, we hear another quick snippet of the theme in The False Prophet (4:14-4:17) right before Thomas begins firing into the crowd.
The Calm Before the Storm
This theme consists of two very similar riffs, which are meant to evoke a similar, but not exactly the same, feeling. It first appears in Connections (1:40-1:50) to indicate Riley’s rising dread that she has again found herself in a murder vision. A very similar piece appears in A Missing Piece (3:21-3:45), representing Riley’s rising dread, but also acceptance for being convicted officially.
The Calling Card of the Murderer
This theme is made of the chorus’ of Connections (2:58-4:01 and 7:07-8:09), and represents the number clues found at most of the murders.
In its first appearance, Riley has discovered the second number, and is beginning to suspect a connection between the two murder visions. In the second chorus, Riley has now decided that she is dealing with a serial killer, and has determined that solving the mystery of the numbers is the key to stopping them.
This theme appears again at the end of Unveiled (6:11-7:16), this time as Riley solves the mystery of the numbers.
This theme also contains a preface, which is a fist pumping instrumental bridge that does not happen every time the theme is played. This preface happens in Connections (2:22-2:59) and again in Unveiled (6:01-6:12).
A Bit of Suspense
This theme is used a few times on the album to indicate a particularly suspenseful moment.
It first appears at the end of Connections (9:03-9:22), continues into Time Runs Short (0:00-0:07), then reappears much further into the album in Unveiled (5:17-5:34) as Riley begins to suspect Thomas is hiding something.
Riley’s Desperation
This theme is used twice on the album to indicate Riley’s exhaustion and desperation to figure out the numbers so that she can stop the murders.
Both appearances of the theme happen in Time Runs Short (1:40-2:10 and 3:00-3:39), serving as the song’s two chorus’. The first shows Riley again consulting Thomas for advice, and the second shows Riley asking God for help.
Thomas’ Panic
This theme is used when Thomas has a moment of full panic.
This is first used in A Glimpse in the Mirror (0:47-1:33) when it seems Thomas is having a schizophrenic seizure. It reappears in The False Prophet (3:29-4:15) when Thomas realizes he can’t fulfill what he thought was his destiny.
Falling Down
This is another quick snippet used twice on the album, quite literally to indicate Riley has fallen down.
It first happens, appropriately, in Fall (3:58-4:16), when a woman knocks her over. It appears again in World Without Sin (3:58-4:17), when Riley’s wounded leg gives out and she falls, hurting her face.
Out of Control
This short instrumental theme is used twice on the album, both times indicating Riley’s feeling that she has completely lost control of the situation and doesn’t know how to respond to what is happening.
It first happens in Fall (5:00-5:06), after Riley has had the final murder vision, and believes now that she is the one murdering people. This riff then begins Imperfect Conviction (0:00-0:12), showing that although Riley knows she must turn herself in, she still feels as though her life is careening out of her control.
I Must Be Put Away
This quick theme represents events referring to Riley’s imprisonment. It happens several times in Imperfect Conviction (1:12-1:21) as Riley tells the Sergeant she should be imprisoned, (1:35-1:47) the Sergeant agrees, (2:50-2:59) the Sergeant feels as though he hasn’t jailed the right person, and finally (10:10-10:17) as Riley begins to come to terms with being in jail.
The theme then reappears in A Missing Piece (6:23-6:28) as the Sergeant tells Riley that she couldn’t have been the murderer and lets her out of jail.
Is This Justice?
This theme is used several times to indicate characters speaking to or about Riley concerning what is or isn’t morally right.
All of this theme’s appearances occur in Imperfect Conviction (1:20-1:35, 2:13-2:50, 9:30-10:09, and 10:18-10:47). The first shows the Sergeant’s surprise that Riley is confessing to the murders. The second and third appearances are the song’s two chorus’.
The first chorus shows the Sergeant questioning how his friend Riley could have done such terrible things, and also shows his determination to get to the bottom of it. The second chorus shows Peter, the Regression character, finally breaking through to a distraught Riley, telling her about his experience, and also reminding her that God’s voice is not always literally a voice in your head.
The fourth and final appearance shows Riley accepting that her sadness, confusion, and anger may have prevented her from hearing God’s response.
The Prayer Theme
This theme is used twice on the album to represent Riley’s two most significant prayers to God.
It appears first in Imperfect Conviction (4:32-5:34). This appearance also includes a different theme - “God’s Response” which is not used the other time the Prayer Theme is played. This second use of the Prayer Theme is in The Final Message (2:50-3:36). This time, the theme “Regression Advice” replaces “God’s Response” as the bridge.
God’s Response
This theme is used a few times throughout the album to represent the voice of God.
It first appears in Imperfect Conviction (4:49-5:14 and 5:39-5:56) during the initial appearance of the Prayer Theme. God’s Response is used as a bridge in Riley’s prayer, indicating God trying to respond twice to Riley, although she does not acknowledge it at the time.
It is used finally as the musical ending to the album in Set In Stone (2:22-3:34), indicating God speaking to the listener one final time in this album.
The Regression Main Theme
This interesting callback is actually the main riff from Regression, used on this album in Imperfect Conviction (6:52-7:11) to indicate that Peter, the main character from Regression, has entered the scene.
Regression Advice
This theme is used as a new ‘Regression Main Theme’ a few times on the album. While the actual theme from Regression reintroduces the character to the listeners, the Regression Advice Theme serves as Peter’s new theme, indicating his change of character as a result of his epiphany at the end of Regression.
This theme is used in the 3rd section of Imperfect Conviction (7:11-7:39). The theme returns near the end of The Final Message (2:25-2:41, 3:07-3:16, and 3:35-3:44), this time serving as a bridge in the Prayer Theme, indicating Riley thinking again about the things that Peter said to her.
The Unveiled Theme
This theme is used twice on the album as two big plot point resolutions are strongly hinted at.
Both appearances are used as chorus’ in Unveiled (1:35-2:18 and 4:09-4:58). The first chorus talks about the Stone family bible, which is the key to the number mystery. The second reveals Thomas’ jealousy and manipulation, as he continues to lecture Riley about taking advice from someone other than him.
Similar to the Losing Myself theme, the second appearance of the Unveiled Theme is a riff that follows almost the same chordal structure of the first appearance.
This theme is also commonly connected to a sub-Unveiled theme, all appearances of which are also in Unveiled (1:16-1:35, 2:17-2:27, and 3:50-4:09).
Thomas’ Arrogance
This theme is used twice on the album to indicate that Thomas is being especially arrogant.
It first appears in Unveiled (3:29-3:51) when Thomas is angry with Riley that advice from someone other than him helped her to feel better. It appears again in Chosen (6:11-6:34) with Thomas announcing that he has been so clever that police will not be able to stop him.
Riley’s Determination
This theme is used a few times on the album to indicate that Riley is especially determined to accomplish a task.
It appears twice in A Missing Piece (4:00-4:33 and 6:51-7:24). The first time Riley is remembering why she became a detective and is determined to stop the murders even if it means being imprisoned for the rest of her life. In the second appearance, Riley is now determined to find out what Thomas has to do with murders.
The theme is used once more at the end of World Without Sin (5:31-5:53), this time as Riley is determined to reach the church and save both the people from Thomas, and Thomas from the police.
This theme also has a preface that is not used every time the theme is played. The preface happens twice, once in A Missing Piece (6:48-6:51), and again in World Without Sin (5:29-5:32).
The Chosen Theme
This theme is used several times while Riley and Thomas discuss what he has perceived is his destiny.
The first two appearances of this theme happen in Chosen, with the first (3:09-3:42) showing Thomas explaining to Riley why he killed the people from Riley’s murder visions. The second (5:11-5:44) sees Riley try to tell Thomas that God would not have called him to be a murderer.
The third appearance is in The False Prophet (2:06-2:40), which shows Thomas reiterate to Riley and the church that God has chosen him to kill these people.
The final appearance begins Purpose in Question (0:24-0:50), and is a softer, shorter version of the theme that sees Thomas now questioning whether or not he was chosen.
The Final Message Theme
This instrumental theme is used several times throughout the finale to help convey a foreboding, evil marching feeling.
The first two appearances of this theme are in Chosen (3:42-4:08 and 5:44-6:00), both following the Chosen Theme.
The 3rd appearance of this theme is in The False Prophet (1:31-1:40), and actually uses the theme as a tail to a different riff. During this riff, Thomas is speaking to church about why they must die. The Final Message Theme was included here as this represents Thomas acting out what he calls The Final Message.
The 4th appearance of this theme is also in The False Prophet (2:39-2:53) and combines the Final Message Theme with the tails of a riff from Left For Dead (3:48-4:04) to create a new riff. This evokes both the foreboding feel of The Final Message Theme, and the tense uncertainty from Left For Dead.
A World Without Sin Theme
This is another common theme used throughout the finale. This theme is used to illustrate a theoretical world without sin.
The first appearance is in World Without Sin (1:15-1:41) and sees Thomas believe that the world will be without sin when he has fulfilled his destiny.
The second appearance is in Purpose in Question (2:36-3:12) and shows Thomas realizing that the world will only be without sin if he is no longer in it.
The final appearance is in the Final Message (3:42-4:36), and is now sang by Riley, this time wrapping up some of the overall message of the album, as well as changing Thomas’ lyrics to say that the world will not be without sin until God’s work is complete.
ADDITIONAL EASTER EGGS AND FUN FACTS:
The whooshing sound effect that bookends the album, ending Sleeping Torment (1:22-1:37) and also Set in Stone (3:13-3:25) is Dan scraping his bass string with his thumb nail.
The Bass Guitar and some horns on the keyboard play a bit of the Star Wars Galactic Empire theme in Connections (5:14-5:18).
For the first half of Connections (0:37-5:18) James is playing a 6 string guitar, and Dan is playing a 4 string Bass, both in Drop C tuning, while Luke is playing a 7 string guitar in standard tuning. During the piano break in the middle, they all switch and play the rest of the song with Luke on a 6 string guitar in Drop C tuning and James on a 7 string guitar, and Dan on a 5 string Bass, both in standard tuning. This second opposing tuning also continues throughout Time Runs Short.
In Time Runs Short, Thomas literally tells Riley where to find the answer to what the numbers are (1:18-1:25).
In Mistaken Accusation, the song playing in the background at the Grocery store is also a brand new AfterWinter song called A New Place, which was intentionally written and recorded by the band as a standard rock/pop piece (something like what would be playing in a local grocery store on the radio) with Luke on Lead Vocals.
Mistaken Accusation also includes voice cameos from Luke’s sons Viktor (whining at 0:03) and Ren (laughing at 2:06), as well as Sam’s daughter Saria (singing the ABC’s at 1:22)
In Imperfect Convictions, the character voiced by Luke (starting at 7:37) is meant to be the same character from the non-album single Regression, who crashed a car in a drunk driving accident, severely injuring himself and a small child. This character then reformed as a Christian and is seen here several years after the events of Regression counseling inmates. In addition to the main Regression theme introducing the character, we also faintly hear the vocal line “REGRESSION” from the non album single sang in the final chorus of Imperfect Conviction (9:39-9:42) when the character talks about what happened to him.
In the final chorus of Unveiled, we hear a callback to the chorus of Connections as Riley figures out that the numbers are bible verses. When we hear the line “the calling card of the murderer” (6:49-6:53), the harmony switches from being sang by Luke to being sang by Jerry, indicating yet again that Thomas is the one committing the murders.
In A Missing Piece, the Riley’s Determination theme (used as the chorus’) is used twice. The second time it appears (6:51-7:24), several elements of the riff are backwards from how they appeared in the first chorus.
In World Without Sin, the band plays the Super Mario Bros. 1 Castle Theme (2:46-3:06)
The guitar solo in The Final Message (3:07-3:16) is finger-picked. Since the clean part both before and after the solo is Luke playing, he decided for potential live purposes to write a solo not using a pick, since there wouldn’t be a good time to get the pick in and out of position for the solo.
In the secret scene at the end of the album, the scene is meant to be heard as if it is the audio of a security tape, which we hear being put into a VCR at the beginning of the scene. At the end of the scene, the VCR eats the tape, which was actually unintentional at the time, but played well into the idea that the Psychiatrist’s line was cut off at the end of the dialogue. In fact, you can even very faintly hear Luke whisper “Well, that’s ruined.” (7:27), which was a genuine reaction to the tape being eaten. The tape is a copy of “The Rutles: All You Need is Cash”.
Both Riley and Thomas end the story with two significant wounds in the same places. Both have a gunshot wound in the leg (Thomas shoots Riley, and the police shoot Thomas) and a wound on the face (Riley falls and hits her head, and Thomas’ attempted suicide). Interestingly, when the psychiatrist questions Thomas about these two wounds during the secret track at the end of the album, Thomas seems to have both his and Riley’s memories as to how the wounds were received.
The ending of the album is meant to be left somewhat open-ended. The line of dialogue that was cut off is clearly meant to imply that Riley never existed. This of course leaves the listeners to wonder what events on the album actually happened or if any part of this just happened in Thomas’ mind. The band’s intent was to leave it to the listener’s imagination as to what really happened, or even that they could choose to believe that Riley was indeed real and that the events of the album played out exactly as they were told.
An interesting idea regarding the theory that Thomas does actually have Multiple Personality Disorder - If Riley wasn’t real, then the implication is that she is just one of Thomas’ personalities. So if that is the case, then there is a possibility that none of the murders actually occurred, and Thomas was in a psych ward for most of the album. He imagined the events of the album and even believed them to be true himself. At some point, Thomas escapes the mental hospital and the events at the Northdale Baptist Church (minus Riley’s presence) did actually happen.
Another interesting idea regarding the theory that Thomas does actually have Multiple Personality Disorder - In the secret scene, the Psychiatrist very intentionally never uses singular personal pronouns when referring to herself. Some of the dialogue near the end is also a bit strange. What therapist would say something like “You must accept our message”? Is the psychiatrist just another part of Thomas’ brain trying desperately to convince him that he is sick?
Yet another interesting idea regarding the theory that Thomas does actually have Multiple Personality Disorder - The band utilizes different vocalists very intentionally throughout the album. One of the only constants is Luke’s voice doing almost all of the background vocals throughout the album. If Luke’s voice is meant to be the voice of Peter, the character from Regression, then why are we hearing that voice sing alongside both Riley and Thomas throughout the events of the album? We even hear his vocals as a third voice in A Glimpse in the Mirror when Riley and Thomas are singing about their sibling bond (2:06-2:23). This theory was not the band’s intent, however it is an interesting idea that maybe even that character is another one of Thomas’ personalities.