Notes on the Album
I remember sitting on my bed and writing out a hypothetical list of song titles for this album. As a young bass player I made my first poor attempt at songwriting. What I wrote was a chorus for "Babylon the Great" (chapter 17) which was later discarded. At that time, I thought the album would be "based" on Revelation. It was not until later that I realized I could do a word-for-word rendition of the whole book.
In 1994, I was 20 and teaching myself to play the acoustic guitar. The purpose was to be able to put chords to a song I had written. It was "The Song of the Lamb" which I had composed with my voice while driving around in my car. My car is also where I first found the courage to sing. That song started me on the path to scripture song writing.
My first album contained several sections from the book of Revelation. And my second album was going to feature a full chapter, chapter 16, The Seven Vials. But after I wrote "The Seven Vials" I I was inspired to write other chapters. After I had written Chapters 4 and 5 and others, I realized that I could do the whole book of Revelation.
My desire to see this album become a reality led me to learn to record in my home. I completed the demo version of Revelation (called Apocalypse) after about four months of recording work. I moved on to other projects, but a "final version" of Revelation was always in the back of my mind.
Mike Senczysen (lead guitar) and I worked between 2004 and 2005 on a Neo-classical inspired version of "The Seven Vials." This was going to lead into a full metal version of Apocalypse with heavy "shredding."
At that time, I did not really know exactly what kind of production I wanted Revelation to become. I had always wanted to do a "Metal" version of Revelation, that was the original idea. On the other hand, my acoustic music seemed to be widely appreciated, especially my demo for Revelation.
In 2005 I had a supernatural experience which changed my life and interrupted my work with Mike, it would not be until 2010 that we would resume work on Revelation.
I did not forget revelation, but I was very focused on writing songs for The Vision of Isaiah and on teaching bible studies (and I have a wife and seven children). Whatever form Revelation was going to take, I knew that I would need an orchestra and sound effects, so I obtained the best orchestral and choral midi samples I could find, sparing no expense.
In 2010 when we recommenced work on Revelation I started the recording process from the beginning. Instead of working with Mike in his studio, I would work from my studio and we would pass files to each other online. We also discarded the work that had been done because we could not get his files to work on my PC.
I worked on Revelation full-time, writing and sequencing all the different parts (except for Mikes improvised solos) and after a year and a half of intense, emotional work I have the first eleven chapters.
I have never shed tears over a project before, and I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that my intense involvement with this project caused me to age more rapidly over the past two years (especially the last 9 months) than at any other time in my adult life. I would be lying if I said the lukewarm response to this album did not affect me.
I do not take this project lightly. It is very important to me. I had to do this, because it is part of why I was placed on this earth.
Chapters 12-22 have already been laid out and I have the rhythm guitar tracks ready to go. There is a lot of work to do on disc two, bass, lead guitars, drums, vocals, orchestra, sound effects...parts need to be written and performed, but the basic structure is there.
Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1)
Seven Candlesticks (Revelation 2 & 3)
The Throne and the Sealed Book (Revelation 4 & 5)
The Seven Seals (Revelation 6 & 7)
Four Trumpets (Revelation 8)
The Fifth Trumpet (Revelation 9:1-12)
The Sixth Trumpet (Revelation 9:13-21)
The Little Book (Revelation 10)
Two Candlesticks (Revelation 11:1-14)
The Seventh Trumpet (Revelation 11:15-19)
The Woman and the Dragon (Revelation 12)
Two Beasts (Revelation 13)
144,000 (Revelation 14 & 15)
The Seven Vials (Revelation 16)
Babylon the Great (Revelation 17)
Babylon Is Fallen (Revelation 18)
A White Horse (Revelation 19)
A Great White Throne (Revelation 20)
A New Heaven and Earth (Revelation 21)
A Pure River of Water of Life (Revelation 22)
Oracles of God - The Book of Revelation Chapters 1-11
Oracles of God - Apocalypse (Demo Disc 1)
Oracles of God - Apocalypse (Demo Disc 2)
