Songs & Stories: Ember Falls - “Heart Shaped Black Scar”
Songs and stories are both a special type of magic. It’s why I’ve always loved working in/with music and musicians, while never losing my dream of being a writer. Today I’m going to tell a story about why I am so, so very notoriously the biggest fan of EMBER FALLS and the wonderful magic they weave.
Last year, my crew and I went to see these guys who - if you haven’t heard me obsessing over them for the past 5 years - are my very favorite modern metal band right now and have been since I first heard their epic debut single, “Shut Down With Me.” During that show (opening for DEAD BY APRIL), they played two new songs, “Heart Shaped Black Scar” and “Divine.” While my gang pretty much fully declared “Divine” to be the best of them, I still felt a strange and rare connection to the former. When we saw the lyric video, I started to figure out why.
Sometimes songs just get the right feeling, if you understand my meaning. In this case, this song is deeply reminiscent of someone in my life that I was casually in love with for a very long time. It was one of those situations were we had an instant connection but kind of missed the window to get together. He said all the right things at all the right times, we had all the best things in common, and everything felt weirdly right and mutual. In fact, when you’re hopelessly in love with someone, it’s very likely that they may have a god-like hold over you. Okay, we were never an official thing, so of course he never said he “knew my heart” but… every time that I felt beaten down and tired of this “friendship” that was not really a friendship, every time I decided to finally do something about it (even if that was fall out of love with him), he truly did intoxicate my world with kindness, saying exactly what I wanted him to say, which made me fall in love with him all over. Yet, every time I started to fall for him again, I could feel that coldness creeping in, like an addict, knowing I shouldn’t, knowing it wasn’t good for me or going to go where I hoped it would… and my soul would get suffocated in the disappointment of reality. Being led on by someone who doesn’t realize what they’re doing to you, who is so oblivious to your feelings, is truly like being chained to an insane god and it does feel like there’s not much left of you once they run rampant through your emotions.
Even if the lyrics aren’t 100% on point to my own very specific personal experience, the poetry and feel of them is enough to do it. There’s something strange and wonderful when someone else takes a feeling that you’ve had and puts words and music to it and makes it real. In fact, I’d go so far as the feeling the song makes me feel is akin to that same feeling of being in love… and who doesn’t love to feel that rush every once in a while?
