Monument of Sapien
In March 2024, I began working on an extremely ambitious concept album project that I named Monument of Sapien. This is a story that predicts the entire history of the planet following the exctinction of humanity, creating a whole new chronological era and intelligent species. This new species then discovers the remnants and ruins of Homo sapien, changing the course of their growing society. But what if it was all meant to happen? What if our true purpose is to die and give birth to our successor?
This story is the best one that I've ever created, and so is the music that will tell it.
The story of Monument of Sapien was inspired by other concept albums like it, mainly Haken's Aquarius and BTBAM's Parallax II and Colors. The music is influenced by progressive metal, metalcore, death metal, hardcore, djent, progressive rock, and jazz fusion. Artists like Textures, After the Burial, Rivers of Nihil, and the aformentioned bands are huge inspirations as well.
Influences
Concept
Monument of Sapien doesn't follow a completely progressing storyline, and rather switches perspectives and time periods to show progression. Each of the 8 songs has a specific story to it and contributes to the whole. Open to read the story for each song and learn more!
1: Transformation - 3 mins
The album starts off flying through time, beginning with the end of humans and then going through a period of transition, in which the earth heals itself from the effects of humanity. While the earth changes, evolution occurs for animals to withstand the harsh climate.
2: Transgenesis - 9 mins
Connecting to the opening track, this song plunges the listener into the point of view of an octopus at that time who is unable to deal with the ocean’s heat and changing, representing the overall evolution of life on earth. This then introduces the new sentient race.
3: Division - 13 mins
The Blnaca are introduced. Their history and issues are highlighted, mainly focusing on the absence of guidance but also touching on their ego and introversion. They speak about how they need to find other intelligent life and feel very lost without any other species to connect with.
4: Cosmic Migration - 15 mins
The listener is pulled back to the beginning in which the life of humans ended. It explains exactly how human society ended and goes into detail about their escape from Earth in a shuttle to a faraway bastion. When humans leave earth, the farther they get, the more they separate from the soul of the earth. This leads to mass severe egomania and psychosis, making everyone kill each other. Thus is the extinction of humanity. The song slowly gets more evil and more brutal with unsettling modal riffs to represent the descent into madness.
5: Quest of Convergence - 16 mins
Flashing forward, the octopi begin to voyage across the ocean to find something to guide them in desperation, feeling a mysterious pull to find something. In doing this, they find buildings from humans near the shore that sunk while global warming occurred. They determine that the buildings must have been constructed by an intelligent life form, as well as living on land rather than the ocean.
6: Terrestrial Respiration - 10 mins
After finding their architecture, the Blnaca decided to develop technology to go on land in search of the humans. After lots of exploration, they can’t seem to find the humans anywhere, and their constructions are overgrown and demolished. They determine that they must all be dead.
7: Clairvoyance - 8 mins
Before dying, humans became able to harness hidden energies they have not been able to before. These include clairvoyance, leaving the body through the soul, and higher frequencies of living. These were used to power a mysterious project humans made in anticipation for death. (This is the monument of sapien, using the energy to pull sentient beings toward it.) They also touch on leaving the planet in order to go somewhere else that can support them. They are overwhelmed with a feeling of incredible disconnect, so far from the central soul of the earth keeping them tethered.
8: Monument of Sapien - 20 mins
While on land, the Blnaca have a pulling feeling that they can’t explain bringing them to somewhere. They are all collectively being led to it with a very old and intelligent energy. They eventually find a massive monument and are led inside, receiving the message of the humans, which gives them the knowledge they need to continue.
I'm currently on the fourth song of the album, and I plan to release a demo to gain attention and excitement for the album. I'm a bit stuck and out of ideas but I am going to try to get back on the grind and keep working, and once I reach that milestone I do believe I'll have a lot more motivation!
Progress
Access my Bandcamp page with my previous releases below. The two releases i have include descriptions to understand the ideas and concepts behind them all. Take a listen!