Continues from Hand of Doom. Maybe this time it's the final finale for real!

Chapter song titles in order: Black Sabbath, Jess and the Ancient Ones, Doro, Iron Maiden, Bloodbound, Demonaz, Judas Priest, Slayer, Battle Beast, Yngwie Malmsteen, Bruce Dickinson, Tiamat, Virgin Steele, Accept, Avantasia, Battle Beast, Gamma Ray, Kruiz, Judas Priest, Allen & Lande, Yngwie Malmsteen, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Black Sabbath, Stratovarius

- ArmageddonClan

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Chapter 1 - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

The studio reverberated with a low twin-guitar doom metal riff in triplet rhythm. It was a six-note repeating pattern moving from one chord to the next in a minor key, deceptively simple at first listen, but still a memory challenge in the very least, as the intervals changed for each chord.

But finally the result was satisfying. The sounds of both guitars died down.

"We'll see how it goes tomorrow," Jo said.

There had already been one session, which was just jamming. But tomorrow their four-piece band would actually play the songs they had ready so far. Jo and Ian were mostly responsible for the music, while Kim wrote the lyrics.

This riff belonged to the doom metal epic, "Into the Hands of Doom," which could extend over seven minutes if they kept the solos and jam section at the end at full length. The other was called "Light Bringer," and it was shorter, almost just straight rock, mellow and occultistic.

"You don't sound that enthusiastic," Ian remarked. He had already jumped on the studio couch, and appeared relaxed. Content.

While Jo was not sure if she could relax just yet.

Doom was the direction they had decided in the absinthe session at the cabin. What they had all agreed on. It was a change of pace from the relentless thrash assault practically all of their musical career had been. And Jo remembered thinking of how aggressive metal had its own restrictive rules, while here they could do practically anything they wanted. Like the contrast between the two songs already pointed out.

"Maybe I keep second-guessing too much. It's just … sure it was fun to jam with the four of us, and play out all the doom cliches to their maximum. But will we sustain it for years?"

"We just have to find the way we do things," Ian said.

"Right. You have to give it time. But I was thinking back to AGENT. Just the three of us. It was relentless. Everything just locked in and felt right."

On the couch, Ian was shaking his head slowly. Jo understood it was not a time he thought of as highly.

"I'm not sure if I could go back to that. It was relentless, that's true. But every riff, every lyric I made – I think it was out of fear. Not necessarily consciously, but there was the feeling in the back of my head, that there might not be the next day. It was a lot of things. Like dreaming of Quorthon. Or that I – or we – would be exposed somehow."

Jo considered his words. If she was honest to herself, it had been much the same for her. And the fear for being exposed – it had been a hundred-percent justified.

Their whole run-in with the MSA, and the adventure that had resulted.

Jo knew she utilized a very selective memory of the whole episode, blanking out most of it, or almost thinking of it like a dream already. She had just kept the fun parts. Like Ian's legendary interview video. Or even before that, the just as legendary drinking session with WyvernForce.

But Jo remembered that it, too, had been kickstarted by an almost crushing anxiety.

If that was the price you needed to pay for relentless intensity, it sounded awfully high. They would just need to see how this direction would develop. Well, the world was always going to shit in some manner, and in theory that would be a limitless amount of doom metal inspiration. It was just that it was not personal.

And if it would not develop –

Jo thought of something almost ridiculous, which was most often Ian's territory.

"What?" Ian asked.

Jo understood her expression had given something away. She almost did not want to explain, but then she thought, what the hell.

"I had this idea. If music doesn't take off, we could publish a self-help book. For relationships. It just requires awfully specific starting points. Like, if you're one the run with false identities in a tiny hatchback, this is what you need to do –"

Ian's face lit up.

"That's easy. I could reserve two chapters right away. How to make an endearing fool of yourself. Including hospital stealth. And minimum distance bridal carry. Route optimization for maximum feels with minimum pain."

Jo smiled back at Ian. Ridiculousness up to eleven. But being serious, the material would be extremely obscure. There was no chance in hell for it to become a best-seller.

So, better stick to the music.