Hey everyone. I hope you’ve been doing well. I’ve been getting busier and busier and sleep has been more and more elusive these days. However, I’m still able to function enough to keep producing songs, articles, and personalized lessons for all of you.
This week’s song is called “Let Your Life Begin” and is based on Avantasia’s “Kill The Pain Away“.
Listen here:
How did I write this?
To me, the most important part of “Kill The Pain Away” is the opening melody that starts in pizzicato strings then moves to guitars and synth. If you listen throughout the song, this both returns and influences the various rhythms and sections of the music. So, naturally, I started out by making my own melody along the same lines which opens up the song on piano, then moves to guitars and, finally, synth.
After I had the opening melody/section, I followed the same general path/form of “Kill The Pain Away” starting with stripping the instrumentation down for the first half of the first verse. One thing I don’t have nearly as much of in this song are pads and extra synths – and the amazing vocal powers of Tobias Sammet and Floor Jansen.
Let’s just go over the form so you can see how this is put together – I generally write songs from front to back or start to finish, so seeing the form helps to see that all:
- Melody: Starts with piano, then strings join, then the band joins, then the guitars match the melody
- Verse: just vocals, bass and drums for the first half and guitars joining in for the second
- Prechorus: same instrumentation but a minor fall in the harmony leading to a key change for the chorus
- Chorus: key change from G major to G minor and group vocals/harmonies added
- Melody: similar as before
- Verse: little busier on the guitars and less movement in the vocals aside from the harmony kicking in half way through
- Prechorus: similar to first prechorus
- Chorus: this one changes keys at the end to Em so there’s a vocal slide to help facilitate that change
- Solo: very pentatonic based harmony solo
- Prechorus: similar to the others
- Chorus: final chorus with added voices leading into the final stretch
- Melody out: includes the vocal like “Let your life begin” and “Begin” with more and more voices added as well as a harmony added to the melody to close it all off. I actually wrote several endings but ended up keeping it as this one so it didn’t feel like the song was dragging on too much.
There we go. That’s the setup for the track and the order I wrote it in. Next step is to check out the lyrics I wrote.
Lyrics
Verse
Another day another open door is closed
Never awake to see them lose the key
Just as a you rise, you can feel the sunlight leave your face
Barely alive left forever in a forgotten space
Prechorus
Nothing remains no shred of hope to catch a tear
Forced to spend your life inside of here
Chorus
Close your eyes, dream you’re far away at home
Don’t lose hope, don’t leave yourself alone
Look inside, all you need lies just within
Believe in yourself, and let your life begin
Verse
When you remember that the sun is on the other side
All the knots within you start to unwind
You can face your demons you just need to try
All you have to do is just decide
Prechorus
Something arisen deep inside your darkened state
You are the only one who can control your fate
Chorus
Close your eyes, dream you’re far away at home
Don’t lose hope, don’t leave yourself alone
Look inside, all you need lies just within
Believe in yourself, and let your life begin
Prechorus
Nothing remains, no self-pity you can find
Your escape exists inside your mind
Chorus
Close your eyes, dream you’re far away at home
Don’t lose hope, don’t leave yourself alone
Look inside, all you need lies just within
Believe in yourself, and let your life begin
The lyrics are, more than less, just about believing in yourself even if you feel/are locked away somewhere. I’m sure we’ve all experienced some form of crushing defeat or like we’ve been figuratively (or literally) locked away and left alone at different points in our lives; this is about being the hope you need to move on in one way or another.
Parting thoughts
I hope you’ve had a great time with this. I am a massive fan of Avantasia and wanted to try my hand at writing a song influenced by their amazing music. The song “Kill The Pain Away” is from their most recent album “A Paranormal Evening With the Moonflower Society” which was released on 21, October, 2022. I didn’t know they were coming out with that album at the time, but my group Inner Urge released our debut album “Consume and Waste” six days later on 27, October, 2022. I’m still working on and writing material for the new album and am working to get some grant funding to make it the best album and release I possibly can.
If you like what I’m able to do and would like to learn how to do it yourself then contact me or email me here and book your lesson.
Thank you for your time and I hope you have an amazing rest of your week. Be kind to yourself and others, don’t lose hope, and keep on pushing on and learning more every day.
All the best,
– Matt