United in Chaos | Summoning the Lich | Concept Explained
Here is my interpretation of the story behind Summoning the Lich’s 2021 album, United in Chaos.
** What follows is my personal interpretation of the epic fantasy concept. I base my explanations on the lyrics as well as band interviews and fan theories.
Track 1) “The Nightmare Begins”
An old druid—the last of his kind in the kingdom of Rodor—has been maintaining the veil of chaos alone for centuries. The years have weighed heavy on him. He is weak, tired, and close to death. His hatred toward the selfishness of mankind has festered. The very souls he has spent his life fighting to protect are nothing for his sacrifice.
To stay alive, he seeks a dangerous power—one that could destroy humanity. He unearths an ancient, buried shrine and unleashes chaos. Demonic creatures claw their way into existence, and the druid prepares to seize control of the minds of men.
He begins to harness the power and starts casting dark spells that turn the sky violet. An army of men rise up to stop the evil sorcerer before he can complete the spell, but they don’t know it’s a trap. The druid lured them to his cave as a way to fulfill the sacrifice needed for the final acts of the spell.
The druid trades his soul for power in immortality and becomes: The Lich.
Track 2) “Cult of Ophidian”
The Watcher gazes into the future and sees bloodshed, devastation, and madness—all at the hands of this powerful being who bends men’s will to his own. He cannot see this being, but he sees the destruction he will bring.
The Watcher wakes from the vision and tries to warn the clan of what is to unfold. They refuse to heed his warning, so he seeks to tell the Elder of his clan—only to find the Elder has been corrupted by this being.
The being speaks through the Elder’s lips and condemns the Watcher to a fate worse than death. This being—the leader of the Cult of Ophidian—tricked the people of the Watcher’s clan and made them think that he joined the Cult and purposefully did not warn them of what was to come, so they damned his soul for all eternity, when in truth the Watcher was a victim of the Cult just as much as they were.
Track 3) “The Gatekeeper”
After the Lich’s awakening, many try to destroy him. Valant King Elelogarr leads his armies across the sea to destroy the evil forces taking over the land led by the Dragon Lord of Suffering: Algaliarect.
The king arrives at the water gates to the kingdom. The demon creatures crawl from the sea and attack the King and his legion. They decimate his ships and every man onboard finds themselves a watery grave.
Track 4) “Demon of the Snow” **(My personal favorite on this album)
By now the dark forces of the Lich have taken over nearly every kingdom. One holds out: A castle in the middle of a snowy mountain range is protected from invading armies by way of a horrendous beast.
Each year, the people gather in a ceremony to thank the Demon of the Snow and pacify its hunger for another year by providing it with sacrificial virgins.
But on the night of this feast, the beast awakens with new sentience granted to him through the power of the Lich. The beast turns on the people and makes THEM become his slaves as he had been a slave for their protection for all those years.
Track 5) “Predatory Reflection”
Here we get another glimpse into the corruptive power of the Lich and how he inspires each person to become indulgent slaves to their worst sin.
A woman falls victim to her own vanity. She is tricked by the face staring back at her in the mirror. Blinded by her pride, she becomes trapped in a mirror. In this mirror she is forced to see the ugliness of her own soul for all eternity. She goes mad and begins to mutilate her own body. She tears out her eyes so that she doesn’t have to look upon herself any longer.
Track 6) “Acid Reign”
Another King marches his armies to defeat the evil Lich. Greedy to be the one to take down the sorcerer, he will stop at nothing to defeat him and conquer the evil in the world. He gathers the largest army the world had ever seen. Every town and village the king passes he forces all able-bodied men to march toward victory and burns the rest to the ground to make way for his army.
He marches to the lair of the Lich, leaving burning forest and fields in his path. They reach the lair, and the Lich stands atop his mountain. He slams his staff into the ground and shatters the land just the mountain erupts. The flying pieces of rock and molten lava rain down on the King and his armies—burning all in a torturous death.
Track 7) “United in Chaos”
With ash still clouding the air, the Lich collects all the villains he has made: the Watcher, King Elelogarr, the Demon of the Snow, the woman in the mirror, and the soul of the king he just defeated (and one more Evie the Temptress). They join the Lich and venerate him for his evil greatness.
They rejoice as rulers over all mankind.
Track 8) “Descend”
The villains go about doing their worst unto humanity. One of the last heroes alive, a mage who has been helping the destitute, is caught and captured by the Lich’s evil forces. He is taken and tortured. Day after day they cut him open and cauterize his wounds only to reopen them and more on the morning.
As he lies dying, he utters an incantation and hides away a vial of his blood before he dies.
Track 9) “Hymns (the Witches of the West)”
A coven of witches sets up on a village. Blood is spilled and one of the high priest’s sons is burned to death in retribution.
The coven then gathers their forces to seek vengeance. They gather around the village and begin to chant. Their incantation rises and all the children of the village perish at the hands of their curse.
The children then rise as undead to terrorize the village. The village surrenders and begs for their lives, but the witches give no mercy. They don’t stop until every last heart is ripped from their chests.
Track 10) “Death Crystal”
A man of royal blood, exiled when his land was conquered by the invading king, wanders the endless desert.
He meets a woman who offers him a way to take back what was stolen from him. She gifts him a crystal and departs. He returns to his kingdom and uses the power of the crystal to lay waste to the usurper of his throne. All nobles within the castle are laid to waste. With each soul the crystal collects, it grows darker and darker until it is black.
His vengeance is complete, but it comes at a price. The power of the crystal transforms him into a beast-monster enslaved to the woman who gifted him the crystal.
Track 11) “Temple of the Bone”
Here we return to the Lich (I think) and we find all the glory of death and destruction has not satisfied him as he so thought. Now that he has conquered and had his fun, there is nothing left for him to do. He cannot die and he now feels trapped by immortality. He sees that a life that will not end is meaningless. He has nothing to do but wait for a death that will never come.
Track 12) “The Lure of the Necromancer”
The Lich, now regretting his decision to become immortal, seeks out the only one who might be able to reverse the curse. He seeks out the Lord Death: the Necromancer and watches him go about his work.
The Necromancer comes to a man mourning over the loss of his betrothed—the only woman he ever loved who died the night before they were to be wed. A figure appears to the man from the shadows of the graveyard. The being smells of rot and explains that he can bring back the love of his life. The man asks after the gift will cost. The Necromancer replies that the man need only feed her when she wakes and she will be his once more.
The man agrees and the Necromancer calls upon the dead and the ground splits with hands shooting up from the grave—they claw through, and the man meets his undead bride. Her body is all decay and though she is animated, she is not alive at all.
This was not what he agreed to, he tells the Necromancer in fear. But the Lord of Death only smiles and says he has held up his end of the deal, now the man must do the same and feed her! The undead bride launches at him and tears through his flesh to feast on his guts.
But Necromancer does not let him die—oh no—he spells the man’s body to stay alive and watch as the bride devours him alive.
And that is where we end the album. This is the first of a trilogy that tells the story if the Lich. This first album we get to see the Lich rise to power and explore the deplorable side of human nature. This is a set up for the following album which plays into the motivation of the druids and their hatred for man.