Hitstax has always been an experimental group. Story-telling is what counts for us; lyrics come first. Melodies and arrangements are designed to serve the words. This means we don’t have a single musical style. We have a variety of musical tastes and backgrounds and all of these come into play in every song. For a long time we have had in the background, but constantly a subject of thought, Wilfred Owen’s great WWI poem, Dolce et Decorum Est.
Words inspired by the poem but suitable for a song were fairly easily written (see below). But what should it style or genre be? Harsh and angry rock? A gentle folk song? Blues? A steady marching rhythm? A waltz in the face of despair?
In the end, we could not decide. So we wrote the same song ten times. The same words, ten different styles and tunes. They’ll be on streaming services at the end of November, but you can sample two of them here:
No Glory in the Grave
[Verse 1]
Boots sink deep in mire
We stumble through the rain
Broken bodies bent with fear
Weighed down with silent pain
A sudden cry a warning
Gas spills across the night
We claw for breath in darkness
Blind in thick green light
[Chorus]
And they tell us it is noble
That we march for honour’s name
But there’s no flag worth this loss
No honour worth this cost
No calling back the brave
No glory in the grave
[Verse 2]
One man falls before us
Choking on the fire
Haunted eyes behind the mask
Consumed in smoke and wire
Shadow stays forever
Burned in my helpless sight
A truth the drums keep hiding
Beneath the painted blight
[Chorus]
And they tell us it is noble
That we march for honour’s name
But there’s no flag worth this loss
No honour worth this cost
No calling back the brave
No glory in the grave
[Bridge]
If you could see what we have seen
The twisted wreck of love and dream
You would not whisper to the young
That death is sweet and war is song
[Chorus]
Still they tell us it is noble
But no glory’s worth this cost
The banners cannot save
Or call back home the brave
Their voices lost in silence
No glory in the grave
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