Disaster Area

So my band has released a demo album. And I've heard that some people I've given the cd to found the cover and the lyrics on the inside leaflet disturbing. There is no hate filled, or gory meaning intended. You also have to realise that the album is a political record. All three songs on the cd have political thought behind them.
"Eyes of chaos" is based on the Hyderabad blasts that took place sometime ago and the blood bath that it was. "Nothing Remains" is based on the American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The cover page has a really simple meaning. Basically, the norm is that backward countries are breeding grounds for terrorism; that undeveloped, and uneducated settlements of people are the cause for terrorism and pain and war and suffering. This can be seen in the way the US claims that Pakistan has become a country that harbours terrorists; in the way that the US became really wary when they thought Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction".
But as most of you know, no weapons of mass destruction were ever found. Saddam Hussein was executed by the Americans. The Mujahideen were created by the Americans (who wanted them to fight the Soviets during the cold war era).
Osama Bin Laden, Al Zawahiri and his Mujahideen were supplied with weapons by the US government. They were responsible for the shooting down of 149 Soviet helicopters, 89 fixed wing aircraft, and 274 tanks; all between the winter of 1987 and the spring of 1988. And all with the help of the Stinger Missiles supplied by the Americans.
The reason the Mujahideen became what they are now is the simple fact that after spending 4 billion dollars on supplying them with weapons, the Americans refused a 4 million dollar budget for building schools and shelter. When the Afghan people came back from fighting the Russians in the tough, Afghan environment, they found themselves abandoned by their benefactors. What do you do once you have created a group of warriors and supplied them with some of the most advanced weaponry money can buy? Is it not your responsibility to teach them right from wrong? If you're going to leave them out in the cold, armed with dangerous armaments then you sure as hell cannot expect them to grow up to be normal, sane, and regular people.
This is what the cover page of Disaster Area is about. What was once a fledgling country, underdeveloped and poor, has now become a haven for terrorists, not by any fault of their own, but by our so called "advanced" and "developed" countries. Money, Knowledge, Advanced Technology (which is the book shown on the cover) has destroyed and mutilated what could have been a beautiful land, if natural progress and nature had been allowed to take their own course and time. It has ravaged countries like Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and is slowly beginning to seep into the other parts of the world.
The lyrics inside the album cover is an extension of the same idea. It is not what we, as a band believe in. It is what we believe the thought process of a Mujahideen, or holy warrior, is. We do not endorse it, quite the contrary, but we hoped that lyrics would explain what the thinking is of a person who has been given a dangerous weapon, who has not been taught right from wrong, and has turned around to realise that he has been deprived of this right by his benefactors.
What does he do?
He is lesser than a child, and suddenly he has been given this amazing power and has not been taught responsibility.
What does he do?
His mother and sisters have been raped by his enemies in front of his eyes. His brothers have been blown apart by shells.
What does he do?
And still, he is sent out to fight for a cause that his not his. He is doing someone else's dirty work and is paying the price for it.
What does he do?

"I swear I will not dishonour my soul with love.
But offer myself numbly,
As a guardian of hate,
As a messenger of pain
As an architect of war."

This is not us. This is not Ston'd. We do not, in any way, subscribe to this way of thinking. I hope you have understood, and hence pity, the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and other places who have been made to move out of their line of natural development. Hopefully by now you have understood what this album means, what the songs mean, and the reason for the aggression behind it.



In the words of Texas Senator Charles Wilson, "These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the end game."

"You are the cause, I am the effect
Created in hatred, a noose for your neck."
~ D. Randall Blythe