#and then listen to TAD's Welly Boots one and a half times

[mumblingsage]

I mean I could make Part 3 into its own separate book; I could also give in to my brainworms and start writing the sequel about Dora! No one can stop me except maybe myself!

[nerdynix]

The stories hidden in both The Amazing Devils Albums.

Hello Dear Hearts and Devils. Welcome to the I’m bored in isolation analysis of The Amazing Devil’s Albums Love Run and The Horror and the Wild. Madeleine or Joey if you end up reading this and I’m right let me know. I’ve been listening to the albums on repeat while writing my novel and at some point this little brain worm wiggled in and pointed out. There is a story here in all this. So I really listened and I realized. Not A story, multiple stories mixed up and hashed together that span between the two albums!

 It would be really easy to just make the stories linear for people to follow, but Joey is a cheeky little shit and loves to leave puzzles for the fans. Considering he has full control over this you can assume there is some sort of puzzle and network of little rabbit trails. Many fans noticed the connection between Episode 6 of the Witcher and Welly Boots. Welly Boots plays a part in the stories started in the Album Love Run long before the Witcher was something on Joey’s plate.

 I noticed three narratives when I went through and listened, picking out which song I believed belonged in each narrative before sorting out the stories timeline and how each song fit into that timeline. After a little bit of working and work arounds I have a rough idea of how it’s supposed to play out. Though I feel like they are unfinished. it’s possible that the next TAD Album will continue these stories, we just have to wait…… a long ass time. Which is absolutely fine. Quality over Quantity guys. I’ll wait another four years if it means the next album is just as hard hitting. But I Digress.

Story 1: Madness of the King.

The Rockrose and the Thistle.

King.

Two Minutes.

Wild Blue Yonder

That Unwanted Animal.

Elsa’s song.

 This is a sad tale that maybe doesn’t exactly have a beginning? But it has an end so there might be more meat coming in later albums. I chose the Rockrose and the Thistle to start this after a lot of deliberation, but I think it starts the tale as much as it can. Like walking into an event late, you only get half of the information but you can still gather enough of it to realize what is happening. The Rockrose and the Thistle is the beloved King finally breaking down. The narrator (In this case Joey) has been expecting it. They’ve seen it coming, the threads slowly unweaving until they are awoken by the sound of the mental break and it’s an awful break. They stay away waiting for the King to work through it get to the point where it’s safe and okay to swoop in and piece him back together. Once they do a decision must be made. This can’t keep happening. That is where the song King steps in. This time the narrator is Madeleine, and she’s got a brilliant idea. She’ll keep the king and take care of him. They’ll take him back home and hide him away and try and work on the madness that is eating away at him. In this Joey is voicing the King, who sees hope. He sees there is something wrong with him and he needs to find a way to fix it. And so he agrees to go on the ship back home. It’s a promise. We’ll keep you safe, despite seeing the madness devouring the man you used to be. The King has hope, this can be fixed. We can do this. And so they set sail to home. At this point Joey has taken over the narration of the King. Hope does not cure mental illness, it helps but it doesn’t cure it. And soon the way to the castle he has little episodes. There is where Two Minutes comes into play. He knows it’ll be fine he knows he just has to work through it. But he’s scared. Will they leave him? Will they leave if he keeps doing this? Will they give up their hope? He’s working on it working his ass off trying to go back to being okay. He misses being okay, and he clutches the hope that one day soon he really will be okay. So he takes two minutes to just gather himself and push through. Wild Blue Yonder picks up right when they get home. He’s excited, he’s riding a high. He’s doing okay Maybe just being home will fix this! He’s home, he’s safe he’s better! But as the song goes on you can hear the same paranoia from King seeping back in. you can hear Madeleine’s character getting more and more exasperated by what he’s doing. This high he’s riding is about to come crashing down. You can see it in the lines as they prepare for winter. “Those songs we sung, those words we flung/For fear of sound/All those books that we both drowned/And the candle we lit, well we’ll use it to burn this whole place to the ground/I’m lost/I’m found/In you”  He’s pushing her away, the madness is creeping back in and one line delivers that subtle fact more clearly than the others “Can’t you hear that scratching?” He’s falling and in the next song you witness his end. That Unwanted Animal is the next and larges collapse the King has. And it’s sang entirely in the narrative of the King’s wife or lover. It’s clear that she’s not the animal; she’s watching him succumb to the madness and become an animal. She can’t handle it. It tells of how she’s fighting against it she wants him back but she sees it. He’s blind with madness, attacking her and hurting her. She can’t handle it. It’s hard to explain the whirlwind of emotion in this snippet of the story. He’s vicious, he’s lost and he hurts her. The King she knew and loved is gone. Instead there is just an Unwanted Animal roaming her house. She begs him, she loves it. Be good to me. Be good to me please be Good to me. All he can say, all he can manage to tell her is “No no, not I.” And she can’t handle it. She leaves. And it brings us to the final act of his epic tale. Elsa’s Song. The King is dead. His madness lead him to his death. It ended probably just as suddenly as it started. This song is his dying breath, his last words and thoughts. And those thoughts are poisoned by a sense of betrayal evident through each of the lyrics. He covers his ears when she cries to him that she’ll always remember him. He started a war in his madness, maybe not a war. Maybe it was only a battle or two. But he’s killed. The Mad King was put down, killed by either friend or deeply sickened foe we will never know. And just like that, it’s over. The tale of the King’s madness ends.

Story 2: The Wayward Wanderer.

The Horror and the Wild.

Pray.

Farewell Wanderlust

Welly Boots.

This by far is the most incomplete of each of the stories. It has a beginning and it has an end but there is no meat in the middle. This one I feel will be fleshed out more in the next album. But for now we have a short little story about a wandering soul. It’s unknown what they seek, just that they are seeking. Their beginning and their end clear to us. The Horror and the Wild tells of the beginning of our wanderer. They were born a free heart and a wild spirit. The people around them nurturing but also stunting what they are. Singing of the spirited child as they grow into something they refer to as The Wild. But something is missing, their demands to have their heart brought back by the “wingless thing” it spurns this… journal. This hunt to find what is missing. They promise horrors and proclaim themselves to be wild.  Our wanderer will not be quelled until adventure is at their fingertips and what was stolen by the wingless beasts has been reclaimed. Pray is a proclamation. It proclaims to those who want to stunt the wanderer that they will not be held back. Pray is the song of flight, the first journey of our wanderer. They don’t just leave, they hit the ground running. They yearn to know the world. “Run from you, I’ll run until I begin to understand/What holy men really mean when they speak of sand and sons and seams and symphonies and sweat and sex and sin” They tell them boldly. Pray for me if you wish but I do not need your prayer and you will receive none of mine. Our wanderer has begun. Farewell Wanderlust. It’s jarring; suddenly we jump to the end. Like the audience had the misfortune of being that asshole that fell asleep during the story telling and now must reap the consequences. Here we see the beginning of the end of our wanderer’s journey. That urge to keep going to keep exploring is beginning to leave our wanderer. The wanderer laments on the adventures, thanking Wanderlust for the fun that was experienced. It ripped them from the darkness of their home life and brought them into the light of adventure. And so quietly they say the “Hardest goodbye you ever will say.” They don’t want it to end, but they accept it. And so they say their goodbyes and force the others to witness what they were morphed into before setting out on one last journey. Welly Boots, the soft secretive Witcher Fanfic/end to our Wanderer’s journal. Sometime in their travels the wanderer found someone, someone who loved them dearly and considering what happens the wanderer fell for as well. But true to the guiding force wanderlust can be, our wanderer left. The lover is angry, is upset their hurt. But the wanderer knows their lover is strong they will be okay. So they go, until that Wanderlust says goodbye and they come back, quietly giving them the gift of Scarlet Welly Boots to announce their return. The wanderer is done wandering and has returned to their lover.

Story 3: Destined Lovers.

Pruning Shears

Love Run (Intro)

Not Yet/Love Run

Little Miss Why So

Shower Day

New York Torch Song

Battle Cries

Fair

Marbles.

This is not complete either but it has a beginning and an end with a decent amount of meat in the middle. These two lovers are always fighting, breaking up and coming back together. We see the compilation of fights and breakups however we don’t see them get back together. The cycle repeating until the very end. It’s also very possible that this is the second part of the Wanderer’s story. In fact all three of these stories could be connected. That Unwanted Animal mentions Bairns (children) it could be that the Wanderer is the child of the mad king? That’s just an idea though with very little proof. But I can see the Wanderer and the Lovers being two halves of the same story. Pruning Shears is how the lovers met. One is spirited and outgoing the other in comparison isn’t nearly. Looking through the lyrics it’s easy to make the connection that the wanderer could be one of them. They meet and connect, playing games and singing about how the world is pathetic and out of touch with them. They are young and so begins their love. Love Run (Intro) it’s quick but it needs to be there even if it’ll be repeated soon. This is the moment that they fall in love, they realize their flirting and their fucking around before was actually something. It’s the quick confession. This one, I love this one. They are my Dear Heart. If you think of it in terms of the Wanderer being one of the lovers, it’s the prelude to their leaving. Not Yet/Love Run. This song set seems to go hand in hand in proving my theory that the wanderer is one of the lovers. It speaks of stories of adventure. Not Yet is the timid lover quietly begging the Wanderer not to leave. Let us adventure together let us enjoy our time at home. Sing of adventures, and let’s get drunk and fuck away the days. The wanderer will not be sated though, and at the end of Not Yet the Lover accepts this. Thus drifting into Love Run, though it will hurt they encourage it. Run my beloved Wanderer run to your hearts content. Love Run, love run. Fitting with the Wanderer turned Lover theory around this time Welly Boots would just slide right into the story. Then we get to Little Miss Why So and Shower Day. These two songs are two sides of the same moment. We’ll start with Little Miss Why So. The Wanderer is home and they can’t shake the longing. The Wanderlust is gone but the idea of settling down is driving them to a depression. The Lover is trying so hard to cheer them up, distract them from the depression that has settled in and taken place of that blissful sense of Wanderlust that drove the Wanderer for so long. Slowly though the Wanderer is getting sick of it. They are sick of constantly being asked why they are so sad. Shower Day picks up with the Wanderer right at the end of Little Miss Why So. The wanderer is tired, they can’t handle it anymore. And so they are leaving. They are walking out of the door right now turning and looking to the Lover begging them. “Say something.” The Lover does not… the lover ‘s words are caught in their throat and so once again they watch the Wanderer leave and bemoans their failure to say the words and now they are alone unable even to watch Netflix because the Wanderer changed the password when they left. New York Torch Song. This is next on the list purely on the assumption that they made up and got back together. Something that may be in the next album, or it just quietly happened. Granted this whole thing is one massive assumption anyway so to hell with it. They have another spat and this one is loud. It’s vicious. Unlike the quiet leaving of before this one is a knock down drag out brawl leading them to split up a bit with the promise of talking tomorrow after acting rash for a night. It shows the night, the night of them mad at each other and fighting, tearing up their marriage bed in their rage. Assumingly though they get it handled the next day if my theory is correct. Next is Battle Cries. This is the biggest and the last of their fights, fighting not just against each other but aging. Age is attacking them both viciously and neither of them are all too pleased about it. They snap at each other but realize with experience that they shouldn’t be doing this. They shouldn’t fight each other over this. They do still a bit but really it’s them complaining about age. At long last their last night, what they believe to really be the end they don’t scream like they did in the New York Torch Song. They quietly hang their heads. “And now at the end, at the end of all things/I’m not going to scream, beat my chest at the wind” Fair makes them really realize even after all this time that no matter what they love each other endlessly. Telling each other that is really isn’t fair. But they love each other so deeply, their adoration in each other growing with each passing day. Their fighting cannot pull them apart. It never could, even when the Wanderer left, they came back. She came back for her love and constantly returns. Their settling into their lives at long last, enjoying and loving each other as they were meant to do. Marbles quietly rips that away. Marbles recaps their love, recapping the good times they had together. Their joyful memories and the little drama’s they had. Skipping over the fighting. They only want the good memories. One of them is slowly succumbing to illness; quietly their memories are slipping away. But by each night it’s okay, because one of the Lovers knows that the other is clutching those memories close for them. It’s okay, they still love and are loved. Their memories are safe in the clutches of their Lover just as they are. No matter, it will be okay. They will be together until death reaches out it’s icy claws and quietly claims them.

It’s three tales that can easily be connected or could be entirely separate. Most likely they are intertwined. It tells of a King falling to his Madness, his daughter who fled from the over protectiveness of the fearful remaining family and who in her travels found love. It’s a series of stories of life lived to it’s fullest. How darkness can birth greatness and courage. The tales are no where near done though, the Wayward Wanderer’s travels have yet to be seen and experienced, and what of the King how did the madness begin? There is so much more to the stories and it’s entirely up to Joey and Madeleine to flesh them out for us and it’s up to them to choose to share them. Hopefully they do, because it’s been a joy to unravel this puzzle.

Thank you to everyone who stuck with me as I blasted you all with 3,000 words of my absolute bullshit. And if Joey or Madeleine you guys see this. Am I right? Was this intentional? Unintentional? (probably intentional. I’m onto your bratty ways.) Let me know your own theories on this as well. I’d love to have an open discussion in regards to this. Nix.