(download or stream this album here)

Πίναξ τύπων /
Pínax týpōn /
Table of Contents

1. Κατάλογος ὕμνων / Katálogos hýmnōn / Tracklist
2. Ἀναγνώρισεις / Anagnōriseis / Credits
   1. Σύνθεσις / Sýnthesis / Composition
   2. Τεχνίτευματα / Tekhníteumata / Artwork
3. Συνοπτικά μηνύματα / Synoptiká mēnúmata / Basic Information
   1. Πρώτη κατηγορίᾱ: Λείψανα / Prṓtē katēgoríā: Leípsana / First Category: Leftovers
   2. Δευτέρᾱ κατηγορίᾱ: Ἀναστροφαί / Deutérā katēgoríā: Anastrophaí / Second Category: Inversions
   3. Τρίτη κατηγορίᾱ: Νέοι ὕμνοι / Trítē katēgoríā: Néoi hýmnoi / Third Category: New Songs
   4. Ἐπίθετα σχόλια / Epítheta skhólia / Further Notes
4. Ἡ ἐτυμολογίᾱ τῆς ἀπολογίᾱς / Hē etymologíā tês apologíās / The Etymology of the Apology
   1. Μεταφράσεις τίτλου ἔργων / Metaphráseis títlou érgōn / Album Title Translations
   2. Μεταφράσεις τίτλων ὕμνων / Metaphráseis titlōn hýmnōn / Song Title Translations
5. Λυρική ποίησις / Lyrikḗ poíēsis / Lyrics
6. Συγγενεῖς ὑπερσύνδεσμοι / Syngeneîs hypersýndesmoi / Related Links
7. Ὑπόσημειώσεις / Hypósēmeiṓseis / Endnotes

Κατάλογος ὕμνων /
Katálogos hýmnōn /
Tracklist

1. “Ambush in Rattlesnake Gulch (metal remix)” (by Brian Boyko & Aaron Freed) (8:12) [DR15]
2. “Sympathy for the Time Signature” (4:20) [DR18]
3. “Polyrhythm Demonstration” (3:20) [DR18]
4. «Κοιμητήριον» (drone only) (12:00) [DR11]
5. “Below Cloud City” (5:00) [DR11]
6. «Οἶκος ἀνοικτῶν θυρίδων, ἀκρόπολις ὕμνων» (19:30) [DR13]
7. «βυθίζοντες εἰς Ἔρεβος» (6:24) [DR13]
8. “Blood Beneath the Sequencer” (8:19) [DR14]
9. “Sīcae cursōris” (4:20) [DR12]
10. “Nōtiō nivālis” (4:32) [DR15]
11. “The Pipeline, Filling In Time” (13:00) [DR15]
    1. “The Pipeline, Filling In Time (jazz)” (0:00-6:18) [DR13]
    2. “The Pipeline, Filling In Time (metal)” (6:18-13:00) [DR18]
12. “Caput mortuum” (4:46) [DR14]
13. “Hae eunt ad ūndecim” (4:20) [DR13]
14. “Sexāgintā quattuor” (3:22) [DR15]
15. “Digitī” (6:10) [DR15]
16. “Omnēs viae Sōlem dūcunt” (20:15) [DR14]
    1. “Celeritās Deī tibī̆, imperātor fusce” (0:00-7:06) [DR15]
    2. “Quattuor pūnctum sex miliardum annōrum” (7:06-12:31) [DR14]
    3. “Vīdī rēs vōs hominēs nē crēderētis” (12:31-20:15) [DR12]

Contents · Tracklist · Discography · Portfolio · Contact me · Website index

Ἀναγνώρισεις /
Anagnōriseis /
Credits

Σύνθεσις /
Sýnthesis /
Composition

“Ambush in Rattlesnake Gulch (metal remix)” is composed by Brian Boyko & Aaron Freed, with lyrics excerpted from “Diēs Īrae” (author unknown, traditionally attributed to Thomas of Celano).

All other songs are composed by Aaron Freed, with a few interpolations of brief parts of other works:

• “Sympathy for the Time Signature”:
  • The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”, Beggars Banquet, 1968-12-06

    (Mick Jagger & Keith Richards)

    Borrows chord sequence, since this is just a crude demo of time signature modulation

• “Below Cloud City”:
  • Cream, “Badge”, Goodbye, 1969-02-05

    (Eric Clapton & George Harrison)

    I interpolated the main bass riff once purely for the lols

• “Sexāgintā quattuor”:
  • Nightwish, “The Poet and the Pendulum”, Dark Passion Play, 2007-09-26

    (Tuomas Holopainen)

    I adapted the chord progression from 2:26-2:44 from “White Lands of Empathica”

• “Celeritās Deī tibī̆, imperātor fusce”:
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor, “Piss Crowns Are Trebled”, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress, 2015-03-31

    (Thierry Amar, David Bryant, Aidan Girt, Timothy Herzog, Efrim Menuck, Mike Moya, Mauro Pezzente, & Sophie Trudeau)

    I adapted the chord progression more or less wholesale

  • The Beatles, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, Abbey Road, 1969-09-26

    (John Lennon & Paul McCartney)

    Due to its similar tempo and overall mood, I threw in a few stylistic references to it

• “Quattuor pūnctum sex miliardum annōrum”:
  • Nightwish, “The Greatest Show on Earth”, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, 2015-03-25

    (Tuomas Holopainen)

    Heavily inspired by the main melody & harmony of “Four Point Six”

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Τεχνίτευματα

Tekhníteumata

Artwork

Τεχνίτευματα / Tekhníteumata / Artwork

Front cover: NASA/Keegan Barber ⟨flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/53641212344/in/album-72177720322891732⟩

Back cover: NASA/Joel Kowsky ⟨flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/53639972892/in/album-72177720322891732⟩

Inner booklet: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani ⟨flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/53641012808/in/album-72177720322891732⟩

Contents · Tracklist · Discography · Portfolio · Contact me · Website index

Συνοπτικά μηνύματα /
Synoptiká mēnúmata /
Basic Information

This album’s origins necessarily made it a bit of a hodgepodge. Its tracks fit in three broad categories.

Πρώτη κατηγορίᾱ: Λείψανα

Prṓtē katēgoríā: Leípsana

First Category: Leftovers

Miscellaneous bonus tracks from Compositions 2023-2024 and Mūsica ex tempore malōrum, this album’s predecessors. Since I strictly limited each album to two audio CDs in length, four contemporaneous tracks didn’t fit onto either album for various reasons.⁽¹⁾ I’ve thus collected them here for listeners’ convenience (as a great band once said, give me convenience or give me death).

Contents · Tracklist · Discography · Portfolio · Contact me · Website index

Δευτέρᾱ κατηγορίᾱ: Ἀναστροφαί

Deutérā katēgoríā: Anastrophaí

Second Category: Inversions

I’ve also begun experimenting with inverting existing compositions’ pitches. I expect to give these their own album when I’ve made enough of them, but for now, they’re this album’s next five tracks.

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Τρίτη κατηγορίᾱ: Νέοι ὕμνοι

Trítē katēgoríā: Néoi hýmnoi

Third Category: New Songs

• “Nōtiō nivālis”
• “The Pipeline, Filling in Time”
• “Caput mortuum”
• “Hae eunt ad ūndecim”
• “Sexāgintā quattuor”
• “Digitī”
• “Omnēs viae Sōlem dūcunt”
  1. “Celeritās Deī tibī̆, imperātor fusce”
  2. “Quattuor pūnctum sex miliardum annōrum”
  3. “Vīdī rēs vōs hominēs nē crēderētis”

As of this writing, my newest songs (in varying stages of completion) close out this album.

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Ἐπίθετα σχόλια /
Epítheta skhólia /
Further Notes

Ἐπίθετα σχόλια / Epítheta skhólia / Further Notes

I eventually plan to organize this album a bit better (as I said, the pitch-flipped songs may get an entirely separate album when I’ve made enough of them), but I doubt I’ll have the mental energy to do so until I finalize the mixes for Compositions 2023-2024 and Mūsica ex tempore malōrum.

If you’re new to my music, I emphatically recommend starting with Selected Works, 2023-2024 or Iānuāriō Aprīlem MMXXV, then Compositions 2023-2024 or Mūsica ex tempore malōrum. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this album. (If you start here, at least start with the new songs, but even some of those are mere sketches.)

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Ἡ ἐτυμολογίᾱ τῆς ἀπολογίᾱς
Hē etymologíā tês apologíās
The Etymology of the Apology

Μεταφράσεις τίτλου ἔργων
Metaphráseis títlou érgōn
Album Title Translations

Κατηγορική ἀπολογίᾱ (romanized Katēgorikḗ apologíā) is deliberately ambiguous Attic Greek.

• Κατηγορική means accusatory, categorical, predicational, or hypothetical.
• Ἀπολογίᾱ means apologia, defense, or apology.

Take your pick. Accusatory Apologia’s alliterative paradox appeals to me, but it’s not my official translation; ambiguity appeals to me even more. This is one of several reasons I used this title.

Another is that κατηγορίᾱ (romanized kategoria; modern form: κατηγορία, romanized katigoría) and ἀπολογίᾱ (romanized apologíā; modern form: απολογία, romanized apología) are antonyms. This paradoxical juxtaposition therefore felt especially pleasing.

I likewise find it pleasing that, beyond all the above meanings, this title could also figuratively mean defensive apology, defensive defense, prosecutorial defense, conditional apology, or unconditional apology. This leads to the question of “Which of these meanings is the intended sense?” I’m sure you’ve already predicted my answer, but if you need a hint, it’s a single three-letter word.⁽²⁾

Incidentally, our words categoria, category and categorical descend directly from κατηγορία and κατηγορικός (romanized katēgoríkós; κατηγορική’s root form), though category and categorical didn’t inherit their ancestors’ respective senses of accusation and accusatory; likewise, apologia and apology descend directly from ἀπολογίᾱ.

In conclusion, language is a land of contrasts.

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Μεταφράσεις τίτλων ὕμνων
Metaphráseis titlōn hýmnōn
Song Title Translations

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Λυρική ποίησις /
Lyrikḗ poíēsis /
Lyrics

Omnēs viae Sōlem dūcunt

Omnēs viae Sōlem dūcunt

i. Celeritās Deī tibī̆, imperātor fusce

i. Celeritās Deī tibī̆, imperātor fusce

[Instrumental]

ii. Quattuor pūnctum sex miliardum annōrum

ii. Quattuor pūnctum sex miliardum annōrum

[Instrumental]

iii. Vīdī rēs vōs hominēs nē crēderētis

iii. Vīdī rēs vōs hominēs nē crēderētis

Σχόλια
/ Skhólia
/ Notes

• The above lyrics may be slightly outdated, but the meaning is fundamentally identical. I may still change them further for scansion, any grammatical errors I may catch, and possibly rhyme.
• In my experience, players tend to find lyrics in languages they actually understand distracting, but few players will understand Latin or ancient Greek, and those that do can feel smug about the grammatical mistakes I’m sure I made. In any case, there’s such a longstanding tradition of Latin in music that TV Tropes literally has an “Ominous Latin Chanting” page (“Diēs Īrae” and Nobuo Uematsu’s “One-Winged Angel” [「片翼の天使」] are probably two of the most famous examples; “Deathly Dies Irae” even has its own page).
• I’ve written several stanzas of lyrics in Latin (this, plus Eternal’s “Ecce homō corpulentus” and “Dōnā eis pietātem”), plus now these lines in Greek. Perhaps counterintuitively, I find writing lyrics harder in English. I find it extremely difficult to be concise in English (as you’ve no doubt already surmised) because I’m so familiar with it. Writing in languages I don’t speak as well forces me to choose words and imagery more economically. No one will ever compare my Greek to Homer or Socrates’, but I’ve received praise for my imagery (and even my pronunciation), so I must be doing something right.
• The allusions to Star Trek’s “In the Pale Moonlight” («ἐν ὠχρῷ σελήνόφωτί»), “Hi Ren” («νῷν αἰωνίου χοροῦ», “our eternal dance”), and Blade Runner (movement title, lines 2-4) are intentional.
• Most of the lyrics relate in some way to Marathon’s story. “The sword”, as the vast majority of players will no doubt suss out, is Durandal. The final stanza is based on a secret “Kill Your Television” terminal ⟨marathon.bungie.org/story/kytterm.html#7⟩ that heavily inspired Eternal ⟨eternal.bungie.org⟩, a mod I’ve worked on since 2018.
• The line about justice and equality subtly refers to Ma’at, the ancient Egyptian goddess of balance, justice, and order. The ancient Egyptians considered these equivalent: in other words, you couldn’t have one without the other two. (Of course, I’m generalizing somewhat, as is inevitable for a civilization that lasted more than half of recorded human history.) Egyptian mythology is another major influence on Eternal.
  • My book On Moonlight: a film analysis, autobiography, & holistic societal critique elaborates on Ma’at in much greater detail in its chapter «Νῷν αἰωνίου χοροῦ» (whose title may look familiar if you’ve been paying close attention). I begin discussing her a few pages into the chapter (namely, after a paragraph on programming), but you may wish to read the entire chapter for context.
• The concept of rampancy is so central to Marathon that using a mere synonym would’ve felt wholly inadequate; I needed an actual cognate. I therefore made one up to mean rampant: rampans, accusative plural rampantia. (The noun for rampancy would probably also be rampantia.)
• The Greek stanza seems more comprehensible to me than the Latin stanzas. I suspect this is because Latin’s consonant-to-vowel ratio is much higher than Greek’s, which is actually on par with that of Japanese (whose syllables rarely contain more than a single consonant sound). In fact, the Greek stanzas contain very few syllables that couldn’t also appear in Japanese words, which is definitely a coincidence, but it’s a weird one.
• If the Latin sounds odd to you, that may be because I used Classical pronunciation (c is always a hard c, v is pronounced like English w), which modern audiences hear far less often than Ecclesiastical Latin. “Omnēs viae Romam dūcunt” (“All roads lead to Rome”) is a Classical Roman proverb, so I really had no choice here.
• I initially wanted to translate the first two stanzas’ last lines “All roads lead to Sol” and “All roads lead back to Sol”, respectively, but “the Sun” rhymed with several other lines, so I couldn’t resist it. The Greek stanza’s last line could also be translated “all roads lead to Helios” (Helios is, of course, Sol’s Greek counterpart).

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Συγγενεῖς ὑπερσύνδεσμοι

Syngeneîs hypersýndesmoi

Related Links

• My website
  • My discography
    • recent anthologies
      • Τέτταρες πλευραί, ὕμνοι, καιροί, καί ἄνεμοι (2024-08-08 to 2026-06-05 / 1:19:58)
      • Αἱ βραχῑ́ους ἄκραι (2014-11-04 to 2026-06-05 / 2:38:19)
    • game soundtracks
      • Rubicon X (with BlueGreenSnake, Hank Morgan, & Talashar) (2026-08-09 / 7:32:26)
      • Τὼ μαράθω (WIP / 4:18:43)
    • recent / upcoming albums
      • See You Starside (2022-12-05 to 2023-01-21 / 1:18:17)
      • Compositions 2023-2024 (2022-12-29 to 2025-01-06 / 2:35:27)
      • Mūsica ex tempore malōrum (2024-08-29 to 2025-01-30 / 2:37:55)
      • Τὸν ὦνον πάντων καί τὴν ἀξίᾱν οὐδένων (2025-06-23 to present, WIP)
    • older anthologies
      • Selected Works, 2023-2024 (2022-12-29 to 2025-01-05 / 2:34:08)
      • Iānuāriō Aprīlem MMXXV (2025-01-10 to 2025-04-25 / 1:18:25)
  • My ludography & selected bibliography
    • On Moonlight: a film analysis, autobiography, & holistic societal critique
    • Aequilībrium harmoniae: a mathematical analysis of scales, modes, & the circle of fifths
    • Honor lūdī: Baseball’s immeasurable impact on the modern world

  —Aaron Freed
  —Tallahassee, FL
  —January 25, 2025 — June 27, 2025

  Ὑπόσημειώσεις /
  Hypósēmeiṓseis /
  Endnotes

  #	Note
  1	Compositions 2023-2024’s second bonus track, «La fille qui volait les astres», is also Mūsica ex tempore malōrum’s opening track and has thus been excluded.
  2	“Yes.”

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