Pencourt Gates from Redact by Foliox

A monumental sense of loss defines this opening, depicting the harsh reality of exile as our protagonist is cast from the Pencourt. The dread is palpable, built through stark string arrangements that capture the character's uncertainty. We spent an unreasonable amount of time on the timpani, ensuring its thunder replicated the crushing finality of those immense gates slamming shut, a sonic dismissal that truly kicks off the album's narrative. The brass fanfares, majestic yet mournful, embody the fading grandeur of a world that just threw someone out. It’s the exact moment "These gates close on what I was" becomes real, the methodical cutting of one’s existence from the official record, a silence that’s almost tangible. Yet, the persistent whispers of the woodwinds weave through, a quiet rebellion already stirring. The track's circular structure, where the opening orchestral motif subtly re-emerges transformed at the close, represents more than just a musical arc; it signals a defiance. It suggests that even after being stripped of everything, a new record, perhaps "Carve me back from your silence," is being written. This refusal to remain erased, a feeling many listeners have surprisingly connected with, echoes in the transformed melodies, promising rebirth from the dust of betrayal.

Tracklist

1.	Pencourt Gates	3:52

Lyrics

Stone archways crumble where my name once stood
Scarred blade trembles in this failing light

Stripped of robes that bound me to their lies
Codex Blade reflecting what I've lost
Votaries whisper judgment from on high
While chroniclers count up the final cost
Each step forward severs every tie
To halls where truth was traded, sold, and crossed

The Pencourt towers pierce the dying sky
These walls that shaped me now prepare goodbye

These gates close on what I was (what I was)
Iron certainty turns rust
These gates close on what I was (what I was)
Leave me standing in the dust
Carve me back from your silence
Find me past your final thrust

Ledger Torches flicker in the breach
Where Executor-Muses plot my fall
Their revision extends beyond my reach
Erasing footprints from this sacred hall
Yet something burns they never learned to teach—
The rebel spark that answers freedom's call

The Pencourt towers pierce the dying sky
These walls that shaped me now prepare goodbye

These gates close on what I was (what I was)
Iron certainty turns rust
These gates close on what I was (what I was)
Leave me standing in the dust
Carve me back from your silence
Find me past your final thrust

In margins written by the dispossessed
New chronicles await my trembling hand
Where outcasts gather, stories coalesce
Beyond the borders of this barren land

These gates close on what I was (what I was)
Iron certainty turns rust
These gates close on what I was (what I was)
But I am more than exile's dust
Carve me back from your silence
In rebellion place my trust

Stone archways crumble where my name once stood
But I walk forward into unmarked good

Credits

from Redact, released August 6, 2025

License