That's right folks! Currently on the road with As I Lay Dying, Protest The Hero, and My Children My Bride we wanted to take the opportunity to get to know our fans and the true gamers that they are!

If you're an Xbox LIVE Gold member, and you want a chance to play Halo 3 with us send a friend request to our Gamertag (THAbstract GWF) and be online half an hour before (4:30 P.M. ET) the Game with Fame session starts on Sunday, February 8, 5:00 P.M. ET.

No worries Tulsa, Oklahoma we'll still be amped and ready for our show that night at Cain's Ballroom! For full details and for your chance to upgrade as an Xbox LIVE Gold member, click HERE

Thanks!
THA

We all left our homes to pursue music 2 and 1/2 years ago.

In that time home has been a different floor spot in someone's house or apartment, a different bed in a hotel, a different corner of a van or bus, a different city each night.

I have been home for about 6 months total out of the last 2 and 1/2 years.

Home to me is Los Angeles and the rest of southern california. We have had 10 days off since late june, now we are about to spend a month with our friends and family before heading back out on tour with As I Lay Dying, Protest the Hero, and Mychildren Mybride. When we first started jamming in the garage all we ever wanted to do was leave home and play music somewhere new each night. We have played a lot of the same venues around north america 5-10 times now. we've made life long friends in nearly every state and come february of 09 we will fly overseas to tour Europe for the first time with 2 amazing bands that we have toured with before - Protest the Hero, and The Chariot.

Im going to spend the next month playing and writing music as much as possible, hiking the hills of los angeles, driving around the city and exploring beaches i've yet to come across. Isn't it funny how humans have this internal drive in them to explore regardless of how comfortable they are in their current habitat? I wont quit till i've seen it all, and made everywhere my home.

what is home to you all?

-Brett

Does anyone else think that the unbelievably low gas prices are just to get everyone to buy shit for christmas, and then they'll just shoot right back up? I guess we'll have to see, but the most important thing to remember is to watch that new episode of south park right after the election, CHANGE! And has anybody seen the movie irreversible? Ladies if you havent seen this movie, dont, ever, (well... maybe), and just a general beware to anyone who hasnt seen that fucking movie, wow. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit thinking about it.(the tenia) So, house of blues last night was good times, foundation rooms in the house of blues are the dope shit, so many epic indian things makin me happy. And texas makes me laugh, all the time. Especially all the trucks, why are there so many trucks and twinkies??? Dir en grey rock. I love those guys, hanging out with really cool guys who dont speak english and love whiskey motivates me to never learn any language, and to forget english so that every interaction can just be smiles and laughing. People talk too much, way too much, like think a little more confused people, observe, do not simply speak. Well off to play dallas, and twill be epic, hopefully. Protest and as I lay dying soon, fuck yes

In case any of you were wondering what happened at the Canadian border this time around, I figured I'd post my side of the story.
Because of my pending LSD and indecent exposure trial in Los Angeles, I was denied entry into Canada.
They love keeping ruffians like myself out of lovely Canada at the border.  I've definitely had trouble before.  After initially being turned down, I fell asleep in our tour van, thinking we were on our way to Detroit to stay with friends for a few days before rejoining the tour after the Canadian dates.  I awoke to my band attempting a second crossing at another port of entry.  After checking our passports, I was then promptly arrested by Canadian border guards and accused of being an American refugee. 
It was around this time that I realized I might be having one of the weirdest lives ever.
So with my shiny new international criminal status in tow, Canada, I salute you for yet another interesting experience at trying to show up and perform a rock show for you.

NRE
myspace.com/nathanaelrossells

November 4th came and passed, but this is the opportunity for eveyone young and old to vote!

Click HERE to vote for The Human Abstract and our video "Procession Of The Fates" as the Best Metal Video of 2008 on MTV 2's Headbangers Ball End Of Year Special on December 20th at 2:00 AM EST! Voting ends 12/15 so let's make it happen by voting now!

Thanks!

THA

We just finished the 6 week tour with Trivium, All That Remains and 36 Crazyfists last night in charlotte, north carolina. We haven't been on a tour that was as united as this one in over 2 years. Its awesome to be best friends with people in bands that we have aspired to tour with ever since we started playing music. We have been on Tour with All That Remains 3 times now and just spent the last 3 months with them including Warped Tour. Its going to be strange not being able to see them for a while since we're so used to drinking whisky, watching baseball playoffs, and rocking out on stage together every single night. All That Remains and Trivium just put out some of the best metal records we have heard in a long time and it was a pleasure to experience all the new material live on a nightly basis. Trivium are some of the nicest dudes we have met in the industry and we hope to tour with them again soon! From the very first moment we met 36 crazyfists we felt like family with them. I first heard them when i was 15 and it was surreal to watch them play songs i have known for that long every night. 6 weeks with these bands went by way to fast... every crowd was amazing and we made friends that we will have for the rest of our lives.

We have 10 days off before our next tour starts with Dir En Grey. Most of the shows on this tour area already sold out so try and get tickets NOW before its too late. We are playing a 45 minute set on this tour including songs we have never played before. Hope to see you all very soon!

-Brett Powell
THA


p.s. heres some live footage from the last few shows :

From Nov 5th- Dec 7th we are embarking on a full us major market tour with Japanese hard rock band DIR EN GREY. they have one of the craziest stage shows ever, if you haven't heard of them, go check them out!

www.myspace.com/direngrey

we are the only two bands on the bill for this tour, we will be playing a 45 minute set, over 10 songs, and will have a projector screen set up with some exclusive footage shot and edited by our director Michael Grodner. We will be playing a lot of songs you would never expect from us so make sure you get your tickets now! the tour is almost entirely sold out!


-THA

This Monday, October 27th at 7:00 PM EST, The Human Abstract will be having a live chat on Party Line courtesy of www.OurStage.com so be sure to check it out and reach out to us on Monday!


Best,
THA

The cycles in which human beings are trapped, is one of the main focuses of Midheaven.
In Hinduism, it is avidya, or ignorance, of one's true self, that leads to ego-consciousness of the body and the phenomenal world.
This grounds one in kāma (desire) and the perpetual chain of karma and reincarnation. Through egoism and desire one creates the causes for future becoming. The state of illusion that gives rise to this is known as Maya.
Samsāra is the worldly life characterized by continuous rebirths and reincarnations in various realms of existence. Samsāra is described as mundane existence, full of suffering and misery and hence is considered undesirable and worth renunciation. The Samsāra is without any beginning and the soul finds itself in bondage with its karma since the beginingless time.

According to modern astrologers, the Midheaven or Medium Coeli is the point
in space where the ecliptic crosses the Meridian (line of longitude)
in the south on northern hemisphere (and the point in the north in the southern hemisphere).  The Midheaven is one of the most important angles in the birth chart. It traditionally indicates career, status, aim in life, aspirations, public reputation, and our life goal.

MIDHEAVEN
all lyrics by Nathan Ells

A VIOLENT STRIKE
..and out of the great beyond came a pitch black multitude,
here to choose the weakest of our race..
hellhounds with the Devil's own face.
Confused a violent strike with something finally here to guide the way,
our faith in order was a mistake.
Fearful and divine, and devoid of grace,
they try to run, but there's no escape.
The light decayed on that final day, fear crept up inside,
night became more than a trade, a weakness we all can share.
I watched as a spiral took shape across the sky.
It was like a call from the other side.
What will you do now?  The fires of hell are raining down.
Deep inside you're starting to shake, and are slowly losing ground.
Everyone is dead.  Your bravery is useless.
I watched as a spiral took shape across the sky.
It was like a call from the other side, and there I cried,
out of control and paralyzed, as everything I once was died.
No way I'd be dying honorably, if they came and took my life now.
Regrets in tow, didn't even stand a chance..
Hear me, the final lines have been drawn,
to build again, to fall again, its worn me down to the last straw.
I held on so long to my home, until a tempest came,
she came in and swept it away..
Where's your bravery?  What will bravery do for you now?

PROCESSION OF THE FATES
You make your way, but don't belong.
I swear you're not the only one.  Is that what you've been dreaming?
There's other ways of staying strong, than keeping out the other ones.
I feel the light years between what you say and what you mean.
You wont get through with that phony confidence.
I hear you speak, but nothing is said.
You'll be stranded on the other side, endless nights upon
endless nights you'll be alone to the grave.
There's a place in all of us, the same in everyone,
making right the balances in all of us,
aching, burning, growing, learning and building the world around us.
Until our lives are done, we'll share the same emotions,
shed tears of eulogy, then turn to plant our seeds..
still you can't hear me call out your name and try to get through.
I never hear back.
My words became a thousand arrows, slicing through the endless
barricades, so that everyone on earth could hear my call,
and I watched for you.  
Now I know you're putting me on, you've chosen to
swear off the general population.
..and all those around you draw to quiet, your eyes dart across the room,
but its just an illusion, the room doesn't exist, there's only you and I,
and its almost like we can't fail at all,
or maybe we've failed already.. what you choose to see is real:
a cold dark world of enemies, obstacles you could never overcome,
or a bright future ahead.
So tell the whole world and we'll start brand new,
strip the shackles off, let me look at you.
If you can't reach out like you've been longing to,
I'll have to rethink all that I thought I knew.

BREATHING LIFE INTO DEVICES
Tap the primal circuit, the current lets you know you're alive.
Make this crushing power ceaseless and you could capture the world..
Embracing the electric kingdom, it could all come crashing down.
Unseen surges coming closer, I fight to defend my denied throne.
I took selected analysis, that day I never felt more addicted.
Barely surviving the shock, soon I found myself
in a cruel revolving door.
You said failure, I said, you're turning to cruel sources..
Discredit all I did, you put so much of yourself in these cruel sources.
I'll change up the trend for the hell of it,
then you'll see I never did support it.. Carving away at the block,
I became the light I'd so long been searching for.
You said savior, I said, you're turning to cruel sources.
An electric current fuels the lust again,
like a feral god I've stepped far outside the lines but I feel no shame,
stole the scales and I cleared my name.
Now try.. try to pry them from my dead hands.

CORPSES CRY
Slaving for my solace of mind,
digging in the sand until there's blood on my hands,
careless to the state I'm in, I've so long been alone..
I can't go on.. Rain down, rain down and cleanse my soul.
Flow like a river.
Forging insight by pagan torchlight,
in cadence warlike, we draw tears from the sky,
because the well's run dry.
I've spread out my seed, its gone in all directions.
It starts to feel like the promised land is a fantasy
and heaven has been swallowed by the desert.
In a drought without submission, not a cloud in the sky,
this course keeps getting harder the more I try.
I dig up dry bones, and the corpses cry
as they open their eyes to see the world's decay.
This world's a tomb.  
There's a clamor in my heart and it's over.
Where is my prize, my promised prize?

METANOIA
Look at me now, I'm losing control.
I don't know what to call myself.. I know that I'm sick of playing a role.
All along I've been kidding myself seeking out a set reality.
They say sanity is dictated by what the larger percentage of society sees.
What does that mean?  Clearly nothing.
Psychology is not an exact science, in fact,
there is no exact science, though it may seem..
That means I'm okay, and everything is okay.
All along I've been kidding myself.  Life is falling apart at the seams.
Somehow I'm doomed to go over the same ground in these
compulsive circular thought patterns, over and over, time and again,
over and over, time and again..
I think I've got it all worked out, then I forget every conclusion drawn.
Every epiphany, gone.
I felt safe, then the walls came crashing in one day without warning.
Everything that I thought was stable starts to wash away.
Can you feel it?  Its the motion of the tide.
Watch yourself now, there's an ocean deep inside.
You could drown in it.
Look at me now, I'm losing control..
might even be learning to enjoy the sting of the irony.
Changing my shape, I slide through the doorway.
Watch yourself, there is no ocean deeper than this,
watch yourself, its an endless journey through the abyss.
All along I've been kidding myself, working equations.
Its a long walk in and there's no clear way home.
Everything I was in constant change, I'm not the same.

THE PATH
To hit the mark, to bring the rain, to take a climb, the path to fame..
I sat dreaming alone, then it came out of nowhere,
an all too familiar voice with a false face, the voice of the jealous.
Its less than encouraging, the walls have been closing in.
Though in droves the masses came, years from now they'll say:
From the way out, fools rushing over the hills, there to watch him fall.
..and there amidst a sleepless night it came to me.
Endurance, endurance, it came to me.
Now nothing can stop me or keep me in line.
Get out of the way as I take to the sky.
Its hard to discern all the motives I see.
One thing's for sure.
When the crowds have dispersed and forgotten me, and forgotten
their dreams, I'll still be all that I am.  I am more than a clown for you.
Hear me, and know it to be true.

ECHOES OF THE SPIRIT
Until you're ready to break, until you're ready to bend.. critical condition.
The years will wear down every brick you lay.
There's more to life than selling your days.
Money makes sense in the world today, they say.
I'm not living that way.
Setting off their alarms, because I've got a voice of my own.
I won't be a product on the industry line.
You stand for nothing or you stand alone.
Leave it to us to cross the final line.  
Can you feel the dawning of our time?
Take a moment to turn and see the signs..
Its time to wake up and turn the light on.
Pitiful, doing what you're told,
you stand on the watchtower here in our last hour
and say that you know, typical of those that will never see.
Say that you know.. typical of those that will never be free.
Just like that, they took our strongest years in the name of greed.
Just like that, made commercials out of our broken dreams.
As pitch black from factory stacks turns all the world's beautiful
colors to gray, empower the rights they can't take away:  Raise your voices,
echoes of the spirit, echoes of the spirit, resounding in tones that set you free,
shout with me,  We are awake!
Condition critical..  figured it out because we've all been here before.

CALM IN THE CHAOS
You've come to save the world, well what do you believe?
So you've been chosen?
So you've been chosen by your eyes, by your hands,
by the choices that you call your own
and the price that you would sell your own soul, pay the toll.
Carry your last test of flesh and bone,
we make exchanges as the story unfolds.

COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS
Who are you, and what have you become?
A charming illusion, a source of confusion.
Another day and you'll win the race.. another day and you'll find your place.
Another rise to power, no matter who or when,
and we will know of our freedom never again.
A common thread of distance in the hearts of men,
and we'll have love for out brothers never again.
We are all the victims of a will to overcome.
How far we've gone out of touch.. There's no right side of war.
You can't justify it.. to erase away all that we've become,
they can't see we're all one.
A voice cries from underneath,
"Dark shepherd, strongly though you weild the staff,
you're weakened by comfort.  
There's no way you're prepared for what happens last."
Action/reaction, like an eye for an eye from our tribal days.
The lesser ones demand reaction.
You dare to challenge the one universal law that set you up to fall?
Do you understand now why your days are numbered?
The course of events were a riddle, a pause in time,
a search for the conclusion as we stood in line,
honored our oppressors, and paid our fines..
Then all became clear as the ferocity inside began,
to hear the drums of war resound across the land,
announcing the fate to shed blood upon the earth:  It is ours.
Doomed to repeat our history.
There is more than one path to how things could be.
No time to question how, when or why.
We simply come together or die.
To a system of capitalist polititians, false face of a greater power,
your empire will fall, bringing about the end of an era.
Warmongers, your bloodlust to conquer turns the moments of our lives
into a ticking timebomb, counting down the days.  Rot in your graves.
How far we've gone out of touch..
To erase away all we've become, to erase away all those we love.
There's no right side of war.

A DEAD WORLD AT SUNRISE
Now that we've reached the end, and I'm the only one surviving,
I'm just waiting for the morning light to touch my skin, warm my heart,
but I see a dead world at sunrise and nothing can reverse the state.
Who now will pray and save my soul when hell ascends and calls my name?
I'm alone, so forth and so on.  
Their faces left.. I'm longing for death, I'm in torture..
its all thats left of my memories.
The cold hard truth, bitter and sweet, though I can't touch them, see them,
they are there, silent..  They listen, silent though they listen.
We are still one.  I'm left missing pieces of myself.

NRE

..Then I looked, and I heard a messenger flying in midheaven, shouting aloud, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell upon the earth, because of the voices of those who are yet to sound!"..

The Human Abstract will be guests of Full Metal Jackie on CHAOS – The Metal Show on Indie 103.1 FM Los Angeles this Sunday night from 10pm-Midnight PST. The show can be heard on 103.1 FM Los Angeles/Orange County, and also streams online at www.indie1031.com !!!

Be sure to tune in!

 

-THA