Recently Added
0 Items	Total $0.00

Fifteen Years Of Broken Bride

Written By Michele - September 01 2020

It’s really special when an album you love dearly turns 15. As a former Jonas Brothers’ superfan in her mid-20s, most of the records that have left a mark on my life are barely pre-teens, so I’m only just now experiencing the harrowing reality that time never stops. Or maybe time is just an illusion. It sure feels that way right now during a global pandemic with no promise for future gigs or future anything. But, maybe Ludo’s Broken Bride will help you escape your seemingly apocalyptic world for another one as it does for me. My favorite album from Ludo is celebrating her quinceañera this summer and I think it’s time for me to rave about it.

Broken Bride is one of those records that effortlessly creeps back into my life from time to time. I call it ‘Rediscovering Ludo’ because every single time I listen to Broken Bride (or any of their releases), I feel like it’s the very first time all over again. Introducing Broken Bride to someone new usually means I will listen to it a handful of times in a row and try to reimagine the record as a newcomer. For the past 15 years, I’ve grown and relearned how to love this album from different perspectives of my life, which is why it’s made such an impact on it and the way I absorb and love music.

The EP consists of just five movements: Pt. 1: Broken Bride, Save Our City, Pt. 2: Tonight’s The Night, Pt. 3: The Lamb and The Dragon, and finally Pt. 4: Morning In May. As a rock opera, Broken Bride possesses a variety of sounds ranging from the traditional rock vibe to a western rock sound (complete with bandit whistling) and comes to a dramatic, tearful end with a piano ballad. Some early melodies reprise over other songs and when paired with creative, storytelling lyrics you’d find on Panic! At The Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, Broken Bride becomes a musical masterpiece. It’s thunderous and it’s tranquil, it’s contemplative and it’s impulsive. There’s zombies and dinos and dragons, oh my! It tackles grief and has a shimmer of hope. It’s got everything because it’s a tale from start to finish but, for continuity’s sake, I want to talk about the songs in a different, more chronological order.

SAVE OUR CITY

In my opinion, the storyline of Broken Bride begins with “Save Our City.” Taking place in 2005, when the album was released, “Save Our City” acts as an interlude and tells the story of an apocalyptic world taken over by zombies. It begins with a conversation between the mayor of an unnamed city and a civilian, who is trying to rally the city’s people to rise against the dead. The mayor feels hopeless in this battle and inadequate to lead his people, so amid the discussion, he shoots himself in the head. Without missing a beat, the boy steps over the mayor’s lifeless body and takes charge to save his city.

The boy steps through the window
And cries out from the ledge to the people below
“There's a time to pray and there's a time to fight
Anything can be a weapon if you're holding it right
Defend what is yours, they will not take our souls
It’s time now to rise and fight”

This song simply sets the scene for our protagonist (let’s call him Michael for biblical reasons) as he is putting his finishing touches on his time machine. You read that correctly—a time machine. The wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey goodness of a time-traveling story.

Michael, who has been working on his machine for the past fifteen years, finally decides it’s time to go. The world is going to shit and the only thing that would help ease his troubles would be to hold his wife again. He decides that night to try and open the time portal that will transport him back to the day his wife died.

2: TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT

“Save Our City” bleeds right into “Tonight’s The Night,” which is technically the album’s second movement. It serves as an internal monologue for Michael, who explains to us that his wife died in a car accident back in May 1989.

Oh baby, baby, how I lost my mind
Time is quite the killer when you're left behind
The airbag held you 'til the engine slept
At home your pillow cooled while the willows wept

This song is the shortest on the album but is crucial to the story because it’s the night he finally revs up his time machine and makes his initial trip back in time. However, there’s a misfire, and he ends up in the prehistoric age and finds himself fighting off pterodactyls as he tries to fix his machine.

1: BROKEN BRIDE

As the album’s actual first song, “Broken Bride” really gets into Michael’s mindset and the way he’s handling his grief over losing his wife so tragically, which is not well. He spent fifteen whole years designing this machine to go back and save her life, and now he’s crash-landed in a world of dinosaurs. Throughout this record, Michael battles all kinds of monsters from zombies to dinosaurs, and later on, a dragon. I feel like I can understand his frustration, especially when he has to repair his time machine after its maiden voyage in an age where science hasn’t exactly been discovered yet. I think the most jarring thing about this scene for him, though, is the fact that his crash site reminds him of the car accident that took his wife.

Like motor oil down my throat, I couldn't speak, I dropped the phone
The burning flares, the steam, your hair, bits of glass, they sparkled everywhere
Like winter nights, the stars, the ice all intertwined to hold and keep
Like petals pressed in sheets, making love to moonlight in our sleep
And now above the pits of tar, in a cave I hide
That massive, screaming thing with wings of reaper's cloth
It's standing just outside
I must get to my machine, I will bring you back to life
Fix your ruined lungs, I'll undo what time has done

Michael loses hope in getting back to his present day, let alone back to 1989. In his defeat, he seeks shelter in a cave where he carves his wife’s name into the wall, but he knows it’ll eventually be washed away with the ice age. No one will have heard of his journey or of his wife, and that idea motivates him to fix his machine and try again.

I carve your sweet name into the cave
I'm sure to die
All my strife has been in vain
The glaciers come and wash my words away

3: THE LAMB AND THE DRAGON

The machine fires up, the portal opens, and Michael narrowly escapes the Jurassic world he crashed into. This time, however, he’s traveled into the future to the very end of the world. This dystopian world is gruesome and always reminds me of Alex Pardee’s artwork. Through rapid lyrics, Ludo describes what Earth looks like now and it isn’t pretty. The oceans have dried up, leaving corpses of marine life in its wake. The sun is black, which makes the world void of light. The town is riddled with ongoing earthquakes. Fear has overthrown civilization and the apocalypse has officially settled in with the Four Horsemen and all. This song is caked in religious undertones, which is why I named our protagonist Michael.

In the Book of Revelation, the archangel Michael becomes the hero during the War in Heaven, slaying a dragon and defeating Satan, all that jazz. This is exactly what happens in our story, but with a twist, of course. As Michael watches innocent people die in the line of the Dragon’s fire, he realizes that this battle isn’t his to fight and decides he needs to flee, he needs to make his way to 1989 and save his wife’s life.

I watch these people fall
The Dragon shrieks and burns it all
I flip the circuits on, I've got dragons of my own
The portal glows and my machine's destroyed

While a little vague, I always interpret this bridge as the portal blowing up, killing the Dragon, and destroying Michael’s machine once and for all. The end of the song can be taken in many ways, but I think the war ends, Michael meets God, and God grants him his final wish: to see his wife again. He travels for a final time and finds himself outside of his home with his wife still in bed. It’s finally May 1989.

And now I'm coming home, my dear
The light is warm, outside at dawn
The garden has no weeds, no grave beneath the tree
Through the silent house, my love, after all
Curled up in a ball, there you are...

PT 4: MORNING IN MAY

Michael crawls into bed with his wife and cuddles her for the first time in fifteen years. It’s the morning that she will die. Through this song, he speaks blatantly about the grief he endured, about how his friends and family tried to help him cope, but that he knew only his wife could console him. He tries to savor these minutes with her before she frantically gets out of bed and waves goodbye to him as she leaves for work. He stops her, gets in on the passenger side, and chooses to die by her side in that fateful car accident.

As you're starting the car and I'm tearing inside
I knock on your window, you stop just in time
Around to the other side
I say, "Baby, I thought I'd come along for the ride."

I've been waiting for so long
(Time slows and I take your hand)
To touch you and sleep in your eyes
(I hold you as we lose control)
Together, our hearts beating so hard
Hold on, baby, we're almost home

Broken Bride was the first rock album I’ve ever heard that told a continuous story from start to finish, and before that, I only experienced this form of storytelling through musicals. Ludo has without a doubt helped shape my taste in music, which is a solid mixture of Broadway and emo bands from the early 2000s, and my love for live performances. Two of my most memorable gig moments came from seeing Ludo in concert.

In 2010, Ludo released their third studio album Prepare the Preparations and toured it around the US. As they performed their single “Whipped Cream,” they had the crowd do the dance from the music video, which is something I have never experienced before in my life, and I’ve honestly never experienced it since. It created this foolish atmosphere and had fans laughing at themselves and one another, forming a bond between us that I carry with me still a decade later.

My favorite moment, however, was from a concert in 2011. Ludo had the audience sit on the floor, disconnected their instruments from the pickups, and walked through the crowd singing “Love Me Dead” acoustically. I’ve been to so many shows now and that hasn’t happened since but has absolutely changed the live music game for me forever.

One thing that this quarantine has brought us all has been music. From a surprise Taylor Swift record to livestream concerts, music still strives to be a steady part of our lives. And finally, after ten years, Ludo is back in the studio once again, preparing to bring a little more light to this hellish year.

Rhiannon Leigh is a medical assistant and cat mom from the Greater Philadelphia area. When she’s not taking care of her oncology patients, she occupies her time by writing music reviews for Cut It Out Magazine and Galaxy Magazine, and by spending her paycheck on growing her vinyl collection.

Comments

Kate Vallis
October 08 2023

My name is Kate Vallis, and a few months back, I lost my entire savings including my mortgage payments to a fake cryptocurrency investment scheme. I was promised huge returns on my investments but I was surprised when it all went down and I was logged out of my account. I was depressed and devastated, I thought of giving up my life until a promising post popped up on my timeline while I was scrolling through the internet about SpyWeb Cyber Security Service. I was convinced by their positive reviews online and I contacted them immediately, and to my greatest surprise, Spyweb Cyber Security was able to recover all my funds in less than 72 hours. I’m truly grateful for their service and I want to put this out there to anyone who might require their services.
You can reach them directly via

E-mail: Spyweb@Cyberdude .com
Whats-App: + 1 (213) (723) 6292)

Oliver Ebert
October 01 2023

A Certified Bitcoin Recovery Specialist / Ultimate Hacker Jerry

The ULTIMATE HACKER JERRY is a global licensed forensic organization that can help you recover stolen bitcoin or tokens.
Ultimate Hacker Jerry specializes in recovering bitcoin and tokens that have been taken from you by crooks.
To make sure that no one can move your money without your consent, the cryptographic protocol guy used a decentralized recovery system to track the wallet balance using smart contract audit from the outsourced wallets on :(https://ultimateshackjerry.com/) or email (support@ultimateshackjerry.com ) extensive database built on blockchain technology.
Call or Whatsapp +1(520)282-7151

Doretha Wallace
September 29 2023

Using Captain WebGenesis, you can recover lost, compromised, or stolen Cryptocurrency.

Hi. I was a victim of a bitcoin scam. I came across a glitzy review praising and advertising an investment firm. I contacted them to learn more about their contracts and invested $55,000. I was promised to receive my first 15% profit within weeks. However, when it came time to receive my profits, I discovered the company was fraudulent. They kept urging me to invest more, and I eventually lost patience and asked to have my money back. They wouldn’t respond or refund my money until a buddy of mine told me about Captain WebGenesis. I then contacted the Expert, and after filing my concerns, Captain WebGenesis was quick to take action, and within 36 hours I received my money back along with the proper profit. My excitement was too great for me to contain. I strongly advise you to get in touch with Captain WebGenesis via their customer service email at (captainwebgenesis@hackermail.com). or +1 (205)336-1020. on WhatsAp.
More Info; https://captainwebgenesis.com/

don’t forget to add “Doretha Wallace Recommended you”

Hung Anil
September 22 2023

THROUGH CAPTAIN WEBGENESIS, CRYPTO SCAM VICTIMS RECOVER THEIR FUNDS.

Hello, this Hung Anil,
Do you need assistance reporting a bitcoin scammer, recovering scammed bitcoin, or recovering stolen bitcoin? There is just one course of action you can take to get your money back. To help you recover money lost to binary options forex, bitcoin cryptocurrency, and other frauds, you need to contact a bitcoin recovery hacker or funds recovery specialist. Contact Captain WebGenesis by WhatsAp (+1(205) 336-1020) or email (captainwebgenesis@hackermail.com).

Homepage; https://captainwebgenesis.com/

Morgan Perez
September 11 2023

Trusted Bitcoin Recovery Expert Captain WebGenesis.

Bitcoin lost to scammers can be recovered with the assistance of a reliable Bitcoin recovery specialist Captain WebGenesis. I unfortunately became a scam victim when I placed some of my cash with an internet investment firm in the hopes of generating enormous returns but instead was taken advantage of. All thanks to Captain WebGenesis, a licensed hacker who assisted me in finding my missing Bitcoin. If you need the expert’s services, get in touch through;
More Info; Www.captainwebgenesis.com
Mail Add; captainwebgenesis@hackermail.com

Mention Morgan Perez recommended you.

Rebecca Storm
September 06 2023

CAPTAIN WEBGENESIS, LEGITIMATE CRYPTOCURRENCY RECOVERY SPECIALIST.

Hello everyone I’m Rebecca storm, I’m Dutch and I live in Perth Australia. I stumbled across an investment platform on Instagram whose website claimed to be a financial online broker that helped people invest in Cryptocurrency. I opted to invest $245,000 with the company. My profits were growing massively and had doubled up in a few weeks. I came to realize all this was a hoax when I tried making my withdrawals from my account. But all this was too late and my money had gone. All thanks to Captain WebGenesis, a Crypto Recovery professional who helped me recover my scammed funds. I had first doubted his services, but after providing all the required information, Captain WebGenesis was able recover all my funds from the scammers. To any scam victim who has fallen prey to this fake investment platforms get in touch with Captain WebGenesis and have all your funds recovered back.
Mail Add; captainwebgenesis@hackermail.com

MORE INFO; https://captainwebgenesis.com/

Leonard Murray
September 04 2023

Hire Captain WebGenesis For All Hacking & BTC Recovery.

Quickly Get in contact with Captain WebGenesis for problems such as Bitcoin recovery, Hacking emails, clearing criminal records, fixing credit scores issues, restoring lost Bitcoin wallets , reloading insurance documents, recovery from lost investments, trying to obtain cryptocurrency transferred to wrong wallets, Monitor your spouse’s activities regarding the phone and social media Contact Captain WebGenesis he is very trustworthy.
Contact info; Mail (Captainwebgenesis@hackermail.com).

Learn More; Www.captainwebgenesis.com

Recommendation by Leonard.

Lucas Dahmer
August 25 2023

Most Competent and Reliable Crypto Recovery Expert; Captain WebGenesis.

Ever been a scam victim and after being swindled you are left in Dilemma of what will be the next step to take. I had lost a considerable sum of money to a Fake online investment scheme, Early last month I had invested A sum of $394,520 worth of Crypto and losing my funds was the last thing in my mind as I made that investment. Special thanks to this Cyber lord Captain WebGenesis who came through my aid and was able to recover my lost Crypto. His services are highly professional. Submit your case to Captain WebGenesis through;
Mail ( Captainwebgenesis@hackermail.com) and have your Crypto Recovered Back.
WhatsApp +1 (447) 442-0456.
Web; Www.Captainwebgenesis.com

Oliver Egil
August 13 2023

Restoring Lost Cryptocurrency Expert // Captain WebGenesis.

My company had lost $913,000 Usdt worth of Crypto, After my financial accountant transferred the funds to an unknown account mistakenly as he was doing some transactions payments. After Trying different times on reaching the banks there was no hope of recovering back the funds. After endless attempts on different recovery firms, Even ended up losing $135,000 more. Luckily I came across an article from AAAR morning gossip news on how a Family recovered their lost assets through a Recovery Expert, Captain WebGenesis is a boutique cyber and Crypto intelligence expert who helps scam victims recover their funds . I immediately reached out to the Expert through the support systems mail and the Expert was able to recover $795,100 of my funds. Captain WebGenesis really brought relief and peace as this was my company’s project funds. I would recommend Captain WebGenesis for Crypto Recovery services.
contact; Email: Captainwebgenesis@hackermail.com
WhatsApp; +1 (447) 442–0456.}.

Learn More; https://captainwebgenesis.com/