While I could very easily keep writing on female artists for this series, I figured it’s time I took a break and wrote about some of the males in the industry instead. So without further adieu, I present this month’s featured artist, Celldweller.

Check out that fabulous hair

For your listening pleasure as you read

Celldweller is the one-man show of the artist Klayton Scott. He produces and releases his music through his own record company, FiXT, (The site can be found here,) which also features such artists as Blue Stali and Scandroid. I actually discovered him through Blue Stali back in high school, disliked what I heard, went back some months later and have been hooked ever since.

Not the first song I listened to, but still a good one

Even though Celldweller’s distinctive sound, a mix between rock and electronic music, is a definite attention-grabber, what strikes me the most about his music is how much I could connect his lyrics to my struggles as a Christian. My darker times and days, my feelings for my past and my fears for the future, can be described perfectly by his songs “Tragedy,” “Lost in Time,” and “Against the Tide.” The first two songs can also describe a vivid picture of my past experience with depression. Both of them express the guilt, panic, and confusion I would feel when I noticed how everyone around me streamed by, forging friendships and working toward their goals, while I remained stuck in past. The best visual representation of this I can think of is when in movies time slows down and the actor stands still in a crowd, which streams by as fuzzy blurs. Yet time never slowed down for me.

One of Celldweller's finest

However, the last song I mentioned provides hope, along with “Birthright” and “New Elysium.” “Against the Tide” is arguably one of Celldweller’s best tracks, from the choral crescendos to the brief heavy screams, Scott uses every tool at his disposal and blends them together artfully to elicit powerful emotions. I guess this song is hopeful to me because, despite the despair and isolation surrounding the narrator, he still stands against the tide. It’s a bleak hope, but it’s hope nonetheless. And let’s face it, real life issues are rarely resolved by deus ex machinas or knights in shining armor. While I love fairy tales as much as the next person, “Against the Tide” captures the fact that we really can’t count on anyone else to fight our own battles.

Why wait for the next generation for the world to change?

In an odd way, the thought of someone else standing alone in this tide makes me feel not so alone in my struggles through life. Even if we live apart in our own lives, we all go through our share of pain and suffering. I feel like this is one aspect of humanity we forget easily in first-world countries, as the abuses against individuals and families shift from being visible to invisible. Instead of looking around at people living in rags and rummaging barefoot through mounds of rotting garbage, we look around at people in nice apartments and homes with well-paying jobs and wonder why we’re the only one who feels broken and useless. Celldweller's music helped to validate my emotions and feelings and helped me to realize they're normal ones other people struggle with. And suddenly, I can hold out against the tide a little longer.