Level 18, the Game Has Changed

Imagine your life is a fucked-up game of Life.

Because it kind of is.

If you are lucky enough to be supported by your parents, you’ll be around 18 when it’s finally your turn to start throwing dice and moving across the board. Until then, they’ve been playing the game behind the scenes, keeping you nice and safe from it.

And most of the time, they’re losing.

So now it’s your turn.

Great.

Do you believe them when they tell you to go to college? Most people do. Or does your 18-year-old mind pick a profession you are supposed to do for the rest of your life, before you even know who you actually are?

Well, step right up.

Sign here.

And here.

And here.

See you in four years.

Average education cost: $39,000–$89,000
Interest to the banks: $16,514–$64,095

Total for your education:
$55,514–$153,095

And while you’re going to school, you’re going to need a car.

If you’re smart, you’ll buy a 15-year-old reliable car, manufactured in Asia, for cash. That is, of course, assuming you don’t fall for the trap.

But what would your peers think if you drove something like that?

Don’t worry. We have just the thing.

An eight-year loan on a brand-new car.

Average new-ish car cost: $21,000–$41,000
Interest to the fucking banks: $9,591–$18,726

Total for your car:
$30,591–$59,726

Now you’re working while going to school, and somewhere along the way, you’ll probably get offered a credit card or two.

In fact, the average credit card debt for a newly graduated person is around $3,500. And at the average interest rate, if you only pay the minimum payments, you could end up paying around $4,800 back in interest.

Of course, you’ll probably never get to pay it off cleanly, because the student loans are coming due.

Hope you got that high-paying job with your degree.

You’re gonna need it.

So now you’re a graduate.

You’re grinding.

Your debt is piling high.

But don’t worry. If you’ve been paying on time like a good little battery, you get imaginary points. If you make a mistake, they take some of those points away.

Interest rates are your responsibility.

Have a major life event and pay something late?

Well, that’s going to cost you.

Not just once.

It can cost you in interest on everything you finance for years.

If you’re lucky enough to find a partner, and you somehow manage to afford a wedding, possibly racking up even more debt from the predatory wedding industry, it’s time to buy a house.

Oh man.

The path to buying a house with cash at this point is almost unheard of.

Because you’ve been taking on all this debt, and because finance companies have been eating the majority of your income this entire time, you don’t actually have much money for a house.

In fact, if you’re around 30 years old, you may have already paid banks somewhere between $25,000 and $50,000 in interest.

So instead of saving your money for a down payment, you have to out-earn your debt.

Which means you’d better get to work.

You’d better hustle.

You finally got enough for that house?

Oh boy.

Now we’re talking.

Let’s say you find a house selling for $350,000. A bank will totally give you a loan. And by the time you are done paying it off, you’ll have paid around $676,000.

That’s right.

Almost double the price.

One month at a time, your income gets sucked up to the top.

Good little battery.

Student loans. Auto loans. Credit cards. Mortgages. Payday loans. Retail loans.

Dig. Dig. Dig.

And finally, you’re heading toward retirement.

You’ve somehow survived.

You’ve been saving a little each month. Just $200 per month since you were 18. Forty-two years. Never missed a month.

Wow.

Good for you!

$100,800 saved.
And by then, it might only be worth around $65,000 in buying power.

$35,000 gone to inflation.

The banks take it from you in more ways than you can count.

Yeah.

This disgusting topic needed a song.

And it needed a strong one.

One that addressed this shit head-on.

Since LYRA was already in rap-metal mode, I stuck with that theme for the message I wanted to send. I ended up writing heavier riffs for this one, mostly fueled by my utter disgust for how things are for people these days.

Musically, I combined some groove metal elements with lots of bouncy 01012012010 patterns and palm mutes, leaving the lyrics and vocals to take point. No dramatic cello for this one. I leaned harder into industrial effects instead, which I thought fit the rap-metal approach better than shredding guitar solos.

The final lyric, “and eat our young,” came out of my mind like battery acid.

In fact, it became the main lyric inspiration for the following song I co-wrote with John Deblasio, The Tall Men Eat First.

So this one could almost be considered a previous track in a future “They Are All Fucking Assholes!” album that might get arranged later.

Haha.

Level 18 comes out 6/19.

Give it a listen.