| "Take Control" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Old Gods of Asgard | ||||
| from the album Rebirth: Greatest Hits | ||||
| Released | August 27, 2019 | |||
| Length | 7:54 (releases) Determinant (ingame) | |||
| Label | Insomniac | |||
| BPM | 188 | |||
| Key | A | |||
| Old Gods of Asgard singles chronology | ||||
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Take Control was made under the in-fiction name Old Gods of Asgard for the 2019 Remedy Entertainment game Control, which exists within the Remedy Connected Universe alongside Alan Wake - both canons seemingly having an "Old Gods of Asgard" band.
Take Control is not a traditional linear piece of music. Instead it is a modular dynamic track built specifically for Control. The player is given a cassette player prior to the frantic Ashtray Maze sequence, which plays Take Control in a dynamic way depending on how the player progresses. The in-game version of the track features many more loop sections and stems than are included in the official release. Prior to the release of Control, Sami Järvi (Sam Lake) and Marko Saaresto released a promotional video teasing the inclusion of this dynamic track.
All copies of the game sold on Amazon.co.uk came with a limited edition CD soundtrack of the game, which included a 7:54 arrangement of Take Control. Unfortunately this arrangement omits a lot of the track, including many of the short guitar solos and the organ interlude. This same arrangement was also released as a digital single.
A lyric video of the 7:54 arrangement was posted to Poets of the Fall's YouTube channel, made by Captain - the first "mask-off" reveal the band has made about being Old Gods of Asgard, though it was always common knowledge.
The Control soundtrack was released on Vinyl in August 2020 and Take Control was included as track 8 on Old Gods of Asgard's 2023 debut album Rebirth: Greatest Hits.
Lyrics
Take control, take control
I see a vision rising, dreary
Fading in as children play twilight games
In the town called Ordinary
An eye of light reveals a gateway to doomsday
In that projection of reality
Something passes through the stars, shifting walls
Enter agents of ill fantasy
For evil holds you in its arms, false alarms
Illusory, treading on reality
Polaris in a web of hypocrisy
Take control, take control
Oh, can’t you see, see the light is fading?
And in the night the demons rage and call your name
No deeper madness than your own making
Visions lashing blades of shame, but will you take the blame?
Hissing noises in the hallway
Bloodshot eyes, staring through, what seeds are sown?
Who’ll survive the blood red power play?
Who’ll take control, whose name will be known?
Illusory, reality’s all fallacy
Polaris in a web of hypocrisy
Take control, take control
I wish I’d had the wherewithal to find you when I had the chance
Instead I danced with death in fervour’s skin
I missed the moment before the fall to recognise I had a voice
A choice to stop it all from happening
If only I could save you from the pain
A rising sense of awe and wonder
A might I see has always been deep within me
I can feel my inborn power
I call the shots when it’s all finally clear to see
And so I’m drawn ever deeper
In the Oldest House and all these empty rooms
This vacant, spellbound mystery motel
Where I’m the keeper, where I set the rules
Potency is my new reality
Polaris living now inside of me
I control, I control
Trivia
- The track contains reversed speech. This may be a clue to a future game as was the case with Balance Slays the Demon.
- A comprehensive arrangement of Take Control would be around 12 minutes long.