Rufus Rex



Rufus Rex is a solo side project by Curtis Rx of Creature Feature, so far with one album, Dead Beat. Released in late 2011, the album is a story about a man trying to uncover the secret of immortality and banish the nuisance of death, only to unleash a Lovecraftian demon upon the world, and eventually finds himself the last living person on earth.

"Turned on the radio. It's no use, there's no one left. A search for life now Within the dead air."
 * The Aloner: The protagonist is this by the end of the album. According to "Dead Air," he uses a radio to try and find some sign of life.:

"My eyes, they burn, My flesh, it bleeds. My stomach, it turns, And the darkness proceeds. The end is near, The uprising is here, Now my body's committing mutiny."
 * Body Horror: "Body in Revolt" appears to be about reanimation...from the formerly dead's point of view. In other words, imagining that it would feel like for your lifeless body to be revived. It isn't pretty:

"Leave me here to wallow In my delusions In these phantoms I'll find conclusions I won't stop until there's blood."
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: "Ingenious Forms of Torture"
 * Concept Album
 * Eldritch Abomination: Whatever it is the protagonist accidentally resurrects, it's worthy of two songs: "From the Dust Returned a Titan," and "Worlds In-Between"
 * "I Am" Song: "Personal Demons," where the narrator describes his own mental breakdown ("I am not right in the head, nowhere near a full deck - maybe my parade is lead slightly off beat?")
 * Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: The protagonist of Dead Beat, trying to find to secret of immortality.
 * Locked in the Dungeon: Alluded to in "Ingenious Forms Of Torture"
 * Lyrical Dissonance: Every song on Dead Beat. Every. Single. One. Each song is set to a relatively upbeat melody, but has depressing or disturbing lyrics.
 * Mood Dissonance: The last song on "Dead Beat," called "You'll Never Guess." First, there's the Lyrical Dissonance (pretty much a given), in that it's apparently about finding bodies hidden around a house. However, while all the other songs on the album have been rock tunes, "You'll Never Guess" is an acoustic number.
 * Never Trust a Title: "Buckets of Blood" sounds violent; it really isn't. The song is more about insanity than violence - in other words, it sounds like it should be related to "Ingenious Forms of Torture," when it's more of a sequel to "Personal Demons."
 * Resurrection Sickness "Body in Revolt."
 * Rock Opera
 * Sanity Slippage Song: "Personal Demons"
 * "Buckets of Blood" as well, though arguably. If "Personal Demons" is Sanity Slippage, then "Buckets of Blood" is delirium and/or hysteria:

""...tried to play God..." "It's part of the game." "Some choices are not yours to make!""
 * Spoken Word in Music: The opening of "Worlds In-Between" has this spoken exchange:

"Psychosis must be setting in, Clouding my perception. Social interaction null and void. Contact with reality Is something I no longer need - Now I have insanity on my side!"
 * Stock Shout Out: "Rise Lazarus Rise" With a story about reanimation, an allusion to the man whom Jesus raised from the dead is practically required.
 * Tar and Feathers: One of many methods alluded to in "Ingenious Forms of Torture"
 * Through the Eyes of Madness: Possibly, though the protagonist does acknowledge that he's losing it in the opening lines of "Personal Demons:"