(Music written by Agrippa and performed by Agrippa and Dugan.)

Stranger In the Mirror is the 7th track from Agrippa93’s album, Beneath the Cypress Tree. The song has a run time of 8 minutes and 41 seconds, making it the longest track on the album as well as the longest A93 song yet.

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Lyrics: Stranger in the Mirror is part of a series dealing with psychological conditions, which also includes A Profound Realization and The Edge of Sanity. Like A Profound Realization, Stranger deals with a condition called Dissociative Identity Disorder. The setting of the song takes place in a bathroom in front of a mirror as the subject is coming to terms with his violent alter ego.

Lyrics written by Agrippa in 2008

From the hole inside you
Everything is darker
For youNo longer safe
From you

You trace the patterns
You count the tiles
Hold back the violent desires
No one can see you here
Laugh at and tease you here

Look in the mirror
Stare a little longer

Here you are finally
You can’t escape this feeling
An empty shell finally
Exactly what you wanted

Dig deep inside and find you
Something familiar in there
All of your faces
You’ve seen the visions of them here
The vision of the truth

You trace the patterns
You count the tiles
Hold back the violent desires
No one can see you here
Laugh at and tease you here

Your hate grows stronger
As you dwell in anger
Stare at the mirror
Your reflection’s a stranger

Look in the mirror
Stare a little longer

It’s been to long
Dying to see you
Dying to see you
Dying to see how you’ve shattered yourself
Shattered yourself, shattered your life.

You’ve broken the silence of your hate
I can see it on your face
Your seclusion has fed your anger well
Take a few steps forward

Who’s the face in the mirror
Who’s the face in the mirror
Who’s the face in the mirror
Who’s the face in the mirror

Take a look
It’s what you wanted
Take a look
Take a look at this
It’s what you wanted

You trace the patterns
You count the tiles
Hold back the violent desires
No one can see you here
Laugh at and tease you here

Your hate grows stronger
As you dwell in anger
Stare at the mirror
Your reflection’s a stranger

Look in the mirror

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In Studio: Stranger in the Mirror was produced and engineered by Agrippa. The song originated from a 1 take guitar rhythm track session performed by Agrippa and later arranged into a more conventional song format.

Agrippa – Vocals, back-up vocals, guitars, synths, sequencer, bass programming, and drum programming.

Myk Dugan – Lead guitars and backup vocals.

“Carlos had blown off his scheduled recording session for one reason or another, so instead of getting pissed about it I plugged in the Les Paul, pressed record and just played straight through for about 15 minutes. It was very therapeutic session and resulted in the foundation of ‘Stranger’. Lyrics came pretty quickly and they fit the mood of the song perfectly. After the song was nearly finished I handed it to Myk to throw in some leads here and there. It’s probably one of my favorite songs on the album, because it’s the most classic A93 sounding track there.” – Agrippa

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Live Performance: Stranger in the Mirror was considered to be added to the playlist for the 2009 shows, but in a more trimmed down version. It never made it to the final list of songs for the setlist.

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(Lyrics and music copyright 2010 by Sickle Pation Studio)