and technology which corresponds with the songs. Illustrations by artist Dave McKean, famous for his work in comic books, are also based on themes or characters from the record. Bell explained the wealth of booklet content: "That was the only way to totally bring the concept out. When you read the words, you can visualize it in your head. The music helps to augment that. It's like a mini-graphic novel with Dave McKean artwork throughout it and a great story that goes along with the music... The challenge was to make a story out of it. It was kind of difficult to join all of these elements together. But to us, challenge is the greatest thing. Challenge makes us strive for greater ideas and concepts." Characters Edgecrusher Edgecrusher is the main character and protagonist. In the songs "Shock", "Descent", "Hi-Tech Hate", and "Resurrection", Burton C. Bell portrays Edgecrusher as the one singing the lyrics. The closer song, "Timelessness", is about him as well. As he has been captured by the Securitron in the story's conclusion, the song captures his words (or thoughts) of fear and despair as he is in jail or possibly in the process of being executed. Securitron The Securitron are the antagonists in the story and their name is part of the album's song, "Securitron (Police State 2000)". Securitron is an organization that embodies the law enforcement of the machine-controlled society set in the story. They appear to be all over the world and to ensure no crime goes unseen and they have set large monitors in various places to keep humanity under their view. It is clear that a machine-controlled world state is in effect in the story but whether or not Securitron is the world state itself is unknown. This is much like how The Party in Nineteen Eighty-Four utilized the telescreens on the population of Oceania. They themselves are likely cyborgs as implied by how one of the enforcers is mentioned having gloved hands. They come out victorious against Edgecrusher as in the end of the album they capture and imprison him. Smasher/Devourer Smasher/Devourer is the secondary antagonist in the story and is also the name of a song on the album. From the description given in the album's booklet, the Smasher/Devourer is a large robot with an "egg-like frame" and "its arms are actually weaponry for protection": no further information on its design