THE AGONIST vocalist Alissa White-Gluz has issued a track-by-track overview of the band's debut, Once Only Imagined. It appears below in its entirety:

"Here I have jotted down some opinions (that you may or may not agree with) and information that inspired me, however directly or indirectly, to write the songs of Once Only Imagined. I hope this gives you a bit of insight into how my brain worked for this album, and if you are interested in knowing more or seeing citations for this information, please feel free to contact me!"
-Alissa

'Rise And Fall':

"Mankind is consistently failing to improve upon our destructive ways. Air, water and earth depletion and pollution are leading to a complete imbalance in the inner workings of the Planet. Habitats lost, species extinct, ecosystems collapsed. We need to stop the downward spiral already set in motion by our hundreds of years of abuse, specifically those since the Industrial Revolution. To see how you can slightly modify your everyday life to take the necessary baby steps towards a healthier tomorrow, visit www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/. For more information or to donate to just one of the many organizations set out to help the planet, visit www.davidsuzuki.org . Write to your government demanding complete compliance with the Kyoto Protocol and higher environmental conservation standards. You will make a visible difference."

'Born Dead; Buried Alive':

Written alongside 'Business Suits and Combat Boots'.

"Having lost several family members in the Holocaust, and looking back on how easy my own life has been in Western Society, retrospection made me uncomfortably aware of man's inhumanity towards man. Hearing about the Congo genocide, the Spanish Inquisition, enumerable coups d'etat, guerilla warfare, terrorism and witnessing in my own lifetime the war in Iraq, the genocide in Darfur and so many others including city riots like that of Rodney King … all this bloody history proved that this instinctive aggression towards our fellow human beings is unfortunately an inherit trait from the early stages of our species. To help even the playing field between our privileged society and Third World countries in crisis, visit http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/. All living beings are entitled to the right to live a full and happy life, and civilians too weak to revolt cannot start the wheel of change turning on their own."

'Take A Bow':

"Feeling sorry for yourself quickly becomes a ludicrous concept when juxtaposed against the hardships that mistreated animals must endure. Each person that lives on the Earth at one time or another is said to leave an "ecological footprint". The mission in each of our minds must be to minimize the damaging effects our presence has on other life forms. The mass consumption and wastefulness of North America alone have bred several new strains of disease, methane gas from factory farms plays a staggering role in contributing to dangerous greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention the more than 27 billion animals kept in horrible living conditions for so brief a stay before being slaughtered and often disemboweled, skinned and sliced before even being dead, every single year. Animal testing in cosmetic procedures forces cats and dogs, not "just" mice and rats, to endure sadist practices such as vivisection. These tests are unnecessary and often provide invalid results do to the differences between the human body and that of an animal. To read more about your own ecological footprint, I strongly suggest reading "Our Ecological Footprint" by Williams E. Rees , Mathis Wackernagel, and Phil Testemale. To contribute to the fight against animal testing, attack one of the biggest culprits in the world, Huntingdon Life Sciences, by getting involved with www.shac.net. To learn more disturbing facts about the meat industry and find resources to help you get started on the right foot with your own diet, visit www.peta.org."

'Trophy Kill':

"Firearms were invented with one purpose in mind…murder. Whether it be a 'game' victim during the twisted and immeasurably cruel "hunting season" or a small child in the classroom thinking he was just playing a game…guns do nothing else but kill. Gun violence among humans is reaching younger and younger ages and spreading further and further from what are considered the epicenters of violence - impoverished urban developments. What are you teaching a child when he is shown that it is not only okay, but commendable to shoot and kill innocent wildlife, for the sake of a game? Is a head mounted on a wall a trophy, or some sick attempt at proving one's obviously lacking manhood? Would it be any different if a serial killer mounted his victims' heads to admire the job well done? Is it any wonder children may not differentiate between reality and a game, between shooting someone for fun and ending their life? To help put an end to gun violence, write to your government demanding zero tolerance and stricter laws, and get involved with your local or national organization against gun violence, such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (US) at www.csgv.org. To view the other side of the coin, which I believe to be the endless euphemisms and contradictions of pro-gun activists, visit www.nra.org and devise your own opinion.

Equally disheartening, 'Trophy Kill' also touches upon the sad demolition of what I have always seen as the most beautiful place on Earth; the ocean. Every year corporate fisheries wipe clean a portion of the ocean's bed equal to 3 times the size of the United States. Fish, coral, undiscovered aquatic flora and fauna are destroyed, the ocean bed is left desolate and barren. We are raping the Planet of every breath of life left in her. We take so much and give nothing in return. Being at the top of the food chain has left us blissfully ignorant to the destruction we are causing, and it is only a matter of time before these effects are felt by us too. Some organizations committed to conserving our oceans are WWF Canada's Marine Conservation Program (www.wwf.org), the Marine Conservation Society (UK) (www.mcsuk.org), and one with an intriguing modern approach, The Blu Revolution (http://www.blurevolution.com), a branch of the Ocean Realm Society."

'Business Suits And Combat Boots':

"Picking up a part-time job in the service sector has shown me all too literally the hierarchy present in modern urban society. The working students, with our dyed hair and ripped clothes, are employed in the basement of The World Trade Centre in Montreal, an imposing tower of bureaucracy and intolerance that increases with each mounting floor. The high-horse mentality seems to be self-contained within the holier-than-thou business suits these upper-classers sport, believing the world is here to serve them. Not to say that many haven't worked very hard for years and don't deserve their corner office, but this social division and prejudice exists on the smallest and largest of scales. Furthermore, politicians sit comfortably in their luxurious, fulfilled lifestyles while average citizens are fighting the wars they created.

Canada is at least slightly more tolerant towards immigration than the trigger-happy border patrol agents on the lower front of the United States, but as a whole, wealthier countries have little to no tolerance for other cultures, races, religions or species. Especially in Canada, if you rewind only a few hundred years we are all landed immigrants, and this land is not ours to keep for ourselves or to share only when we feel it deserving.

The growing cost of living makes even a dual-income household barely sufficient to support today's lifestyles, and leaves children to be raised by strangers, television and computer games while their parents are at work. Education and Health care are not high on the priority list of the National Budget as they should be. Luxuries are taken casually: many would not hesitate to undergo serious surgery just to get a fake nose or socially acceptable breasts. Idealized imagery in the media affects a young psyche in dangerous ways. Age is an enemy, not an accomplishment, promiscuity is "fun" and "powerful" and emaciation is sexy. Body dysmorphia and related illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa affect close to a third of Canadian teenage females. The annual death rate associated with anorexia is more than 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all other causes combined for females between 15 and 24 years of age. For help or information on eating disorders, if it is affecting you or someone close to you, www.nedic.ca is just one of many helpful resources, and if you check within your local community there are often treatment options offered in hospitals and clinics. Support groups, dieticians and counseling are available for guidance.If you also feel overwhelmed by the amount of injustice and imbalance in so many facets of the world today, some great resources are available at www.adbusters.org."

'Serendipity':

"Depression affects the human body in mental, psychological, emotional and physical ways, and victimizes an average 10% of the North American population…yet is still frequently disregarded as a simple 'phase' or 'mood swing'. The FDA tries to pass off lucrative drugs to persuade sufferers (and convince healthy individuals that they may have this frightening and elusive disease) that the continued use of chemical treatment is the only effective solution. Our society is built on suppressing symptoms to falsify a cure, because this allows for extended patronage of the economy-monopolizing pharmaceutical industry, a business booming louder than any other and accounting for hundreds of billions of dollars globally every year. Why not attack a problem at its source, and fix the depression trigger rather than cover up a disease with pain-killers? Any accidental or intentional reality check after so much artificial numbness is bound to have drastic consequences. For interesting approaches to these issues, visit www.newstarget.com (although be weary of inobjectivity) or for a more extremist view, www.conspiracyplanet.com."

'Memento Mori':

"After such revolutionary feminist movements in the past century, one would think women would be treated with equality. Men and women are not the same, they are very different, but neither gender is of higher value than the other in any way. However, domestic abuse runs rampant in an estimated 10% of American households, cases of sexual abuse and assault are very rarely reported, and victims often feel deserving of their punished lives. Not only women, but men and children are affected by such crimes as well. No living creature deserves to be confined to a life of torture, abuse and unhappiness. Keeping quiet about sexual and domestic abuse allows the predator to go free and perpetuates the cycle. Take action to stop and prevent such abuse from continuing. Visit www.endabuse.org."

'Void Of Sympathy':

"This is the first song I wrote upon the formation of The Agonist. I write every song with a message in mind, something very close to me derived from personal experience. I hope you find each song touching, informative and eye opening. I am ever progressing towards attaining the ability to take the negative in life and use it to fuel a positive change. Going through periods of loss and change demands strength of character: to not seek vengeance, to not dwell on the past. Serious introspection can reveal things about yourself that may be extremely uplifting and useful in the future. Devise your own opinion and create a plan of action for yourself. You have the power to be the catalyst for large-scale differences. Start the ripple of change and watch the waves grow."

'Forget Tomorrow':

"Addiction and substance abuse are dangerous diseases that can not only lead to the death of the sufferer, but grossly affects those around him/her as well. The inviting lifestyle lures in people of all ages and classes, recreational use rapidly increases in frequency, priorities shift, and lives are destroyed. The constant need to poison one's body for escapist purposes is often the symptom of a much deeper issue. Watching the slow suicide of a loved one and witnessing their indifference towards self-destruction is a devastating, difficult procedure that often seems irreversible. Treatment options are available and this is not an uncommon problem, but the best way to treat is to prevent. Educate yourselves, your friends, family and children on the facts about harmful toxins and their destructive effects on the body and mind. Substance abuse is not a solution to any problem and is merely a suppressant. Learn and teach how to handle the obstacles in life through productive measures, through national or local resources such as www.ccsa.ca."

'Feel No Guilt' (unreleased):

"Indifference and disregard paired with a selfish, 'couldn't-be-bothered' attitude is the epidemic fueling this Planet's demise and the disintegration of systems, cycles and symbioses existent long before the birth of man.

Unfortunately, many approach environmental conservation with a passive, relinquished mind-set. Isn't the recent uproar of natural disasters like excessive hurricanes, extreme flood and drought in unusual territories, climate change, tsunamis, earthquakes, and eroded ice caps enough of a signal that Mother Nature isn't happy with our treatment of Earth? How much more of a non-lingual warning can we possibly be presented with and continue to ignore? The most adversely affected regions of the Earth, the poles, are so badly eroded that for the first time in recorded history, arctic wildlife-like the polar bear- has been found drowned to death, after swimming in frigid waters for up to 60 miles in search of food, due to insufficient ice shelves. The most common excuse for negligence? 'It doesn't bother me. Nothing serious will happen during my lifetime.' That understatement may inevitably be proven wrong with the collapse of the infrastructure of the globe well on its way. No matter the man-made conflict, whether religion, science, intelligent design or favorable conditions are responsible for mankind's residence on Earth, mankind is responsible for his own actions, and it's time to own up to the abuse we put Earth through. Do your part by educating, teaching through example and living your day-to-day life in favor of our home, instead of against it. Perhaps the next generations may reverse the damages the previous have done. Educate yourself at www.nature.org."