| Format: Single |

| First Release: April 30, 2022 |

| Label: Abracadaver Music |

| Composed and recorded: 2018/19 and winter 2022 |

| Performed by: José Travieso – guitars, bass, drum programing and vocals; additional instruments: duduk, gongs, synthesizer and male voice bass choir |

| # Tracks: 2 | Length: 17:40 |

First release: April 30, 2022.

Last and final recording for Cautiva, my technical and progressive thrash metal project in which I was playing all the instruments (guitars, bass, drum programming and vocals), in the style of a “one-man band”.

In 2015 I released a farewell EP of two songs called «The Archangel Of Omega» in which I said goodbye to Cautiva for a long and indefinite period of time, maybe forever… However, years later I decided to take up the project again and create a final track. The present single consists of that final song, «I Am The Omega». With it, I ended Cautiva once and for all, closing not just a period, but an era in my music. So, the title of the song is not incidental.

Of all my projects, Cautiva has probably been my favorite –so wild and technically excessive–, but it’s extremely demanding in terms of time, technical skill and energy… And I was getting old! When I decided to record my semi-farewell EP of 2015 («The Archangel Of Omega»), it was very hard to deal with the project, especially due to a whole series of problems and bad luck, but at least I had the time and energy to face them. With «I Am» (the present single), the effort of recording this final track was truly titanic, and the lack of time and energy became a huge obstacle. During the process of recording, I literally had to stop for months (or even more than a year) on several occasions because of lack of time, family and personal problems, lack of motivation, lack of mental energy… With «I Am The Omega», the track, I wanted to give my very best, and as a result, the complexity and perfectionism led me into a really hard and long work.

As for the track itself, I started working on it in 2018 as a different project from Cautiva (more dark and death metal oriented), but weeks later I reshaped it to be part of what had always been my usual metal “band”. «I Am The Omega» connects with the rest of my work for Cautiva, but in some aspects it opened new paths: a sound more oriented toward death metal, a dense and fat mix, very low tuning (guitars in Bb), the use of long reverbs (Cautiva had always been very dry in the mix), atmospheric passages and unusual instruments, a lot of subtle details (Cautiva had always been very explicit in style and form)… I think it’s a beautiful evolution of what Cautiva was.

The lyrics of «I Am The Omega» are related to Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s universe. In fact, they are continuation of my old 2009 song «The Great Old One» (from Cautiva’s album «Human»). Explicitly, the lyrics are about the awakening of Azathoth, the mindless deity of deities, and the consequent destruction of the world… But the meaning of the song is deeper: Implicitly the lyrics are about the loss of the loved ones and the consequent pain. Even the music describes this. For example, the meteorite that appears at the beginning of the track symbolizes the moment when you lose somebody and the following minutes of music represent the resulting devastation and emptiness in your life… All that is the real –hidden– meaning of the song and it has a deep personal sense for me. The whole track is a big metaphor.

I have wanted to release the song in two different mixes: the original version (with vocals) and a “naked” version (without vocals and without guitar solos). I like both versions and I wanted to share them.

This is the end of Cautiva. I hope you like.

Artwork by Georgi Georgiev and José Travieso.

You can download and get this digital single on Bandcamp.