LYIA META
sundered and reforged:
between shadows and salvation
This isn’t a pivot. It’s not a reinvention.
SUNDERED AND REFORGED – Between Shadows and Salvation is simply the next shape the fire took.
Music is the vessel. Genre is just the skin it wears. Whether it’s jazz, blues, pop, or now symphonic rock, the core remains unchanged: the ache, the unrest, the need to speak truths that don’t come easily. This time, the sound needed to be heavier — strong enough to carry the weight of what had been lived and left unsaid.
These five tracks are raw, orchestral, and heavy with truth. They draw from something deeper than my own story — from the fractures and scars that shape us all. Collapse, reckoning, the sacred and the broken, all inhabiting the same space.
This isn’t faith as comfort. This is faith as confrontation.
Another facet. Another piece of me — reforged in sound.
It’s personal. Messy. Alive.
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“There is such truth in this album… it is Truth. Brilliantly broken — the kind of brokenness that lets us truly see. Every song found its space in my head.”
—A fellow traveler/listener.
About the album
This album didn’t begin with answers—it began with questions.
What remains when everything familiar is stripped away? Who are we when the light fades? SUNDERED AND REFORGED – Between Shadows and Salvation began in that space of unknowing. Shaped not by resolution, but by the slow, painful forging of truth through lived experience, these songs are not declarations—they’re fragments of meaning drawn from darkness and transformed into sound.
It is not an album that seeks to resolve or explain. It offers no tidy conclusions, no polished truths. Instead, it stays with the wreckage. It listens. It bears witness.
This isn’t just about survival—it’s about what comes after. About being torn apart and finding the will to rise again—scarred, maybe, but stronger each time. These songs were born of personal tragedy and spiritual unrest. They emerged from that quiet, terrifying space between what was lost and what must become—where you stand at the edge of yourself, unsure whether to step forward or fall.
Though shaped by my early faith, the themes reach beyond belief systems. The imagery alludes to endings, reckoning, and renewal—not as doctrine, but as a mirror held to the soul. These songs speak to collapse and resurrection, to the sacred and the broken coexisting within the same breath. Not faith as comfort, but faith as confrontation. There were moments I longed to surrender. But death, seductive as it seemed, held no answers. There is no salvation in silence—only the sacred work of living again.
There is a cry here—for deliverance, not only from sin, but from despair. And within the fear of change lives the quiet knowing: change must come. To remain unchanged is its own kind of death.
These songs don’t cry out in despair; they speak in attempts to understand. They carry loss, rebirth, resilience, grace, and the still moments where pain and healing breathe side by side. They honor those who walk alone, who don’t fit, who sing though their prayers go unanswered.
The divine remains unnamed, but its presence lingers—in the silence, in the shadow, in the act of rising. And in every note, there is a reaching. A reckoning. A confession. A challenge.
Musically, this album breathes. The arrangements are deliberate. The voice doesn’t shout over the storm—it carries it. This is a body of work carved from pain, but not consumed by it. It’s about piecing yourself back together—reforging meaning, strength, and beauty from the fire.
SUNDERED AND REFORGED – Between Shadows and Salvation is not a conclusion. It is a return. A rising. A reverent offering from a soul that stood at the edge—and chose to live.
"Meta’s contralto voice is the linchpin — smoky, expressive, commanding. She carries the storm rather than shouting over it. This is Meta at her most thematically coherent and sonically ambitious. “Sundered and Reforged” is not just a collection of songs. It’s a declaration: that brokenness is not the end, and that art can, in its own way, rebuild what life sunders.”-
Veteran Journalist/Editor Emeritus (Frankie D’Cruz)
Track Listing
Mother (feat. Mark Allen Lanoue)— 5:03
Running All The Time (Secrets) — 3:17
Strange People — 4:18
Verses — 4:35
Solace That I Seek — 4:25
SUNDERED AND REFORGED
Between Shadows and Salvation
Lyia Meta
Released : 31st July, 2025
Performers & Musicians
Composer/Arranger/Lead Vocals / Backing Vocals / Ad Libs
Lyia Meta
Additional Production, Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Guitar Arrangements, Backing Vocal Arrangement, Vocal Ad-libs, Spoken Word, and Creative Contribution to the Vocal and Guitar Texture of the Album
Mark Allen Lanoue
Bass Guitar / Additional Guitars (including Acoustic) / Drums / Additional Keys & Synth Lines
Bob McGilpin
Keys and Synths
Gene Rabbai
Songwriting & Arrangements
Words & Music
Lyia Meta
Arrangements
Zack Meta and Lyia Meta
Rearrangements
Bob McGilpin
Production, Mix, Master
Bob McGilpin
Production & Engineering
Producers
Bob McGilpin and Lyia Meta
Engineer
Bob McGilpin
Vocal recording
Ruiqi Khor
Mixing & Mastering Engineer
Bob McGilpin
Studios
Mixed & Mastered at
(McMusic Sound. Nashville, TN)
Vocals recorded at
(Big A Studios, Malaysia)
Keys and Synths
(Studio A, Rio DeJanerio, Brazil)
Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals recorded at
Gemini Rising Productions
Art Direction & Graphic Design
Album Art, Concept & Design
Lyia Meta
Photography
Khahin Meta
Track-by-Track Reflections
A closer look at the meaning behind each song on SUNDERED AND REFORGED – Between Shadows and Salvation
MOTHER
feat. Mark Allen Lanoue
A haunting invocation that opens the album, Mother explores the tension between faith and suffering. It is a metaphor for the presence we instinctively turn to in our darkest moments — the one who listens without judgment, who carries our grief, and who understands what words cannot express. For some, this presence is rooted in religion; for others, it may be memory, spirit, or something more abstract.
To me, Mother is not just a figure — she is the stillness in the storm, the echo of comfort when the world falls silent. This song was born from a place of longing and spiritual searching, an attempt to make sense of pain that lingers and questions that go unanswered. It is a meditation on fragility, resilience, and the quiet strength we draw from the unseen forces that guide us when we are lost.
Vocals
Lead & Backing Vocals: Lyia Meta
Additional Backing Vocals: Mark Allen Lanoue
Guitars
Lead Guitar & Guitar Texture: Mark Allen Lanoue
Bass
Bass Guitar: Bob McGilpin
Drums & Percussion
Drums: Bob McGilpin
Digital Drum Textures: Bob McGilpin
Keyboards & Synths
Piano & Synths: Gene Rabbai
Additional Synths: Bob McGilpin
RUNNING ALL THE TIME (SECRETS)
Running All the Time is a song caught between two worlds — the voice, and the one who hears it. It explores the fractured space shaped by schizophrenia, where reality begins to slip, and inner voices become constant companions, adversaries, and sometimes, seductions. The struggle isn’t just to silence them — it’s also about confronting what remains when they’re gone.
Built on a haunting tension between defiance and dependence, this track is a psychological dance — one where the voice is both captor and comfort. The narrator begs to be free, yet finds herself searching when the voice disappears. It’s a heartbreaking cycle of resistance and return, of fear entwined with need.
Beneath the layered vocals and driven rhythm lies a deeply personal truth: this song is my attempt to understand what can never fully make sense. A life was taken — my brother’s — by someone gripped by a mind no longer his own. The voices told him to do it. Schizophrenia had taken hold, and with it, everything else. That tragedy casts a long shadow, but here, through music, I try to enter that darkness — not with judgment, but with grief, questions, and fragile compassion.
This isn’t a requiem. It’s not an anthem. It’s the sound of a mind unraveling — of someone trying to reclaim themselves from the invisible weight inside. It’s about what happens when we’re running all the time — and the silence we fear might follow if we ever stopped.
Vocals
Lead & Backing Vocals: Lyia Meta
Additional Backing Vocals (Arrangement & Performance): Mark Allen Lanoue
Guitars
Lead & Rhythm Guitar Texture: Mark Allen Lanoue
Melodic Guitar (Bridge Section): Bob McGilpin
Bass
Bass Guitar: Bob McGilpin
Drums & Percussion
Drums: Bob McGilpin
Keyboards & Synths
Keys & Synths: Gene Rabbai
Additional Synths: Bob McGilpin
STRANGE PEOPLE
This song moves like a fever dream — blurred figures in the distance, voices rising in a cacophony, and a path that only appears with each uncertain step forward. It captures the surreal feeling of running toward something just out of reach, through a space that shifts and morphs — corridor, field, void — where meaning flickers but never fully settles.
Strange People is not just about those who surround us, but the parts of ourselves we struggle to face. The ones who linger in the periphery — sometimes spectators, sometimes saboteurs. They wear different masks: benevolent, malevolent, or maddeningly neutral. Are they real? Are they projections? Are they simply truths we’re not ready to hear?
Beneath it all pulses a storm — one I was born into. The kind of storm that breaks things open to show us what they’re really made of. There is sorrow here, yes, but also fierce transformation. An internal weather that strips illusions bare and demands meaning. It isn’t chaos for its own sake — it’s the kind that clears a path through fire and rain.
The spoken word section — “Oh hear me, be my strength, give me time…” — rises like a prayer, fragile yet defiant. It’s a cry from within, not of surrender, but of reckoning. That voice isn’t a character — it’s a distorted version of myself, maybe even my subconscious speaking out loud. One shaped by grief, memory, and the search for something redemptive in the wreckage. It reflects a fractured inner landscape, where pain and clarity are constantly in tension.
This is a confession. A challenge. A vow to keep moving forward through strangeness and shadow — toward clarity, or maybe toward becoming.
Vocals & Spoken Word
Lead & Backing Vocals: Lyia Meta
Spoken Word: Mark Allen Lanoue
Guitars
Lead & Rhythm Guitar Texture: Mark Allen Lanoue
Acoustic Guitar: Bob McGilpin
Bass
Bass Guitar: Bob McGilpin
Drums & Percussion
Drums: Bob McGilpin
Keyboards & Synths
Piano & Synths: Gene Rabbai
Additional Keys & Synth Lines: Bob McGilpin
VERSES
This song is born from the vivid, haunting imagery of the Book of Revelation — not as a sermon or prophecy, but as a lens through which to grieve for the world as we see it today. The angels, the storm, the silence — they are symbols, not of religion, but of reflection. A way to express the weight of watching a world lamed and scarred by violence, hatred, and division.
“No more” is the aching cry that rises from within — a call not to doctrine, but to conscience. A plea for peace. For all that we’ve lost. For all that still might be saved. The song doesn’t offer blame or judgment. It simply holds up a mirror, using sacred language not to preach, but to mourn.
Whether we believe in one truth, many truths, or none at all, most of us share a common yearning — for light, for goodness, for peace. Verses is my offering to that collective hope. It is the quiet resistance of faith — not faith as dogma, but as the belief that, even in a broken world, we can still choose to care, to rise, and to dream of something better.
Vocals
Lead & Backing Vocals: Lyia Meta
Additional Backing Vocals: Mark Allen Lanoue
Guitars
Lead & Rhythm Guitar Texture: Mark Allen Lanoue
Acoustic Guitar: Bob McGilpin
Bass
Bass Guitar: Bob McGilpin
Drums & Percussion
Drums: Bob McGilpin
Keyboards & Synths
Keys & Synths: Gene Rabbai
Additional Synth Lines & Keys: Bob McGilpin
SOLACE THAT I SEEK
A plea whispered in the dark — a cry from the edge of existence where the soul teeters between surrender and survival. This piece is born from a private reckoning, one that speaks of pain too deep to name and a yearning for peace that always feels just out of reach. Beneath the fierce vocals and heavy instrumentation lies a vulnerable core: the silent unraveling, the isolation of carrying a weight no one sees, and the need to be heard — even if only by the void.
It doesn’t offer comfort or pretend to have answers. Instead, it dares to sit with the broken pieces — not to fix them, but to acknowledge them. It’s an anthem for those who have stared into the abyss and felt it stare back, yet still choose, somehow, to go on.
I’ve stood in that darkness. I’ve pleaded for release. And yet, even as I bled through every note, life — or something just beyond it — always pulled me back. This is that moment suspended: not the fall, but the breath before it. The grief, the guilt, the flicker of hope — all of it, laid bare.
Vocals
Lead & Backing Vocals: Lyia Meta
Additional Backing Vocals: Mark Allen Lanoue
Guitars
Lead & Rhythm Guitar Texture: Mark Allen Lanoue
Bass
Bass Guitar: Bob McGilpin
Drums & Percussion
Drums: Bob McGilpin
Keyboards & Synths
Keys & Synths: Gene Rabbai
Additional Synth Lines & Keys: Bob McGilpin
Publishing
All songs published by Lyia Meta
Registered with MACP (Music Authors Copyright Protection in Malaysia)
Special acknowledgment
Bob McGilpin
Singer · Producer · Songwriter · No.1 Billboard Charting Artist
McMusic Sound Studio, Nashville, TN
For his unwavering dedication, instinct, and artistry. As producer of my last four albums, he been instrumental in helping me craft and define my sound. A trusted collaborator and a constant in my creative journey.
Mark Allen Lanoue
Singer · Songwriter · Guitarist · Producer · Founder of Fiction Syxx · Founder of Gemini Mind · Recording Artist · Author. Podcaster.
For his guitar work and intuitive vocal contributions. Grateful to have him as a collaborator on this album.
Denise Dimin
Los Angeles songwriter
Arts Advocate · Cultural Supporter · Friend of the Arts
Heartfelt thanks to Denise Dimin for her unwavering support and belief in this project.
Dedication
This album is dedicated to my kid brother, Leo Christopher
Gone but never forgotten
Copyright & Legal
© 2025 Lyia Meta / (Independent). All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Contact & Social
Website: www.lyiameta.com
Instagram: @lyiameta
Email: l.nunismeta@gmail.com
Meet the core team
Note:
About the Original Demo (2021)
The earliest demo of this album was created in 2021, with arrangements by Zack Meta and Lyia Meta. Additional rearrangement contributions at that stage came from Ruiqi Khor, Anthony Yap, Natalie Fong, and Lyia Meta. We also acknowledge the musicians who played on the demo:
Drums – Matt Datta, Jon Voo
Bass – Daniel Foong
Synths/Keys & Drum Arrangements – Ruiqi Khor
Guitar – Anthony Yap
While their work helped shape the early vision, the final release has since evolved dramatically. The songs have been reimagined, rearranged, and transformed—guided by producer Bob McGilpin and Lyia Meta, with contributions from Mark Lanoue—resulting in a body of work that is entirely distinct from the original demos.
Arrangements: Zack Meta & Lyia Meta
Rearrangements: Ruiqi Khor, Anthony Yap, Natalie Fong, Lyia Meta
Drums:
– Matt Datta (Mother)
– Jon Voo (Running All the Time [Secrets], Verses, Strange People, Solace That I Seek)
Bass: Daniel Foong
Synths/Keys & Drum Arrangements: Ruiqi Khor
Guitar: Anthony Yap
_____
Supported by CENDANA (Cultural Economy Development Agency)
Lyia Meta
Bob McGilpin
Mark Allen Lanoue
Zack Meta
Gene Rabbai
Singer · Songwriter · Guitarist · Producer · Founder of Fiction Syxx · Founder of Gemini Mind · Recording Artist Member of the Recording Academy· Author. Podcaster.
Singer · Producer · Songwriter · No.1 Billboard Charting Artist
McMusic Sound Studio, Nashville, TN
Singer · Songwriter · Visual Artist · Song Stylist, Vocalist · Producer · Founder of VoiceCraft Studio · Recording Artist · Author. Columnist. Columnist. Member of the Recording Academy
Guitarist · Curator · Music Programmer · Co‑Producer
Lyia Meta Live Productions • Sound & Performance Design • Studio Collaborations
Keyboardist · Arranger · Composer · Session Musician
Studio A, Rio DE Janeiro, Brazil · Collaborations with Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Vince Gill, Jimmy Griffin
Press Kit
Ruiqi Khor
Natalie Fong
Anthony Yap
Lyia Meta
Lyia Meta is an international multi award-winning singer, songwriter, song stylist, producer, author, and exhibited visual artist whose work spans genres, cultures, and disciplines. With a voice described as powerful, emotive, and unmistakably distinct, Lyia creates music rooted in rock and blues, yet fearlessly crosses stylistic boundaries to forge a sound uniquely her own. Her songs reflect a deep well of personal experience and emotional insight, resonating with audiences across generations and geographies.
Born in Malaysia and currently based in the nation’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, Lyia has earned a global reputation not only for her music but for her authenticity and artistic integrity. Her body of work includes a rich catalogue of recordings, international performances, and visual art exhibitions, all connected by a common thread: the unflinching pursuit of truth through art.
As a writer, Lyia has penned two deeply personal books — Unfold, Break, Rebuild, Find Yourself and All In, No Net: Life on Stage. Both works reflect her inner journey as an artist and a woman navigating the often turbulent world of creativity, vulnerability, and self-discovery. With honesty and introspection, she explores the challenges of life in the spotlight, the search for identity, and the power of reinvention.
Lyia also brings her voice to the written word as a regular contributor to Lazie Indie Magazine, where her column "Through Corridors" features candid artist interviews and thought-provoking essays on the independent music scene and the forces that shape it.
A multidisciplinary artist in every sense, Lyia Meta continues to evolve — refusing to be confined by category, expectation, or convention. Her creative work is as diverse as it is sincere, marked by a commitment to storytelling that is bold, unfiltered, and profoundly human.