Cruel Melody was originally going to be an esoteric, dirge-heavy solo project with a variety of singers, but as Borland started writing heavier material, he finally decided to take the reins behind the mike. It didn't hurt that he got inspiration not only from Lohner, who doubled as the album's producer, but Lohner's famous former employer.

"I was talking to Trent Reznor, playing him these tracks in their infancy," Borland remembers. "And he said, 'You're singing like somebody's sleeping in the next room. You should try to open that up.' You know, it's really easy to do cool electronic music that's instrumental and put soft vocals over it, but it's a lot harder to write actual songs and have them hit people." With Cruel Melody locked and loaded, Borland's planning an evocative new onstage persona for Black Light's maiden voyage, boasting a live band with guitarist Nick Annis (Seether), drummer Marshal Kirpatric (Today Is the Day, the Esoteric) and, for now, a laptop to wreak ambient havoc. ("Screw it," he laughs, "there's a computer in the band.")