Following the Lord of Lightning’s final blow, the Balrog’s corpse lays smoldering on the ground. With their foe smited, the Lord exits the battlefield in a clap of thunder, leaving the survivors of the incident in the “moonless night” (later referenced in the alternate lyrics for “Han-Tyumi, the Confused Cyborg” as well as “Blue Morpho” and “Extinction”). This ends the second story of Murder of the Universe. Not initially written on their studio whiteboard “The Acrid Corpse” is the slowest segment of the suite and consists of synthesizers, Mellotron vocals, Leah Senior’s narration and a steady drum beat.
The song is the finale of Jason Galea and Ben Jones’ music video for “The Lord of Lightning vs Balrog.” Its section shows the wizards/monks which originally appeared in the music video for “Gamma Knife” walking around a fire with footage of Leah Senior narrating over them. The final shot of the video is the red wizard/monk played by Joey, looking frightened at the camera, the fire in front of his face. The song was officially released on June 23rd, 2017 on Murder of the Universe.
“The Acrid Corpse” has never been played live.