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1. |
Death by Misadventure
02:29
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there is a primal behavior in all of us
depicted in triptychs by Hieronymous
transgressions of whose laws exactly?
warnings of temptation entice
to kill off the id is
an unnatural cause
what do we think we are?
delighting in flesh and in vices deemed grotesque
what evolutionary defect has us secondguess our impulses?
transgressions of whose laws exactly?
warnings of temptation entice
to kill off the id is
an unnatural cause
just what do we think we are?
death by misadventure
chasing the thrill too far
slave to no oppressor
as seen in the altarpiece
fall from grace
into the Hellmouth
rightful place
heaven gone south
urges surface and collide with the head
coveting sin with such unflinching gravitas
is to evolve to know of shame?
beyond the arts we're only animal
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2. |
Blasphemer in a Foxhole
01:34
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entertainment infiltrated
by bought and paid for
parades of pride and regalia
no sight for eyes so sore
not so subliminal in doctrine
but meticulous in message
the arbiters of consensus-gentium
deceive the pure to make the pledge
without flinching
what's rhetoric without some muscle?
i want you
i want you
to do the dirty work of despots
blasphemer in a foxhole
jingoists unchained
forging fear and brazen bias
fetishizing cannon fodder
grooming grunts out of the pious
greasing palms in these uncertain times
exploiting our institutions
corrupted right before our eyes
but with such stirring elocution
what's rhetoric without some muscle?
i want you
i want you
to do the dirty work of despots
blasphemer in a foxhole
we are the ones who must reclaim
this civic duty we've abandoned
while conscientiously objecting
programming by propagandists
often those who seek such power
mount the throne to mask the coward
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3. |
The Elephant's Foot
02:34
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i'm not well
odd scarlett discharge
i feel ill
lethargy begs me to rest
overexposed
the fallout is taking is taking it's toll
toxic mass of the elephant in the room
clandestine cells ionize
emboldened as they metastasize
devolution of the lexicon
doublecrossed by doublethink
vandals of our perception
primed to abet their invisible war
poachers of reason and rhyme
villains to culture
halflife of your hubris can't decay fast enough
memetics befoul
spread like disease
reducing debate to a quip
this tangled web spins worldwide
and stakes us to the elephants foot
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4. |
Desert of the Real
01:28
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maybe when all is said and done
all we believed in was false
and all of the fog that was left in our wake
was only a mirage
oases and cacti
where the rains so rarely trickle
you can't trust your eyes when your welcome's denied
to the desert of the real
two fists reach out with a capsule in each
one's tough to swallow
the other goes down with astonishing ease
but not into the rabbit hole
oases and cacti
where the rains so rarely trickle
you can't trust your eyes when your welcome's denied
to the desert of the real
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5. |
Abyssal Gigantism
03:39
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in the deepest trench
beyond light's reach
through a crack in the floor
of a frigid sea
something's awake
polluting the hydrosphere
may the turn of the tide
blow it sky-high
a malignant beast swells
gnashing it's teeth
dark to the diving bell
a monster to be believed in
it's ascent is all too real
something's awake
polluting the hydrosphere
may the turn of the tide
blow it sky-high
it breaches the surface
and swallows the ocean whole
where lies the final harbor?
we will never know
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6. |
Skinjammers
03:42
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buzzards circle the sun
scavenging for pools of blood
assemble the proles
gather the skulls
a menace reigns high
they want it they seize it
all out malignancy
to stop is to bleed it dry
avarice swung by the juggernaut
plutocrats call the kettle black
a gourmet vultures wake
contorted by it's own construction
greed is a feature not a malfunction
sybaritic creatures rattle the ribcage
feast at their leisure
and gouge out eyes
morsels made of the weak
on display in the round
birds of prey whet their beak
gnawing on disease by the pound
skeletons of the plague
rotting wasting away
bones twisted like spires
shedded out of the fires
wounded earth spills it's guts
feeding fools that led us to the flood
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7. |
Under the Zombie House
05:18
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the residents wander the labyrinth's halls
if home's where the heart is; well, it's barely beating at all
the cellar is locked but there's something down there
decaying tissue
gagging on mildew
the eyes in the family portrait
follow the flies that pass through
the front door, it creaks with each gust of the air
the dwelling’s imperfect but this one is theirs
they groan in cacophony, dragging their feet
the undead give life
if these walls could talk
then they would savor every breath
for the words that they would speak
are the ones you'd least expect
carrion oozes through ill-fitting floorboards
passing on their pedigree
makes the mud a shade of red
nourishing the seed
peeking through the foundation
a seedling rears it's head
born in ruin
but raised with benevolence
a stormcloud looms overhead
roaring
bombarding the guardians all to wit's end
dilapidated rooftop, boarded windows, faulty stairs
it's not what's underneath
but what's within that's been condemned
they gave so much of themselves they'd be fit for quarantine
exhaust themselves to compost that will soon give way to green
nothing's as it seems
something's under the zombiehouse
nothing's as it seems
something under the zombiehouse lives
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8. |
Planned Obsolescence
02:05
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planned obsolescence of innocence
purity meets it's antithesis
my tutelage pales to abuses you'll face
your daily rites of passage
advice i wish i had heeded
hope i don't own though i preach it
find for yourself what's permitted or forbidden
stand on your own two feet
this world wants to die and it will
coming of age and estranged
sense of a second world
the hallowed and the profane
united by abraxas
freefall through the dark and the luminous
endure the ordeal of cruel loneliness
doublelife led in discord
may your pilgrimage filled with delinquencies make you reborn
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9. |
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knuckles dragged the ground
dialogue restricted to slurring vowels
tracking herds of wildebeest
scavenging cow pies for shrooms to eat
unwitting psychonauts
daily dose of psilocybin: food for thought
and so it was; the crux of modern man
homo erectus on to sapien
microdosing; a kaleidoscopic therapy
antidote to such a quizzical modernity
now cracked is the code of mirrors
incognizant for many thousand years
skulls pitched upward pondering the sun
stars reorganized as constellations
fire and wheels
(printing press)
culture and steel
(the internet)
the fabricated myth of seven seals
sophisticated sway of the populi
nefariously influencing meek minds
microdosing; a kaleidoscopic therapy
antidote to such a quizzical modernity
pulled to the outside
budding ancestor of sadness
spores of language seeking hosts
propagating it's advancement
fungal missing link
from screaming at the monolith to interstellar trips
potential left untapped
ugh
preoccupation with conceding to the pack
drafting up documents to govern the apes
how many typewriters tapping away
did it take to produce a text so sacrosanct?
microdosing; a kaleidoscopic therapy
antidote to such a quizzical modernity
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10. |
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my heart's in rack and ruin
spirit is black and blue
I'm no good at goodbyes
can I allow lament to run it's course?
stumbling in this immaculately random dance
in flawlessly haphazard fashion goes the plan
so deep inside
there is no death
but a sacred dimension within starts to materialize
there's artistry in providence
this cosmic choreography is obstinate
what was it the messenger to mankind said
on the opposite of love, of art, of faith?
a hole is here where once you were
i swam upstream a river called denial
i flail my fists and i cannot resist all these urges to cry
god dammit reactions run the gamut from
indifference to devastation
a nihilist in meditation
disturbed by concession to the fading form
synchronized intrinsically
the odds of our encounter were a lottery
what was it the messenger to mankind said
on the opposite of love, of art, of faith?
a hole is here where once you were
i swam upstream a river called denial
i flailed my fists and then all without thinking I cursed out the sky
god dammit reactions run the gamut from
indifference to devastation
in the balance of all things
there's no pleasure without pain
there's no yin without a yang
waves of apathy douse us as we grieve
to feel loss is to have known
everything you love is not yours but on loan
but time can't confiscate the part they played
that retains it's value while it's gone
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King Rest recommends:
Incredible technical/post/metal solo project of Ben Sharp. "Beacons" in particular is a great place to start for uninitiated listeners.
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Strange Sense of Humor
by The "J" is for Jack
Jack's solo music of the pop/rock/songwriter persuasion.
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Broken Archetypes
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Knotty prog-death from Cosmitorium combines raw fury with head-spinning instrumentation.
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