Sinister Rouge

Innocents burned,
alive at the stake
Tortured and dumped
In nameless graves
Centuries wane
Authority died
Scattering seeds of ancient lies

Sinister rouge
Coming back for more
To even the score
Sinister rouge
Coming back for more
To even the score

Child molesters
And Jesuits
Holding secret conference
Underneath the pontiff’s nose
And only God will ever know

Sinister rouge
Coming back for more
To even the score
Sinister rouge
Coming back for more
To even the score

Give us this day
Our daily bread
Your legacy
We'll not forget
Lick the wounds
Cleanse the land
The modern world
Rejects your hand

Sinister rouge
Coming back for more
To even the score
Sinister rouge
Coming back for more
To even the score

Sinister rouge
The nightmare comes in sinister rouge

Social Suicide

Right now
Well it's finally time to face my fears
Gonna get the hell out of here
And create a fresher atmosphere
But the consequence is clear

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Like you
Perserverence is a useless tool
Just a patron on a ship of fools
Feigning interest in the cast and crew
Why you've broken every single rule

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Shadows entertain the unwashed masses
Scholars explain their numb reactions
I don't even know if I can ever find truth
but I'm sure it won't come from following you

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Atheist Peace

Maybe it’s too late for an intellectual debate,
but a residue of confusion remains.

Changing with the times,
and developmentally tortured minds
are the average citizen's sources of pain.

Tell me what we’re fighting for—
I don’t remember anymore,
only temporary reprieve

And the world might cease
if we fail to tame the beast
from the faith that you release
comes an atheist peace.

Atheist peace.

Political forces rent
bitter cold winds of discontent
and the modern age emerged triumphantly.
But now it seems we've stalled
And it’s time to de-evolve
and relive the dark chapters of history

Tell me what we’re fighting for—
No progress ever came from war,
only a false sense of increase

and the world won’t wait
for the truth upon a plate
but we’re ready now to feast on an atheist peace.

Atheist peace

All There Is

This song goes out
to all the hopeless sinners,
with grave allegiances,
so meaningless and vain,

The walking wounded in a pagent of contenders
Who balance on a rail of pain for just a pail of rain

And everything is barely mist, blood relations and bricks
my expression, my confession, add it up, extract a lesson, more than this,
once again, like a bullet as a friend, tell me: can that be all there is?

In my rectory of doubt, I kneel to pray like one devout,
As time the great gray dreamless sleep of a useless modern god
erodes away each storied day as wretched Adams with hell to pay
Content upon a rail of pain for just a little rain.

And everything is dearly missed, blood relations and bricks
my expression, my confession, add it up, extract a lesson, more than this,
once again, like a bullet as a friend, tell me: can that be all there is?

There’s an endless disposition,
and it doesn’t mean a goddamn thing—
there’s space for a paper-airplane race in the eye of a hurricane.

And if pigs could fly, then surely so could I,
but this pedestrian knows better than to even try,
and my divinity is caught between the colors of a butterfly.

And everything is dearly missed, blood relations and bricks
my expression, my confession, add it up, extract duress and more than this,
once again, like a bullet as a friend, tell me: can that be all there is?
All there is?

Los Angeles Is Burning

Somewhere high in the desert near a curtain of a blue
St. Anne's skirts are billowing
But down here in the city of the lime lights
The fans of santa ana are withering
And you can’t deny that living is easy
If you never look behind the scenery
It's showtime for dry climes
And bedlam is dreaming of rain

When the hills of los angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And los angeles is burning

This is not a test
Of the emergency broadcast system
Where malibu fires and radio towers
Conspire to dance again
And I cannot believe the media Mecca
They're only trying to peddle reality,
Catch it on prime time, story at nine
The whole world is going insane

When the hills of los angeles are burning
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And los angeles is burning

A placard reads
"the end of days"
Jacaranda boughs are bending in the haze

More a question than a curse
How could hell be any worse?

The flames are stunning
The cameras running
So take warning

When the hills of los angeles are burnin
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And los angeles is burning

Let Them Eat War

There's a prophet on a mountain and he's making up dinner
With long division and writing crop
Anybody can feel like a winner
When it's served up piping hot

But the people aren't looking for a handout
They're America's working corps
Can this be what they voted for?

Let them eat war(X2)
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war(X2)

There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride

From the force to the union shops
The war economy is making new jobs
But the people who benefit most
Are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts

Who never stole from the rich to give to the poor
All they ever gave to them was a war
And a foreign enemy to deplore

Let them eat war(X2)
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war(X2)

There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride

We've got to kill 'em and eat 'em
Before they reach for their checks
Squeeze some blue collars
Let them bleed from their necks
Seize a few dollars from the people who sweat
Cause it's freedom or death and they won't question it
At a job site the boss is god like
Conditioned workhorses park at a stoplight
Seasoned vets with their feet in nets
A stones throw away from a rock fight
But not tonight, feed ‘em death

Here comes another ration (feed them death)
Cause they're the finest in the nation (feed them death)
When there's nothing left to feed them
When it's freedom or it's death

Let them eat war(X2)
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war(X2)

There's an urgent need to feed

God's Love

Striking at mental apparitions
Like a drunk on a vacant street
Silently beset by the hands of time
Indelicate in its fury
An aberrant crack as skeletons yield
To unrelenting gravity
While viruses prowl for helpless victims
Who succumb rapidly

(Tell me!) Tell me; where is the love?
In a careless creation
When there’s no “above”
There’s no justice
Just a cause and a cure
And a bounty of suffering
It seems we all endure
And what I’m frightened of
Is that they call it “God’s love”

Twisted torment, make-believe
There’s a truth and we all submit
“Believe my eyes,” my brain complies
To all that they interpret

I know there’s no reason for alarm
But who needs perspective when it comes to pain and harm
We can change our minds; there’s a better prize

But first you’ve got to…
I know there’s no reason for alarm
But who needs perspective when it comes to pain and harm
We can change our minds; there’s a better prize

They call it God’s love
My pain is God’s love

To Another Abyss

Not long ago, and yet the image is so vague
I hesitate to label it a memory
There was a show of local color and I felt astray
Cause I had nothing to offer but insufficiency

And you know that it’s such a bitch
When you learn to scratch that itch
Of blatant fallibility
Sooner to some, but eventually
All gets pointed in the same direction
While the human masses and their vague conceptions
Obliterate each other with impunity
And you wonder, “what’s in this for me?”

To another abyss
To no avail
The search is bound to fail
To another abyss
To no avail
So long ago I set sail
And it chills me to the bone
That I’m so far away from home
To another abyss

So what should I do now? What should I celebrate?
Given finite means and a penchant to depreciate
How can I still avow and depend upon a state
That cares nothing for my happiness, welfare, or fate?

And I know I can’t explain
The commotion in my brain
Like a terrifying reality
Deconstructed but inadequately
All gets pointed in the same direction
While the human masses and their vain conceptions
Obliterate each other with impunity
And release the weight of history

To another abyss
To no avail
The search is bound to fail
To another abyss
To no avail
So long ago I set sail
And it chills me to the bone
That I’m so far away from home
To another abyss

So long ago, so long ago…oh, I set sail
And I’m struggling on the way
And I’m waiting for the day (to another abyss)
And I’m looking for the way back home (to another abyss)
So far away (to another abyss)
So far away (to another abyss)
(to another abyss) So far away
(to another abyss)

The Quickening

The quickening is an ephemeral thing
That only happens in the dark
Like catching lightning in a jar
And the pain that it brings
Is just the promise of spring
It’s madness on the way
Oh, what does it mean…

To come alive
To come alive
To come alive
(To come alive)
To come alive
To come alive
To come alive

The entering is soulful conjecturing
Oh, lost and by the wind grieved ghost
Come back to me again
Because the way that she bleeds
Is in the law that he reads
Confusing words and deeds
So what does it mean…

To come alive
To come alive
To come alive
(To come alive)
To come alive
To come alive
To come alive


To pierce the vein of the sacred and profane
Poor science, in service of a faith
But who will bear the mark of Cain?

To come alive
To come alive
To come alive
(To come alive)
To come alive
To come alive
To come alive

The Empire Strikes First

We strike first
And we're unrehearsed
Here we go again
To stage the greatest show on heaven and earth
Come on, get your money's worth

Don't wanna live
(can't live)
Don't wanna give
(can't give)
Don't wanna be
(won't be)
E-M-P-I-R-E
Don't wanna live
Don't wanna be
E-M-P-I-R-E

We're comin on fast
And we're built to last
We stumbled once in 'Nam
Now we're glad to finally say
Those days have passed
Tell me how long can it last!

Don't wanna live
(can't live)
Don't wanna give
(can't give)
Don't wanna be
(won't be)
E-M-P-I-R-E
Don't wanna live
Don't wanna be
E-M-P-I-R-E

We just started out
You don't need to be afraid
Yeah you deserve two minutes hate

Well, we spit and we cursed and our bleeding hearts burst
But even ten million souls
Marching in February couldn't stop the worst,
Couldn't reverse

Don't wanna live
Don't wanna give
Don't wanna be
E-M-P-I-R-E
Don't wanna live
Don't wanna be
E-M-P-I-R-E

I can't live
If it isn't with you

Beyond Electric Dreams

Here we go now

No one here can show you where it is but I can point to a sign
On the roof of the world without apparent design
The frozen definition of a lunatic ambition to rise
The air is thin, the future dim, dimension hard to find

Up on a mountain encased in solar rays
Beyond electric dreams of inarticulate passion plays
Coming down a mountain, eons have a human ring
The conversation of impassive planets
Intercepted by a human being

Ratioclination is a practicable way to derive
An attitude of altitude and probity by which to abide
Or maybe of the a theophany of flaming creosote in disguise
The air is thin, the future dim, dimension undefined

Up on a mountain encased in solar rays
Beyond electric dreams of inarticulate passion plays
Coming down a mountain, eons have a human ring
The conversation of impassive planets
Intercepted by a human being

Here glaring cold in the crystalline geometry of night,
Obscuring form and tracing faceless fears
Of a suprahuman immensity in a patch of sand
Or a raptors guileless shivering intensity,
I'm only a visitor,
And atom of atoms on a jutting red splattered synagogue of granite
As it crouches literally in space,
A frozen amoral giant gazing heavenward forever

Let's go where the raptor goes to the mountain in a cosmic glow
We'll have a genuine terrestrial show on a mountain - on a mountain
Let's scan the horizon clean for any trace of human schemes
And try to touch upon immortal themes on a mountain - on a mountain

Boot Stamping On A Human Face Forever

“Drop dead, it doesn’t matter,” she said
“It only hurts when I laugh,” she said
“Sometimes it’s never a crime
“To spend the day in bed”
She made certain that the curtains were red
To dream better by the light they would shed
She leaned back, tilted her head
And this is what she said…

“You can’t win; think it over again
“I can’t win; look at the trouble I’m in
“We can’t win and we’re stuck here together
“Yeah, I hope it will last forever.”

“Don’t ever dare to hope,” he said
“So I’m never let down too bad
“I know there’s nowhere to go
“So I’ll just stay here, instead”
He knew better than to pull at a thread
They unravel like the thoughts in his head
He looked out; it filled him with dread
And this is what he said…

“You can’t win; think it over again
“I can’t win; look at the trouble I’m in
“We can’t win and we’re stuck here together
“Yeah, I hope it will last forever.”

With good books and looks on their side
And hearts bursting with national pride
They sang songs and went along for the ride
And the other side complied
They said, "Hey, man, where do you reside?"
"And could it be mother’s superior lied?"
"And is it possible too many have died?"
It’s only natural to reply

“You can’t win; think it over again
“I can’t win; look at the trouble I’m in
“We can’t win and we’re stuck here together
“Yeah, I hope it will last forever.”

Live Again - The Fall Of Man

The road is narrow, the horizon wide
And to say what’s waiting on the other side
Is so rewarding and the ultimate prize
But what good is something if you can’t have it until you die?

Desperate, tenacious, clinging like a grain of sand
Watching its foundation wash away (wash away)
Drunk with the assertions they know they can’t defend
Confident that they might…live again
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?

Temptation? Revelation? You decide
Torture shows its colors often in disguise
Progress and purpose help us realize
We pass along a brighter faith even though it must be blind

Desperate, tenacious, clinging like a grain of sand
Watching its foundation wash away (wash away)
Drunk with the assertions they know they can’t defend
Confident that they might…live again
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?

(Let's go)

Desperate, tenacious, clinging like a grain of sand
Watching its foundation wash away (wash away)
Drunk with the assertions they know they can’t defend
Confident that they might…live again
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?
Live again, live again
Would you give it all up to live again?

The Surface Of Me

Oh yeah!
A study of history reveals an unflagging appeal to mystery
You talk about abstraction at the top of the list
But you might as well get pissed, cause in me the essence does not exist, no-oh-oh
Yeah yeah!
You’re so shallow
How can your romance hope to be the veil of an ersatz human nature
That can pacify but never slept well when there’s the pretension of living a lie

Take me as I am, judge me for my crimes
I can say I’ll behave freely all the time
You can predict what I’ll say, it’s in my DNA
But soon I’ll be a catalogue number anyway

So say a little prayer
Convince yourself that someone cares
All I am is what you see
There is nothing more than the surface of me(X2),

you know

Oh yeah!

Apologies to Skinner, but I do believe that I feel like I’m a winner
Having just discovered a long solved modal secret, of how I always feel
So goddamn downtrodden and desperate

Take me as I am, judge me for my crimes
I can say I’ll behave freely all the time
You can predict what I’ll say, it’s in my DNA
But soon I’ll be a catalogue number anyway

So say a little prayer
Convince yourself that someone cares
All I am is what you see
There is nothing more than the surface of me(X6)

What you see is the surface of me