1. THE WORK ETHIC MYTH

We have paved the roads that have led to our own oppression
Fear of the unknown, of rejection, has put brutes and
villains In power
The fetters that restrict our arms and throats were cast by
Our own hands, just as we have set our own guards at the door
We drag boulders a thousand leagues to erect their palaces
We have established a system of education that celebrates
Sacrifice and creates generations of slaves
Hold hands in a ritual of deception
Hold hands in a ritual of desolation
Hold hands in a ritual of self destruction
We are the accomplice class: footstools for our masters, Spineless bastards all.


2. AN AGE IMPRISONED

One thousand shattered mirrors could never erase this
Grotesque image from my mind
The chains of one million addictions can never ease the
Discomfort of my consciousness
Every waking thought centered on this weak, despicable,
Hideous shell
In stance and walk and all movement secrets are laid bare
Nothing left, but our eyes cannot meet
Clearly, repugnance dances across your face as you silently
Laugh at the misshapen husk shambling before you
Trapped in this decaying tomb, trapped in this wretched
prison Confined to flesh


3. BELT OF FIRE TO GUIDE ME, CLOAK OF NIGHT TO HIDE ME

Red am I in battle
Red the ravens at my heels
I will keep no terms with my enemies
Always on the point of perishing, always in danger, but to Give an inch, to make any compromise,
A single concession is Defeat
Burn away these eyes that seek weakness
May their quests lead them to the wolves to fang, to claw, To axe, to sword, tearing, ripping, cleaving, left by the Wayside of man.
Red am I in battle
Red the ravens at my heels


4. BURNING BLACK COALS AND DARK MEMORIES

My mistakes light up the sky, a horde of blazing stars through night's black curtain
They guide me safely along
An endless passage over dangerous Waters
From the summit of a towering mountain, leaping at once to a
Jagged shoreline, flesh and muscle impaled
I have destroyed that bridge, but the gift of strength and
Defiance can never be damaged
If my haven is but a weight chaining me to stagnation,
Then I must call to the thunder to break these bonds,
Escape into The chaos of the burning sands,
And surround myself in self Destruction
And surround myself in deconstruction
So it is the consequence of exploration and expansion
Alone self discovery
Recognition of power
Isolate intelligence
I am the emissary
I am the balance
I am the beginning
I am the end.


5. THEY STRETCH OUT THEIR HANDS

The fire's light casts shadows
Across the faces of abandoned Gods
Looming stone monoliths stand silently as a pantheon of
Superstition burns: emotional immolation
The thorned crown of self sacrifice, the horns and fury of
Immature rebellion, the false personification of nature
Gives way to this passionate holocaust, to a reawakening of
Reason, to the triumph of the will
The stars' dull shine offers not approval nor any earthly
Feeling
It only illuminates our naked forms
Throw your frail bodies down
Throw your white bodies down
Throw your skinny bodies down
Throw your pale bodies down.


6. THE ROAD OF MANY NAMES

Pale-skinned, marsh dwellers, emerge from your murky caves
Wanderlust takes hold
The way stands clear, a gaping maw set to swallow the future
We travel across the burning sands to an open coast, greeted
With waves of indifference
Northward, over mountains which rise like spears offering Twisted paths, crooked smiles at the abysmal nothingness
Above
Oh, these sour times
We return covered in rags and our filth, dissension in our
Ranks like our closest friend
Home has been sacrificed in the harvest of experience.