1. IMPENDING EMBOLISM

With fervid vocility we have perused
Through centuries of countless be thumbed volumes
Finding little solace for our plight
With absolute bodily quiescence
We have pondered

While earthenware pots are shattered and scattered
And hanging plants mournfully wilt and waste away
Encrusted ghouls once loved and cherished

Fortress and shield razed in absolute defeat
Pining away in curious conflagration
But this I call to mind and therefore
I have hope...


2. PATHOGENIC OCULAR DISSONANCE

The iguanidae sees East and West simultaneously
The praying mantis sees three hundred flies from three
Orbit of man, divergent strabismus and
Compound eyes alien by design

Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance

Unravel the surcingle, clotted and much
Excoriated eons of life unsound
Avert your gaze, the horrific pestilence
You are spared and standing on Holy ground
Searching nystagmus, it's no wonder
Spiritual migraines still persist
The scales fall, the cataracts desist
The life you once led is not even missed

Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance

When red is green and green is gray
You've failed the test in column A
You see at twenty what we do at fifty
The wisdom of sight comes from the father of lights

The treasure you see, the treasure you know
There will your heart be found also


3. PHANTOM LIMB

The case of George Dedlow
Double amputee, one of 500,000
Civil War casualties
Suffered a phenomenon so bizarre
Even the doctors looked on from afar

How can you feel a leg that isn't even there?
From cold to burning heat
To pain beyond compare
Clinically know as phantom limb
So hard to treat, prognosis dim

Brachial plexus avulsion
They told you cycles were dangerous
Nerves ripped from the spinal cord
You certainly need the Lord

But just like the feeling in your arm that is gone
You've severed communication with Him all along
Even though you know it's totally wrong
Spiritual death kicks off it's swan song

Don't throw away the years He gives you
By hardening your heart within you
And if you cut off both your own legs
And you have sworn just to ignore Him
The phantom limb will start to haunt you
He wants to bring you back, revive you


4. RUMINATING VIRULENCE

Vision from the past
As you see yourself floating to shore
Tragedy that the water depth wasn't
Three feet more
Diving from the cliff
Never thought it would come to this
Incoherent utterance
"Don't move the body like this"

Years later in the metal chair
Passing day after day
Bitterness permeates everything I do and say
What kind of God would do a thing like this?
Ruin my life
God's got a funny sense of humor
When it comes to strife
The way, mind and heart of God
Are certainly mysterious
"My plans are not your plans"
But remember this
That everything I do I do in love
To bring you closer to me
No matter what your problems or
Circumstances happen to be

When you put away bitterness
You will see what you have missed


5. SPECTROPHOBIC DEMENTIA

I feel a piece of my life escapes me
With every rising of the sun
Subtle thoughts assuring me that I'm not well
Asyndesis, mind undone
Was it me?
Was I there?
No way to tell memory cast farewell
Will I live?
Am I dead?
Somebody said, "He's getting worse"
1943 inside, outside it's yesterday
God please help me
Lacramation down my face
Voices strangers from my past
The people that I love
Worried smiles across the room
It's me they're thinking of

You don't know how lame it is to wonder who you are
Losing touch with everything, and everyone's so far
Give to me the dreams my brain and mind will not recall
Give to me the dignity of knowing me at all

Here alone inside, please comfort me before I die
And I can only be restored by your hand

He who hears the Word and turns
To do not what it says and learn
Is like the man who gazed into the mirror
For an honest view
And saw himself and walked away
Forgot the sight without delay
This fate could be for me or you
So seek the Lord in grace and truth


6. GELATINOUS TUBERCLES OF PURULENT OSSIFICATION

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow.
The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors.

Unavoidable larygectomy
Summon the E.N.T.M.D.
Is this the end for me ?
Install the Western Electric number 5000
Creach modification
Nicotine addiction, larynx benediction
Learn a whole new way to speak

Physic's law number two
Every action that you do
Has a strong and binding force
Set in motion human course

Your rainbow and the pot of gold
The dreams that you had grow cold
Your mistake burdens you a hundred fold
God knows out hearts are weak
But we must learn to thing before we speak
And consider the damage that we wreak
By choosing a foolish road to seek

I don't want to go to the movies tonight.

A rainbow.
Pot of gold.
Regardless of the day, I'm glad you were born.


7. INCOMMENSURATE

The fallacy impinging on mankind
Prevalent throughout eons
Good and evil equally matched
Sicker yet, that perniciousness will reign

Satan, a dog on a leash
Subject to the will and restrictions of the Father
Incommensurate

Lucifer, Mephistopheles, the Serpent, Belial
Brought to life by the great I AM as an angel of light
Pride, his downfall, cast down from Heaven
Cursed to eat the dust of the earth

The tempter was created by a God you deem fictitious
In a book that you call lies - make up your mind
Prevaricator, larcenist, blinder of the world
Deceiving fallen man into knowledge of the damned

Obvious now, the notion absurd
Incommensurate
The leash is short but not for long
Permanent incarceration imminent

Agnus dei, the lamb of God defeated sin and grave
His death and resurrection
His plan in sovereign grace

Y el diablo que los engañaba fue lanzado al lago
De fuego y azufre, donde tambien
Estan la bestia y el falso profeta
Y alli seran atormentados dia y noche
Por los siglos de los siglos...


8. EXOSKELETONS

Waiting in fear
My stepfather's prey
Mother's mistake
Now I'm blackmailed not to say

Try to explain
To a starving child
The check's in the mail
But it hasn't arrived
We've got money for weapons
And appeals to crimes
Shadrack of Kenya
May never reach five

Look around and I will show you now
A world that needs a way out
Look around and I will show you how
A man can gain understanding

Can you tell me that it's me?
Chemo has arrived
Like a drive-by shooting
Both the good and bad cells die

The funeral's delayed
Until the newlyweds arrive
They pull him from the car
That she followed behind
State of panic reasoning
Interrupts while she cries
Summons the priest
Can you fit two inside?

Time has no respect for man
Rain falls on the good and bad
Though we may not understand
We can choose to watch or extend our hands

Look around and I will show you now
A world that needs a way out
Look around and then look at yourself
Because you can help them out


9. THEODICY ON TRIAL

Satan called upon the Lord
"I must perform a test
To prove that faith in God
Is contingent on being blessed"

One of the richest men of the second millennium
Job was stripped of all his wealth
Three daughters and seven sons
He tore his robe
And shaved his head
Fell to the ground, worshiped God and said:

I was naked when I came here
I'll be naked when I leave here
The Lord gave it
So He can take it
All away

Satan called upon the Lord
"Give me one more test
Grant that I may strike his flesh
And at you he'll shake his fist"

From head to toe black boils
Were pregnant on his skin
His breath was super roached
Stomach caving in
Detested and forsaken by family and friends
His wife said, "Curse your God
And let yourself be dead!"

I didn't ask you
If I could come here
So I cannot ask the
Condition that I leave here
I don't remember
Planning my existence
But why have you forsaken me?

Rewarded for his faithfulness
Job was given back his health
Twice the riches as before
Then God gave His discourse:

Where were you when I
Laid the foundations
Dug the oceans
And set its limits?
Were you around when I
Plotted constellations?
Answer me!

He who puts the Lord on trial
Puts himself on the stand


10. DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM

(Instrumental)


11. EN HAKKORE

Nazarite, set apart, he will lead them
Hypersthenic, beyond renown, dead Philistines your crown

Tasting not of the vine or beware
The razor shan't come near the braids of your hair
Living ungodly for you wasn't meant
Entry of freedom is why you were sent

Call to me and I will be the spring
Call to me in need for I can turn your faith to strength

The women you loved were not of your kind
A weakness that severed your power divine
You drank from the spring that God only gives
Then slept with the enemy knowing your sin
Because of your will to live not your vow
Ocular gouging and death in the end
Believe you were, example you are
For us who partake of En Hakkore from within


12. THE SKEEZIX DILEMMA

Silly childhood game - Uncle Wiggly
I cower in abject horror
Approaching space number 109
Home of the gaunt and haggard shell of the Skeezix

The emaciated figure
Harboring the greed of a thousand
Invading, thriving, ascaris whittles away
The self confidence of young minds
Casting doubt that they will
Ever reach the finish to see for themselves
The sagacious Uncle Wiggly

His mission now is complete
The arboreal king of misery and woe
Skeezix reposes high on a knotty forest crag
And the child still tries his best to
Stay into the game
But with insufficient, no volition
Plotted course of demolition
Goes through all the motions
Musing caveat emptor and
A predetermined failure

He draws a card and all his fears come true
Advance to 109
That's what you have to do

When Mr. Skeezix becomes Mr. Jones
Or you, or me
Just think of what that does to wreck
A child of two or three
They know and feel much more than
We will give them credit for
And all they want in life from you
Is love and nothing more
When painful eyes begin to cringe
When you walk through the door
Remember children are a gift of love
Sent from the Lord


BONUSTRACK (RE-ISSUE 1993)

13. THE TEMPTER

I am the tempter
Ruler of hell
Bringer of evil
Beware

Watch for temptation for it is there
Takes his time but loves to dare
All the people they are losing their minds
He don't care, takes all kinds
Says love won't you take a bite
God appears says "this ain't right"
We are damned for what evil has done
You know now the Tempter has won

I am the one
The almighty
I'll give you the good things in life
Take me

It is said God tempteth no man
Keep in mind you know he can
Listen to one now this we must
For we are all conceived with lust
The tempter, he taketh you brain
WE know now who will reign
god says it bringeth forth sin
Take my word it brings on death

This time you have won
but what about the next
You know I'll get you
Bastards

When you are losing your mortal soul
It's too late to cry to the Lord
Hear me now all you sinners


BONUSTRACKS (RE-ISSUE 2001)

13. PATHOGENIC OCULAR DISSONANCE (LIVE 2000)

(See lyrics on track 2)


14. BEARING GRUESOME CARGO / DRUM SOLO (LIVE 2000)

This is why I am the way that I am
This is why I am the way that I am
This is why I am the way that I am
This is why I am the way that I am

You know I'm carrying with me
Over twenty years of pity
My whole personality
Was formed by others, not me
When I look back on my life
One that's always filled with strife
I rode down a bad course
Nobody's fault but yours

My step always threw me right down the stairs
So forgive me when I do the same thing to you
I know it must seem like you're daddy never cares
But if you knew what I've been through
You'd do the same thing too

Well I can't make a move
Without draggin' all my baggage
My father always cursed
So firgive me for my language
Please excuse me for yelling
Pardon me for telling you to stop
Selling to me your God in Heaven

This is why I am the way that I am
This is why I am the way that I am
If I can keep this up for the rest of my days
I may never have to take responsability
For my ways