Subrosa For This We Fought the Battle of Ages 1. Despair Is A Siren Let down a rope I know there is another world In their geometry Is a straight line to a living death The earth is shifting like a plate My skin doesn’t fit anymore I’m hanging by the noose of their lamp cord I see the bars of the cage Like paper dolls we’re linked here Homesick for chains In their gilded whalebones We gasp and wilt away The earth is shifting like a plate My skin doesn’t fit anymore I’m writhing in the flame of their ghost lights I see the bars of the cage Despair is a siren calling through the night The earth wraps itself in a shroud I curse my fate, I curse my free will In you, I see the glass towers coming down In you, I see something that died in me fester and ignite I’m not sleeping in glass chambers Who’s the dead one now? My stand lives on in gas chambers Who’s the dead one now? 2. Wound Of The Warden The wound of the warden From cradle to the grave The senseless apprehension Of freedom’s wily ways I know one day they’ll be grateful I know one day they’ll worship me Choice is too precious To be wasted on vermin That’s how we’ll keep them Sheltered, fetal, fed and glutted The sweet drug of anesthesia Hell is easy to find And I know that in time they’ll be glad I kept them blind I will save you, I will absolve you I will spare you, I will rob you I’ll take upon me the canker of knowledge I’ll take upon me the fetid price of glory How great it is, the transcendent goodness The self-assurance of the pure Suffering eases at the gates And laughter ceases at the gates Someone above you always knows better than you There’s something comforting in the stranglehold of a shepherd’s crook How great it is, the transcendent goodness The self-assurance of the pure Not one misstep, not one mistake All calculated for our sake Like children we’ll step into the fire 3. Black Majesty Isn’t it good to be acquainted with darkness, To caress it gently, to slit its throat, To know the hidden pockets, caves and grottos of the mirrored landscape, To catch a glimpse of black majesty, To know there’s more horror to this existence than anyone could ever know, Standing in the shadow of our own? Isn’t it beautiful To know exquisite remorse, To see the truth that drives men fleeing into early graves, To be wise, to dream every day of a great escape, of a Houdini blade? We love the taste of false perfection – the more the lies, the more we laud. Isn’t it beautiful to live and die alone, to carve a path out of unyielding stone between the crushing narrow divide of the war of two tribes steeped in a hate so narrow and deep it leaves two inches of earth on either side to save you from the final breath-taking fall into a deep hush – a silence so profound that your ears run and melt with the deafening sound? 4. Il Cappio L’amore e come un cappio che ti strozza Che ti lascia sospezo a mezz’aria Senza respiro, senza forze, indifeso Come una marionetta 5. Killing Rapture Revealing love to be a test tube of untidy sludge Is the greatest triumph of the modern era Evolution belies this unfortunate defect We’re smoothing out the gross chaos of biology Antithesis to precision A threat to order and reason Inverse of numbers The fruits of the heart are a useless and troublesome thing A waste of time, thief of quota and peace of mind Rapture is such an inefficient emotion With the surgical arts, we’ll free them from their foolish hearts To feel is the enemy To be a dead tomb is a mercy Hanno combattuto la battaglia della loro vita per questo Per essere fatti a pezzi, per venire ridotti al nulla The time has come to take someone, anyone Courtship is no more than a menu of flesh and blood We’re interchangeable as dung at the city dump – A city laid waste, where everything’s been decided for us So get a ticket Erase all difference Undo the burden of identity (your body is not your own) 6. Troubled Cells There, beyond the windowsill Lies the child that we all dread An affront to our ease and our lassitude A thorn in our side How soon will she die? Now every road I take, no matter how far Leads me back here again, convicted by your smile And every waking dream, and every wasted hour Seems veined with a disease that I cannot escape Soft music plays on the gramophone A fire in the grate, arm around your wife’s waist Warms your crocodile tears As you think of the child under the cellar stairs When will she disappear? If there’s no way through for you, there’s no way through for me I refuse the cool gardens, I reject my honored seat If there’s no way through for you, there’s no way through for me I don’t need the golden banners, I don’t need the vain embrace Now, every road I take, no matter how far Leads me back here, convicted by your smile All is veined with a disease that I cannot escape For troubled cells do not a healthy body make There is no greater good if you’re trodden underfoot – There is no greater good. Paradise is a lie if we have to burn you at the stake to get inside Paradise is a lie if you’re not by my side Rebecca Vernon: guitars, vocals Sarah Pendleton: violin, vocals Kim Pack: violin, vocals (backing) Andy Patterson: drums Levi Hanna: bass