Machine Head
Through the Ashes of Empires (2003)
1. Imperium
2. Bite The Bullet
3. Left Unfinished
4. Elegy
5. In The Presence Of My Enemies
6. Days Turn Blue To Gray
7. Vim
8. All Fall Down
9. Wipe The Tears
10. Descend The Shades Of Night
1. Imperium
Hear me now
Bearing down upon a path we choose
Chosen from the start living different rules
Existence something to cherish true
Will not succumb to doubts that I hold onto
Release the fear of my pain
In so much pain
Give me the will to fight
Every obstacle that I have inside
Release the fear and
Hear me now
Words I vow
No fucking regrets
Fuck these chains
No god damn slave
I will be different
I'll stand here defiantly
My middle finger raised
Fuck your prejudice
All my life
Always I've felt alone
Conditioned to believe that I'm always wrong
Only truth will help to set me free
My every weakness I must turn into strength
Every rage, every tear
Hate in so much hate
Never that pain will bind me
Ask of myself if I've the will to unwind
Every rage and tear
Hear me now
Words I vow
No fucking regrets
Fuck these chains
No god damn slave
I will be different
I'll stand here defiantly
My middle finger raised
Fuck your prejudice
Carved upon my stone
I will go on
Patience, belief
Love will ascend
Just listen to it
Voice so true inside calling
To pick you up and march you on
Keep from falling
Let go your sorrow
Sun will shine, this I promise
Rising tommorow
Rising
Hear me now
I'm taking back the control
Of my
Life from societies hold
I vow
No more will I be a slave
Rise to
Challenge the whole human race
My spirit you cannot break
2. Bite The Bullet
I understand your every fear
Your every pain your every tear
With every struggle you conquer
Turn heart to steel
And will to iron
You want more?
You'll get it
Determined, ferocious
Grit down and bite the bullet
Dare to unbind
Smash and redefine
The hate you feel is nothing more
Than love you feel to win this war
The battle that rages inside you
With bloodlust
You must unchain your shackles
You want more?
You'll get it
Determined, ferocious
Grit down and bite the bullet
Dare to unbind
Smash and redefine
Lion heart
Never give in
Unsatisfy every weakness
You want more?
You'll get it
Determined, ferocious
Grit down and bite the bullet
Dare to unbind
Smash and redefine
3. Left Unfinished
Why was I born?
Sometimes I wish I didn't know
Been times when
I wish that I had just never been
Why did you have me?
Or better yet why'd you leave?
So to the people that could fuck
But then abandoned me
I'll give to this world what you couldn't give
Love the unwanted, every child born discarded
Add to the flock
The rejects you dumped on
I'll never forget
Life you disdain
So to the parents that bore me this pain
With all those things you left unfinished
You never could love me
I'm glad that you never did
My parents that raised me
Had plenty of that to give
And for that
I'll love them forever with all my heart
But to you
Don't let there be no mistake about it
Fuck you, you cocksucker
Fuck you, you whore
I'll live my life the opposite of what you are
Love will be my rock
The rock that I stand on
I'll never forget
Life you disdain
So to the parents that bore me this pain
With all those things you left unfinished
[Solo: Flynn]
Don't try to reach out to me
Don't try to call
The boy that you created
Is dead for all you fucking know
You just pretend you've never heard or seen
The name Lawrence Mathew Cardine
4. Elegy
Elegies are to be sung
Winds of armageddon come
Ignorance within your bliss
Soon you will atone for this
In your carcinogenic haze
Baneful of a newer age
Flower of a different scent
Poisons of the earths lament
A requiem
Earth belong not to you
Belong all we to her
Take another deeper breath
Inhale invisible death
Pollution fills the land and sky
Forever you justify
Take a deeper look and see
Nothing's left to future seeds
Icicles melt into blood
Ashes where there once was wood
A requiem
Earth belong not to you
Belong all we to her
Pain of life has pulled you under
Left you there to bleed and wonder
Open heart left torn asunder
Wrong the wrongs that you've been suffered
Kill we scream in roaring thunder
Destroy all, leave all things plundered
Acid rain cries her pain
Full bloom, a world gone insane
Her anger the flower
Plays God with all of our lives
A requiem
Earth belong not to you
Belong all we to her
5. In The Presence Of My Enemies
I never ask myself why injustice befell me
Accepted of the fact, try and live a life of peace
I'm not a violent man, but to those who'd threaten me
My enemy, for my family I'll show thee
Death I will fight you to
Wrath provoked you cannot bear
Our lives are not your toys
Mercy, not a drop to spare
You of destruction
Of hope's deconstruction
Kills
Innocence is lost when
The blood of innocents
Spills
I'm not a violent man, again I wish to repeat
But for every human that takes away a child's innocence
Whether it by molest, or by all wars pointlessness
Killer of life
Corruptor of all that is pure
I want your nose to break
Shattered under clenched fist
Smash face to concrete
Taste the asphalt's gentle kiss
You of destruction
Of hope's deconstruction
Kills
Innocence is lost when
The blood of innocents
Spills
[Solo: Demmel]
To those that are to blame
Destroyers of every dream
Breaking of hatred's wings
Mars' phoenix begins fading
To those that monger war
Claiming that this is to even scores
This mantra I invoke
No longer this fear will
I choke
There's no peace for the one who can't know peace
Your every breath it only lives to take
Someday the earth you will descend
Not a regret I'll harbor in
Tearless my eyes
Flowerless my hands
And that day when your moment is fleeting
That thought keeps my heart beating
When they lower your casket down
Bitter the sweet within my mouth
Ender of life
Corruptor of all that's pure
On Your Grave
I Will Stand
6. Days Turn Blue To Gray
Thou have fathered
Son and daughter
Doth begat, yet raised not bother
Paralyzed your children's lives
Wither vines of family ties
Self-destruction
Make him function
Crayons and clay
Days turn blue to gray
Days turn blue to gray
Seventeen when
Family begin
Drinking, fighting, heroin
Unquenchable addictions call
Responsible to none above all
Self-destruction
Make him function
Crayons and clay
Days turn blue to gray
Days turn blue to gray
Lest I taste
Its sweet grapes
Glass to tongue
Across it tips
Cross my lips
Swallow it down
Please
Won't you love me?
Please help me see
What did I do?
Did I hurt you?
And now that you're gone
Emptiness lives on
The guilt is all I feel
No closure
Father
Motherfucker
No closure
The strings of my heart
You pulled on endlessly
This twine is severed
In tragedy
Father
Mother Destroyer
Destroy her
[Solo: Demmel]
Your self-destruction
What made you feel alive
Your self-destruction
Of your children's
Lives
7. Vim
Words of the righteous
We will not bend
The odds keep stacking up against
Strengthen our self endurance
Break down the cycle
Of errors past
We have to face up to the truth
Relinquish every grudge or bruise
Every ounce of strength grasps
One solid dream
Violent soul
Will be whole
We have to face up to it
For every second we're alive
Let our light shine
To our grave, we must pave
A path for us to rise from
Power surge, kills the urge
Life and death collide
Smash all the boundaries
That hold us down
Hold on to everything that loves
Let go of anything that starves
People with envy will hold us down
Freedom is just a cut away
Nothing can pass our life away
Every ounce of strength grasps
One solid dream
Violent soul
Will be whole
We have to face up to it
For every second we're alive
Let our light shine bright
To our grave, we must pave
A path for us to rise from
Power surge, kills the urge
Life and death collide
We take life's ebb and flow
Testament to the things we know
With the fight, we must roll
Strength will follow
Tooth and nail for the ground that we hold
Failures from the start but we still grow
Heads held high, rally for throne
Holding our own
Not just words we'll show you so
[Solo: Demmel, Flynn]
I can't remember
These doubts I must dismember
And trust in whole
Follow your own lightness
Follow your sound
Believe in me
'Cause I believe in you
8. All Fall Down
Anticipating, salivating, intoxicating
How I've been waiting
To gently soak in
Your dream that's broken
Caress my hands
Around your throat
When I choke the last gasp of air out of you
I'll mesmerize you, hypnotize you
Paralyze you, my snake eyes blind you
My tenderest tickle, my gentlest prickle
The back of your neck
I stab icicles
My sweetest grin will pull you in
Behind that grin a razor teeth smile
Under your bed
Inside your head
I am the monster in wait
Walk, run
I'm the fear you've become
Pray, hope
Before it's your
Downfall, and all falls down
I patronize you, victimize you
My false pretenses endear me to you
I'm psychopathic, psychosomatic
Believe everything you've heard about me
Ate you alive since you were a child
That's when the monster first appeared to you
So know my name
What is my name?
My name is fear and I'm you
Walk, run
I'm the fear you've become
Pray, hope
Before it's your
Downfall, and all falls down
With faith I crawl
In sadness, I fear what I've become
'Cause after all
I'm acting, pretend my smile on
Before the fall
The pain washes over
Hold on, hold on
Survive
Survive
This
Walk, run
Free the fear you've become
Fight back
Before it's your
Downfall, and all falls down
9. Wipe The Tears
Ask me how it feels
To feel like you're a failure
When everything that's real
Burns the flame in anger
I've heard it all before
I've felt some pain and more
More than you could ever dream
More than it probably seems
I've sat with head in hand
Stressed by my demands
Stomach tied in knots
Alone I've sat and rot
'Cause the pain from all these fears
Has built up all these years
I'll wipe away the tears
Wipe away the tears
Don't give in
Don't give up
Walk the streets dejected
Alone and left rejected
Time does not care
And sometimes life ain't fair
My head begins to pound
Smashing bottles on the ground
I have lived amongst the garbage
With those who rape and carnage
Had many a promise broken
And broken some myself
The promise I have kept alive
Is keep my inner wealth
With my heart aimed at the world
Destiny I watch unfurl
I'll wipe away the tears
Wipe away the tears
Don't give in
Don't give up
Oppurtunities
Wasting life away
Choked upon its dust
Puked out in disgust
Let me tell you how it feels
To feel like you're a failure
Been climbing out this gutter
For what seems like it's forever
But one thing I must make clear
The struggle of these years
Has made every scar the stronger
My lust for life the longer
I will fight for what I love
And I will fight for those I care
I will fight at anytime
And I will fight anywhere
With my heart aimed at this world
Destiny I watch unfurl
I'll wipe away the tears
Wipe away the tears
Don't give in
Don't give up
10. Descend The Shades Of Night
Sitting in the empty black
The last slivers of dusk have passed
Accept the dawn to ease the fear
One day I will not be here
Death she comes and with her thread
Upon me ties a mask for dead
Its tears of blood begin to seep
And bleed the sky
Descend the shades of night
Death shines her golden light
Across a blackened sky
All our hate is a product of a world...
We created
Ashen clouds obscure my brain
Doubts begin to turn to shame
Insecureness tears at bliss
I hate me for this weakness
Faith drives me to carry on
And take the road less travelled on
Resentment swallowed means to drown
The poison down
The shades of night descend
Descend the shades of night
Death shines her golden light
Across a blackened sky
All our hate is a product of a world...
We created
[Solo: Demmel, Flynn, Demmel]
Scream with me
Bleed with me
Seethe with me
Sing with me
Free me
Free me
Free me
Descend the shades of night
Death shines her golden light
Across a blackened sky
The shades of night descend
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