1. Whoremonger

It takes a lifetime to realize healing others hold no power
It takes guts and guile to lower these horns while entangled in battles of past
The inanition struck without warning, I used to think I can see
There's nothing above the storm
And see
There's none who made it this far
I guess deceit worked for me, lies tasted so sweet I wondered what's in it to turn around

Pacifying dreams I longed for
turned out to be
mere subliminal stills in a wartime reel
Possessed, I've been watching shapes so frightening
the hour of awakening is not for the faint of heart

The eye-pecking vulture carries wisdom
Those who act in greed will cry at the outcome
A true test of patience - when to expose yourself
Am I on a bad trip or is this reality?

Savor of the sin-ridden sweat linger in air as we breathe
No time to stay, we must escape while the whores lie asleep
No distant shores ahead, we must dive through the storm and reign beneath
No arrows set on our course, we must maintain our hide and don the shields

I am a rabid dog
lashed to stones
sinking in
separate directions
I must obey

Martyrs find pride and joy whenever odds change their fate
Life as we know it lasts too long - such a game of fools
Death as we felt it was the price for taking over
It pays to see, see there's nothing above the storm

2. Apocatastasis (in Three Segments)

Seg. I: The Program Has Been Compromised, You Must Evolve the Code

"Strength - I have lost - few worthy hours, dozens of soul-scarring struggles -
and who am I to rule out what is right and what is not?"

Fought over these premises to cast this child in shadow
Declared these grounds for our savior, a savior baptised in bedlam
Mother stood by smiling with a shine of deceiver queen
The kindred blood blurs her eyes, the grief is passed on
The grief is passed on
The grief is passed on

The program's been compromised, you must evolve the code
Distortion grew larger, a foe to our visioner

Seg. II: The Serpent Coiled as a Star

"Savages, gather around the monolith of smeared dignity!
Alienate the evolved from the crippled herd!"

It's contagious to carry on without reprieve
Lead an elder's life full of pacts and promises
To take a stand for this oath against human error
To spill out the poison they made you swallow
To preach the others' practice like a fly numbed by their light
Just wait 'til the youth change
Transform into fountains of your loneliness
And when there's no-one to pierce with contempting gaze
Behold the mind reaving disaster

He saw something that had been seen before
Squires of secret knowledge seeking rivers of bless bearing tears
Fear made him bow upon the troubled throne
And thus cast himself in the court forlorn

Seg. III: Ancilla Dei

"In depths - we bred - and fire - we embraced
Through the - umbra of agony - mold into - this flesh
Through the - wall of guilt - built around - these dreams
Through the - shroud of self-loathe - smothering the - dionysian flame
Through the - lies I invented - in search of - the truth"