[Key: Drop C] [BPM: 108] [Genre: Progressive Alternative Metal, Dark Hard Rock] [Intro: Hypnotic bass ostinato, dissonant clean guitar, irregular metallic percussion, tension slowly accumulating] [Verse 1: Low, restrained clean vocals, cold and deliberate] Paris is burning on a screen A thousand mouths, a fractured dream The streets erupt, the cameras feed Another crisis served on repeat They preach restraint from gilded rooms While selling matches into fumes A law for you, a throne for them A different mask, the same old hand [Pre-Chorus: Rising tension, gritty clean vocals, drums building] They draw the line They choose the side They sell the wound Then sell the cure [Chorus: Massive melodic clean vocals, wide guitars, layered harmonies] WHO BUILT THE CAGE WE'RE LIVING IN? WHO PROFITS WHEN WE TURN WITHIN? We're choking on the air they sell And all the while say it's free will Divide the blood, distort the truth Keep every eye fixed on the noose If this is all the world can be WHO'S MAKING GODS OF MEN LIKE THESE? [Verse 2: Syncopated riff, hypnotic bass, increasingly venomous vocal delivery] The kings of code, the lords of gold Want every human bought and sold They build their towers past the sky And teach the rest of us to die They want the power to rewrite The limits of the human mind To own the seed, the sun, the rain And patent every scrap of pain [Pre-Chorus: Distorted guitars swell, vocals becoming more urgent] If this is progress And it's our choice Why flood the world Then sell us noise [Chorus: Full band, soaring clean lead with harsh backing accents] WHO BUILT THE CAGE WE'RE LIVING IN? WHO PROFITS WHEN WE TURN WITHIN? We're choking on the air they sell And all the while say it's free will Divide the blood, distort the truth Keep every eye fixed on the noose If this is all the world can be WHO'S MAKING GODS OF MEN LIKE THESE? [Bridge: Instruments strip back to a pulsing bass figure, intimate almost-whispered vocals] A thousand feeds A million fears A perfect enemy For every pair of ears A manufactured appetite A manufactured wrong and right A little rage, a little shame A different target, the same old game [Build: Layered whispers become a forceful clean vocal, drums and guitars intensify] What if the product is the fracture? What if the outrage is the prize? And every little war we fight Keeps the real war out of sight? [Instrumental: Dissonant guitar motif, complex rhythmic accents, rising feedback] [Breakdown: Crushing half-time riff, tightly synchronized stops, raw harsh vocals] CONTROL THE FEED! CONTROL THE FEAR! KEEP THEM FIGHTING WHILE YOU DECEIVE! SELL THEM AN ENEMY! MAKE THEM INSECURE! MAKE THEM SO SICK THEY BEG FOR THE CURE! CROWN YOURSELVES IN SILICON! CARVE YOUR NAMES INTO THE SUN! YOU WANT THE WORLD TO CALL YOU GODS? THEN WHY ARE YOU SO SCARED OF US? [Final Chorus: Huge clean vocals, gritty doubles, harsh screams punctuating the final lines] WHO BUILT THE CAGE WE'RE LIVING IN? WHO PROFITS WHEN WE TURN WITHIN? We're choking on the air they sell AND CALLING IT OUR OWN FREE WILL! Divide the blood, distort the truth Make every stranger look like proof You built your heaven over me BUT YOU'RE NOT GODS! YOU'RE JUST MEN LIKE ME! [Outro: Bass and guitar pulse alone, gradual dissonant decay] [End: Abrupt silence]
