Crimson Mass

Intro (Pipe organ, tolling bell, choirs under distorted guitar swell) [Verse 1] Candles weep along the nave Silver smoke above the graves Marble saints with hollow eyes Watch us kiss where mercy dies Velvet fangs and blackened lace Holy wine upon your face Stained glass bleeds in scarlet light We come alive inside the night [Pre-Chorus] Hear the choir moan Beneath the chapel stone Heaven shut its doors So we made love to war [Chorus] We are the vampires in the churches Dancing where the dying choir sings With our mouths red from the mercy And our shadows draped in kings We are the fever in the altar We are the hymn that never ends When the moon hangs over spires We drink again, drink again [Verse 2] Golden crosses upside-down Buried deep beneath the ground Every psalm becomes a spell Every prayer a tolling bell Your fingernails like sacrament Across my throat, a covenant The bishops sleep, the gargoyles grin Midnight lets the faithful in [Pre-Chorus] Hear the choir moan Beneath the chapel stone No one’s getting saved When lust is in the nave [Chorus] We are the vampires in the churches Dancing where the dying choir sings With our mouths red from the mercy And our shadows draped in kings We are the fever in the altar We are the hymn that never ends When the moon hangs over spires We drink again, drink again Normal theatrical breakdown (Half-time, huge toms, choir stabs, chugging guitars) [Breakdown 1] Kneel To the night Taste The light Blood in the chalice Dust in the lung Love is a sermon Best left unsung Kneel And behold Warm hearts Turn cold The chapel is shaking The rafters all bend We bite through forever Again and again (Guitar / organ instrumental break) (Bass and drums settle into a stomping groove; organ carries the melody before a soaring guitar lead takes over) [Instrumental Feature] Oh— Raise up the ancient sound on high Let it ring through the vaulted sky Black silk, white bone, fire and flame Call out the unforgotten name (Instrumental cue): (4 bars organ melody 8 bars lead guitar theme 8 bars twin harmony guitars final bar: hard stop into mosh riff) (Metalcore breakdown) (Drop into crushing low riff, syncopated kicks, crowd-call cadence) [Breakdown 2] Drag the coffin through the sanctuary Break the locks and bless the carrion Teeth on the throat of the century We are the plague in communion No gods No sleep No graves We keep The pulse of the dead in our hands The curse of the blessed in our veins You pray for the end of the hunger We only hunger again (Callout): Open— The— Gates! [Bridge] If you fear the dark, don’t speak our names If you love the night, then feed the flame We were born where the church bells rot In the mouth of the moon where God is not [Final Chorus] We are the vampires in the churches Crowned in ash and chapel gold With our hearts like broken censers And a hunger centuries old We are the fever in the altar We are the hymn that never ends When the moon hangs over spires We drink again, drink again [Outro] (Choir + organ + whispered vocal) Drink again In the church of crimson Drink again Till the last bell dies