[INTRO — LOW SUB-BASS RUMBLE, DARK ATMOSPHERE] [FEMALE SPOKEN VOICE — MATURE, DEEP, SMOKY, SULTRY, SLOW AND CONFIDENT] "Mmmm... Devil's Underground Inc..." [SHORT PAUSE — WHISPERING ECHO] "Where darkness has a voice..." [FEMALE VOICE — DEEPER, SINISTER, PLAYFUL] "Presenting... VEYR... NOCTIS." [DEEP DEMONIC CHUCKLE — 808 BASS DROP] [HARPSICHORD — CLOCK TICKING — CHAINS UNLOCKING] [VEYR — DEEP, ANCIENT, RASPY MALE SPOKEN] Rob... You called me brother. Said I could keep my crown. And now Abbadon's knocking at my crypt? Hssss... I swear, you people are just like him. [808 DROP — 90S WICKED HORRORCORE BOUNCE] [VERSE 1 — COLD RAP, GRADUALLY INTENSIFYING] You didn't come to steal my throne, you came to shift my sight, Said a crown can hold its weight without crushing every life. Had my kingdom under lock, had my heart behind the stone, I mistook a thousand years of hate for strength I'd earned alone. I could name the fallen emperors, the plagues and every war, But I never counted all the souls I turned away before. You said standing isn't kneeling, and respect is not defeat, Now your goddamn words are haunting every corridor I keep. I heard you call me brother and I nearly choked on air, Then I laughed like some old bastard who forgot how much to care. I'd have called compassion weakness till that mirror split in two; What a miserable discovery—maybe I was wrong about you. [PRE-CHORUS — CLOCK SLOWS, CHAINS RATTLE] Tick... tock... One more chance to choose. The crown stays on my head; it's the cruelty I can lose. [CHORUS — HEAVY INDUSTRIAL HORRORCORE CHANT] THE CRYPT DOOR'S OPEN! LET THE NIGHT COME IN! I STILL GOT THE FANGS, STILL GOT THE SIN! TWO CASTLES STANDING! NO THRONES TO STEAL! A KING AIN'T LESS FOR LEARNING HOW TO FEEL! THE CRYPT DOOR'S OPEN! HEAR THE IRON GROAN! I CAN STAND BESIDE YOU WITHOUT LEAVING MY THRONE! BLACK CROWN! RED SKY! OLD CHAINS BREAK! A THOUSAND YEARS DEAD—ONE CHOICE TO MAKE! [VERSE 2 — FAST MULTISYLLABIC RAP] I'm the antiquated, aggravated prince of isolation, Overeducated, underchanged, a walking contradiction. My sophisticated cynicism passed for revelation, Till a Goth Boy made me question my immortal reputation. Then a knock against the oak cut straight through the pouring rain, Just a stranger at my threshold, half-frozen, sick with pain. No royal blood, no ancient pact, no debt for me to claim, Only trembling hands and eyes too tired to explain. I reached for that old ledger, heard the scratching of my pen, Thought, "Nothing in this world comes free"—then put it down again. I turned the key, unlatched the gate, and stepped aside instead: "Come in before you freeze, you fool. And mind the fucking dead." [BEAT CUT — SINGLE HARPSICHORD NOTE] [VEYR — IRRITATED WHISPER] There. One decent thing. Don't make it a whole fucking personality. [BRIDGE — HAUNTED PIANO, DISTANT THUNDER] I never needed someone to take the monster out of me. I needed someone brave enough to tell the monster what he couldn't see. [VEYR — SOFT, THEN BITTER LAUGH] Rob... You didn't ask me to kneel. You asked me to stand. Damn you. I think I understand. [VERSE 3 — AGGRESSIVE HORRORCORE, METALLIC DRUMS] Let the false kings rot beneath their monuments of pride, Let the names they carved in marble wash away with every tide. I won't trade my wicked laughter for a painted saintly face, But I'll make some room for mercy in this godforsaken place. No alliance signed in blood, no borrowed crown, no empty vow, Two dark kingdoms keep their banners—we can build a bridge somehow. Tell the Little King I'm listening, tell Abbadon bring his clock, But if that little bastard's laughing, he can knock before he walks! [FINAL CHORUS — DISTORTED 808, CRUSHING GUITARS] THE CRYPT DOOR'S OPEN! LET THE NIGHT COME IN! I STILL GOT THE FANGS, STILL GOT THE SIN! TWO CASTLES STANDING! NO THRONES TO STEAL! A KING AIN'T LESS FOR LEARNING HOW TO FEEL! THE CRYPT DOOR'S OPEN! HEAR THE IRON GROAN! I CAN STAND BESIDE YOU WITHOUT LEAVING MY THRONE! BLACK CROWN! RED SKY! OLD CHAINS BREAK! A THOUSAND YEARS DEAD—AND I'M FINALLY AWAKE! [OUTRO — CLOCK TICKS, FIRE CRACKLES, HARPSICHORD FADES] [VEYR — DEEP RASPY MALE SPOKEN] Rob... Tell Clocked Out Ink the door's unlocked. But wipe your boots. And do NOT touch the fucking harpsichord. [LOW CHUCKLE] ...Brother. [FINAL CLOCK CHIME — COFFIN SLAM — SILENCE]
