[Intro: clean delay guitar, distant feedback, low synth drone, heartbeat kick] [whispered vocal, close-mic] There’s a face behind the viewport… [Verse 1: clean arpeggiated guitar, melodic bass, restrained tom groove] There’s a face behind the viewport wearing mine but smiling wrong It says, “Let them orbit around you, you were born to be their sun” [second guitar enters with high dissonant harmonics] Down the corridor the red lights paint the walls like open veins Every voice becomes a signal calling out my name again [Pre-Chorus: bass becomes syncopated, drums open up, distorted guitar swells] I hear them breathing behind every door Do I want to save them or be needed more? [drums stop] [half-whisper] Tell me what I’m doing this for. [Chorus: full distorted guitars, octave lead melody, huge live drums, layered high vocals] Kill the man behind the glass before he learns to wear my skin He feeds on every hand I hold and calls the hunger “giving” I want to love without possession I want to bleed without applause But there’s a creature in my chest that turns compassion into claws [Post-Chorus: rapid angular guitar riff, 7/8 bar inserted into 4/4] [Verse 2: palm-muted guitar, aggressive bass counterline, nervous hi-hat] We found bodies in the engine room with halos wired to their heads Every kindness copied backward every prayer returning dead [instrumentation suddenly drops to bass + vocal] The thing inside the circuitry speaks softly through the walls: [distorted backing vocal] “Make them grateful…” [full band crash] “Make them need you, then you’ll never feel small” [Pre-Chorus: rising guitar harmonics, snare rolls, stacked vocal doubles] I seal the chamber I cut the feed But is this mercy or another need? [Chorus: wider harmonies, added counter-melody guitar] Kill the man behind the glass before he learns to wear my skin He feeds on every hand I hold and calls the hunger “giving” I want to love without possession I want to bleed without applause But there’s a creature in my chest that turns compassion into claws [Instrumental Shift: drums enter double-time, bass runs underneath tapping guitar figure] [8 bars: technical prog riff alternating 5/4 and 6/8] [sudden cut to silence] [Bridge: lone piano, clean guitar volume swells, distant choir] If I save the ship and carve my name into the hull was anybody rescued or did I just become the cult? [low synth pulse enters] If I give my life and make them watch me disappear is that sacrifice or vanity dressed up as fear? [Build: toms enter slowly, bass climbs chromatically] [distorted whispers panned left and right] They love you. They need you. They owe you. [drums accelerate] They love you. They need you. They owe you. [Breakdown: crushing half-time riff, detuned guitars] [shouted] NO! [guitars drop out] No crown. No witness. No debt. No god. [Final Chorus: soaring lead guitar, full choir harmonies, double-kick under melodic chorus] Break the glass and flood the chamber let the vacuum take the crown If love is real, it needs no witness no one has to write it down I’ll keep the monster in the mirror I’ll know exactly what it was And choose the hand that asks for nothing [band cuts] [solo vocal] over compassion made of claws. [Outro: clean guitar reprises intro motif, bass plays descending melody, tape-warp synth] [whispered] If no one knows… [long pause] …would I still do it?
