[Intro] [distant mechanical pulse] [metallic impacts echo through hollow pipes] [detuned guitar enters one note at a time] [ragged breathing close to microphone] [Verse 1] The grass keeps moving after wind, The flowers turn to watch me pass, Small teeth chatter under leaves, White roots flex beneath the grass. I split the stones with bleeding hands, Searching where the wet caps grow, Chew their flesh and feel my bones Stretch against the world below. Every hill contains an ambush, Every field conceals a jaw, Bright-winged things descend in circles, Laughing at the shape I was. I used to wonder who laid plumbing Through a wilderness like this, Now I hear them breathe below me, Waiting in the rusted throat. [Pre-Chorus] I keep running. I keep growing. I keep breaking into forms. Every gift this kingdom gives me Feels like something being born. [Chorus] Still moving through the teeth, Still dragging what remains of me Across this painted grief. Call it courage, call it strain, Every life they hand me Comes back carrying the pain. [Verse 2] Some mornings wings split from my spine, Thin as fever, bright as oil, I rise above the snapping mouths And watch them multiply below. Some nights heat collects behind My tongue until the air ignites, I leave black bodies in the weeds And smell them cooking in the light. Then something turns inside the world, And I am small enough to crush, Every bootstep shakes the ground, Every shadow makes me run. The same red cloth hangs from my shoulders, The same gloves hide the scars, The same face stares from broken mirrors, Older than the distant stars. [Pre-Chorus] I keep changing. I keep losing. Power leaves without a sound. One wrong touch strips years away And drops me trembling to the ground. [Chorus] Still moving through the teeth, Still dragging what remains of me Across this painted grief. Call it courage, call it strain, Every life they hand me Comes back carrying the pain. [Industrial Progressive Instrumental] [down-tuned guitars crawl through a 7/8 piston riff] [metal pipes strike in staggered polyrhythm] [distorted bass mimics something moving underground] [warped synth melody briefly recalls a cheerful fanfare] [fanfare bends out of tune and collapses] [rapid guitar harmonics flare like fireballs] [drums slow into a crushing 5/4 breakdown] [one enormous pipe clang cuts everything silent] [Verse 3] Her face survives in fragments now: A hand extended from a door, A voice behind a wall of flame, A dress disappearing through smoke. Will she know the thing approaching? Will she turn away in fear? These eyes went dim in foreign castles, Watching hope become a lure. My feet have split inside my boots, Still they strike the ground in time, Each leap opens beneath me Like a grave that changed its mind. Bridge by bridge and tower by tower, Past the bones beneath the stone, I follow every stolen banner Toward the place he calls his home. [Pre-Chorus] I keep coming. I keep counting. Every fortress has an end. He has never seen the creature That his kingdom made of me. [Bridge] [tempo drops] [low guitar pulses beneath whispered vocal] [industrial noise recedes into distant heartbeat] Perhaps she left before I started. Perhaps she learned another name. Perhaps the doors were never locked. Perhaps she chose to stay. [voice hardens] Still he filled the roads with bodies. Still he fed me life by life. Still he built his throne above them. Still I crossed them every time. [full band surges back] [Final Chorus] The thing beneath the red, The man who crossed your kingdom On the lives of all your dead. Every fall and every flame, Every shape you forced upon me Has returned to speak my name. Hear the iron in my breath, I have climbed through every version Of the world you made from death. No applause, no grand decree, When my hands close around your throat, You will finally recognize me. [Outro] [full band collapses into one slow mechanical riff] [metallic footsteps cross from left to right] [distant castle bell begins to toll] [voice enters in deep, exhausted fry] I crossed your fields. I crossed your graves. I wore each body That you gave. [long pause] [one final pipe groans beneath the silence] [whispered] It’s a-me! [all instruments strike once]
