(Intro) [Creepy, isolated music-box synth plays a twisted carousel melody] [Sudden heavy drum fill] [Full band kicks in: Manic pounding piano locked in unison with heavy palm-muted guitar chugs and double-kick drum] (Verse 1: Gritty vaudeville delivery, theatrical and mocking) They dug the gold from the Phrygian streams! Where Midas starved inside his gilded dreams! You rubbed the brass and asked to hold the vault To have the world's abundance at your fault [Bass and kick drum isolate, creeping tension] The sky split open with a blinding flash A hundred billion in a golden crash! No time to spend the riches raining down Beneath a mountain of your greed, you... [Music drops out] DROWN! [Mid-range scream accent] (Chorus: Stadium sound, huge layered harmonies, driving double pedal) Oh, history sings a very bitter song Of every mortal wish that all went wrong! You beg the djinn to change your little life And catch the wrong end of a magic knife! The toys we buy will cost us all our souls When gods and demons take their final tolls! (Verse 2: Piano shifts to a creepy, jagged waltz. Guitars come in with tight, syncopated chugs) Qin Shi Huang drank rivers of mercury! To conquer death and rule eternity He found his grave beneath a weeping hill But you asked for the breath that none can kill [Guitars swell, building urgency] The flesh remains, the eons start to pass The oceans boil into a sea of glass The earth consumes itself in solar fire And still you float upon the funeral pyre! Choking in the vacuum, frozen black A billion years, and still you can’t go... BACK! [High, piercing scream] (Chorus: Huge and soaring, radio-ready polish) Oh, history sings a very bitter song Of every mortal wish that all went wrong! You beg the djinn to change your little life And catch the wrong end of a magic knife! The toys we buy will cost us all our souls When gods and demons take their final tolls! (Bridge: Atmospheric metalcore. Slow, heavy, emotional crescendo. Distorted bass leading the groove) Alexander wept when nothing else remained... But every conqueror is tightly chained. You asked to be the master of the skies To watch the universe reflect your eyes. The cosmic power surges through your veins— But heavy brass replaces mortal chains! Your kingdom shrinks into a hollow shell! A golden bottle for your private... HELL! [Guttural low scream] (Breakdown: Filthy, heavy rhythm chugs, at half-time. Piano hammering dissonant chords on the off-beats) Ten! Thousand! Years! Asleep beneath the sand! Until another fool... Holds out their hand! (Outro: Fast, manic, cabaret-punk energy returning) Three little wishes from a plastic shelf You thought you knew exactly how to save yourself The gold is heavy and the space is cold The lamp is waiting as the tale is told Be careful what you ask the mocking smoke... [Instruments cut out abruptly. Just the vocalist, whispering with a sinister smirk] The universe just loves a cruel joke. [One final, massive, reverberating guitar chord and cymbal crash]
