Lamb Of God - Ashes Of The Wake (2004)

  

1. Laid To Rest
2. Hourglass
3. Now You've Got Something To Die For
4. The Faded Line
5. Omerta
6. Blood Of The Scribe
7. One Gun
8. Break You
9. What I've Become
10. Ashes Of The Wake
11. Remorse Is For The Dead
12. Another Nail For Your Coffin

1. Laid To Rest

If there was a single day I could live... a single breath I could take
I'd trade all the others away.
The blood's on the wall, so you'd might as well just admit it
And bleach out the stains, commit to forgetting it.
You're better off empty and blank, than left with a single pathetic trace of this
Smother another failure, lay this to rest.
Console yourself, you're better alone
Destroy yourself, see who gives a fuck
Absorb yourself, you're better alone
Destroy yourself.
I'll chain you to the truth, for the truth shall set you free
I'll turn the screws of vengeance and bury you with honesty
I'll make all your dreams come to life, then slay them as quickly as they came
Smother another failure, lay this to rest.
Console yourself, you're better alone
Destroy yourself, see who gives a fuck
Absorb yourself, you're better alone
Destroy yourself, see who gives a fuck.
Failure.
If there was a day I could live, if there was a single breath I could take
I'd trade all the others away.


2. Hourglass

Privileged, a chosen few
Blessed with our time in hell
Witness a divine vision, the day we all fell still.
Rapture of the dying age, a shattered hourglass
Wrath of the warring gods and so this too shall pass.
It's only getting worse, not worth a moment's regret
Each dawn another curse, every breath a twisting blade
What will be left behind in the ashes of the wake?
An ill wind blows this way, the edge of the envelope burns
Forbearance and my vengeance, payment for you intent
Fear and death in the wings, in thrall of those fallen from grace
Petty is as petty does, witness the mass disgrace.
God forbid you read the signs, watch for meanings between the lines
Gehenna has now arrived, no hindsight for the blind.
Your trust has been misplaced, believed the lies told to your face
Became another casualty and now it's too late.
You finally made it home, draped in the flag that you fell for.
And so it goes
The a shes of the wake.
It's only getting worse...


3. Now You've Got Something To Die For

Now you've got something to die for.
Infidel, Imperial
Lust for blood, a blind crusade
Apocalyptic, we count the days.
Bombs to set the people free, blood to feed the dollar tree
Flags for coffins on the screen, oil for the machine
Army of the liberation, gunpoint indoctrination
The fires of sedition
Fulfill the prophecy.
Now you've got something to die for.
Send the children to the fire, sons and daughters stack the pyre
Stoke the flame of the empire, live to lie another day
Face of hypocrisy, raping democracy
Apocalyptic, we count the days.
We'll never get out of this hole until we've dug our own grave
And drug the rest down with us, the burning home of the brave
Burn.
Now you've got something to die for.


4. The Faded Line

Witness shame's parade, the pain of blame repaid
It's fucking hopeless
Accusations and denial.
Hopeless... demon of another day
Colorless... stoned, solid grey
Emptiness... of promises I made
So faithless... the tenets long betrayed.
Walk the faded line, cursed crawl of time
Silence, the only promise ever kept.
Familiar touch, a ritual to numb the cut
Salvation in vice
Anguish is realizing what could have been, but never was
It's emptiness that fills the cup
Devotion in the method of my fall.
Pointless... futility continuing
Endless... flowing corrupted vein.
Walk the faded line, cursed crawl of time
Silence, the only promise ever kept.
Hopeless.


5. Omerta

Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward.
Whoever cannot take care of themselves without that law is both.
For a wounded man shall say to his assailant,
'If I live, I will kill you. If I die, You are forgiven.'
Such is the rule of honour.

Broken the paradigm an example must be set
Invoke the Siren's song and sign the death warrant.
This id what has been wrought for 30 pieces of silver
The tongues of men and angels bought by a beloved betrayer.
I am the result what's better left unspoken
Violence begins to mend what was broken
You've been talking, I've been all ears.
Words meant to dwell in darkness shall never see the light of day
Words can be broken, so can bones
Execute the mandate
Mouth full of dirt.
Your name is removed from the registry
St. Peter greets with empty eyes then turns and locks the gate.
I am the result what's better left unspoken
Violence begins to mend what was broken
You've been talking, I've been all ears
Omerta.
Cheaply venal, stupidly verbose
A slip of the tongue, a slit of the throat
Six feet under with no marker
Keep my name from your mouth forever.
Free speech for the living, dead men tell no tales
Your laughing finger will never point again.
Omerta.
Sing for me now.


6. Blood Of The Scribe

All of this comes crashing down.
Cornerstone's gone
Sleepless.
Hopeless.
No end in sight.
Ink well has run dry, fill it with blood of the scribe.
Rest comes easy to the guiltless
The vampire laments as he prays for the sun.
Doom, despair, tragedy are the tools of the trade.
Cut to the bone, rob the grave
Unearth the stone, lay to waste
Defile the tome, rip the page
Strip mine the vein, lay to waste.
Frayed at the edge, flat lined.
The anvil cracks.
The hammer relentlessly comes down.
A new pariah is born.
Chastisement lays you down to sleep, tucks you in with bloody kisses
Gifts of nightmares bitter sweet.
Type A negative shuts me down.
Catch phrase will be the death of me.
This is, not what you came to see?
What, are you not entertained?
Climb the walls 'til nails bleed.
Rip the hair, tear the seams, break the glass.
Head in hands, bell tolls endlessly
No end in sight.


7. One Gun

The sins of deliverance

The eyes of the patriot fixed through the scope
The unknowing tyrant walks to the rope.

It's where murder is justice that martyrs are made
A one gun salute for the new independence day.
They'll hallow your name
They'll hallow your name for your sacrifice.

The sins of deliverance.
"So let the wicked perish in the presence of God."
(For your sacrifice)

The sins of the father atoned by the son
Confessions of commitments broken
A nail driven for every one (of them).

It's where murder is justice that martyrs are made
A one gun salute for the new independence day.
They'll hallow your name
They'll hallow your name for your sacrifice.

You are the cause, I am the effect
Created in hatred, a noose for your neck.

The eyes of the patriot fixed through the scope
The unknowing tyrant walks to the rope.
They'll hallow your name.
For your sacrifice.
They'll hallow your name.
Sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice
They'll hallow your name


8. Break You

Endless mornings cut by the dawn razor
Whipping the nightmares to a froth
Endless questions with no answers
No replacement for what's been lost.
Lost.
Everything suffocates in the dust of the past fortunes squandered
The empire of lies to whom you pandered
Suffer a self-imposed exile, taste the bitter fruits of denial
In the presence of greatness the humble can only bow.
Frost on the breath of life
Empty of warmth or light
Full of nothing but deprivation
Eternal winter.
Tell me a lie with the best of intentions
Mute in the age of mass communication
Dark days lead to darker nights
Frozen, out of time.
It dies for blessed ego, the once mighty laid low.
Frost on the breath of life
Empty of warmth or light
Full of nothing but deprivation
You taught hate, I'll teach you fear
Open the eyes, kill despair
You cannot squeeze the life from me
Son of a bitch, I'm going to rape you.
Son of a bitch, I'm going to break you.


9. What I've Become

Blank stares from broken men
So withered from the poisons they can't remember when
There were once honest reasons.
It's all a lie, it died 100,000 miles ago.
Pretending I'm still here.
Justify what I've become, sanctify what I've become.
Amazing disgrace... (how) sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
Better lost if this is found, best blinded never to see.
The race to save face, nothing now is what we meant it to be.
Pretending I'm still here.
It's a system now, intertwined.
Take your place in the line to be ground by the gears of the masterpiece.
Betrayal.
Suffered consequence
It's been so long since any piece of this made any kind of sense.
You anoint the king, I'll burn everything down to ashes.
You giveth, I taketh away.
It's a system now, intertwined.
Take your place in the line to be ground by the gears of the masterpiece.
Betrayal.


10. Ashes Of The Wake

"We killed a lot of innocent civilians.
To us every civilian in Baghdad was a terrorist.
These Fedayeen are now in civilian clothes that makes everybody free game,
But if they came in our perimeter, we lit 'em up.
And when we would pull the body out, and when we would search the car, we would find nothing.
This took place time and time again. No harm, no foul, that's OK, don't worry about it,
Because this is a new type of war, this is an eradication."

"I honestly feel we're committing genocide over here,
I don't believe in killing civilians, and I'm not going to kill civilians for the United States Marine Corp."

[Quoted as a Marine in Song]


11. Remorse Is For The Dead

The dirty lord of the manor surveys his filthy domain
Too many nights raising hell worked a little all too well.
Constructed a monument to denial and excess
Sunk so low, crawled so far back there's nowhere left to regress.
If these walls could talk, they would tell a horror story
Never-ending winter, violence and infidelity
Shadows fall through broken panes
Careless words that are filled with hate
Just enough to keep it together, never enough to make it work.
All the tongues here are forked.
We are a hailstorm of broken glass, follow the path of least expectancy.
A huge stinking pile of sick, pile it higher and higher.
Light the match, start the fire.
Level this place until nothing is left and take us with it.
Surroundings are irate.
Crack of dawn brings naught but pain.
Resentment steadily grows.
Laughing in the gallows.
Full throttle determined to fail, pedal to the metal asleep at the wheel.
We are the lucky ones, welcome home.
Poisoned nerves and a bloody antidote
Violence is not an aberration, it's a rule.
Dying beyond the pale.
Your beatings will continue until my morale improves.
I don't hate you, I'm just removing an enemy.
Remorse is for the dead, my enemy.
Remorse is for the dead.


12. Another Nail For Your Coffin

[Japanese Bonus Track]

At a loss for something different to say,
I've said everything, we've said it all before.
An extra nail for your coffin.
I'm going to ride that horse we've beaten to death,
And deliver its stinking carcass to your doorstep.
A gift from all the dead children,
That are the progeny of your ballistic union.
Borrowing from Peter to rape Paul,
No news is good news, but I've got some news for you.
Fetch me a rope, lynch mob of one.
An extra nail for your coffin.
Certain blood has been shed for uncertain reasons.
You will never quiet this storm,
A cold wind to chill your bones.
I bring the hammer down.
Borrowing from Peter to rape Paul,
No news is good news, but I've got some news for you.
Fetch me a rope, lynch mob of one.