Nothing to Save track listing and lyrics

NOTHING TO SAVE

1. INTRO

Instrumental

2. CASEMATE

confront

enemy

in the

cracked

looking glass

heist of faith, clear as that

bankrupted redemption

revelations unveiled as youth departs

soulless bodies with arid hearts

cheerless, brimmed with regret

years passed, wasted

the ones who make it out will be widows too

the certainty of suffering, nothing is more true

contempt of being alone

the calluses grow

closed off

sheltered

wander

wayward

moments  (endure)

try

fail

casemate

refuge

endure

try and fail

i was listening to an episode of radio lab where the topic was theories of consciousness after death (which i think is bullshit) and this guy, david eagleman, described it as a place where "moments do not endure." in life, moments do endure. things that happened in an instant years and miles away stretch out and follow me around wherever i go. a "casemate" is a small space in something like the wall of an ancient city or a fortress which functions as an armored enclosure during battle (or for storage). as i come to terms with my past failures and losses, i am increasingly skeptical and pessimistic and i think i just don't try to connect with people anymore. it turns to shit every time and i don't have anyone to blame but myself. i put up barriers to vulnerability and i thought a "casemate" was a decent metaphor. it sucks during the times i'm lonely, but i just endure my days and carry on.

3. SOPHISTS

of the outcomes set before us its confounding to be here

breath is short, aching bones of stagnant unfledged fear

a construct manipulated, allure of attainment

but potential has been cashed out to the point of being spent

solaced walls

tight shut eyes

take one back

to better times

like a dream

inside a nightmare

where all's going to be quite far away from fine

sudden recognition

a desperate search for cure

breaking hearts to fix broken hearts

character in a blur

serenity

never in reach

sealing this fate with a cursory kiss

bodies entwined in liars bliss

a sophists seduction for which we always fall

sun sets, another squander

redemption's road getting longer

struggles, too heavy to bare

wry

grieved

ceaseless

and steadfast

sardonic vision, remarks: derision

weary of callow hopes

minutes pass, full tilt brash

the fleeting will to cope

kindling embers

of exuberance

viable,  but burned

the lesson learned

in a hex of loneliness

A "Sophist," in this context, refers to a person who reasons with clever, but fallacious arguments. In retrospect, every time i have been let down or hurt, it's my own fault, because though i go into things knowing full well that there is a very slim chance of it turning out favorably, i still dive in and eventually things fall apart. i see it for what it was and curse myself all to hell for falling for it again. we convince ourselves that things will work out, because we want them to, but that doesn't make it so.

4. AVERSE ARREST

heavy viewers

for pill pop cures

and slim waste lines

without the work

indoctrinated masses revere the newsman

who's selling stories between the ads

patsy of the scheme

victimized in a dream

of a world conceived

without reprieve

to consolidate the means

the poor man

with the gun

assault rifle protection

its natural selection

for the starving

to starve

through hours and years, they are exposed

monopolized for the consumer drone

selling power of violence is met with silence

celebrity killers rank for villain of the year

opinions have two options:

pick one A or B

the gatekeepers with all the answers

to the sponsored way to think

awaiting the day

it finally breaks

This song is about some of my views on the media in america. in short, its a scam that's becoming more corrupt with time. the news is secondary to the advertisements, because that's where the money is made and every decision comes down to their fiscal bottom line. George Gerbner describes the paradigm that the media has created as causing a "mean world syndrome" where the media has us convinced that the world is a terrifying place. this keeps us locked inside, glued to our tvs, waiting to be told what to think while poor black men with illegal firearms ruin the world. its kept people consuming and keeps them dependent on the medications and the fast food and soda.

5. BALLAST

Crushing life
From the hull
From the face
From the body
That used to walk upright

And wear a smile
And force a thought
To burn the house down
So it looked
Like something never lost

To struggle
And walk away
Drop out
Fuck the game

Everything
That I've learned
And all the guilt
That I've gained
Speaks nothing
Of What I've lost

Our failed love
Exclusive gods
All the friends
That you bought
The abandoned bed
Where you slept
The empty wrists
That you bled
My voice
Means nothing

Dead, cold, lost
A sad bitter ghost
That took all their love
And buried it. Lost. 

this song is about how my outlook is often cornered into idealogical failsafes by the negative events or circumstances of my life. it's about loss, and how that loss has the ability to change us, and turn us into cynical absolutists who have nothing to offer to others. i feel as though my social negativism cheapens my rational thought, and that i really don't have anything to bring to the table because of this. i do not take advantage of the remarkable people and aspects of my life because i often get caught into a rut of total pessimism.

6. MARGINAL BEING

You tie their hands
And break their backs
Into corners and into the cracks
Give them purpose and false value

Tell him it will all be okay
Every man has his day
His express train to a life that isn't his

He's got the bottle or the pipe
To lift the weight from his mind
To find comfort in the gutter
Give him hands to buy
A culture to sustain his hope

And to the martyrs
The few and few
The lost blood that soaks the roots
Exemplified, eternalized, in the truth
Who died for nothing and everything too
The land where a thought meets a bullet

Marked for death
Like a curse
On the skull

Sold pain for pleasure
Head held under
The death mask calm ever on

The legs aren't moving
The body's left
It's fucking dead
Lightless eyes
Crippled hands
All these years
Fucking dead

the societal symptoms described in this song are the intentional goals of a ruling class, who sees to keep the majority of individuals of this country misinformed, confused, aggravated, and controlled. we are given tastes beyond our financial capabilities to perpetuate a cycle of debt and servitude. their heads will always be held under as long as this system exists, and as long as these pipedream values are instilled. a marginal man was a person who lived on the fringe of american civilization during the great depression. they essentially were outcasts who didn't have the means to survive within the system. it's interesting that someone was doing that for real reasons long before a bunch of suburban white kids were.

7. REPOSE

Instrumental

8. THE CHAMPION IS FUCKED (INDICTMENT)

belligerence brewing

constantly building

moments of peace

are more or less filling

struggle, the starving

unimpeded, restarting

more than a theory

imperative suffering

savor the smell as enemies burn

eager smile executioner

compassion's flight with a lions face

dominion has an arousing taste

this is your indictment

more than that, it fulfills

an indictment of myself

we're driven to this vice

horns head to head

manifest advisory's right

play the game you can never win

cursed

to covet

contend

and you'll see

covet

stoic and composed

the quiet

so loud

the weight

of having nothing

covet

those without want

11th hour

the champion is fucked

in another episode of radio lab (goddamnit i'm lame) and they was a segment describing alpha gorillas and how it's a fierce struggle to get to the top and you're never there long. they noticed that these competitive beasts would burn a lot of bridges in trying to become the alpha and after they were defeated and replaced, they would be exiled from their group, because they shit on everyone to get there. they have to go out and try to find a new collective that will tolerate them and they live the rest of their lives as these scarred, bitter, outcasts. on the other hand, the gorillas that had settled for a middle of the road status tended to live a relatively peaceful and healthy life. this song just ended up being about the treachery in greedy ambition (which is something americans love) and how it doesn't just hurt others, but we destroy ourselves in that pursuit. we all covet on some level and you need to in order to be ambitious, but i think the people who are the fiercest competitors lose sight some of the things that make life decent in their selfish pursuit of success.

9. A NEW DARK AGE

a homemade bomb on his chest

ground shakes, he heads to heaven

indentured, for the pitch

the reason the poor don't kill the rich

dark age

the god-fearing way

the smoking gun they can't discern

while their city on the hill burns

what it is and will become

calamity our gift to sons

fundamentalist approaches to religion are fucked. neil de grasse tyson gave a talk where he described how arabs were on top of the world in every facet from science and technology to economics, you name it (i.e. arab numerals). in the 12th century, an iman declared science and mathematics to be evil and said they should take a fundamentalist islamic approach to life. now, the arab world is, well, what it is. and that's what christian fundamentalists want here. i'm not one of those people that's not religious, but doesn't really have a problem with religion. what can i say about the monotheistic faiths that hasn't been said a thousand times, more eloquently by someone far more intelligent? i think it's dangerous and i applaud when i see more and more people leaving churches. i should also say that "the reason the poor don't kill the rich" was said by napoleon and i stole it, but he's dead, so fuck it.

10. CRIPPLED WOLVES

messiahs

saviors

carry

crosses

discharged

like a stiff drink

on your knees

justice prevails

when it's spun cunningly

black out

adapt

converted masses gleam

behind the ideals

on the face of wanton greed

heroes

villains

melodrama kings

projected self perception

on the page and silver screen

the vexes ail us

are pacified, you see

agents of seduction

keep shoppers breeding

the scarcity of details

redacted and redeemed

agents of seduction

make myths reality

the men at the top

the wolves of the flock

guiltless

violent

onslaught

blood let

forcefed

hatred

pardon

torment

the men behind the heroes are the wolves of the flock

libertines of the profit with our future on lock

black out

adapt

converted masses gleam

the story of our success

redacted and redeemed

black out

i can't stand to watch most mainstream movies, because i don't buy this perfect hero, evil bad guy thing. that's not how the world works. people are complex. its an over simplification of life and people live in that, because the complexity of the real world is too hard to deal with.

11. NEW SKIN

With lost shape
And crooked limbs
Tune out the crushing weight
Escape

Bear your wounds
And bleed out
The fatalist
I'll be here
With new skin
New skin

Ripping nails from the coffins

this song is about learning to turn adolescent angst and aggression into something productive, constructive, or directed. it's about developing new outlooks that are rational and fair to the world around you. possibly the most positive song on the album. i'm still as pissed off as i was when i was a teenager, only now i understand why i am that way, and i have formed new abilities to counteract and enact that previous rage. scratch that, i'm way more pissed off now.