REDNECK VIKINGS FROM HELL

Well you can smell gunpowder in the air tonight
So you better not leave the house
Cause like a freight train runnin’
You can hear them boys comin’
Like a hurricane from the south
And they say if you hear but a single note
From those wicked tunes they write
You’ll be cursed to be a redneck
From now ‘til you die

Summoned forth and filled with sulfur, vinegar, and piss
When they said that the south would rise again
They didn’t think it’d be quite like this
See that dust cloud drawing near?
Friend, your reckoning is here
So tear your shirt off swing it round
Grab that beer and slam it down
Brace yourselves, they’re coming to your town

We’ve sailed the oceans and climbed every mountain
Faced every army and conquered them all
Infamous near and far
Y’all all know who we are
We’re the mother fuckin’ redneck vikings

Well friend, you may be wondering
Whether you’ve got what it takes to be a real redneck viking
I guess we’ll have to find out, won’t we?
See, some folks would say that you had to be born down south
And still others would say the frozen north, but I reckon that ain’t it
See, when it comes down to it, it ain’t about
Where you were born or how you were raised
Being a redneck viking is about one thing;
Whether you know how to fuckin’ party
So let’s show em how we do it down in North Carolina boys

(Solo - Burbage)
(Solo - Arnold)

We’ve sailed the oceans and climbed every mountain
Faced every army and conquered them all
Infamous near and far
Y’all all know who we are
We’re the mother fuckin’ Redneck Vikings From Hell

The sun rose that morning on little more than a pile
Of ash and smouldering ruin
And the boys? Well, their task was done
It was time for them to head home

Far are the lands we roam
Still we e’er find our way back home
We spell Valhalla the redneck way
C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A
Feared and respected from North to the South
Best have eyes on your ass if your running your mouth
But throw in with us and you’ll never regret
Cause life as a viking’s as good as it gets
We fend through the shit and we still stand tall
When it’s time to party you know who to call
Redneck Vikings From Hell

GOODBYE

I fell asleep with the candle burning
Another dream; a break in the light
I have always known you don’t need my hand to guide you
So push forward alone
Into the heart of the great unknown

You give me bad bad dreams and they just ain’t quittin
And I’ve been reading the signs
I wrote a melody and I just can’t hit it
Feels like I’m livin’ a lie
And when I lay my head beside you
It’s not my kinda life
So goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

Pierce my eyes in your search for a better view
And hope the pain stays fresh when I think of you
I have only wished you to heed the voice inside you
And be whole within yourself
Don’t make me an enemy, savor the memory

You give me bad bad dreams and they just ain’t quittin
And I’ve been reading the signs
I wrote a melody and I just can’t hit it
Feels like I’m livin’ a lie
And when I lay my head beside you
It’s not my kinda life
So goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

(Solo - Arnold)
(Solo - Burbage)

You give me bad bad dreams and they just ain’t quittin
And I’ve been reading the signs
I wrote a melody and I just can’t hit it
You give me bad bad dreams and they just ain’t quittin
And I’ve been reading the signs
I wrote a melody and I just can’t hit it
Feels like I’m livin’ a lie
And when I lay my head beside you
It’s not my kinda life
So goodbye, goodbye,

Goodbye

LEAN INTO THE WIND

I’ve got a bone to pick with Fate
All she’s left me with is hate
And it seems like I’ve been born to fail

And I can feel the eyes of death
Grit my teeth and take a breath
When I turn to face that howling gale

I’m torn between the guilt and pride
A symptom of the great divide
And if my destiny is nigh
At least I’m not afraid to die

They say you see a vision when you die
The wretched specters of your failures in your mind
I see them laughing as the storm whips at my skin
There is no option but to lean into the wind

(Solo - Burbage)

When odds are slim that I survive
Defiant stands the will to fight
Flesh is ripped and body rived
Yet presses forwards knuckles white

A fell chill is on the wind
I feel it in my bones
The icy hand of Death
Has come to try to take me home
Well Fate has not been kind enough
To tell me how this ends
So if it’s my time you’ll have to come and take me
‘Til then I’m moving

(Josh Rieke)
Forward, despite the task found sisyphean
Forward, and you will never be defeated

They say you see a vision when you die
The wretched specters of your failures in your mind
I see them laughing as the storm whips at my skin
I have no option but to lean into the wind

HUNGER

Oh, I feel it - a rumbling inside
Frail body tired and weakening
With a dead look in my eyes
One foot in the grave and I’m short on time
The other one stays on my side of the line
For far too long I have watched them dine
Abiding

They sat me down and twisted fate
They fed me scraps from the dinner plate
I’ve waited seven long years I’ve got nothing to lose
My friend I think you may have made a mistake

Hunger; I’ve been dying for my piece of the pie
It’s the flavor at the front of my mind
All I had was a taste and it’s chewing me up inside
Hunger; there’s a feast in my line of sight
Everything that you see will be mine
I’ve been wasting away
Now the time is right for a bite
Can you feel The Hunger?

(Torn down)
I can feel my body break as I push it past the edge
(Starved out)
Now I know I was not prepared for the scarcity ahead
One foot in the grave but I’m still not dead
I’ll take what’s mine you can keep the rest
But I won’t stomach being dispossessed anymore

It never fills the void inside
But I know one thing we’re gonna eat well tonight

Hunger; I’ve been dying for my piece of the pie
It’s the flavor at the front of my mind
All I had was a taste and it’s chewing me up inside
Hunger; there’s a feast in my line of sight
Everything that you see will be mine
I’ve been wasting away
Now the time is right for a bite
Can you feel The Hunger?

(Solo - Burbage)
(Solo - Arnold)

Hunger; I’ve been dying for my piece of the pie
It’s the flavor at the front of my mind
All I had was a taste and it’s chewing me up inside
Hunger; there’s a feast in my line of sight
Everything that you see will be mine
I’ve been wasting away
Now the time is right for a bite
Can you feel The Hunger?

GUARDIAN

When the road is long
And the night has come
I will stay with you
We will see this through
When your flame burns low
That’s a place I know
Place your hand in mine
We all need some help sometimes

I will be your guardian from loneliness
Feel my love surround you
Share your burden; I will carry it
A refuge all around you
When sorrow overtakes you
You can call on me
Lay your troubles on me friend
I’ll be with you ‘til the end
I’ll be your guardian

When your burden starts
Weighing on your heart
You are not alone
And you’re stronger than you know

(Solo - Burbage)

ONE HOLLOW WORD
In memory of Justin Shearer

In a world where I can’t seem to catch my breath
With the fear and the doubt weighing on my chest
Tears in the fading light
And a glimpse through the fog where we’ve been confined
A glimpse of the other side

The soul may depart
But the light in our hearts
Lets your memory echo forever

In the coldest nights
In the darkest times
We will carry your memory forth
When the north wind bites
By the moon’s dim light
Look skyward and remember
You spirit of adventure carries on

When the search for a meaning’s left me cold
And these aching bones feel old
It’s the memory of brighter days
That takes my hand and lights the way
It fills me with hope
Anywhere that I go

In the coldest nights
In the darkest times
We will carry your memory forth
When the north wind bites
By the moon’s dim light
Look skyward and remember
You spirit of adventure carries on

A soul in moments from flesh unbound
The hand of chaos from high reached down
Another relic from life it stole
The hand of chaos exacts its toll

And there’s nothing I could say that’ll make things right
But I can put the notes together in a way you’d like
Try to match them with a phrase that reminds me of you
And try to make you proud

And there’s nothing I could say that’ll make things right
But I can put the notes together in a way you’d like
And look up to the skies and remember
And try to make you proud

(Outro: Greg Burgess)

SHE’S BACK

A brutal killing spree laid down in history
Then myth, then legend soon forgot
And, where the blood was spilt, another city built
Man’s hubris trumps it’s thought

Merchants, kings, wastrels, and thieves
Sit counting up their wealth
Each thinks himself immune to the reaper’s knell

…And if you disobey
The witch will take you away
A children’s rhyme all that remains
As such, a group of youths
Seek to unearth the truth
Deep in the swamp they stray

And with the moon on high
Their bodies bathed in light
A silhouette against the sky
With pride, surveys the gore
And with a hand, she cracks the earth and hell pours forth

Legions of a demonic plague
Spewed forth to do her will
A thousand years she’s waited for the kill

She’s back! The bloodshed resumes tonight
To satiate grim appetite
Her will iron, her magic black
Clutch your cross and lock your doors
She’s back

(The Legendary Pirate King Eric “W” Brown aka Rainbowdragoneyes)
This time I can’t defeat her
As she boils me alive
And just for fun, she turned my insides out
(Jake: There’s no way you’ll survive)
Torture devout, she wins no doubt
The last thing I recall
Before my lungs collapse
My life elapsed, she set the trap
My remains Swampwitch will scrap

(Solo - Arnold)

The bravest of the fight
And cowards all alike
Have been in death now equalized
With no one left to grieve
Or to avenge the deed
The orchids keep their secrets
And over time reclaimed
By ash and elm again
Beneath the swamp it will remain
Painted in gray and green
A ruin so serene
Til the next fool rebuilds in vain

SLAVE TO THE RIFF

I’m just another fucking slave

It’s 3 am I should get some sleep
Balled up notes scattered at my feet
Chasing a feeling that I haven’t felt since way back when
I held the foolish hope that this would bring me peace

It’s not enough; never
A voice insists I have to try to make it better
But better’s never there
It’s a ghost of a sound getting farther away
Diverged from the path, and it lead me astray

The feeling it haunts me, eternally calling
It won’t let me rest, and it won’t let me forget
I’m just a slave to the riff
I’m just another fuckin slave

Signed and sealed in blood and sweat
All it costs is a soul? I barely have one left
I feel the sorrow cutting deeper and I can’t resist
Now won’t you just give it to me? I’ve bled for this.

Are you sure?
I can grant what you seek, but you will be forever changed.
You may not like what you become.
…very well

(Solo - Jones)
(Solo - Burbage)

Close your eyes, let the melody hold you for a while
But only for a moment.

(Solo - Arnold)

CYCLE
Sometimes when take a I step back and look at my life, it seems like a cycle repeating itself over and over; with loss and stress and hunger and hopelessness-all building up to a brief moment of triumph that seems to grow briefer with every repetition. And then after that moment fades away, I realize I haven’t undergone any great transformation. I’m left hopeless and disappointed in myself for failing to live up to my own expectations-which is where the cycle repeats. Does it just go on forever?

The light has gone and I can’t go on
When I look inside I know I have myself to blame
I see the hurt in their eyes all the same

A short revival and then the crash
And thus the cycle repeats for me at last
A brief reprisal before the end
And thus the cycle begins for me again

The taste-once sweet-has lost allure to me
There’s a beast inside, I keep it locked up far away
But it always escapes and repays

(Michael Rumple)
And then the lights fall dim and the world grows colder
Victim of a manmade misery
And with a manic grin it derives my torture
Ripping at the seams of victory

A short revival and then the crash
And thus the cycle repeats for me at last
A brief reprisal before the end
And thus the cycle begins for me again

One thing that helps for me, is trying to acknowledge and embrace theses cycles, and remind myself that there is no green pasture at the end of it all. I can only arm myself with the knowledge that however hopeless the situation may seem, however low I may feel, I can always try - try to change my situation for the better, or to bring a little more happiness to the world. Lord knows we need it.

TMHC

Only alive within dead of night
In the space between two and five
Tried to play the game to pave the way to fame
I lost and now I can’t seem to get out

Said we had to obey their rules (Fuck that)
Gotta get ‘em playing by mine
But I know I can’t do it alone
Are you with me or not
‘Cause I’m drawing the line

Hey, they don’t want us to thrive
But the ranks keep growing every day we survive
What do you call it when the underdogs are making you sweat?
Well we’re the TMHC and we ain’t done yet

Bound by fate scarred by time
United under the ancient sign
I’ll never fall ‘cause I’ve got my crew with me
TMHC

Suited up, we’re gonna run amok
Sit tight while I sharpen the blades
We’ve got a taste for blood, so if you’re not with us
Get the fuck right out of the way

I don’t know what I’d do without you by my side
And I will stand with you ‘til the end of my life

(Solo - Arnold)
(Solo - Burbage)

TMHC has entered the brawl
TMHC will you answer the call?
Now you’re one of us
Til your bones are dust
TMHC takin over the world right now

Oh, they still got doubts huh?
Let’s see how they feel with the crew behind me
A couple people been talkin’ shit
And them same motherfuckers been trying to find me
God damn, well they already know where I am
They can catch me after my show
But when the crew hits you’ll be fallin’ fast
Everybody look out below

The world will try to tear you down
To chew you up and spit you out
To turn you cold and kill your hopes
So find your friends and keep them close

And I don’t think they can hear us
Keep on turning up the music
If they got a problem you can
Tell ‘em where the crew’s at

Bound by fate scarred by time
United under the ancient sign
I’ll never fall ‘cause I’ve got my crew with me
Let me hear you
Bound by fate scarred by time
United under the ancient sign
I’ll never fall ‘cause I’ve got my crew with me
TMHC

Craft and the Creator

(Instrumental)

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