When Heroes Fall

FILMING THE TRAGEDY (Longobardi, VanWar) Take a look around you At the celluloid newsman's comedy Obstruction of a world in progress Dying at the hands of Technology Will tomorrow's eyes open to see The thin line of truth and sanity The dying eyes behind the scenes obscured By a cardboard world of reality The media moshes frantically To deliver what the people will buy Inter the bones and feed them the meat They'll swallow it whole with no questions. The script is in Race to the scene Reporting the Agony Eyewitness, Camera madness Filming the Tragedy Swallow your pride Make up the time The theater curtains rise The audience stares They're part of the show A play in morality Bomb scare, make it aware There's nothing here to dread The bombs are red, the armies bled But your eyes only rattle your head Terror strikes a chord within The world is a great madhouse But rest assure, you need not worry It has nothing to do with you. Scandal is in Fact is a sin Making a strategy Eyewitness, Camera madness Filming the Tragedy Swallow your pride Make up the time The theater curtains rise Look past the screen This is your scene Watch your own mortality. The reporters are the producers Directors have an empty set There's no acting, no lines to remember This one's for real Wrap u the story, this one's a print Hold the press we're coming in A cynical layout hiding the truth Absorbing the absent minded youth It's a fast world in a fast lane Live by the minute not by the day Stick out your arm for another fix As we tip our hats to the editor's kiss. The script is in Race to the scene Reporting the Agony Eyewitness, Camera madness Filming the Tragedy Swallow the pride Make up the time The theater curtains rise And the audience stares It's part of the show Programming brutality. SILENT RAGE (Longobardi, Patelski) When the doors were broken I locked it from my mind A cattle drive on society I dared not speak the plight. To speak one's mind among us To burn as heretics Language of a forgotten age Now just decadence. There's no one left to stop the siege No one to speak up against the spree I grit my teeth as they take them away Run for cover now, they're coming for me Too late for someone to preach the sane. Ridding the land of their own kind And replace them with people of steel To raise a new breed of man That cowers and caters to wills. There is no place for the weak They only slow the plan And the children of these diseased Will be trained to work the land. There's no one left to stop the siege No one to speak up against the spree I grit my teeth as they take them away Run for cover now, they're coming for me Too late for someone to preach the sane And no one to raise a hand for me I held my tongue now they hold my fate. There's no one left to stop the siege No one to speak up against the spree I grit my teeth as they take them away Run for cover now, they're coming for me Too late for someone to preach the sane And no one to make a stand for me I held my tongue now they hold my fate Behold my fate.

Submitted by Sexy Gargoyle — Apr 26, 2025

(Longobardi, Patelski) When you came upon the land To free our people They followed you to reach A higher glory But when you tried to show them How to break from their chains They didn't want to soil their hands As you scarred your very own You're never forgiven When you bare your frail humanity For their flock must face Their righteous vanity. Know the sign of their frustration When you've overstayed your welcome Beware the fear in their eyes When Heroes Fall. In the beginning You were held in high esteem But then your words began To fall on ears of stone And when you force your ways On the disenchanted You become a scapegoat For all the superstitions. And all these shattered people Who pledged worship Who seeked you out to Pacify their void For all the wealth of Truth That's cast upon them It becomes a blinding light When the magic is all gone. For now You're nothing to those people They turn on you to only follow Some other golden idol. Know the sign of their frustration When you've overstayed your welcome Know the fear in their eyes When Heroes Fall. You left yourself A vulnerable open wound And they seized upon your Power from within You set yourself up for the fall. And when they feed on you And drain your very being And you're left behind a Noble empty shell. Then the roar of the crowd Turns from cheer to jeer When everyone has taken Everything you have to offer. And now You're run out of the cities You're spurned and then forgotten As you pass the torch of power. Hear the crash of the spirits Of the foolish draped in darkness Hear the decay of purity When the real world calls. Understand that the masses Have no need for tired truths They'll create another savior That won't shatter their illusions. Know the sign of their frustration When you've overstayed your welcome Beware the fear in their eyes When Heroes Fall.

Submitted by Grave666 — Apr 26, 2025

(VanWar) You think you're gonna get away From all this insanity But really you are caught In the mist of actuality. Dark minds of deception Control the corridors of who we really are One nation under the rich Cut the poor and watch their bleeding scars. They call the shots from Their one sided ivory tower view Brought up to live like kings And only see what they want to. Like a plague of uncertainty The crimes of justice are everywhere And the dreams of greatness Mean nothing to a world that won't care We've become a machine like society Numbered like the pieces of a puzzle, systematically Predecided destiny printed on a computer page Slowly fallen into the hands of the information age. What am I gonna do, confrontation coming to As the hour ticks away it's moving near These are dangerous times we are living In a nightmare of mechanical fear. Why can't you see we're all just prisoners of habit And foolish pride has us believe we hold some kind of magic. Face to face I am forced to choose And meet the eyes of no remorse Their skulls are emblazed with the lies Of those who believe they know the righteous course. Where are the eyes of the past That saw a free world among men Obviously the blind had lead all others To a bound and chained end. We are made to believe that The ones who do lead are supreme But I make the key that sets myself free ETERNAL ANARCHY Why can't you see we're all just prisoners of habit And foolish pride has us believe we hold some kind of magic.

Submitted by BloodShrine — Apr 26, 2025

(Longobardi) Can I be redeemed from this life There's no meaning to my end I was left behind to fend for myself And I don't know where I've been I haven't lived to see my dreams My past is an empty shell The world has had its full of me Will I have my chance as well. They've locked me away in a hollow grave And I've lost all hope of ever being saved. They lied to take me from my home Said my victory lied beyond the sea Now lost, forgotten, maybe dead Someone cries for me I had to sacrifice myself I must lose so we can win And I dare not try end my life For I'll only lose again Don't lock me away in a hollow grave Don't shed a tear I can't pretend I'm brave I'm lost inside a world that's not for me And I see no sign of ever being free. I've dreamed the horrors of war I've tasted my blood and gore But now I face the worst I'm dead before my time Though my yes cannot see I hear them burying me I've forgotten how to scream And they've given up on me. I fought a war to stay alive I killed my faith in man Now I'm a forgotten pawn Left behind to stand Alone against what has become A farce before my eyes I only wanted to be left alone Now I'm left behind. My family has erased my life To forget about their pain And though I live among the dead I'll never breathe again Myself and all the others must face That our longing inside has died And we've become a nation of ghosts A lost forgotten tribe. The years have past, the days grow long I'm a victim of my own pride I don't know if I could live again My home is now on this side My father in heaven look down and answer Where does my destiny lie? I was never prepared to live this life Now I'm not prepared to die I'm left behind to die in a hollow grave And I know no one will ever speak my name The world goes on as though I've never been And to fade without a fight, a forgotten sin I cannot bear to see my name That no one ever speaks And eyes that never see The forgotten epitaph of my hollow grave.

(Longobardi) Rising from the pale horizon Comes a desert caravan Prophets of divided souls Bring our words back to our land Wielding lust and ignorance Clutch the book of truth in hand They've come in war To kill the peace And massacre all who stand in the way of the quest And the written word draws blood. Folklore of the holy land These saviors sight this wayward fight And curses ring from their battle cry To deliver God in their own rite "Accept the law we give", they screamed Or perish in the name of life To stave their course To save our hallowed ways To see another day On the land we were raised. The foolish way to change The peaceful made to flight To twist our own beliefs And to kill to make them right Set apart From the world We now See the light Enslaved by our own laws Brought down to our knees To break our will, our spirit Will they succeed? Inflicting wounds to win the people The air grows foul from sanctity Good deeds do not go unpunished And become the whim of destiny And when the last drop of blood is squeezed No one is left alive to see The final blow On this judgement day To sentence us to die by the Mercy we gave And by our own creed betrayed

Submitted by MetalElf — Apr 26, 2025

(Longobardi, VanWar) The stars above the night Shine out on the sins of us all. The prince and the fool battle out 2000 years apocalypse shall fall. Just as the scriptures told The first of seven signs Our fate rests on the shoulders of hope. Look into the Guff the sparrow sings his song When the hall is emptied the sparrow sings no more It's the seventh sign, it's the final warning Life's colors turn to stone, she is left to save the world alone. With the help of the knowledge She solves the questions to break the chain. The mortal cries out who dies for the Word of God must be saved. Child of the future The world of God is spoken The wrath of his fury it can be broken. Look into the Guff the sparrow sings his song When the hall is emptied the sparrow sings no more It's the seventh sign, it's the final warning Life's colors turn to stone, she is left to save the world alone. The sparrow is still singing... She reaches out to save him But the final sign has already come. And in the hour of loneliness She gives birth to the soul - less one. The dream begins to open The questions asked again The answer has been chosen I will die for him. Look into the Guff the sparrow sings his song When the hall is emptied the sparrow sings no more It's the seventh sign, it's the final warning Life's colors turn to stone, she is left all alone. Look into the Guff the sparrow sings his song When the hall is emptied the sparrow sings no more It's the seventh sign, it's the final warning Life's colors turn to stone, she is left to save the world alone. The heavens are calm again Remember...

Submitted by johnmansley — Apr 26, 2025

Fiction of Social Protest, Part One. (Miller) Why should I fret in microcosmic bonds That chafe the spirit, and the mind repress When through the clouds gleam beckoning beyonds Whose shining vistas mock man's littleness? H. P. Lovecraft, "Phaethon" (1918)

Submitted by SerpentEve — Apr 26, 2025

(Miller) Our world Is slowly dying It's being killed day to day By the use of man. The paradise Of the Milky Way We don't appreciate What we have at hand. Last night Alone with my thoughts Thinking about The future of Mankind. The Evil That sleeps within us Is unleashed By those who don't understand The Shame Of being human The only one Who kills just for thrill. The pain Is growing daily What adults don't kill Their children will.

Submitted by johnmansley — Apr 26, 2025

(Longobardi, VanWar) Somehow I always knew It would end up this way I tried to warn them But they just turned their heads the other way When greed and power take control One man cannot speak his piece Yet it only takes one hand To bring all to a blackened halt. In the filth and despair far beneath Where I have only to answer myself No longer is there any beauty My memories slowly decay. Above I hear the screams of those Who're slowly dying but they chose To remain and give up the teachings Their fathers burdened for years. When I sleep I see a dream The shadow of a rose burned to the earth For I grow old and the lines on my face Bare the history of this hell. My breath grows short as I return And pray that someone will remember My flesh and bones turn to dust And sacrifice myself to the world To belong to the world. Here come the mob Riding out of the sunset in their horses of steel Terrorizing the cities And bringing torture to those who still feel Raping and Stealing Taking it out on the old and weak Blame it on blasphemy and foolish bigotry When man contradicts his own sorry lies. Living in the shadows Of the nuclear dawn the punks begin to fight With chains and armor They attack the streets to live another night They kill for drink The tomorrow's gold is scarce among this barren wasteland. Even the tears Are scarce among the atomic generation. These are the laws of the children in fear And a scarred memory of those who picked The petals of the Black Rose A condemned confirmation For the fool a revelation In the end I will see Heaven's gate Open for me.

Submitted by Immortal — Apr 26, 2025