1. Blackmail The Universe

This is breaking news
It appears that Air Force One was shot down
Somewhere over the Middle East this morning
By a sleeper cell of rogue terrorists, firing a Stinger Missile
The Pilot and all passengers are unaccounted for
The President's whereabouts are presently unknown and he is presumed missing
The Vice President, Secretary of State, and principles of the military are assembling
Our nation stands at DEFCON 3

The greatest crisis, will someone come for me?
I "red, white and blew it."
Unleashed revenge, my body is detained
How could anybody do this?
Betrayal, I peel away the days
Medals are useless, Uncle Sam's forgotten me
I'm not important, no one will ever come
I'll never be found, God get me out of this hell

Nuclear battlefields energized
Cold wars are heating up again
The tension's mounting
People, lift up your fists in revenge

The stage is set
Who'll be the first to blink?
We can't go to war
Remember that "Vietnam thing"
Peace at any price
With a gun to your head, bang, bang
Weakness runs in your family
Well, what runs in mine is death

This is your 5 minute warning
Burn all your classified documents
And if cooler heads don't prevail
First strike from a political dead man

Appeasement only makes the aggressor more aggressive
He understands only one language – action!
And he respects only one word – force!
No sign of them stopping, no time for back channel communiques
We need all the help we can get, air strikes and invasions!
Retaliate, I say!

The will of good men can not counter the terrible strain of war

Blackmail the Universe with the greatest of calamities
Awaken those sleeping giants in the dust of the ground
With their skin destroyed, unjust to innocence
Lawful possessor of the world's last 24 hours

Terror and ugliness reveal what death really means
And in hatred you see men as they really are
If chosen over heaven, Earth will have been for them
All along, only another region of hell

2. Die Dead Enough

It's twilight and I wake up hot
My body's soaked in a cold, cold sweat
I reenact the lurid scenes
And clawed engravings in my head

Oh, I can't punch hard enough and I run
I can't kick high enough and I run
I can't shoot straight enough and I run
I can't hold on enough and I run
Oh, I can't stay down enough and I run
I can't take pain enough and I run
I can't bleed fast enough
I can't die dead enough

The air is thick, but the oxygen's thin
My heart is beating like a drum, boom!
And ice is flowing through my veins
Explosives on my lips and in my lungs

Oh, I can't punch hard enough and I run
I can't kick high enough and I run
I can't shoot straight enough and I run
I can't hold on enough and I run
Oh, I can't stay down enough and I run
I can't take pain enough and I run
I can't bleed fast enough
I can't die dead enough

I don't know what I'm running from
And I don't know where I'm running to
There's something deep and strange inside of me I see

I don't know what I'm running from
And I don't know where I'm running to
Something's compelling me to run into the dark

And now I am more driven than before
And now I live just to settle score
And now I feel the nearness of your breath
Now I introduce you to your death

I am more driven than before
I live just to settle score
I feel the nearness of your breath
I introduce you to your death
I can't punch hard enough
I can't kick high enough
I can't shoot straight enough
I can't hold on enough

I can't stay down enough, die dead enough
I can't take pain enough, die dead enough
I can't bleed fast enough, die dead enough
I can't die dead enough, die dead enough

3. Kick The Chair

Dawn breaks evenly today
On the truth and the lie
All rise, court's in session
We're hanging someone high

Justice means nothing today
Now that the courts are for sale
Pick a crime from the menu; pick a sentence and defend you
And pay up the down payment called bail
The system's for sale

Kick the chair, the rope's tight
Just like one quick wrench, the tooth is out
Friend or foe, I gotta hang em dead
Or they'll come back around
Kick it!

The court's wrong when it keeps track
Of victories and defeats
The press that never rest just waits
For somebody's soul they can eat

Justice means nothing today
Now that the jury's for sale
Guilty or not, the verdict's a lie
You're going to jail
The system has failed

Kick the chair, the rope's tight
Just like one quick wrench, the tooth is out
Friend or foe, ya gotta hang em dead
Or they'll come back

4. The Scorpion

My life is everything
That feeds my thirsts that causes sin
My wants are all I care
No shame and guilt
There's nothing there
Look deep into my veins
I sell deceit without a trace
Fear not what I can do
Unless you want it done to you

Oh oh

As I climb onto your back
I will promise not to sting
I will tell you what you want to hear
And not mean anything
Then I treat you like a dog
As I shoot my venom in
You pretend you didn't know
That I am a scorpion, oh

My self I'm centered in
There's nothing else
There's never been
And I dream
To be left alone
With the sadness, the madness
Of my own
Look deep into my soul
It's black, as coal
Like a bullet hole
Fear not
Get off your knees
There's no defense
You'll do what I please oh-oh!

As I climb onto your back
I will promise not to sting
I will tell you what you want to hear
And not mean anything
I will treat you like a dog
As I shoot my venom in
'Cause you knew all along
I am the scorpion, ya!

My lies to reach the shore
I aggrandize and nothing more
My hopes to steal away
All that you love, I'll soon betray
Look deep into my past
The pain I deal is unsurpassed
I'm not a lowly scorpion
I'm so much worse
I'm the fall of man

5. Tears In A Vial

This may seem all too confusing
How I could walk away
From something so rare
But you see it all got too demanding, yeah
And I just didn't care, I just didn't care
If I cared, if I cared

Lately I've been left wanting
But not wanting you
Attraction that once was no longer there
And it's sucks to be taken, for granted
When the veil is drawn and there's only air

I had to walk away
Give up something I loved
For what I loved even more
And saved my tears for you

Everything has lost its meaning
I have to let it go
To find myself, myself
and start something new, brand new
Forced too deep in the mirror
face who I really am
Now it's just me, cause I can't afford you

I gave up something I loved
For what I loved even more
And I saved my tears for you, in a vial
And I had walked away

You were so beautiful to look upon
I can see the light in your smile
Your eyes were the windows, into your soul
Your body was Heavenly, just like the Sky

Until, all your good looks betray you, which ain't much
Counted on your, count of the smiles are too long
Your eyes are empty windows broken
The body maybe here but the soul is gone

I'll save my tears for you in a vial
From everything wicked thing that you did, that you said
To send away, buried with your love
So many tears in a vial
Now that you're gone and now that you're dead

6. I Know Jack

I served with Jack Kennedy
I knew Jack Kennedy
Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine
Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy

7. Back In The Day

Where were you when it happened?
Where could you be found?
Were you at the front of the stage?
Or in the underground?

From SF to Old Bridge
New York back to LA
The world of metal changed forever
Back in the day

Well that was back in the day
And if you weren't there
It doesn't matter anyway
Because you wouldn't understand

Live to die and die to play
Every day and place
Leave a path of metal
Across the world from stage to stage

Well that was back in the day
And if you weren't there
It doesn't matter anyway
Because you wouldn't understand

In denim and leather
We were all part of one force
Knocked Rock and Roll on its ass
And put Metal on course

Higher!
Higher!

Higher!
Higher!

Back in the day

You weren't there

It doesn't matter

Because you wouldn't understand

This our way of life
A life that was born free
To follow orders how to live
Was never meant to be
Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh

Peals of thunder, sheets of lighting
The power hits the stage
The music was exciting
The mania raged
On, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh

We all had the fever
Our ears started to ring
Feeding this wildfire
Consuming everything
Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh

Metal's King back then
And still is to this day
Others imitate or challenge
But it never goes away
Oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh

8. Something That I'm Not

Your mind tells you that
you've lost your confidence.
You're drifting and you
don't believe in anyone.
To lose what little you have
left to be proud of.
Afraid you can't do this again.

You said that nothing come in-between us.
The way of getting things we wanted done.
Then enissophobia held you under it's influence
until you compromised your style.

Everything about you has been
one big charade.
What will you do now
that the well's run dry? Cry?
To sell out all your friends
and stab them in the back.
It's something that you are,
It's something that I'm not.

When you force me into
doing what you love.
Mark my words no one
loves you very much, (yeah mark 'em)
And when you tried to change me
and tried to replace me
I couldn't help but end just hating you, hmm!

Being a fraud can only last so long you should know
Till what you sensed as a child returns, you little baby
To choke out the voice
That told you "money and the fame"
would fill the crater that you dug for yourself.

Unlike you, I'm no vision to myself, lest you forget,
You didn't ever make Metal, but Metal made you.
To crush and run over everyone along the way
It's something that you are; it's something that I'm not.

A stranger to yourself, ha! ya pissed me off again.
I won't be driven by your needs anymore.
What you'd come to do or be is clear to see for me.
It's something that you are, it's something that I'm not.

It makes me sick to hear you say you "love me"
I know you only love what I can do for you.
If you were the one that was leading a charge
Would you notice if I missed a day or two?
But that's impossible

We all laughed at the parodies
that you've become.
Now your pain slowly paid back has begun.
So accept my resignation
or in your words, "betrayal"
Before it gets much worse
End this self-sabotage.

Something I'm not, something that you are.
Something I'm not, something that you are.
Something that I'm not... Yet.

9. Truth Be Told

This is the first tale of death in the world
When Cain struck down Abel, a family broken
since then mankind's dominated his own kind
to insult and injure, there's no such thing as peace
till death do us part, till the last

Truth be told – Sin lies at the doorway
Truth be told – Hell's open for business now
Truth be told – The soil cries out for revenge
Truth be told – And death is upon the ground
All around

The battle ain't over without spoils of war
just cause it is written does not make it so
when you dance with the devil wait till the song's over
I ask myself "How bad do I want you to live?"
My anger is near, till the last

Tribulation strikes and we're hit hard
still you just go on your way
head in the sand, ignoring the rain
just like the flood in Noah's day
in his day

Can't punish those ruining the earth
it's suicide to some degree
because we are all guilty, guilty as sin
there will be no peace, never for you and me

Before Al Qaeda and Bin Laden
long before Hitler and Hussein
ever since the first murder was committed
the verdict's always been the same
been the same, wrong!

The cursed future just repeats the past
there's hell to pay and stones to cast
so, there will be no peace, never be peace
till the last truth be told by you and me

10. Of Mice And Men

The fire burns on and on
That drives me on till all is gone
Except the simple plans
Of mice and men

Back when I was just seventeen
I thought that I knew everything
I could make it in this scene
To be a rising star that only gleamed
But all the answers disagreed
With the questions held for me

I was legal now at twenty-one
I knew the way the world should run
My God just look what I had done
Simply drunk and having fun
Looked for friends, but I found none
All alone at twenty-one

The fire burns on and on
That drives me on till all is gone
Except the simple plans
Of mice and men

At twenty-five I was surprised
That I was even half alive
Somehow I managed to survive
I felt my body's doing time
And in my back a hundred knives
From my friends at twenty-five

And now as Gabriel sounds my warning bell
I'd buy your life, if you would sell
A year or two if less compelled
So live your life and live it well
There's not much left of me to tell
I just got back up each time I fell

The fire burns on and on
That drives me on till all is gone
Except the simple plans
Of mice and men

The fire burns on and on
That drives me on till all is gone
Except the simple plans
Of mice and men

11. Shadow Of Deth

Auxilum meum a Domino

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
He leadeth me beside the still waters
He restoreth my soul

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever

12. My Kingdom Come

The flag that once planted as a King I abandoned
And now I reclaim this banner by God, my sword, and my name
In a truce sealed by blood within this metal skin and all that I own
Blood, bone, and courage in my veins, and the heart that pumps it

Drink from the chalice and be reborn
And the land with me, it will change and transform

A fighting man sworn to quest it is the doom of man that they forgot
I have awoken the dragon and all around me the mist of his breath
Good and evil, there never is one without the other, his brother
Always there, where I least expect it, it will burn to cinders

The futures taken root in the present sun
Don't look into my heart, least of all your own

No man who is false can win in combat against the truth
When he lies murders some part of the world,
we must find what was lost
Hearth and home, wife and child were not for me, I was not yet done
I never knew how empty my soul was until it was refilled

Mad distemper strikes both beggars and Kings
The Necromancer's hard teachings of war and quest

I am given the right to bear arms and power to meet justice

I have lived through others for far too long,
and carried my guilt, my causes, my sins
I hope in the hereafter when I owe no more to the future
that I can be just a man