Machine Head
Unto the Locust




1. I Am Hell (Sonata In C#)

I am death
Arms held outstretched
I am hell
Born this mortal shell
I am wrath
Take this bloodbath
God sent me to kill you

What started out as wonder
The smell of scorched earth
It filled me with a sense of bliss
Inside my head the noises show they thundered
With cracking and hiss
One match
Killed the anguish
One act
Left me fulfilled
Destruction now the only catalyst
To save this soul
From these thoughtless kills

Where once a heart was beating
Nothing but embers glow
Our love it serves as kindling
To stoke this flames inferno

I am hell to thee
Down here all shall suffer with me
Die purified
Rise the ashes to the sky

Obsession born of young lust
Incomprehensible the feelings as they come to pass
But now betrayal slowly turns to bloodlust
Through sulphur and gas

Ignite this crime of passion
Loves pyre is set a blaze
The charred remains of all
Compassion was the spark that lit
Your immolation

Where once a heart was beating
Nothing but embers glow
Our love it serves as kindling
To stoke this flames inferno

I am hell to thee
Down here all shall suffer with me
Die purified
Rise the ashes to the sky

So burn
I'll burn it down
I'll burn you down
So you'll never love again (again)

[Lead Flynn/Demmel, Flynn]

Where once a heart was beating
Nothing but embers glow
Our love it serves as kindling
To stoke this flames inferno

I am hell to thee
Down here all shall suffer with me
Die purified
In this the ashes of your immolation

I
AM
HELL
In the ashes of your immolation


2. Be Still And Know

In this struggle
Are we dead or alive?
Freedom is not existence
It's why we survive
Shake our grief
Hold on to belief
It can't enslave us forever
There is relief

No change will be permanent
Our strength enduring Bright incandescent
Take a chance before we fall
Backs against the wall

And the sun will rise
Dawn will break through the blackest night
Distant in its glow
This shall pass be still and know

And there's heartache
As we search to connect
Even just for a moment
Pretend We're content
There is love
Know that we are one
We are all in this together
Weather the storm

Look into each other's eyes
Make the connection before it dies
It will all disseminate
As we consummate

And the sun will rise
Dawn will break through the blackest night
Distant in its glow
This shall pass be still and know

[Lead Demmel, Flynn, Flynn/Demmel]

Is it hopeless?
Will the fear take control?
Don't succumb to the numbing
Sting of defeat
Take this hate
Let the bile stagnate
Hoist the head of Goliath
Bask in its grace

Stars realign in the sky
Glaciers will melt and the oceans rise
Waves will come crashing ashore
But withstand the roar

And the sun will rise
Dawn will break through the blackest night
Distant in its glow
This shall pass be still and know


3. Locust

[Music by Machine Head, Lyrics by Robb Flynn]

[Verse 1:]
Sweet caress grazes my skin.
It's loveless, these hooks sink in.
Behind an angel's disguise, an insect preys.
Mandibles cut like a knife, the reckoning.

[Pre-Chorus 1:]
Forming clouds, their shadow shrouds.
Louder the tattered wings they sound.
Descending down.

[Chorus 1:]
Down they come, the swarm of locust.
Skies above converge to choke us.
Feast of souls consume the harvest.
Young and old, suffer unto the locust.

[Verse 2:]
Surrender, these veins are bled.
Devoured, nothing sacred.
Strings pull the marionettes.
See how they dance upon the winds that beget our pestilence.

[Pre-Chorus 1]

[Chorus 1]

Bleeding from my eyes, this plague is sent to erase us.
Bleeding from inside, these vermin can't infiltrate us.

Faith appears, and holds a candle.
Hark, the angels sing.

[Lead: Demmel, Flynn, Demmel, Flynn, Flynn / Demmel]

[Pre-Chorus 2:]
Forming clouds, their shadow shrouds.
Louder the tattered wings they sound.

[Chorus 2:]
Tear the veil, the lies derail.
Purity ever will prevail.
Trumpets sound the shattered crown.
Halos of truth now they surround.
The charade comes down.

[Chorus 1 2x]


4. This Is The End

This ends now

This ends now
And I don't care about last year
Won't be afraid of what the future holds can't fear
Want not the past and the safety it brings
It doesn't mean anything
We've come too far
There's no going back now
Bring on the future with an open embrace
Memories I will erase
Memories I will erase

This is the end
This is the end of chasing dreams gone by
Ever-long is this goodbye and this

This is the end
This is the end of our respect denied
Stand with us or stand aside

Only now do you pretend to care about this
You suffocated everything that came between us
Took every condescending barb and sting
I don't owe you anything
So here we stand
Farewell is forever
And if you think that it's a joke or a lie
Look me in these blackened eyes
Look me in these blackened eyes

This is the end
This is the end of chasing dreams gone by
Ever-long is this goodbye and this
This is the end
This is the end of our respect denied
Stand with us or stand aside

Bastards you bastards
May you suffer oh so long
Bastards you bastards so long

Brothers my brothers
Why have you forsaken thee
Brothers my brothers
So be

[Lead: Demmel, Flynn]

Deny those that will never accept
Empty words are just regrets
Let go the bile that your soul has amassed
With this let die be cast

This is the end
This is the end of chasing dreams gone by
Ever-long is this goodbye and this
This is the end
This is the end of our respect denied
Stand with us or stand aside


5. Darkness Within

Here in the darkness that I lay
Depression heavy in its weigh
And how my body aches to leave
To sing its final eulogy
My sons I love you evermore
And though the road beckons once more
I see the damage that I've done
In search for redemption
But I am just a broken man
Whose souls cries out to understand
How the madness shatters me
Upon the stage on bended knee
I scream out loud at skies above
That answer mute bereft in love
I struggle not to fall from grace
Or sing the hymns of my disgrace

We build Cathedrals to our pain
Establish monuments to attain
Freedom from all of the scars and the sins
Lest we drown in the darkness within

Mystery's forgotten chords
I strum in vain to please the lord
But he has never answered me
My faith has waned eternally
In empty men who pass along
The woes of all religions wrong
But now the shadowed veil it falls
Heed the Clarion call
So pray to music build a shrine
Listen in these desperate times
Fill your heart with every note
Cherish it and cast afloat
Because god is in these clef and tone
Salvation is found alone
Haunted by its melody
Music it will set you free
Let it set you free

We build Cathedrals to our pain
Establish monuments to attain
Freedom from all of the scars and the sins
Lest we drown in the darkness within

[Lead: Demmel]

Music my saviour (save me)

We build Cathedrals to our pain
Establish monuments to attain
Freedom from all of the scars and the sins
Lest we drown in the darkness within


6. Pearls Before The Swine

Lie in this state
Of perdition
Never to awake
It negates
An admission
Stricken by fate

There's no salvation it dwells in your bones
There's no remission this sickness it owns
Make love to denial her sober embrace
Nails they've embedded never to release

In madness we shall reign
Down out
In madness we shall reign

Hail Mary our divine
Littered souls across a great divide
In our obsession thou cast pearls before the swine

I numb it down
Heavens fleeting kiss envelops thee
It surrounds
So in vain we stab at the beast

Count the 12 times you step equal 12 times you fail
No abstination relapse tip the scale
As you swallow the hook
And you chew on the line
Choke on the sinker
In this sea of lies

In madness we shall reign

Hail Mary our divine
Littered souls across a great divide
In our obsession thou cast pearls before the swine

Broke vows and broken rosaries
Bind these rusted hopeless dreams
Broke vows and broken rosaries
Bind these rusted hands in prayer
Faith trust and love are mowed down lonely
In these killing fields

Deep in the throes of addiction
Now my blood's running black
My fixation is caught in its clutches
As the sun sets on my soul
In endless twilight
It is eclipsed

Hail Mary our divine
Littered souls across a great divide
In our obsession thou cast pearls before the swine

Slowly we dance with temptation
Good intentions are sold
For the price of fool's gold and sedation
Take now this demon by its hand
And slice it off

Hail Mary our divine
Littered souls across a great divide
In our obsession thou cast pearls before the swine

[Lead: Demmel]

Take the ache beneath my bones
Peel the skin away and leave my body exposed
No grace awaits this broken soul


7. Who We Are

This is who we are
This is what I am
We have nowhere else to go
Divided we will stand

We are the ugly
Beaten and torn
Brooding with power and ready for more
We are the hungry
Sick of this world
Of robbers of thieving
Of vultures unfurled

We have been left on our own
Be all the lost longing for home
We are the unwanted lives
Strung out and angry the deprived

We are the young
And young at heart
The strong and the brave that are destined to start
We are the change
The world needs to see
Look in our eyes and see our belief

This is who we are
This is what I am
We have nowhere else to go
Divided we will stand

We are the broken
Meant to be left
Damaged and headless like dolls in a chest
We are the future
Seeds that you've sown
In dirt that won't ever grow turns now to stone

We have been hung out to dry
We are the drunken
We are the high
We despise this human race
Look in our eyes and sell your disgrace

This is who we are
This is what I am
We have nowhere else to go
Divided we will stand

Dream

Into glory we will ride
Be unbridled in determination burn the seasons
Into glory we will ride
Be unbridled in determination
Burn the seasons

[Lead: Flynn, Demmel, Flynn/Demmel]

We are the savage
Meant to be brought to justice
To be thrown in jail and left to rot
We are the other American dream
Whose characters fight for their lives
And they scream

We have been left disavowed
Those of the black
Not of the shroud
We won't hear religious lies
Their God has left us to die

This is who we are
This is what I am
We have nowhere else to go
Divided we will stand
This is who we are
This is what I am
We have nowhere else to go
Divided we will stand


8. The Sentinel

[Special Edition Bonus Track][originally by Judas Priest]Along deserted avenues
Steam begins to rise
The figures primed and ready
Prepared for quick surprise
He's watching for a sign
His life is on the line

Sworn to avenge
Condemned to Hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel
Dogs whine in the alleys
Smoke is on the wind
From deep inside its empty shell
A cathedral bell begins
Ringing out its toll
A storm begins to grow

Sworn to avenge
Condemned to Hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel

Amidst the upturned burned-out cars
The challengers await
And in their fists clutch iron bars
With which to seal his fate
Across his chest, in scabbards rest
The rows of glowing knives
Whose razor points in challenged tests
Have finished many lives

Now facing one another
The stand-off eats at time
Then all at once a silence falls
As the bell ceases its chime
Upon this sign the challengers
With shrieks and cries rush forth
The knives fly out like bullets
Upon their deadly course
Screams of pain and agony
Racks the silent air
Amidst the dying bodies
Blood runs everywhere
The figure stands expressionless
Impassive and alone
Unmoved by this victory
And the seeds of death he's sown

Sworn to avenge
Condemned to Hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel


9. Witch Hunt

[Special Edition Bonus Track][originally by Rush]The night is black
Without a moon
The air is thick and still
The vigilantes gather on
The lonely torch lit hill

Features distorted in the flickering light
The faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best

The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat and burn and kill

They say there are strangers who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore shelves
That those who know what's best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves

Quick to judge
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand...


Adam Duce ‒ Bass
Robb Flynn ‒ Guitars, vocals
Dave McClain ‒ Drums
Phil Demmel ‒ Guitars

Lyrics in plain text format



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