Subrosa
No Help For The Mighty One
1. Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes
Heads on spikes, symbols on skulls
Give me a reason to go on
The winter sky is full of ash
Broken homes, endless trash
But in the darkness he holds his son
He’s all that’s left, the only one
In the hills, the people hide
Join together, rot inside
In this land, the only hope
Is to die young, to not get old
But in the darkness he holds his son
He’s all that’s left, the only one
In the darkness he holds his son
There is no God, there is no love
Stripped to the marrow,
Their empty platitudes can’t
Clothe them, feed them, heal them
They shuck them off like a thin, useless skin
That they’ve outgrown when hunger calls
How long must my journey go?
And my sorrow no one know?
2. Beneath The Crown
Don’t tread the path of the enlightened
Don’t swallow their sugared seeds of poison
Their Da’ath leads to that black moonrise
Where the bodies stack up to the rafters
We touch the planets yet we’re no closer to the heavens
We gaze at the stars from our pig trough
We map the silver depths of the ocean
While we bathe in the blood of the hated
Spare me from your kingdom
Born without a coin in my mouth
I still crawl toward the sun
Hands in the cracks of the walls of your mind
I dismantle your thoughts
Eating grapes in dens of steel
Buffing that old carnage wheel
Sitting safe on marble thrones
Perched atop levees of bones
3. Stonecarver
Mountains swallow you
I separated myself from the earth
I separated myself from the sky
I separated myself from the crowd
Then I separated myself into two selves
O Lord
Then I turned myself against myself
I waged a war within myself
I turned myself against myself
I waged a war against myself
There’s no help for the mighty ones now
4. The Inheritance
Subgenus lace
A chain-linked fate
The bees fly North
They can feel the hangman coming
Millions of machines
Never before seen
Unstitched, unraveling
Laid to rest in a dying world
Oh sister/brother, we’re all burning high
I see white dust against the sky
This genocide rivals Dachau
In its endless march of victims
They say the meek
Shall inherit the earth
But all I see are the helpless
Crushed by the wheel of man
They look away
They hide their face
Black market backwash
You see, in this world, money kills
We’re in the shadow of a dying world
5. Attack On Golden Mountain
Walk just behind me
In my shadow
Walk just behind me
Never stray
The sun is setting
Mountains on fire
We’re so alone here
Don’t go far
Sing a lullaby, sleep now
It’s just a dream, sleep now
This can’t be real, sleep now
The starlight marks
The path of the fearful
The ice caves glitter
In the dark
They’re coming fast now
Blood on the snow
He holds her hand
Shuts her lifeless eyes
It’s just a dream, sleep now
This can’t be real, sleep now
The cold invites, sleep now
Open wide the gates
Horns sound from the bay
Open wide the gates
Don’t look back in vain
You are like a swan
Trapped in ice
Beautiful, strong
And now I’m alone
This can’t be real, sleep now
The cold invites, sleep now
I’ve found my peace, sleep now
6. Whippoorwill
Oh, my Sally’s done gone
And it’s all my fault
Oh, my Sally’s done gone
I never listened to a word she said
The purple hills
Seem to call out her name
Like the whippoorwill
I didn’t listen to the warning she gave
I know there’s no turning back
She tried to share
All her worries with me
But I was bowed down with care
I didn’t see the trap I was in
One look in her eyes
Full of knowledge and pain
Oh, my pack of lies
Melted fast as my alibis
I know there’s no turning back
And one day I’ll be like a bird in flight
Floating over this valley so wide
And one day I’ll be like a bird in flight
Floating over this desert so wide
7. House Carpenter
Well met, well met, my own true love
Well met, well met, cried she
I've just returned from the salt, salt sea
And it's all for the love of thee
I could have married a King's daughter there
She would have married me
But I have forsaken my King's daughter there
And it's all for the love of thee
Well, if you could have married a King's daughter there
I'm sure you're the one to blame
For I am married to a house carpenter
And I'm sure he's a fine young man
Forsake, forsake your house carpenter
And come away with me
I'll take you where the green grass grows
On the shores of sunny Italy
So up she picked her babies three
And gave them kisses one, two, three
Saying, "Take good care of your daddy while I'm gone
And keep him good company"
Well, they were sailin' about two weeks
I'm sure it was not three
When the younger of the girls, she came on deck
Sayin' she wants company
"Well, are you weepin' for your house and home?
Or are you weepin' for your babies three?"
"Well, I'm not weepin' for my house carpenter
I'm weepin' for my babies three"
What are those hills yonder, my love
They look as white as snow
Those are the hills of heaven, my love
That you and I'll never know
What are those hills yonder, my love
They look as dark as night
Those are the hills of hellfire, my love
Where you and I will unite
Twice around went the gallant ship
I'm sure it was not three
When the ship all of a sudden, it sprung a leak
And drifted to the bottom of the sea
8. Dark Country
No one ever sees the puppet strings
No one ever sees the dark country
I know you’re coming for me now
I feel you coming for me now
No one ever feels
The heavy weight of lies revealed
No one ever feels
The burning towns, the burning fields
I know you’re coming for me now
I feel you coming for me now
I see that black horse coming now
I know you’re coming for me now
Subrosa is:
Rebecca Vernon: Guitar, vocals
Sarah Pendleton: Electric violin, vocals
Kim Pack: Electric violin, vocals
Dave Jones: Bass
Zach Hatsis: Drums
On this album:
Sarah Pendleton: Lyrics, death growls in bridge of “Beneath the Crown”; death growls in chorus of “Attack on Golden Mountain”; backups in “Attack on Golden Mountain” and “Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes”; speaking excerpts from Russian fairy tale “The Stone Flower” in “Stonecarver,” main vocals in “The House Carpenter.”
Kim Pack: All soprano backups.
Zach Hatsis: Hammered dulcimer in “Stonecarver.”
Rebecca Vernon: Chime in “Attack on Golden Mountain,” thumb piano at end of “The Inheritance.”
Bill Frost: Guitar in choruses of “The Inheritance.”
Andy Patterson: Harmonica in “Attack on Golden Mountain.”
Phil White: Death growls in “Stonecarver” and “spare me” in “Beneath the Crown.”
All members write their own parts. Main guitar riffs, vocals and lyrics are written by Rebecca Vernon, except Sarah’s vocals/lyrics mentioned above, the middle riffs of “Beneath the Crown,” written by Zach Hatsis, and “House Carpenter,” a traditional Celtic folk song.
“Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes” inspired by The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
“Beneath the Crown” inspired by War against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race by Edwin Black.
Recorded by Andy Patterson, Salt Lake City, May 2010. www.myspace.com/andypatterson
Mixed and mastered by Magnus “Devo” Andersson, Endarker Studios, Sweden, June 2010. www.endarker.com
CD illustration and layout by Glyn Smith, Scrawled Design, Nov. 2010. www.scrawled.co.uk
Subrosa thanks: Ola Blomkvist, Profound Lore, Andy Patterson, Magnus “Devo” Andersson, Glyn Smith, Bill Frost, Phil White, Angela Brown, SLUG Magazine, KUTV Gavin, City Weekly, Chuck Berrett, Robin and Abe of Rye Wolves, Liam Eliah, Circus Brown, Portia Early, Beneath the Frozen Soil, Kai Fischbach, Kelly Ashkettle, 8ctopus Records, Oz Yosri, Dave Bogart, Bugsy, Dark Winter Silence Productions, Nanotear Booking, XO Publicity, Monument amps, previous Subrosa members Bonie Shupe, Rachel Condie, Leena Rinne, Carri Wakefield, Julie Stutzneggar, Zoe Dimitri and Erik LeCroix, bands we’ve played with past, present and future, the SLC music scene, friends and family.
Lyrics in plain text format
