Lyrics & sidenotes
Lion Tamer
Strong presence of absence
in his eyes
Vultures circling
in the sky
Slowly breathing the air
of a man defeated
Devoid of focus
Today something is missing
Time for a change
Enter the lion’s lair
with a whip and a chair
Enter the lion’s lair
Paralyzed by fear
Devoid of strength
Vultures spiral down
in a blink of an eye
This is the day
when the hunter
becomes the prey
Enter the lions lair
with a whip and a chair
Enter the lions lair
This is the day
when the hunter
becomes the prey
Enter the lion’s lair
with a whip and a chair
Enter the lion’s lair
Lion Tamer was the first single from Breakwater. A no nonsense album opener with a strong chorus. Jules nailed the vocals spontaneously at a magical demo session at our cabin hq, in Sammatti, Finland. The band made a DIY video for it during the covid pandemic. All members filmed their parts separately and Thomas Wright sewed them all together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5IRjjGJhrA
Gone By The Waves
A deafening roar
Wild currents coursing round
One storm too many to weather
Let’s die a few deaths
Everything you love and cherish
will drown and perish
into the waves
into the oceans rage
Gone by the waves
Gone by the waves
washed away
Gone by the waves
Gone, washed away
into the great wide grey
Everything you love and cherish
will drown and perish
into the waves
into the oceans rage
Everything you hold dear
will disappear into the waves,
into the ocean grave
Gone by the waves
Gone by the waves
washed away
Gone by the waves
Gone, washed away
into the great wide grey
Dark clouds gathering pace
Wind whirling the waves
With foam in their mouths
they race to erase
The second single from the album. This will be a banger live. Lyrics have a bit of dark, Finnish tongue in cheek here and there. But the core message is serious. Guided by the big religions and capitalism we're heading towards destruction. Mother nature will get her revenge eventually.
Departures
It beggars belief to behold,
the cold we hold in our hearts
and the distance we’ve drifted apart
Get battered enough,
broken, laid bare,
losing the capacity to care
What once seemed
the be all and end all,
pales into indifference
I’m in a free fall
Sometimes it takes a death
to feel alive
I’m a breakwater
in the tide
Good things are hard to come by,
but easy go
I’ve seen departures
in a steady flow
We’re but reflections of each other
With each and every farewell,
I lose a piece of myself
Sometimes it takes a death
to feel alive
I’m a breakwater
in the tide
A song that went through a total evolution at the rehearsal place. It was originally a much slower, much more mellow song. Lyrics drew inspiration of the end of a long relationship, depression and other uncomfortable elements in Wright's life at the time such as his father dying of cancer.
Life in a Grave
Anger grew from frustration
while fighting stagnation
with our feet in leaden shoes
Found myself seated in a train
on a circle shaped rail
I’ve been living in a grave
Got lost in the grey,
where tomorrow repeats today
Running without purpose
Fighting without a cause
At loss for reason
Forgot what I was looking for
Found myself seated in a train
on a circle shaped rail
Been here before for sure
Let’s give it another go
Next stop desolation row
I’ve been living in a grave
Got lost in the grey,
where tomorrow repeats today
One of the very first Rootbrain songs ever written. It started by Helle & Fat Tony jamming the two chords of the intro riff at a rehearsal camp and Wright then built the rest of the song around those two chords. It is also the first ever lyrics written by Wright.
Black Honey
We turned all the stones
in search for a reason,
to keep carrying water
into the well
We came here together
but we’ll leave alone
Hold on just a little bit longer,
until the cold cuts to the core
Another season changes,
paints the leaves golden
We know what it means
We know what is coming
Where I took you,
winters last for decades
and the day fades
after the first fleeting ray
and the cold cuts to the core
Black honey – cold cuts to the core
Black honey – cold cuts to the core
Where I took you
winters last for decades
and the day fades
after the first fleeting ray
and the cold cuts to the core
There’s no place I’d rather be in
The joy is fleeting
Ripped my black bloody core
to the fore
Now see the vultures feasting
Look at the vultures feasting on me
A sexy mofo, this one. Jules really gets to use his wide vocal palette here. In a way this is Rootbrain in a nutshell: beautiful meets ugly
Bullethead
Stripped of control
No strings attached
A forlorn master detached
Old king has come
to claim his crown
in a scorched empire about to drown
which do you prefer
for my head?
A crown or a bullet?
Drilling holes
into the boat
I’m the captain,
the master of ghouls
No strings attached,
stripped of control
Are you a saviour
or a scavenger?
which do you prefer
for my head?
A crown or a bullet?
No middle way
Just binary shades
An outrageous one. Ugly and aggressive. This one is about letting go and the false sense of control we people have. Also, the world's quite black & white, binary place nowadays. Not least thanks to the internet and social media.
On the last day of the vocal recordings at Woodshed Studio, Germany, we had a little party. We also got an idea of adding some Gremlins choirs to the choruses. And there was laughter. A lot of laughter. Featuring our friend Michael Zech of Secrets of the Moon fame.
Hatemongers
Priests of sodom
preaching doom
We let the snakes crawl
into the throne room
More wealth than ever
yet a famine looms
It’s easy to stand tall
in front of a crowd in awe
And easy to disappear
when the heart fills with fear
Hatemongers step aside
constant change will abide
You wouldn’t last a day
in the world you crave
Motherslayers spin the wheel of greed
blown out of proportion
We will pull the trees down,
rip the roots off the ground
Desolation in perfection
We’re here to make our mark
Hatemongers step aside
constant change will abide
You wouldn’t last a day
in the world you crave
The way you glorify
shows you have no clue
You should be horrified
when war looks straight at you
Hatemongers step aside
constant change will abide
You wouldn’t last a day
in the world you crave
The most political song on the album. An energetic one. Far right populists are in vogue in Finland and trending around the world. Fuck them, most of their voters are losers who would remain losers in a world where it's all against all, survival of the shittest. Secondly, even more evil are the more liberal ones in power who are happy to play with the far right just because of their will to stay in power.
It takes more balls to love than to hate. Change is constant, deal with it.
A New Leash of Life
We’re on ascension,
flying high
Today our sole possession,
ruins behind
Not here for friends
or to make amends
We’re on ascension
Today is all we have
We dwell in the deep, dark night
yet we crave for the brightest light
Time waits for no man
We dwell in the deep, dark night
yet we crave for the brightest light
Life’s just a one night stand
It’s time to let go
Enter the void called ego
I need a new lease of life,
a new leash of lies
Draw me a line and I’ll follow
the straight and narrow,
balancing on a tightrope
We dwell in the deep, dark night
yet we crave for the brightest light
Time waits for no man
We dwell in the deep, dark night
yet we crave for the brightest light
Life’s just a one night stand
Let go
Time to let go,
enter the void called ego
Let go
Let go, live in the moment, lose control, balance between manic and depression. It's complicated. Letting go and mourning have many stages. This one is chaos, self destructional behaviour and not giving many fucks. Metaphorically that is.
Steer by the Scars
In search of truth
we settled for a pleasant lie
Another day goes by,
weeks melt into months
Repeat the same mistakes
and start all over
Learn through mistake
Forgot to learn
We’re stones pretending stars
steered by the scars
Burdened by pride
slowly ripped apart
Steered by the scars
Slowly ripped apart
We came a long way
now we’re lost at sea
I know the safe way home
but keep drifting further
We’re stones pretending stars
steered by the scars
Burdened by pride
slowly ripped apart
Steered by the scars
Slowly ripped apart
We’re stones pretending stars
slowly ripped apart
We’re stones pretending stars
slowly ripped apart
We came a long way
now we’re lost at sea
A bit more mellow one. Calm after the storm. Again something that begins kinda beautifully but turns ugly as things progress. Our fears, traumas and pride have quite often a bit too much power over the decisions we do in our lives, on the paths we choose or don't dare to choose.
Floating Feathers
My mind is a beast
waiting to be released
It’s the funeral feast
welcome, you’re all invited
You know what I wish for
when I blow
the candles cold
But lets pretend a happy end,
let's pretend
Beasts of burden
dodging the hangman’s rope
Travelling lightyears
unified by fear
Prolong the moment
while we can
before letting the floodgates open
and the currents
shred us to pieces
Come drink with me
from the bowl of last drops
This is no second chance,
we’ve had a few
Prolong the moment
while we can
before letting the floodgates
open wide
Beasts of burden
Dodging the hangman’s rope
Travelling lightyears
unified by fear
In the end
nothing but a memory remains
and the love
Kind of a happy ending for the album. Well, not happy, but at least slightly hopeful. The process of letting go gets some sort of a conclusion. The last three lines might seem cheesy for some but they were basically the last words Wright's father said to him on his deathbed.
This was the third single released from the album and it has a DIY lyric video adorned by the nature photography of Petteri Hautamaa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIvHZ85euA