Progressive metal

"A life for a lyric I've traveled these war lands deep Raging the knights in shining armor Surely death awaits the weak I've sailed the viking vessels Plunging the northern seas Crossing the blue horizon No land for the eye to see For the eye to see Raise your harp my friend For the song that burns In your heart Sing of the heroes And the days that time forgot Sing of the days of the Earls And the Kings and the Knights That conquered great feats For these are the things That we all dream But only your eyes have seen"

"We are playing with nature Splitting the atom Confusing religions Killing the masses We are not separate from what we destroy Time has come for us to make the only choice"

"Sail away, follow the sacred heart Chase the sun, one with the moon and stars Sail away, You'll find the promised land In your hand, there is a New Millennium"

"There's a certain feeling you get at the moment you know you're the one That sets the course of your own destiny Controlled by you alone feel it rise inside your heart The winning force at hand reach for the crown Take all that you can"

"Rhydin is rising Join us a new world is open Rhydin is rising Don't you know its a new kingdom Its all there, its all there in your mind"

"You will find the New Allegiance Like a beacon in the night If you're searching for salvation Reach inside There's a new world approaching A fire to be seen In following The Fourth Legacy"

"You disbelievers, little do you know."

"Christ is the cry of despair."

"Every day is a fight to survive, every minute a shattered memory."

"Little do I know, little do I care, little would it help if I knew and was aware."

"Give me something to die for."

"Die with a heart that is bold."

"Fly on the wings of despair No one is holding you back The call of the wild is internal Conquer the silence you fear Tomorrow will not fade to black A new day is dawning Remember No one can save you today"

"You and you alone are forging the path. Leave your sorrows with the past."

"No one will heed if you fall."

"The weak will always obey the master."

"I am damned if life itself is condemnation."

"There's no place for my soul in His embrace."

"She's a virgin free from sin. Drops of blood caressed me. And refined my aging skin"

"Don't you wonder why?"

"In the center of the universe, we are all alone."

"A human heart demands to be admired."

"Why did God make me feel there is more to be answered? Maybe God cannot remedy our souls if he tried."

"No one holds the only truth in his hand, so who am I to defy even God in quest for a reason?"

"I have all the perfect alibis."

"Vanity we celebrate, my favorite of sins."

"Love means nothing to me, if there is a higher place to be."

"Hear ye hear ye! The lady Helena has committed a sin. Now death lies on her, like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of all the field..."

"When you play with fire, you must anticipate some burns. Chasing for desire is just a different way to learn."

"Maybe God is the melody we all serenade."

"You would not feel sadness if you never tasted joy. That's the curse of humans; born impassioned, you destroy."

"Human reason counters all."

"In the dark, we're the same."

"We strive for the flame as if death was our aim, 'cause we cannot understand."

"There may be more than we can see."

"Human nature has its ways with lust."

"Life fades to black from silver gray."

"What you've sown is what you reap. Our sins can't be undone."

"We're a second in time. We're the last in the line of the prey that walks the earth; good and evil combined."

"I am the God in my own history, the master of the game."

"We all have our beliefs. Pray for mercy for all."

"That's the price of what we learn: the more we know, the more we yearn."

"If once given life, we must die."

"The more we know, the less we understand; life, eternity, the savagery of man."

"What does the winter bring, if not yet another spring?"

"Oh, how I long for utter silence."

"Don't you think the human race is ceaselessly vain?"

"So it hurts to be alive, my friend, in this masquerade where all one day must die.Don't you wish you were unborn again?"

"This life that someone merely gave to youthat's the price you pay, minute by minute. You beg for a minute more."

"How can there be a reason for war? For the life of a human that suffers?"

"What's a miracle, if life itself is not?"

"We all have broken hearts to mend."

"On a silent shore, I confronted fear. I spoke to God, But he wasn't there. The sun is down, And the war begun. Assemble the great pandemonium!"

"Break down!! Got to break down! Break down!!!"

"Just one...Just one more day...Just one more...war!"

"Dear Editor, This is the Zodiac speaking. I am back with you. Tell Herb Caen I am here. I have always been here. That city pig, Toschi, is good, but I am both smarter and better. He will get tired then leave me alone. I am waiting for a good movie about me. Who will play me? I am now in control of all things. Yours truly..."

"Know that I broke her neck, A twisted china white visage. I may seem unaffected, But don't we all want to be god?"

"You will never really know my name without reflection. A careful devil's irony in pure perfection, In pure deceit!"

"Wake me! Revolve in my wounds. Lay down your enemy. On the altar of refined deception. Hate me! I'm all over you. Reset the harmony. Like a fire in the night."

"The word "incubus" means "to lie on", and it was believed that any feeling in bed, such as a weight pressing down on your chest, especially accompanied by nightmares, was a sure sign that an incubus had attempted to have a nocturnal intercourse with you. Given the religious fervor of the Middle Ages, it is not altogether surprising that the idea of a demon lover was believed to account of this phenomenon."

"So long Your sorrow be gone Show me how it feels to be alive No more denial So long"

"I am the hole in your broken heart I am the reason we all depart What if all is over?"

"Those were the moments, and these were my days."

"Sing for me angel of afterlife calming me down. Chaos inside my nebula! And make the wrong turn to right in a celestial light. Forgive my sacrimony!"

"It all becomes clear, The truth will appear, Forever I'm there for you and me."

"And now leave me alone! Erase my memory! Don't want to hear, don't want to see! Don't want to think about the lie that follows me!!"

"Give me a sign, Sing the words of innocence, And broken pride, Make my conclusions fail. Send me a sign, Hear this broken melody, 'Cause each night i die, In hell...."

"Falling like the Fahrenheit. Someone will always lose. You will never see another sunrise. My cyanide in paradise. That someone's always there. And I will never see another sundown in your eyes..."

"Essence of beauty. Taken to soon. Princess of hope. Deep in our hearts you live on... Essence of goodness. Goddess of light. Give us the power. God gave us strength to live on."

"How could this happen? What have we done?"

"Every child follows blind, On the journey we call life. Learn it every day... Given love or given name, Determines everybody's fate in life. Be careful what you give!"

"Come to it's world following the sign Guardian, guardian, guardian of the blind Give us the help, we're waiting for your sign Guardian, guardian, guardian of the blind"

"Follow the blind Your journey, your last hope, it can begin These passing dreams were real no fantasy There are more things than we know Come take my hand"

"Valhalla - Deliverance Why've you ever forgotten me?"

"Too much, too much you cannot pay with your silver and your gold there's just a little chance to save the wizard's life there's just a little chance for all you fools now pay"

"I am lost in the black chamber There's no way to turn back It takes me down forevermore And death would be so sweet I'm possessed by the old creature Who has planned all To take my soul Too late for me In my hands It lies I thought But I failed Now he's in meMy soul is lost In his black chamberI'm gone"

"Tomorrow will take us away Far from home No one will ever know our names But the bards' songs will remain"

"In my thoughts and in my dreams They're always in my mind These songs of hobbits, dwarfs and men And elves Come close your eyes You can see them too"

"Do you know if Merlin did exist Or Frodo wore the ring Did Corum kill the gods Or where's the wonderland Which young Alice had seen Or was it just a dream I knew the answers Now they're lost for me"

"I hope there is a way back With my talisman So I look into myself Into the days when I was just a child Come follow me to wonderland And see the tale that never ends Don't fear the lion nor the witch I can't come back I'm lost but still I know There is another world"

"Listen crowd I'll tell you everything Though I have to say I don't know much Talking about a past And future secret Most call him once And future king Far back in the past I saw his ending Long before it started I knew his name He's the one who took the sword Out of the stone It's how that ancient tale began I hear it in the cold winds"

"Still I hear the scream of thousands: Crucify, crucify!!! Take it all Our gold, our homes, our life, But we didn't kill your Christ!! Reach out for your holy grail Enslave us and make us Your god's sacrifice!!"

"I'm not a king I'm just a bard How can I trust If there is good and bad The wounds of life They will remain At least I found a friend"

"I had a part in everything Twice I destroyed the light and twice I failed I left ruin behind me when I returned But I also carried ruin with me She, the mistress of her own lust"

"Nightfall Quietly it crept in and changed us all."

"How long shall we mourn in the dark? The bliss and the beauty will not return Say farewell to sadness and grief Though long and hard the road may be"

"So I stand still In front of the crowd Excited faces What will be next? I still don't have a clue"

"I've heard the warning! Well curse my name I'll keep on laughing No regret No regret"

"The moon, the sign of hope It appeared when we left the pain of the ice-desert behind We faced up to the curse and endured misery Condemned we are We brought hope, but also lies, and treachery"

"Oh lord here I stand Suddenly everything's gone For all Noldor From now on my life Is my gift to you Just lead my fate To the victory Of elves"

"Lord of all Noldor A star in the night And a bearer of hope He rides into his glorious battle alone Farewell to the valiant warlord"

"High's the fee Soon my spirit will return Welcome dawn Your light will take me home"

"Thus he died Nom the Wise Lord of the caves and friend of man Fair, and noble Most beloved of the Noldor race Paid the price, he redeemed the oath Farewell my friend, farewell"

"Out on the water The island of the dead that live There they dwelt Until they left the world and Still their deeds live forth in songs"

"Now truly I am king of the world Master of fate Damned shall thy house be Thou shall not question my power Nor shall thou defy me further"

"Thus ends the fifth battle By the treachery of men the field is lost The night falls and great is the triumph of evil The league is broken The last vestige of hope lives in the hidden king Only he troubles the dark one's mind Only he could bring ruin to the black foe Though the land lies down in agony and the curse lives on A new star shall arise And a new day shall come, again"

"I turn to you oh my precious Jerusalem Deny your prophets their passion and treat them like fools I turn to you oh my poor old Jerusalem Deny my love but you can't change fate"

"Proudly it stands Until the world's end The victorious banner of love"

"Day after day we've been fixed in this bowl for so long For ages we're captured in shells and crystallized walls"

"Well we all know there's no other side It's good and evil I know right between, there's no borderline This is the punishment divine"

"May my weary soul find release for a while At the moment of death I will smile"

"Still the wind blows Calm and silent Carries news from a distant shore"

"And from the sea you'll feel me And then you'll breathe out gently: Leave me"

"Your soul's like water but Your fate is like the wind"

"Let them curse my name On these bloodstained pages of misery Let them call me a tyrant so cruel Let them curse my name but remember the truth"

"Iron Maiden can't be fought, Iron Maiden can't be sought."

"Over clouds my mind will fly, forever now I can't think why. My body tries to leave my soul. Or is it me, I just don't know. Mem'ries rising from the past, the future's shadow overcast. Something's clutching at my head, through the darkness I'll be led."

"Night was black, was no use holding back, 'Cause I just had to see, was someone watching me. In the mist, dark figures move and twist, Was all this for real, or just some kind of hell. 666 the number of the beast. Hell and fire was born to be released."

"White man came across the sea, He brought us pain and misery. He killed our tribes, he killed our creed, He took our game for his own need."

"Run to the hills, run for your lives."

"Around the world the nations wait, For some wise word from their leading light. You know it's not only madmen who listen to fools. Is this the end, the millions cried, Clutching their riches as they died. Those who survive must weather the storm."

"The sands of time for me are running low."

"Just a babe in a black abyss, No reason for a place like this. The walls are cold and souls cry out in pain. An easy way for the blind to go, A clever path for the fools who know The Secret of the Hangman ­ the smile on his lips. The light of the Blind you'll see, The venom that tears my spine, The Eyes of the Nile are opening you'll see."

"She came to me with a serpents kiss, As the Eye of the Sun rose on her lips. Moonlight catches silver tears I cry."

"Bind us all together, Ablaze with Hope and Free. No storm or heavy weather, Will rock the boat you'll see."

"Now the crowd breaks and a young boy appears Looks the old man in the eye As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd In the name of God my father I'll fly"

"Fly, on your way, like an eagle Fly as high as the Sun On your way, like an eagle Fly, touch the Sun"

"13 the Beast is Rising, The Frenchman did surmise, Through earthquakes and starvation, The Warlord will arise, Terror, Death, Destruction, Pour from the Eastern sands, But the truth of all predictions, Is always in your hands."

"You take my life but I'll take yours too You fire your musket but I run you through So when you're waiting for the next attack You'd better stand there's no turning back."

"The bugle sounds and the charge begins But on this battlefield no one wins The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath As I plunge on into certain death."

"Running, scrambling, flying Rolling, turning, diving"

"Run, Live to fly, fly to live, do or die Won't you Run, live to fly, fly to live Aces high"

"The killer's breed or the Demon's seed, The glamour, the fortune, the pain, Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain, Don't you pray for my soul anymore."

"2 minutes to midnight, The hands that threaten doom. 2 minutes to midnight, To kill the unborn in the womb."

"Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave I don't wanna die, I'm a God, Why can't I live on? When the Life Giver dies, All around is laid waste, And in my last hour, I'm a Slave to the Power of Death."

"Too much time on my hands I got you on my mind Can't ease this pain, so easily When you can't find the words to say It's hard to make it through another day And it makes me want to cry And throw my hands up to the sky"

"So understand Don't waste your time Always searching for those wasted years Face up... make your stand And realize you're living in the golden years"

"Infinite dreams, I can't deny them Infinity is hard to comprehend I couldn't hear those screams Even in my wildest dream"

"It can't be all coincidence Too many things are evident You tell me you're an unbeliever Spiritualist? Well me I'm neither But wouldn't you like to know The truth Of what's out there to have the proof And find out just which side You're on Where would you end in Heaven or In hell?"

"There's got to be just more to it Than this Or tell me why do we exist I'd like to think that when I die I'd get a chance, another time And to return and live again Reincarnate, play the game Again and again and again"

"Can I play with Madness? The prophet stared at his crystal ball, Can I play with Madness? There's no vision there at all. Can I play with Madness? The prophet looked and he laughed at me! Can I play with Madness? He said you're blind, too blind to see!"

"Living on the razor's edge Balancing on the ledge You know, you know!"

"Circle of fire my baptism of joy And an end it seems The seventh lamb slain The book of life opens before me"

"And I will pray for you Some day I may return Don't you cry for me Beyond is where I learn"

"The evil that men do lives on and on!"

"There's a time to live but isn't it strange That as soon as you're born you're dying"

"I've lived in filth I've lived in sin And I still smell cleaner than the shit you're in"

"A million network slaves In an advertising new age I don't need a crystal ball to sell ya Your children have more brains Than your drug infested remains California dreaming as the Earth dies screaming"

"Bring your daughter, bring your daughter to the slaughter Let her go, let her go, let her go"

"Mother Russia Dance of the Csars Hold up your heads Remember who you are Can you release The anger the grief Can you be happy Now your people are free"

"The serpent is crawling inside of your ear He says you must vote for what you want to hear Don't matter what's wrong as long as you're alright So pull yourself stupid and rob yourself blind."

"Now we live, in a world of uncertainty Fear is the key - to what you want to be You don't get a say the majority gets its way You're outnumbered by the bastards till the day you die..."

"Maybe one day I'll be an honest man Up 'till now I'm doing the best I can Long roads, long days, of sunrise, to sunset Sunrise to sunset"

"Dream on brothers, while you can Dream on sisters, I hope you find the one All of our lives, covered up quickly By the tides of time"

"Sands are flowing and the lines Are in your hand In your eyes I see the hunger, and the Desperate cry that tears the night"

"Spend your days full of emptiness Spend your years full of loneliness Wasting love, in a desperate caress Rolling shadows of nights"

"You can make your own luck You create your destiny I believe you have the power if you want to ..........it's true"

"When the light begins to change I sometimes feel a little strange A little anxious when it's dark"

"Have you ever been alone at night Thought you heard footsteps behind And turned around and no one's there? And as you quicken up your pace You'll find it hard to look again Because you're sure that someone's there"

"Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have constant fear that something's always near Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a phobia that someone's always there"

"I don't care for this world anymore I just want to live my own fantasy Fate has brought us to these shores What was meant to be is now happening"

"I've found that I like this living in danger Living on edge it feels, it makes me feel as one Who cares now what's right or wrong, it's reality"

"We don't need a code of morality I like all the mixed emotion and anger It brings out the animal, the power you can feel And feeling so high on this much adrenalin Excited but scary to believe what we've become"

"Saints and sinners Something within us To be lord of the flies"

"Try to release the anger from within Forgive yourself a few immortal sins Do you really care what people think Are you strong enough to release the guilt"

"I want to live my life on my own I want to lift the unturned stone I want to walk right into the fire I want to live out all my desires I want to go and see the fire burn I want to see and feel my world turn I want to know what more there's to learn I want to pass the point of no return"

"You watch the world exploding every single night Dancing in the sun a newborn in the light Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death Hello to eternity and live for every breath"

"Your time will come, your time will come"

"The ferryman wants his money you ain't going to give it back He can push his own boat as you set up off the track Nothing you can contemplate will ever be the same Every second is a new spark, sets the universe aflame"

"Withered hands, withered bodies begging for salvation Deserted by the hand of gods of their own creation Nations cry underneath decaying skies above You are guilty"

"The punishment is death for all who live"

"The killing fields, the grinding wheels crushed by equilibrium Separate lives no more disguise, no more second chances Haggard wisdom spitting out the bitter taste of hate I accuse youBefore you know the crime it's all too late"

"Out of the silent planet Dreams of desolation Out of the silent planet Come the demons of creation"

"There's a thin line between love and hate Wider divide that you can see between good and bad There's a grey place between black and white But everyone does have the right to choose the path that he takes"

"When I'm feeling down and low I vow I'll never be the same again I just remember what I am And visualize just what I'm gonna be"

"When I was wandering in the desert and was searching for the truth I heard a choir of angels calling out my name. I had the feeling that my life would never be the same again I turned my face towards the barren sun."

"And I know, of the pain, that you feel the same as me. And I dream, of the rain, as it falls upon the leaves. And the cracks, in our lives, like the cracks upon the ground. They are sealed, and are now, washed away."

"You tell me we can start the rain. You tell me that we all can change. You tell me we can find something to wash the tears away. You tell me we can start the rain. You tell me that we all can change. You tell me we can find something to wash the tears."

"So we can only get one chance can we take it And we only get one life can't exchange it Can we hold on to what we have don't replace it The age of innocence is fading... like an old dream"

"And the fragment remains of our memories And the shadows we made with our hands Deeper grey, come to form all the colors of the dawn Will this Journeyman’s day be his last?"

"In your life you may choose desolation And the shadows you build with your hands If you turn to the light That is burning in the night Then the Journeyman's day has begun"

"I know what I want I'll say what I want And no one can take it away"

"We are cast out by our bloody fathers hand We are strangers in this lonely promised land We are shadows of the one unholy ghost In our nightmare world the only one we trust"

"El Dorado come and play El Dorado step this way Take a ticket for the ride El Dorado streets of gold See my ship is oversold You've got one last chance to try"

"Left the elders to their parley meant to satisfy our lust, Leaving Damocles still hanging over all their promised trust Walk away from freedoms offered by their jailers in their cage Step into the light startripping over mortals in their rage"

"There's an evil virus that's threatening mankind Not state of the art, a serious state of the mind The muggers, the backstabbers, the two faced elite A menace to society, a social disease"

"Besides one or two other acts, to date there’s still no other metal band that wields the same global popularity as Iron Maiden. The U.K. outfit has long dominated the metal genre with its signature galloping riffs, dueling guitars solos and anthemic choruses, all of which are now tropes found in metal music as a result of Iron Maiden’s massive influence."

"There was this chemistry between me and Adrian that went beyond the music."

"Coming in at No. 2 is Iron Maiden. Theatricality is a huge aspect of metal and no band does this with more success and ceaseless vigor than these Brits. The dueling guitars, Steve Harris’ signature bass gallop, Bruce Dickinson’s operatic delivery and Nicko Mcbrain’s inimitable swing have stood as the core of Maiden’s sound. They created the most iconic mascot in music, Eddie, elevating the music to a realm of pure escape and fantasy either through the artwork alone or when he comes to life onstage, which is truly the best way to take in Iron Maiden."

"Along with Judas Priest’s Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing, who worked a similar twin-lead attack, the duo of Murray and Smith was considered the top British metal guitar tandem of the Eighties. First pairing off for 1981’s blistering Killers, Murray and Smith quickly proved that they could play harmony leads and interlocking riffs as if linked by one brain, and do it with a speed and aggression that put most punk bands of the era to shame."

"Dave Murray’s and Adrian Smith’s dueling guitar harmonies, galloping riffs and epic guitar solos have influenced nearly every significant band to come out of the metal genre since the mid ‘80s. As the primary guitarists for Iron Maiden, Murray and Smith helped to popularize anthemic lead guitar playing, which has consequently become a staple in metal music for the last 40-plus years."

"By and large, Iron Maiden's long and lengthy career can be categorized into two separate eras: "punk Maiden" and "prog Maiden"."

"In , there’s one band that rules supreme, and that’s . Everyone from Gothenburg loves Iron Maiden for some reason, so naturally their version of death metal would be melodic and with a twin guitar attack."

"Is it blasphemy to call Iron Maiden the heavy metal Beatles? [...] Iron Maiden may be a heavy metal band, but “Run to the Hills” is straight-up pop. Led by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris, Iron Maiden created a marketing behemoth, perhaps rivaled only by Metallica."

"Sweating, and breathing And staring, and thinking Sinking deeper And it's almost like I'm swimming"

"I'm trying to remember when, but it makes me dizzy"

"Seems like I've been here before Seems so familiar Seems like I'm slipping Into a dream within a dream"

"It's the way you whisper Drag me under Takes me home"

"People tell me what to say What to think and what to play"

"I know you well, you are part of me I know you better than I know myself"

"You are just a part of me"

"Trembling at the thought of feeling"

"Wide awake and keeping distance from my soul"

"I am scared like you"

"If consequences dictate My course of action, I should I should play God and just Shoot you myself"

"Choices always were a problem for you"

"What you need is someone strong to guide you…like me"

"If you want to get your soul to heaven, trust in me"

"Just do everything I tell you to do"

"Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow What you need is someone strong to guide you"

"My gods will Become me When he speaks He speaks through me He has needs Like I do We both want To rape you"

"I had a friend once, He took some acid Now he thinks he's a fire engine."

"I don't want to be hostile I don't want to be dismal But I don't want to rot in an Apathetic existence, either"

"You know it hurt me But I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive Even if signs seem to tell me otherwise"

"Do unto others what has been done to you"

"There's a shadow just behind me Shrouding every step I take Making every promise empty Pointing every finger at me"

"Jesus, won't you fucking whistle Something but the past and done?"

"I am just a worthless liar I am just an imbecile I will only complicate you Trust in me and fall as well I will find a centre in you I will chew it up and leave I will work to elevate you Just enough to bring you down"

"Why can't we not be sober? I just want to start this over Why can't we sleep forever? I just want to start this over"

"I want what I want"

"My compassion is broken now"

"So smell my soul is burning"

"If I let you, you would make me destroy myself. In order to survive you, I must first survive myself. And I can sink no further. And I cannot forgive you. There's no choice but to confront you, to engage you, to erase you. I've gone to great lengths to expand my threshold of pain. I will use my mistakes against you; there's no other choice. Shameless, now. Nameless, now. I'm nothing, now. I'm no one, now. But my soul must be iron 'cause my fear is naked. I'm naked and fearless. And my fear is naked!"

"Dead inside!"

"You're dancing in quicksand"

"Twice as clear as heaven Twice as loud as reason"

"How could I let this bring me back to my knees?"

"I'm helpless and I'm awake"

"Free yourself from yourself"

"All I knew All I believed Crumbling images No longer comfort me"

"Thought I was high Thought I was free Thought I was there Divine destiny"

"And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots!""

"Let the rabbits wear glasses!"

"This is necessary This is necessary Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on…"

""If God is our father," you thought, "then Satan must be our cousin." Why didn't anybody else understand these important things?"

"Constant over stimulation numbs me But I would not want you any other way"

"I said, "I don't want it. I just need it. "To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.""

"I'll keep digging Until I feel something."

"Not all martyrs see divinity"

"I've been wallowing in my own confused and insecure delusions"

"I've been wallowing in my own chaotic, insecure delusions"

"I wanna feel the change consume me"

"Hoping I can clear the way By stepping through my shadow Coming out the other side Step into the shadow"

"I sold out long before you ever even heard my name"

"All you read and wear and see or hear on TV is a product begging for your fat-ass dirty dollar"

"Shut up and buy my new record send more money fuck you, buddy"

"What was it like to see The face of your own stability Suddenly look away, Leaving you with the dead and hopeless?"

"Dreams are fading Carry my ancient soul Carry me into the light"

"Bei zweihundert grad für fünfzehn minuten backen und keine eier"

"Saw the gap again today"

"Take care not to make me enter If I do, we both may disappear"

"What is this but my reflection? Who am I to judge or strike you down?"

"Yeah, I'm slipping back into the gap again I'm alive when you are touching me Alive when you are shoving me down But I'd trade it all For just a little Peace of mind"

"If when I say I might fade like a sigh if I stay You minimise my movement, anyway I must persuade you another way"

"There's no love in fear"

"I'm staring down the hole again"

"Some say the end is near Some say we'll see armageddon soon I certainly hope we will"

"One great big festering neon distraction I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied: Learn to swim"

"Learn to swim."

"'Cause I'm praying for rain. I'm praying for tidal waves. I wanna see the ground give way. I wanna watch it all go down..."

"See, I think drugs have done some good things for us—I really do. And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favour: go home tonight, take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your CDs and burn 'em. 'Cause, you know what? The musicians who made all that great music that's enhanced your lives throughout the years—real fuckin' high on drugs."

"Today, a young man on acid realised that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration—that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."

"It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom is what it is, okay? Keep that in mind at all times, thank you."

"A child's rhyme stuck in my head It said that life is but a dream I've spent so many years in question To find I've known this all along"

"Black as holes within a memory"

"I stick my hand into the shadow"

"But the eyes seem so familiar"

"Prying open my third eye"

"Think for yourself. Question authority."

"Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorising fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities—the political, the religious, the educational authorities—who've attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their view of reality. To think for yourself, you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open-mindedness; chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself."

"So, we need you to find a comfortable space that's not only comfortable, but vulnerable. I want you to shut your eyes and go there, and we'll meet you on the other side."

"What are you but my reflection? Who am I to judge or strike you down?"

"But you're pushing And I'm shoving you And you're pushing me And I'm shoving you"

"And I'm slipping back into the gap again I feel alive when you touch me I feel alive when you hold me…down Slipping back into Slipping back into you"

"Painless hours of wasted motion"

"It's some kind of psychedelic experience"

"Our body is light, we are immortal Our body is light, we are immortal Our body is love, we are eternal Our body is love, we are eternal"

"Omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, without judgment"

"Locked in a place where no one goes"

"If you are calling from a secret spy phone, please press 5."

"There's a shyness found in reason Apprehensive influence swallow away"

"Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity Calculate what we will or will not tolerate Desperate to control all and everything Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen"

"Clutch it like a cornerstone Otherwise it all comes down"

"Hang on or be humbled again"

"Defining, confining, sinking deeper Controlling, defining, and we're sinking deeper"

"Choose to let this go"

"But I'm still right here Giving blood, keeping faith And I'm still right here"

"And if there were no rewards to reap No loving embrace to see me through This tedious path I've chosen here I certainly would've walked away by now And I still may"

"I know the pieces fit 'cause I watched them fall away"

"Disintegrating as it goes, testing our communication The light that fueled our fire then has burned a hole between us so We cannot seem to reach an end, crippling our communicationI know the pieces fit 'cause I watched them tumble down No fault, none to blame—it doesn't mean I don't desire To point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over To bring the pieces back together, rediscover communicationThe poetry that comes from the squaring off between And the circling is worth it, finding beauty in the dissonanceThere was a time that the pieces fit, but I watched them fall away"

"Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion"

"So familiar and overwhelmingly warm This one, this form I hold nowEmbracing you, this reality here"

"We barely remember what came before this precious moment Choosing to be here right now"

"This body makes me feel eternal All this pain is an illusion"

"We barely remember Who or what came before This precious moment We are choosing to be here Right now"

"Stay inside of this holy reality This holy experience Choosing to be here in this body"

"Celebrate this chance to be Alive and breathing"

"This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember: We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion"

"My blood is bruised and borrowed You thieving bastards, you have Turned my blood cold and bitter Beat my compassion black and blue"

"Black Then White are All I see In my infancy Red and yellow then came to be Reaching out to me Lets me seeThere is So Much More and Beckons me To look through to these Infinite possibilities As below, so above and beyond, I imagine Drawn outside the lines of reason Push the envelope Watch it bendOver-thinking, over-analysing separates the body from the mind Withering my intuition, leaving all these opportunities behind"

"I embrace my Desire to I embrace my Desire to I embrace my Desire to Feel the rhythm, to Feel connected Enough to step aside and Weep like a widow, to Feel inspired, to Fathom the power, to Witness the beauty, to Bathe in the fountain, to Swing on the spiral, to Swing on the spiral, to To swing on the spiral of Our divinity and Still be a humanWith my feet upon the ground I Lose myself between the sounds and Open wide to suck it in, I Feel it move across my skin, I'm Reaching up and reaching out, I'm Reaching for the random or what- Ever will bewilder me, what- Ever will bewilder me, and Following our will and wind we May just go where no one's been, we'll Ride the spiral to the end and May just go where no one's been Spiral out, keep going…"

"I have come curiously close to the end—down Beneath my self-indulgent pitiful hole"

"I may find peace within the emptiness"

"And in my darkest moment, fetal and weeping The moon tells me a secret—my confidant"

"I must crucify the ego before it's far too late"

"And we will come to find that we are all one mind"

"I'm a former employee of Area 51. I-I was let go on a medical discharge about a week ago and, and..."

"What we're thinking of as—as aliens, uh—they're—th-they're extradimensional beings that an earlier precursor of the, um, the space programme made contact with. Uh, they-they are not what they claim to be."

"The government knows about them. And, th-there's a lot of safe areas in this world that they could begin moving the population to now. They are not! They want those major population centres wiped out so that the—the few that are left will be more easily controllable."

"Eye on the t.v. 'Cause tragedy thrills me"

"It's no fun 'til someone dies"

"I need to watch things die From a good, safe distance Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies"

"Blood, like rain, come down Drum on grave and ground"

"The universe is hostile So impersonal Devour to survive, so it is So it's always beenWe all feed On tragedy It's like blood to a vampireVicariously, I Live while the whole world dies Much better you than I"

"Here from a wild dream come true"

"But I, I would wish it all away If I thought I'd lose you just one day"

"The devil and his had me down In love with the dark side I'd found"

"Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn Begged like a hooker all night long Tempted the devil with my song And got what I wanted all along"

"Shine on forever shine on, benevolent sun shine down upon the broken <br< shine on til the two become one"

"Divided, I'm withering away"

"Breathe in union"

"A passionate spirit Uncompromised Boundless and open"

"What am I to say to all these ghouls tonight?"

"Listen to the tales as we all rationalise Our way into the arms of the savior"

"Who could deny You were the one who illuminated your little piece of the divine?"

"Ten thousand days in the fire is long enough you're going home"

"You're the only one who could hold your head up high shake your fist at the gate saying, "I have come home now" Fetch me the Spirit, the Son and Father Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended It's time now My time now Give me my Give me my wings"

"Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance Burden of proof tossed upon the believers You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence Judith Marie, unconditional one"

"You must have been high"

"You must have been so high"

"Weeping shades of indigo"

"Liar, lawyer, mirror; for you, what's the difference? Kangaroo be stoned; he's guilty as the government"

"Ten to two a.m., X, Yogi DMT, and a box of Krispy Kremes"

"E.T. revealed to me his singular purpose. He said, "You are the Chosen One, the One who will deliver the message. A message of hope for those who choose to hear it and a warning for those who do not.""

"This is so real"

"It was so real Like I woke up in Wonderland All sort of terrifying"

"You believe me, don't you? Please believe what I just said See the Dead ain't touring And this wasn't all in my head"

"I can't remember what they said to me"

"Work hard Stay in school Listen to your mother Your father is right, son Jesus loves you"

"Pure as we begin"

"Angels on the sideline Puzzled and amused Why did Father give these humans free will? Now they're all confused"

"Father blessed them all with reason And this is what they choose"

"Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground Silly monkeys, give them thumbs, they make a club and beat their brother down How they survive so misguided is a mystery"

"Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here"

"The Deceiver says, he says: "You belong to me. You don't wanna breathe the light of the others. Fear the light. Fear the breath. Fear the others for eternity." But I hear them now. Inhale the clarity. I hear the venom, the venom in what you say. Inoculated. Bless this immunity."

"Pneuma. Reach out and beyond. Wake up, remember. We are born of One Breath, One Word. We are all One Spark, eyes full of wonder."

"Tears in my eyes chasing Ponce de León's phantoms. So filled with hope I can taste mythical fountains. False hope, perhaps, but the truth never got in my way before now. Feel the sting. Feeling time bearing down."

"Free fall through our midnight, this epilogue of our own fable. Heedless in our slumber. Floating nescient we free fall through this boundlessness, this madness of our own making. Falling isn't flying. Floating isn't infinite..."

"Judge, Condemn, and banish any and everyone. Without evidence. Only the whispers from within."

"Psychopathy. Misleading me over and over and over."

"[Keepin it calm. Keep calm. Keepin it calm. Keep calm. Keep calm. FUCK. Here we go again]"

"Control, your delusion. Insane and striking at random. Victim of your certainty, and therefore your doubt's not an option. Blameless, The 7empest will be just that. So try as you may, feeble, your attempt to atone. Your words to erase all the damage cannot."

"A 7empest must be just that."

"And your death will profit off me"

"Give him your love, give him your love to save him"

"You can kill the revolutionary But you can't kill the revolution"

"Opening strong with their first hit, 1993's "Sober," the crowd - predominantly made up of younger fans, rabid with anticipation - was rushed into a hot frenzy. Lead singer Maynard James Keenan, as is customary for the enigmatic frontman, loomed in the background with his back facing the audience for most of the show. And as the first few songs let their last few notes fade away, Keenan disrobed, removing various parts of his ensemble, leaving him with nothing more then black underwear and a stripe of black paint on his face."

"Tool has the goods and puts on a blinding display of heavy metal energy mixed with cerebral art focus."

"Keenan…wore an all-black leather outfit, had his face painted black and stood on a spinning platform some distance from the front stage; he never seemed to look at the crowd."

"We always try to think of something that's never been done before, you know, as far as album packaging, and I've been a fan of stereoscopic photography my whole life and belong to the Southern California Stereoscopic Club."

"And we thought if we could get this to work with our budget, you know, and put this out, it'd be really unique and reflecting, you know, a lot of the artwork that I appreciate from the '70s."

"In an interview with Rolling Stone last July, Jones reiterated how the lawsuit was affecting the band. "It's costing millions and millions and millions of dollars to defend us. And the fans are all going, 'We want a new Tool album. What the fuck?'" Jones said. "But the point is, we're fighting the good fight. We're going to trial and we want to crush them. But every time we've gotten close to going to trial, it gets postponed and we've wasted money and time and it has just drained our creative energy. We bought an insurance policy for peace of mind, but instead we would have been better off if we never had it and just dealt with the original lawsuit.""

"Tool is a fascinating anomaly."

"The video presentation…offered a stunning visual complement to the band's furious sonic assault."

"In the popular musical climate of today, which seems to favor the blandness of processed rap metal or the redundancy of uninspired readymade pop outfits, it is refreshing that a band such as Tool exists to add some much-needed freshness to the contemporary musical landscape."

"Wrath and pain, desire and self-loathing, ferocity and meditation all find a complicated balance in Tool."

"Avoiding self-glorification, the band played in near-darkness under video screens on Monday. Maynard James Keenan, Tool's lead singer, stood on a platform behind Adam Jones on guitar and Justin Chancellor on bass, with his face in shadows, while Danny Carey on drums toiled meticulously by his side."

"Its songs hammer and seethe, melding the lowdown guitars of grunge, the odd meters of progressive rock and the whiplash stops and starts of thrash. Mr. Keenan's sustained, almost androgynous voice hovers within the music, desolate but impervious to the tumult around him."

"Tool's songs encompassed sullen calm, rapid-fire onslaughts, spacious chords and nimble-fingered counterpoint. Standing room sometimes became a mosh pit. But midway through its two-hour set, Tool chose stasis with a patiently tolling guitar vamp like a mantra. Its fastest music also had a ritual quality, pounding and repeating like drummers in a trance ceremony. Songs that rev up and end abruptly on Tool's albums only accelerated further, riffing harder and harder as if, through furious motion, they could somehow break through Tool's perpetual tension to reach a long-denied release."

"The music of Tool is the dark slime of a warm, black night. Tool is an escape, a subtle revolution of sound and perception. The musical landscape this band crafts…is the fulfilment of life, surreally black and purely haunting."

""This song goes out to," vocalist and songwriter Maynard James Keenan began slowly. And then he paused. And he paused still. And he finally finished, "Joey and Dee Dee." The band jumped into an extremely heavy cover of the Ramones' "Commando," baffling some fans and driving others into an approving fit of screams."

"What can I say about 10,000 Days, really? It sounds exactly and precisely like a Tool album. They might as well have not have released it at all, because anyone who's ever heard Tool could simply imagine what a new Tool album would sound like, and this is exactly what they'd imagine."

"First up, "Vicarious": a Dateline Special Report on violence in the news media featuring guest commentator Maynard James Keenan. Excellent! I've been hoping to hear Maynard weigh in on the hottest issue of 1990."

"Particularly impressed was I with "Lipan Conjuring," which was so thoughtful an addition to the album that I feel as if it were included just for me. You see, I went to the record store with only fifteen dollars in my pocket, and I had a devil of a time deciding between 10,000 Days and Native Moods: A Pathway to Peace. On one hand, I love rockin' out to some ten-minute chugging shuffles, but there's another part of my soul that craves the inner harmony that can only be brought on from some high-quality chanting. It was with a heavy heart that I left the store carrying only one of these two things— or so I thought! Imagine my immense pleasure when my hard rock album was interrupted— no, that's too harsh a word— when my hard rock album was magnificently bolstered by exactly the sort of stupid fucking crap I might hear on some grocery store counter impulse buy CD of New Age chanting bullshit! Bravo! I can have my cake and eat it too, and while I eat my cake I can listen to some total crap!"

"Tool are one of the few bands who have made themselves famous by disregarding all expectations of them."

"A strangely chatty Maynard James Keenan broke his self-imposed exile and spoke casually to the crowd, inciting them to a cheer of "Yes!" and sometimes sharing his thoughts, most of which were unashamedly eccentric to say the least."

"With their feet firmly planted on their spot on the stage and their faces obscured by their long hair, the players simply let their instruments communicate, and made no attempt to try it any other way. Adam Jones in particular was a foreboding figure – his sheer stillness contrasted drastically by the strained and pained sounds he forced from his guitar."

"[T]he band were as impeccably precise on their instruments as they are on record, with every dynamic, subtlety and thread of power displayed flawlessly."

"As esoteric and arcane as their music tends to be, there's no doubt that this unique group of musicians weave their magic to everlasting effect."

"The album art was a unique design created by artist Alex Grey. The art is different layers of patterns with the different layers of the human body. In Alex Grey's book "Transfigurations" he says the "saw blade" made of eyes "represents the primordial spirit of emptiness and awareness. The next layer was a vajra emitting energy, the subtle essence of soul around which the physical body coagulates. The next several layers detail the physical systems of viscera, skeletal, muscular, nervous, and cardiovascular systems.""

"Singing was really hard on his voice. [...] He just wanted to try something with a more traditional metal singer, because he was a huge fan of bands like Iron Maiden, Manowar and bands like that. I don’t think he ever wanted to stop doing Death full time, because he knew how much that band meant to people. But he was ready for a break."

"If it weren’t obvious enough from album titles and covers such as The Archaic Course, Winter Thrice and True North, Borknagar specialize in bringing frosty vibes and Nordic themes of tribalism, folklore and paganism to the stylistic landscape. Like Enslaved, they got going with Viking metal but soon transitioned into English-spoken progressive black metal with folk accentuations, and they’ve persevered through many lineup changes since 1995 to fine-tune their sound. Their winning aesthetic was present right out of the gate, with the sharp riffs, acoustic strums, clannish bellows and/or towering clean singing of “Nord naagauk” and “The Eye of Oden” establishing Borknagar’s gratifying brand. Admittedly, their music became lusher and better produced over time – which goes against black metal’s fundamental griminess – but they never abandoned what made them unique (“The Black Canvas,” “Fleshflower,” “Erodent,” “Unraveling”). 30 years on, Borknagar still reign supreme in terms of creating exhilarating rallying cries and heartfelt reflections built upon triumphant singing, devilish screams, wintry environments and richly intense music."