Hollow Men

[Intro - Atmospheric & Sparse]
[Sound of a cold wind. A single, distorted piano key repeats. Muffled, indistinct battlefield sounds - clashing metal, distant screams.]

[Verse 1 - Low, Gritty Flow]

Another dawn, same grey sky, the taste of iron, a battle cry
My brother's face, a memory, a ghost in the rain, he died for me
A thousand times, on different fields, with different swords, the same blood spills
We march again, no flag unfurled, just hollow men who've seen the world
End and start.

[Build - Tension rises, 808s become more pronounced]

The general's voice, a rusty horn, commands a child who's not been born
He speaks of kings and holy land, I just see bones buried in the sand
There is no end, there is no throne, just the cold wind and the cold unknown
My trigger finger's carved from stone...

[Chorus - The beat drops hard. A Gothic, male church choir swells underneath the main vocal]
[Choir chanting in Latin-style harmony, dark and powerful]

IN AETERNUM!
[Main Vocal, strained and desperate]
We're the seekers of the endless war!
IN AETERNAM! 
[Main Vocal]
We don't fight for peace, we fight for more!
DIES IRAE!
[Main Vocal]
Raise your glass to wounds that never heal!
LIBERA ME! 
[Main Vocal]
Tell my god, this suffering is real... it's real.

[Verse 2 - Slightly more intense flow]

I saw a church in No Man's Land, a shattered cross, a broken hand
The priest he knelt, he held a knife, and swore he'd grant me endless life
A poisoned gift, a gilded cage, to turn the bloodshed into rage
To fight until the sun burns out, to live with nothing but the doubt
And the pain.

[Build - Similar to first build, but more frantic hi-hats]

The enemy wears my own face now, the same deep scars upon his brow
We raise our guns, we hesitate, two prisoners of the same cruel fate
Is this the war? Is this the prize? To see my own reflection's eyes
Begging me to end the lies...

[Chorus - Beat drops again, choir even more powerful]
IN AETERNUM!
We're the seekers of the endless war!
IN AETERNAM!
We don't fight for peace, we fight for more!
DIES IRAE!
Raise your glass to wounds that never heal!
LIBERA ME!
Tell my god, this suffering is real... it's real.

[Bridge - Breakdown, beat drops out, just the atmospheric pads and the choir]
[Choir hums a low, mournful chord]

Is there a heaven for the damned?

[Choir shifts to a higher, dissonant note]

A final order countermanded?

[A single, tolling bell]

To lay our rusty weapons down...
And let the silence be the only sound.

[Outro - Beat slowly rebuilds, then cuts out]
*[The 808s and hi-hats return faintly, then suddenly stop. Only the cold wind from the intro remains, fading to nothing.]*