"A One Way Existence" -- a rock opera

[indelibleface]

So I'm writing and recording a concept album (a rock opera!) entitled "A One Way Existence". It's mostly metal based, with some folk music bits, a whole slathering of piano and keyboards, and a lot of instrumental sections. The music is actually halfway done, although the vocals haven't been recorded yet. You can hear some of the instrumental demos at this link.

I'm not the best lyricist in the world, but I tried to string together a loose plot involving a vampire that kills a young child's entire family. He spends his whole life training and tracking down the vampire, and finally, as an old man, he kills the vampire, but feels no satisfaction from the killing. He feels as though he'd wasted his life. There's a lot of metaphors involved here, one of which is the idea that his obsession with killing the vampire is almost like an obsessive, damaged love affair, something I have a lot of experience with. Thus, I can speak from experience, through this seemingly superficial fantasy story.

Let me know what you think! I might add more to flesh out the plot better.

1. "Prologue" (instrumental)

2. "The Scouring Of Charon"

here he comes now,
the one they call Charon.
the shrouded one who hides,
from the light of the sun.

he'll begin his scouring,
he does it every fifty years.
to satisfy his hunger,
and cackle at our fears.

and I know many have tried
to end Charon's "life",
to silence his cries,
before he ravages again.

but you can't hope to destroy,
what never even first lived,
no, he can't be stopped by just any man.

[chorus]
he begins with a sleight of his hand,
and then people die,
with a glimmer in his eye,
and a crack of a smile.
he licks his white lips,
fangs glisten in the morning sun,
he won't be gone 'till his hunger's done,
oh, the scouring of Charon.

3. "It Takes One Day (To Ruin A Lifetime)"

I remember the day it happened,
I remember blood and fire,
I felt my innocence shatter,
I heard your evil laughter.

you killed my family,
scarred me for life,
you erased them from the world and left me here to die.
now I have a purpose,
a raison d'etre,
I will find you and make you suffer - now it's only fair.

[chorus]
it takes one day, it takes one day,
it takes one day to ruin a lifetime.
it takes one day, just one day,
just one taste to leave you blind.

I was hiding under the covers,
I was only nine years old,
I cried out for mother,
I needed someone to hold.

in one day you taught me more,
than my father ever did,
you taught me I was born to die and born to do you in.
now I have a purpose,
a reason to be,
I will find you and make you suffer - this is my decree.

[chorus]
it takes one day, it takes one day,
it takes one day to ruin a lifetime.
it takes one day, just one day,
just one taste to leave you blind.

4. "(Living) Solitaire" (instrumental)

5. "The Great Conjunction (Ascending the Spiral Staircase)" (instrumental)

6. "One Way Existence"

I can't believe it's time,
the apex - the aperture of my life,
the silver-tipped climax of my story.
for fifty years I trained alone,
away from the home you took from me,
that first day my future died,
I tied my fate to your demise.

[chorus]
this is a one way existence,
straight into your heart.
this bitter vengeance,
will tear my soul apart,
oh this one way existence.

you became my obsession,
every single breath for my deadly delusion,
no room for love or affection.
now here at last again we face,
here in this place you will know my hate,
tonight there is no escape.

[chorus]
this is a one way existence,
straight into your heart.
this bitter vengeance,
will tear my soul apart,
oh this one way existence.

ten feet above the pentagram,
beyond your chamber doors,
I clash with your unholy magicks,
sending you tumbling to the floor.

[chorus]
this is a one way existence,
straight into your heart.
this bitter vengeance,
will tear my soul apart,
oh this one way existence.

7. "The Express Train to Hell (is Fueled by Vengeance), Pt. 1"

the smoke is clearing,
silently away like creeping fog on the bay.
suddenly I feel so alone,
I've finally come home and there's nowhere to go.

these towers feel so empty,
my voice echoes amongst the shadows of the flames.
he lays on the floor soaked in blood,
the embodiment of all that I ever was.

I've learned that the express train to hell,
is fueled by vengeance.
and the penance for those wrapped up in its locomotion,
is the notion that their lives have no real meaning.

I've learned that the express train to hell,
is what I've been riding my whole life.
and the sentence I've been given because I ain't been livin',
is the wicked regret that I wasted myself.

8. "The Express Train to Hell, Pt. 2"

all these years spent searching for truth,
the truth of finding and slaying you,
and finally when the deed was all done,
no sense of relief or feeling that I'd won.

[chorus]
I wear the shell of an old man,
with the heart of a child of nine,
I don't know what I expected to find.
my hands tremble with age,
and the thought of what could have been,
but what's done is done and I know my sin.

all these years spent chasing your love,
a love awry like a jammed gun,
the romance of finding and slaying you,
in killing you there is no truth.

[chorus]
I wear the shell of an old man,
with the heart of a child of nine,
I don't know what I expected to find.
my hands tremble with age,
and the thought of what could have been,
but what's done is done and I know my sin.

9. "Epilogue" (instrumental)

 

[malfunkshun]

i think tracking down and killing a vampire would be a pretty cool and unique way to spend your life