Author: naomhbriste

Cataclysm

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

The fires are burning
as I stumble across the earth
mere compensation
for times we left behind
Gabriel falling
to live with mortal men
trumpet is silent
the empire can’t defend

Nephilim rising
to take back what was theirs
hate for the living
for what they have become
Prometheus wishing
that he’d never given them
fire and knowledge
with which they could define

Time is standing still in this empty void
Lightspeed near and forever to be destroyed
Stars are burning out in this hollow place
Destruction of the fabric of all of time and space

The angels are not coming
just oblivion’s call
no gods left to answer prayers
wings crumbled all to dust
Demons walk in human guise
false empathy their cry
for courage lacked by humankind
will rain down eradication

Time is standing still in this empty void
Lightspeed near and forever to be destroyed
Stars are burning out in this hollow place
Destruction of the fabric of all of time and space

The fires are burning
as I stumble across the earth
and the embers blaze in my eyes
like times we left behind
Heaven has fallen
and the silver city gone
voices are silent
the empire can’t defend

Time is standing still in this empty void
Lightspeed near and forever to be destroyed
Stars are burning out in this hollow place
Destruction of the fabric of all of time and space

Doctrine

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

Lacking courage or conviction you allow
the bigot to your home
and perhaps after a decade of
gaslighting and subtle control
of being told what you cannot
and must not and should not
it could be understood

Where once free spirit reigned now
an echo of a lost chorus faint and forgot
creeping normality of strict control
at the one-time cost of your soul
and the tyranny of small decisions
that gave up your self

So, without a word to stand for right
you accept this state of being
this lack of principled act in favour
of lying low and swallowing any sense
of right or wrong
choosing not to rock boats
you lose your soul instead

Humdrum

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

Accepting a life of impotent mediocrity
is now your path to desperation
a clinging to a passionless dullness
bereft of ardor or intensity
Life as reheated gruel without
flavour or spiritual sustenance
a life of do not offend with clothing or word
and the cold subjugation
of spying electric eyes
Existence mired in wistful regret
at might and could have been
of rare and mechanical motions
mimicking acts of love devoid
of desire and satisfaction
Circling the drain of second rate
and second best
life with one foot in the grave
of dull existence and ennui
Even my tumorous demise is more
appealing than that long decline
to regret and boredom and bitterness
Your own judge and jury
sentence handed down
in hollow lumps of an uninspired life
towards the lonely end that awaits

Cede

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

Cell division gone bad
where six months back there was nothing
now malformed malignancy grows
a quickening of grotesque replication
and metastatic spread
too damned tired to care
Watching detached and making
no plans for fight or resistance
let this just be as it is
let it all go in surrender to fate
and it will become harder, more difficult
to complete the simple or the easy
The dead do not care that they are dead
it is only the living who suffer
so push them out now, that none
may notice the void in the wake
nor weep false tears of pretended loss
as the forgetfulness of time runs its course
Weariness in bones and spirit
makes mock of a will to fight
so there will be no battle for extended time
just this quiet acceptance of circumstance

Peril

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

My mic stand is held together with
bright pink bondage tape
and my guitar stares menacingly from the wall
threatening me with sullen strings and wishing
I could play it better
but it beckons and calls in tritones and delay
a snarl of fury and a heavenly choir
tangled up in unholy divinity
I play with wave forms, synthesizing sound
with precision and unexpected grace
keys weighty and glimmering in the morning sun
music is torn from me as much as words
ragged and breathless, dragged reluctantly into the light
If William Burroughs was here maybe he’d get it
or blind me with his lyric prose and leave me
stranded in the spotlight of the melody
stranded in the spotlit solitude
stranded in bare harmonics
stranded in unfathomable notation

Wealth

~ naomhbriste ~ 3 Comments

Psychopaths and CEOs
priests and politicians
liars wars for profit cause
this is the situation
people dying in the street
freezing in winter’s cold
they could all be easy saved
if we gave a fuck

I’m calling down the red flag song
eight billion of us losing but not for long
we’re setting up the guillotines
we’re coming for revenge
we’re sick to fuck of you telling us our ends

Sociopathic businessman
with fancy clothes and house
stripping people of their cash
and taking food from mouths
he ain’t ever cared
if you had enough to eat
he ain’t never worried
about where you might sleep

I’m calling down the red flag song
eight billion of us losing but not for long
we’re setting up the guillotines
we’re coming for revenge
we’re sick to fuck of you telling us our ends

1%

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

I’m a screaming siren
And a call to revolution
Nothing evolution can hold back this rage

People dying in the streets
People praying in the pews
That those others will not be saved

I’m a call to arms
And a guillotine cut
Nothing but a good time
When the 1% are fucked

People dying from need
Of basic help and belief
When the time comes you are next

If you cannot pay the rent
Or struggle for food
Freedom is concept you already lose

I’m a call to arms
And a guillotine cut
Nothing but a good time
When the 1% are fucked

(spoken)
I’m a fury rising from the sand
A lucifer to bring the flame
A cry at night impassioned flight
This is not what we should be

I’m a call to arms
And a guillotine cut
Nothing but a good time
When the 1% are fucked

If you’re hearing my call
And you do nothing at all
You are the problem, you’re nothing at all

If you think some liberal shit
Will solve all of it
You are the problem, you’re nothing at all

I’m a call to arms
And a guillotine cut
Nothing but a good time
When the 1% are fucked

Nothing short of revolution
Will make a constitution
Nothing ain’t worth nothing if you won’t fight for it

Hiding in your house
Like a frightened tiny mouse
Won’t make nothing change as we see

I’m a call to arms
And a guillotine cut
Nothing but a good time
When the 1% are fucked

I’m a call to arms
(let me hold you to me)
A guillotine cut
(let it run right through me)
Nothing but a good time
(let it be the rhyme)
when the 1% are fucked
(let’s make it all time)

Micro

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

Depression kicks like a Nazi in the tube station
somewhere around midnight
brown boots and leather
the crass spill of the takeaway
and unopened wine
some guttural call
to toxic men
kicks to the face and bravery in numbers
Nazis wear blue and you called them
to beat down the broken
to undefend the defenseless
who lie in unfailing truth
some vicious scream to conformity
and deference to authority
and depression demands
the deserving

with thanks to The Jam for suggesting some of the imagery. I wrote this in under 2 minutes so please excuse its primitive nature

Making Music

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

Please excuse my relative absence here for now. I’m working on writing and recording a number of songs (and I will be sharing here). It’s a mix of electro-industrial, futurepop (thank you VNV Nation for coining that name), and oddball pop with a bit of hiphop and punk/metal crossover thrown in – not all genres in the same work though. It all takes time as most of what I am doing involves multiple tracks which then need mixing. Making music is a time consuming process, writing lyrics can be quite emotionally draining. It’s been a lot of years since I last did this seriously, and things have changed a bit so I value your patience.

And unfortunately work (the day job) is also taking up a fair portion of my waking hours right now. On the other hand my studio is now in good enough shape to at least begin the process. New Les Paul guitar, effects, good quality midi controller (and DAW software), decent vocal mic etc are in place. Eventually I would like to add a bass guitar, an electric violin (you should hear some of the awesome things you can do with these run through guitar effects), more VST plugins etc.., It all costs money and I’m not a rich man. But I’m hoping that it turns out well with what I have now and that I will be able to help provide you with both entertainment and some food for thought.

The creation process itself is fraught with ups and downs. I rely heavily on inspiration and years of training as a classical musician — not to mention quite a few as a working musician but it’s been a while. If I’m not feeling it I simply cannot write at that time. All that can add up pretty quickly when you’re working a day job and not sleeping. But it’s a work in progress and I do expect to be able to post a few things soon. My influences run the gamut of almost everything (although I’m sadly incapable of writing reggae). From Bach to Behemoth, from Carcass to the Cure, from Peter and the Test Tube Babies to Pink. You get the picture. The one thing I really struggle with is writing drum tracks. ISO drum programmer (not entirely kidding about that)?

All in all it’s coming along and I’m holding back a lot of poetry/lyrics so as to introduce them as fully fledged songs. Lyrically they run the range from deeply personal to working class activism, with a fair bit of reference to varying mythologies as well. So again, thank you for your patience as I go through this creative process. I truly hope you will enjoy the results.

Fractured (lyric)

~ naomhbriste ~ Leave a comment

You will return now
To the life that you lived
Passionless greyness
That has nothing to give
It’s safe but it’s boring
And it eats at your soul
Just going through motions
As you sink in the hole

You can change your location
You can change where you rest
But the emptiness grows still
Until nothing is left
Change your name or your hairstyle
And pretend that you’re fine
Behind the mask of a sad smile
That doesn’t show in your eyes

You’re fractured
But you’ll still say you’re fine
Swallowing the pain that holds you tight
You’re fractured
But you’ll lie to yourself
The ache that sits heavily inside

You’ll smile at all the right places
Let out a cold shallow laugh
But the anguish will eat you
Can’t sort the wheat from the chaff
As the years take your beauty
And the lines cross your face
The despondency growing
Feeling more out of place

You used to tell me
of the dullness inside
but you’re cloaking your feelings
desperate just to hide
Your sadness will rise like
the bitter taste of defeat
but you’ll stay in that lost life
all your days on repeat

You’re fractured
But you’ll still say you’re fine
Swallowing the pain that holds you tight
You’re fractured
But you’ll lie to yourself
The ache that sits heavily inside

Your existence is empty
As you often said
In those moments spent with me
Lying there in that bed
And you don’t know where you’re going
You can’t escape from the numb
It’s continuing dreary
And you have nowhere to run

Your world will grow colder
With each passing day
As you wonder what happened
But you have nothing to say
So you’ll live in the silence
Of a life that turned sour
Regretting all of the years gone
Unease haunting each hour

You’re fractured
But you’ll still say you’re fine
Swallowing the pain that holds you tight
You’re fractured
But you’ll lie to yourself
The ache that sits heavily inside

You’re fractured
But you’ll still say you’re fine
Swallowing the pain that holds you tight
You’re fractured
But you’ll lie to yourself
The ache that sits heavily inside