August Burns Red - Guardians Album Lyrics

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The Narrative

Prey on ideals
Feed on devotion
Just to get a rise
And trigger our emotions
Deliver images
That never should be shown
Everything is done
With manipulation

Put that spin on it
Get our feelings riding high
Share that take of it
Enrage the other side
A quiet protest
Forms a million
Furious loud voices (voices)

They drown out what's important

Drop the blindfold
Your values are bought and sold

These armies are clashing
These people are listening
They're all forming our stories
But are they worth our attention?

Theories before proof
Judgement before evidence
No justification
For your speculation
Theories before proof
Judgement before evidence
This method's been broken
Since its inception

Silver linings
Laced with agendas
Your motives, concealed by camouflage

Maybe it's time
We turn to our brother
Settle our differences
Believe in one another

They want to breed division
We chose to resist their mission
We will bind this world we live in

These armies are clashing
These people are listening
They're all forming our stories
But are they worth our attention?

We can't see the facts
They've been kidnapped
We'll hunt them down to set them free from their traps

Dig a little deeper
Change what we inherited
Power to the people
Or power to the narrative?
Dig a little deeper
Change what we inherited
Power to the people
Or to the narrative?

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Bones

We built this new resistance
To help keep our distance
Don't feel bad for us
We are content in this new existence

We may never remember what is was like
Everything was better then you arrived
You carved your scars, and left everything fending to survive

We made a deal with the devil (disguised as help)
We made a deal with the devil
We should have trusted ourselves

You imposed your will, and we're left wondering why
You're not here to gain knowledge
We caught you in your lie

We aren't the kind to stand up
We aren't the kind to rebel (rebel)
People can change, especially when they've been through hell

It's in our bones to be benevolent
It's in our souls to be of service
It's in our bones to be benevolent
It's in our souls (in our souls)

We'll be nursed back to health
No longer a shell of our former selves
With our resolution we'll find the infiltration
Now your deception will be annihilated

You tried to increase your reach
But now the levees are breached
You got swallowed up by the people of the sea

It's in our bones to be benevolent
It's in our souls to be of service
It's in our bones to be benevolent
It's in our souls

Halfway is not somewhere we will ever, ever meet

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Paramount

Are you walking through fire?
You have a friend
Are you stuck in a nightmare?
My friend, you have a light to make it end

Walking through fire
You have a friend
Stuck in a nightmare
There's a light to make it end

You have hope
You have us
We can put it all back together
You have hope
We have trust in you

Don't bury your ability
Don't give up on your strength
Regret makes you a marionette
Holding the strings and not letting you forget

Do not be weary
Find a path through the night
Do not be weary
Your strength will give you sight

All around are thieves, oppression their regime
Look past your reflection in another's direction
You have all you need from your imperfections
You're the silent minority, the compliant authority
Oh
Anyone can rip others apart, so reassemble the broken parts

Walking through fire
You have a friend
Stuck in a nightmare
There's a light to make it end

Face tomorrow, face tomorrow
And settle your yesterdays
Your future, your future is too bright to burn out
Forget the things they want you to believe
Forget the things they want you to become
On your back are the injured
They'll never determine your outcome

Walking through fire
You have a friend
Stuck in a nightmare
A light to make it end
You're the hero who can show us our tragedy is not tragic

We are not alone
You are by our side
Remind us how to fly

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Defender

Tonight I saw a father's love, in waves, start to rise
I will not stand by and watch what I made be demonized
He insists you dug a hole, a hole of bitterness
A rock and a hard place sounds easy compared to this

Righteous wrath
Righteous wrath wrapped in empathy
Like a hurricane passing over a calming sea
Righteous wrath
Righteous wrath wrapped in empathy
Like a forest fire spreading through the pouring rain

(I would do anything)
I would do anything to make it through, but it takes two
One is me, the other's you
I would do anything to make it through, but it takes you

Righteous wrath
Righteous wrath wrapped in empathy
Like a hurricane passing over a calming sea
Righteous wrath
Righteous wrath wrapped in empathy
Like a forest fire spreading through the pouring rain

The ones who know what's best are the best to have around
An understanding man doing the best he can to comprehend
A voice that shakes as he calms the quake
We need a defender who bends so we don't break

There is no judge
I am the jury and the defendant
The gavel has no hand
Who will deliver the sentence?

Bitterness has no end

I would do anything to make it through, but it takes two
One is me, the other is you
I would do anything to make it through, but it takes you

A friend defends the one he loves
In all things love, love transcends

I need a defender
A voice that shakes to calm the quake
I need a defender who bends and breaks in my place

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Lighthouse

Take another look around
There's so much lost to be found
People everywhere are hurting
Even though they're counted out
There's so much lost to be found

Passion in action is compassion (compassion)
Love is greater than what it's made of (it's made of)

It will cost you
Someone has to pay
Give nothing
And you'll waste your wealth away
Someone has to pay

Bloodied and battered, dying in the ditch
Help nowhere to be found

Take another look around
There's so much lost to be found
People everywhere are hurting
Even though they're counted out
There's so much lost to be found

Their prayers to a god are spoken in vain
His home is with the broken, He is the answer to their pain
A faith so fragile they're told to never leave
Scared they'll be seen for what they are
Not what they've achieved

A monster's legacy
Ends the day he dies
The man never forgotten
Is the one who's crucified
The treasure is in the tatters
Not just another cog in the wheel
Help those in need
And you've said more than your words will ever say

Divine design
Will light the way

Rise up
Reach out
Have pity, let the outcast in
Rise up
Reach out
A stranger's face in a foreign place
Rise up
Reach out
Shutting out the poor won't lead to a cure
Who will rise up and reach out?

Take another look around
There's so much lost to be found
People everywhere are hurting
Even though they're counted out
There's so much lost to be found

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Dismembered Memory

Take care of the care taker
Say these words before you meet your maker
Take care of the care taker

This catastrophe
Has been years in the making
They saw the advantage
You were there for the taking

Carry the guilt
Of letting a loved one down (one down)
We're all holding the burden
Of watching you fall (you fall)

This won't be your final curtain call

Trusted they were safe in your hands
Your oath be damned
Just another hypocrite's plan
Your oath be damned

The lows feel like days
The highs escape in minutes
Go back to when everything was clear
The act of waking up didn't instill fear

This is a conflict you can conquer
It's just mind over matter

The reality of the situation
This may take some meditation
You'll need some help to figure out this equation
And find out why things aren't lining up inside
Your internal clock isn't winding right
The pressure is building
It's more than you can take

Take care of the care taker
Say these words before you meet your maker
Take care of the care taker

This won't be how you are remembered
It is a conflict you can conquer
This won't be how are you are remembered
Rewrite the script, and start over (over)
Start over (over)

Trusted they were safe in your hands
Your oath be damned
Just another hypocrite's plan
Your oath be damned
Your oath be damned
(You oath be damned)

Carry the guilt
Of letting a loved one down (one down)
We're all holding the burden
Of watching you fall

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Ties That Bind

Back of the pack with the wind in our face
Control and dictate our own pace
We figured out how much we can take
This is our chance (this is our chance) to break out

Trials are the ties that bind
They hold us together in the darkest of times
Hardships can be used to harden our bonds
We'll learn from our grief, and carry on (carry on)

We won't be faithless
We will be tenacious
We'll gain our strength
From our failures

We will gain strength
From our failures
We will gain strength
From our failures

Back of the pack with the wind in our face
Control and dictate our own pace
We figured out how much we can take
This is our chance to break out

Surround yourself
With others who won't let you fall
Don't pull away
With no shoulder to lean on you've got nothing at all
Surround yourself
With others who won't let you fall
Don't pull away (pull away)

Our troubles, they can be endless
They're surrounding us within a cave in
Completely covered before we can blink
The harder we try the deeper we sink

Our struggles, knuckles have been broken

We've climbed from this collapse
And we're ready to break out
(We're ready to break out)
(We're ready to break out)

The code has been cracked
And we're ready to break out
(We're ready to break out)
(We're ready to break out)

(We're ready to break out)
(We're ready to break out)

(We're ready to break out)
(We're ready to break out)

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Bloodletter

You have, you have picked the wrong mark
You tried, you tried to pull an inside job

You're a thief
Of a different kind
One who preys
On those fighting to stay alive
Pull your hand back
Or lose the sense of touch
Remove it at the stump
Pay homage to Medieval times
We won't fall in line

You couldn't hack it
Convincing others
That you would back them
This isn't the real world
If it was
You'd be chewed up
Spit out
And left with fractures
This bridge is burned

Kicked us, kicked us when we were down
You stole everything we had to show for

Your purpose is pointless
We need, we need to both move on

Where do we draw the line
Between helpful and hurtful?
We'll come home with nothing
So you think you are something

This process has made us stable, more capable
Even though you always cut us down
We're here to say we're proud of what we've become
It's time to bury the hatchet
We won't bury it in your back
We're not like you
We won't bury it in your back
We're not like you
We won't bury it in your back

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Extinct By Instinct

Stuck in the past
The future is too open ended (too open ended)
I can't miss
Something that never existed (never existed)
I'll keep persisting

The outcomes don't always go my way
I still can't cover them, and make them gray
The outcomes don't always go my way
I will let decisions lie where they may

When I blur the lines
I don't have to focus
Shrug my shoulders
That's just how it goes, I guess

Diving headfirst into indifference
I'll take on everything over feeling anything
Positive impacts are meaningless
If I don't tolerate the pain of the negative

Something I had to learn
Was how to show care and concern
You won't hear that your plea
Will never be

I'm shaken to the core
Paralyzed by reality

I'll curl up
Hide inside
This is my shelter
To escape in

In here I disappear
Where there is no fear

Stuck in the past
The future is too open ended (too open ended)
I can't miss something
That never existed (never existed)

I never thought I'd have it inside
To decide what is right for myself
Proof of this selfishness that won't leave
Crushing until we can't breath

Its grip held firm
Its grip held firm
One day it lets go
One day it lets go
I need you to forgive me

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Empty Heaven

Restart your heart
Fill your lungs with this oxygen
Restart your heart, so you are filled with life again
If we could turn back time, stop your decline
Piece you back together until you've been revived

We have one more minute to hear your thoughts (to hear your thoughts)
How did you remain so strong?
So many questions left unanswered
So many mysteries we'll never know
Why do the graceful fall the hardest?
Why do they leave the biggest impact?
So many legends with no endings
We'll never know

What's it like to be the breeze?
To be one with the air we all breathe?
The chill that runs up our spines, across our necks
And into the back of our minds? Yea

Gently passing through the room
And haunting everyone who's ever known you (and what you've been through)
They still feel the warmth of your embrace
You may feel present, but you're not of this place
You are the revenant watching your own wake
When your days are at an end you'll never understand
Or fully comprehend, until it's too late

What's eternity like when you're the first to arrive?
Take a look around
There's no one by your side
Will you seek solace in all that you know
Or will you wish that your blood still flowed?

Restart your heart
Fill your lungs with this oxygen
Restart your heart, so you are filled with life again
If we could turn back time (turn back time)
Stop your decline
Piece you back together until you've been revived

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Three Fountains

When you forget who you are you don't just lose yourself
You become like everyone else
You become like everyone else

We let our past put us down
We know how to swim but soon we bury our head and drown
A man living in hell, dying of thirst on his way to the well
What's wrong with the world?
There's so much rage
Two words, "I am" would begin a new age
With the truth on our lips, we see the change
We see the change, coalesce
Coalesce

Without an end, there'd be no place to begin
Without an end, there'd be no place to begin

Without a trial, you are convicted
Pain seems to rain on the afflicted
Here's to the rebels
Here's to the rejects
Here's to the ones who fight gravity
You realize how wrong you are when you're 30,000 feet
In the air, in the air
This world we see is not flat or square
In the air, in the air
You realize how wrong you are when you're 30,000 feet
In the air, in the air
This world we see is not flat or square
In the air, in the air

(In the air, in the air)
(In the air, in the air)