DEA(D)US SONGS

ASH WEDNESDAY

DEA(D)US · THIRD STUDIO ALBUM · MARCH 1, 2006

.

† Named for the Christian day of penance and deliberately inverted. No ashes on the forehead. No Lent leading back to grace. No repentance offered. The record treats burning as a deliberate choice and something to be owned in full.

† The release date was chosen specifically to fall on Ash Wednesday itself: March 1, 2006.

† Unspoken inside the band: every song belongs to someone. Nobody says it out loud.

.

TRACKLIST

01 · ABEL / Corey Maddox
02 · GOD IS DEAD (SO AM I) / Evan Foster
03 · BITE THE HAND / Dylan Mercer
04 · REQUIEM / Riley Ashford
05 · LITANY / Lucian Slater

LISTEN ON SOUNDCLOUD »

RUS TELEGRAM POST »

01 ✦ ABEL

COREY MADDOX · ENVY

The first murder retold through envy. Cain knows killing Abel was wrong, but he never asks for forgiveness and admits he would do it again. Abel was always the chosen one while Cain worked, bled for him and remained invisible. He loves Abel but hates that God loves him more. By the end, envy turns into obsession: Cain no longer wants only to destroy Abel. He wants to become him.

— LYRICS —

[VERSE 1]

Same dirt. Same god.
Same fuckin' sky over both our heads.
I gave Him wheat, I gave Him sweat,
He turned around instead.

Your little pile of smoke went up
so pretty, so goddamn right,
and mine just choked and crawled back down
and died there in the light.

[VERSE 2]

Don't look at me like that, man.
Don't you fuckin' look at me.
You never had to earn a thing,
it fell in your lap for free.

They love you easy. Always did.
Golden and sold and clean.
I'm just the one who works the field
and never gets to be seen.

[PRE-CHORUS]

I know. I know it. Say it slow.
There's a place inside that I don't let show.
It's dark down there, and it's got my face,
and it's askin' me to take your place.

[CHORUS]

Killin' Abel was wrong,
and I did it anyway, all night long.
God, I loved you. That's the whole damn crime.
Killin' Abel was wrong,
but it felt like mine.

[VERSE 3]

They'll write it down as jealousy.
Real random, real cliché.
But you don't get it 'til it's you
He looks straight through that way.

I carried you. I hyped you up.
I bled so you could shine.
Then heaven picked its favorite,
and it was never gonna be mine.

[BRIDGE]

I know, I know, I always knew.
There's something rotten underneath my skin.
And every time you win,
I want to wear you.

[FINAL CHORUS]

Killin' Abel was wrong,
and I did it anyway, all alone.
God, I loved you.
That's the whole damn crime.

Killing Abel, my bad.
That's all I'll ever say.
I'd do it twice, I'd do it slow.
I'm bad, I'm mad, so wrong, so wrong.

If loving you meant less than this,
then let me be the fucking abyss.

[OUTRO]

Killing Abel was wrong,
but can I do it one more time?
And I'd still hum this fucking song.
First blood, and the whole wide world was mine.

Killing Abel was wrong,
but you were His,
and I wanted something mine.

02 † GOD IS DEAD (SO AM I)

EVAN FOSTER · PRIDE

Not mourning God's death, but celebrating the space left behind. With no one keeping score, there is nothing to save yourself for: kiss who you want, sin how you like. “So am I” means the singer dies with God too, free from judgment and any promised afterlife. Faith is replaced by cheap wine, sex and one reckless night. For one moment the bridge drops the confidence with “just save me,” then burns the shrine anyway.

— LYRICS —

[VERSE 1]

Woke up this mornin', heaven's got the lights turned off,
nobody home upstairs, so quit prayin' to the roof.

They sold you fear on Sunday, wrapped it up and called it love —
well the landlord's fuckin' dead, so who's collectin' now, huh?

[VERSE 2]

No hall to burn in, no cloud to sit on when you die,
just this, just now, just skin, just the sweat behind your eyes.

So don't you waste it beggin' — that's so goddamn played out,
the sky's an empty room and baby I've been screamin' loud.

[PRE-CHORUS]

If there's no one keepin' score,
then what the hell you savin' yourself for?

Hands up, higher, one more time —
if He's gone, then so am I.

[CHORUS]

God is dead — so am I,
so throw your fists up at the empty sky!

No throne, no judge, no reason why —
God is dead, oh, so am I!

(So am I, so am I —)
Nobody's comin', so let's get high!

[VERSE 3]

Tight little dress, cheap wine, and a room that spins around —
that's my whole religion now, and it never lets me down.

Kiss who you want, sin how you like, there's no receipt to sign,
the church bells all rang out for nothin' — c'mon, that's fine.

[BRIDGE]

No heaven, no hell, no maybe —
just tonight, just this, just save me.

No heaven above me, nothing below —
if this is all we’ve got, then, baby, let’s go.

So light it up, burn the whole damn shrine —
if He's checked out, then the world is mine!

[FINAL CHORUS]

God is dead — so am I,
so throw your fists up at the empty sky!

No throne, no judge, no reason why —
God is dead, oh, so am I!

(So am I! So am I! —)
Nobody's comin', so let's get high!

[OUTRO]

...so am I.

03 ⚠ BITE THE HAND

DYLAN MERCER · WRATH

Pure insubordination. Aimed at anyone who held the leash, called a cage “home,” and demanded gratitude for scraps. The point is simple: they created the monster now biting back, and their biggest mistake was letting the dog stand up. No forgiveness, no regret and no concern for what comes afterward.

— LYRICS —

[VERSE 1]

You fed me scraps and called it grace,
kept the leash pulled nice and tight.
“Say thank you, boy, and know your place” —
yeah, keep dreamin’. Not tonight.

You built the cage and named it home,
sold my Sundays for your show.
Guess what? The dog you starved learned
how to fuckin’ bite. So here we go.

[PRE-CHORUS]

Hand that feeds.
Hand that hits.
I’m so done
takin’ this shit.

[CHORUS]

So bite the hand —
bite the fuckin’ hand!
Chew it up
and spit it in the sand!

You made the monster,
now you understand —
bite the hand,
bite the hand that feeds!

[VERSE 2]

You want obedient? That’s real cute.
Go find some other kid to break.
I ate your rules for breakfast, man,
and I’m still fuckin’ wide awake.

“Ungrateful little...” Yeah, whatever.
Save the speech, I’ve heard it all.
The hand that raised its fist at me
is the first one gonna fall.

[PRE-CHORUS]

Hand that feeds.
Hand that lied.
I hope it fuckin’
hurts your pride.

[CHORUS]

So bite the hand —
bite the fuckin’ hand!
Chew it up
and spit it in the sand!

You made the monster,
now you understand —
bite the hand,
bite the hand that feeds!

[BRIDGE]

You shoulda kept me hungry.
Never shoulda let me stand.

Now open wide.

[FINAL CHORUS]

So bite the hand —
bite the fuckin’ hand!
Chew it up
and spit it in the sand!

You made the monster —
yeah, you understand —
bite the hand,
bite the hand that feeds!

[OUTRO]

...woof.

04 ♱ REQUIEM

RILEY ASHFORD · LUST

The title promises mourning, then the song turns the funeral into a party. No black dress or grieving widows. He planned his own wake and is heading to hell willingly. Damnation sounds better than paradise: warm fire, loud music, sex, booze and no regrets. Grief becomes excess, and the requiem becomes the loudest celebration on the record.

— LYRICS —

[VERSE 1]

Ring the bells, we're goin' out trashy, wasted, dressed to sin,
got a one-way ticket downstairs and a smile to check me in.
No black dress, no cryin' widows — hell, I planned this whole damn wake,
so pour it out and light it up, there's a bottle and a body left to break.

[PRE-CHORUS]

Higher, higher, off the ground —
you wanna know how the end goes down?

[CHORUS]

This is how a requiem sounds — loud as hell and comin' down!
High, wasted, blessed and damned, dancin' with the devil's band!

(Requiem — requiem —)
This is how a requiem sounds!

[VERSE 2]

Two freaks in the back room, sweat and smoke and cheap perfume,
we're gonna bang the gates of paradise and wreck the guest room too.
Get high, get holy, get it all before the mornin' comes,
'cause damn, the fire's warm down there and it's callin' out my name.

[PRE-CHORUS]

(Hotter, hotter, burn it down —)
this is the sound of goin' out proud!

[CHORUS]

This is how a requiem sounds — loud as hell and comin' down!
High, wasted, blessed and damned, dancin' with the devil's band!

Requiem — requiem —
This is how a requiem sounds.

[OUTRO — CHOIR]

Amen.

05 ⁶⁶⁶ LITANY

LUCIAN SLATER · GREED

A ritual invocation of six demons. The singer has abandoned prayer to God because heaven never answers him. Instead he calls downward into the fire, repeating six names until something responds. He asks for neither mercy nor forgiveness, and even while kneeling refuses to submit. By the end he openly demands that something dark appear. The song cuts off before anything answers, leaving the ritual unfinished.

— LYRICS —

[INVOCATION / A CAPELLA]

Belial — Behemoth — Beelzebub.
Asmodeus — Satanas — Lucifer.

[RISE]

...lia... behe... bub... lucí... lucí...

[VERSE 1]

Six mouths in the dark, and I know every single one.
I don't say your names for mercy — I say 'em 'til they come.
Circle in the candle wax, blood already dry.
I'm not down here beggin', friend — I came to fuckin' fly.

[PRE-CHORUS / BUILD]

Say it low.
Say it slow.
Say it 'til the walls let go.

Older than the word for God.
Older than the cross and rod.

[CHORUS]

Come down, come down —
the door's wide open now.

(Come — down —)

Six kings in the smoke,
and I'm on my knees,
but I don't bow.

Come down, come down —
I lit the whole thing bright.

Answer me.
Answer me tonight.

[VERSE 2]

They pray up to a ceiling, and it never says a word.
I pray down into the fire, and the fire always heard.
No hymn, no holy water, no forgiveness on my tongue.
Just six names inside my chest like a loaded fuckin' gun.

[BUILD]

...oremus... oremus...

I don't want it easy.
I don't want it clean.

I want the darkest fuckin' thing
I've ever seen.

[CLIMAX / CHORUS]

Come down, come down —
the door's wide open now.

Six kings in the smoke,
and I'm on my knees,
but I don't bow.

Come down, come down —
I lit the whole thing bright.

Answer me.
Answer me.
Tonight.

[COLLAPSE / OUTRO]

...six on one breath.
...one on the last.

WANT THE FULL SONGBOOK?

「CLOSED」 — songs lyrics.

available for copying via my tg or ko-fi (free).

MY DISCORD — my dms are always open! feel free to come chat, ask questions, send fanart or anything cool you’ve made, or just say hi ♡.

TELEGRAM CHANNEL — my main ru-speaking channel! here you’ll find extra photos, behind-the-scenes stuff, character cards for tavern and tavo, and updates on where i chat with the ru community.

KO-FI — if you’d like to support my hobby, you can do it here! you can also find my Tavern / Tavo character cards and lorebooks there, completely free for private use.

ཐི ₍^.ˬˬ.^₎ ཋྀ