BURIAL VAULT LYRICS

1. The Stench Of Burning Thoughts

It's a desire to set a blaze
See the fire rise
The beauty of destruction

Something turns from white into black
Then it fades away
So fascinating and so beyond belief

It's in the nature of mankind to feel this way
An inborn captivation

In a time where reading is illegal
And even having books is prohibited
Literacy is oppressed
The termination of having a mind on one's own starts

Loss of identity
Mass conformity

The roll of mass media grows
The display dictates the routine

There is information everywhere
Trivial or fundamental?
The line becomes thinner
Friends and relatives are networked digitally

The changes in the world affected the activities of the firemen
Instead of choking fires they start fires to burn the unlawful books

Like a circus show
People on the streets are watching the firefighters march out
The books are put on a pyre and then the fire releases
The stench of burning thoughts

2. A Blind Follower And A Watchful Hound

Monday burn Plato
Wednesday Spinoza
Friday Nietzsche
Burn 'em to ashes
Then burn the ashes

451, the salamander
These are our distinctive marks
Black hair, black brows
A fiery face
We look like multiples

I work at the firehouse since my 20th Birthday
Like my father did
Like my grandfather did
I'm a fireman
I'm not allowed to read
That's against the law
Books must burn

Monday burn Plato
Wednesday Spinoza
Friday Nietzsche
Burn 'em to ashes
Then burn the ashes

451, the salamander
These are our distinctive marks
Black hair, black brows
A fiery face
We look like multiples

The detection of the hostile books
Is done by a instrument

Which isn't dead but also not alive
Made out of brass and copper
With spider-like legs
The mechanical hound

For quite a while now
It feels like the beast is focusing on me
But why? It's just a machine made to seek books
Is it paranoia or well-grounded fear?

Is there a bug in the system of this monster
Or does it smell the aroma of books
Which might be on my hands
After all these years?

I tell the firechef about my fear
But he says it is impossible
That the hound growls at me
To err is human

3. Soil & Green

[Instrumental]

4. Peculiar

It's autumn and the air is cold
I'm on my way back home from work
But this evening a strange feeling surrounds me
I notice quiet sounds in the dark

As I turn around
I look into the eyes of a young girl

We talk and chat
Her questions - so naïve
Though she seems to see through me

She ask if firemen always burned books
Because she heard about men extinguished fires

What a weird idea
Books must burn
That's our job
She askes if I ever read a book
I'm taken aback
That's a crime
Curious questions from a peculiar girl

Her presence is so strange
I feel like an open book
And she reads between the lines
The media tells us everything
So I haven't had any questions in the past
She asks if I'm happy
I have no answer to this question

What is so special about this girl?
She seems to see more than others
Such an open hearted mind

Soil and green
Rain drops and foliage
She lifts it all up to a higher level by reflecting on it

We meet again
Her questions - still naïve
Though she really gets through to me

She says that I'm not like the other firemen
Due to the fact that I look at her when she talks

There's a glimpse of truth
Many people talk but nobody listens
She makes me reconcider so much
Opens new lines of thoughs
Maybe there's something special about written words?

5. The Nightly Horror

Opening the door to my house
Words haunting through my head
It's late at night I try to be quiet and calm
To not awake my wife

Entering the bedroom
Darkness everywhere
And a mosquitoesque
Hum's in the air

Unable to stand the silence
She listens to something
Something irrelevant
Loud trivial noise

This room looks like a tomb
It seems so alien to me
I am not happy
The girl was right

My foot hit an object on the floor
A dull clink in the ongoing hum

Coming nearer to the bed
I can't hear her breathing
Under the light of my igniter
The horror's unleashed

Her face - Pale as ashes
Her body - Motionless
The object on the floor
An empty bottle of sleeping pills

Panic - I call the emergency
Waiting tremulous for help to come
Two men appear in front of me
No medics - Just ordinary personnel

These cases are routine nowadays
No need for a medic
I watch their machine
This black cobra slides down her stomach

Pumpking - Until the stomach's void
That's not the end of their task
Sucking off all the blood
To clean it from all poisons

Lack of emotion by the two men
Indifferent treatment
Without any word
They leave just like they came

The day after the incident
She wakes up but there's no recall

Acting upon me like a zombie
She ignores my constemation
Without rest the display
Still dictates her routine

6. Prelude To Peripety

[Instrumental]

7. Fatal Accident

Emergency call - A reason to suspect attic
Flashing blue light - Sirens scream
The salamander coughs to life
We are marching out to burn
To burn the unlawful books

We arrive at an old house
An aged woman opens the door
Not trying to escape
Standing still

My colleagues rush past her
The mechanical hound in front
But the woman doesn't seem
to fear our procedure

I don't know what to do
Like a pillar of salt
Unable to move
For a few seconds

I follow the other firemen upstairs into the library
Entirely overwhelmed
By the attitude of the woman
And her powerful eloquence

She appears to see so much in these books
So much emotion
So many feelings
So many memories...

A fountain of thrown books
Sloshes out of the door
And an open one falls into my hands
I read just a line, but it blazes in my mind

Meaningful gestures
Literary excerpts
Spoiler of our ritual
Bibliophile

Uninterested behavior
House into pyre
Show must go on
Dissemination of kerosene

Like controlled
By an invisible hand
I snatch some books
Put them under my garment

There's nobody holding me back
Something inside of me wants to know
More about these books
The emotions they hold

The procedure starts now...
10... 9... 8... 7...
The woman wants to stay
6... The counting stops

The woman shows a slender object
A kitchen match

We escape the inevitable
The stench surrounds her
The stench of burning thoughts

8. Struggling Doubt

[Instrumental]

How could this happen?
This can't be real
I can't play my role
As if nothing happened

I'll sham illness
I can never do this job again
My wife doesn't listen to my problem
She's lost in her digital world

This woman died for her firm conviction
What is so wrong about reading?

9. Moment Of Truth

One day later
The fire chief comes to visit me
He wants to check my health status
And wants to know

When I would return to work
Right before I could answer
He started to tell me the truth
About our job

The here and now
Is not a sesult of the states' doctrine
It was forced by the people itself

It began as consumerism changed
And everyone wanted everything
Things began to have mass

It all started with photography
And the invention of television
Books just appealed to a few people
So the content got reduced

From abstracts to headlines
Simply to have a blowoff
The world moved faster
And it was easier to watch the TV

Classics of literature were shortened to a one-page digest
In a lexicon to make sure that no one is left behind

The ongoing growth of mass media
Seemed to reach more people
The comprehension was easier
Because of the explanations were shallow-brained

Why should anyone learn anything
When it's enough to press a button?
There's no room for profoundness
In these restless days

The here and now
Is not a result of the states' doctrine
It was forced by the people itself

You see there is nothing necessary about books
On their pages you won't find any answers
They'll only confuse you

10. Awareness

After the fire chief left
I am totally perplexed
Was it true was he said?
Is a book just an unimportant absurdity?

The young girl comes to my mind
She seemed to be so frank
With an open heart for everything

I can't resist no longer, I open a book and read
Letter by letter - Word by word
From the outset, there's so much going on in my head

I feel emotions - I've never felt in my life
New thoughts sprout in my mind
These words are so powerful - So full of life

I come to the conclusion
That I haven't learnt reading
To decode billboards and I haven't learnt orthography
Just to write short messages

My wife can't understand my behavior
She packs her things and abandons me

Her belief in the system is too strong
The hardest part of the circumstance is:
After the slamming of the door
She will forget about me

The girl knows more about me
Than my wife ever did
What was the basis for our marriage?
I can't remember...

I become aware of so many things
It's like I've just started to think
I think therefore I am
Reading fills the void I have always felt

People aren't happy these days
The media blocks them from thinking on their own
That's why they can't realize
That they are thoroughly distraught

11. Surveillance Web

[Instrumental]

12. Catharsis

I hear the siren drawing near
451 I am exposed
The salamander arrives
In front of my eyes

Before the door
The firechief
Armed with a flamethrower
Ready for a new procedure

He roars at me, "Open the door!
There's no way out.
You know what's gonna happen now."

This is your chance
Show me that you regret
You fatuous fool
Books aren't necessary
They cause disorder between people
Disturbing the peace

Your wife is already gone
Do you want to lose everything?
For heaven's sake

Do you remember the girl?
You met her several times
We had to eliminate her

She was a nonconformist
And you are turning into one too
Take the flamethrower
Burn the books to ashes
Then burn the ashes

He hands me the weapon
I turn around and pull the trigger
The firechief turns into a human torch
He flares, he flickers
Then he breaks down

With the books put under my garment
I burn everything down to ashes
All the lies, all the insanity
To leave the corset that once was my life

She was a nonconformist
And you are turning into one too
Take the flamethrower
Burn the books to ashes
Then burn the ashes

13. Black Into White

Absolutely paralyzed - What have I done?
Invisibly cicatrized - Going on the run
My target is the river, so that the hound can't follow
My former colleagues fed it with my DNA

This creature
That's not dead and not alive
I feel its presence so near

Flashing blue light and siren's screams
The display that surround me
Broadcast the chase like movie scenes

As I arrive at the water
I throw my clothes
And my past away

Firemen are just pawns in a game of senselessness
Instead of choking fires they start fires
Now it's time to change my life from black into white
Black into white

Everthing that I believed in it was only a shade of the truth
My life was like a hound
Not dead - Not alive
Now I'm gonna change my life from black into white

Flashing lights and bomb blasts
A violent tendency no one perceived

Out of control
The unavoidable war starts far away behind me
Restrained emotions break free
End of the line? Every end is a new beginning...







BURIAL VAULT LYRICS