Sins of the Father

[Intro — Low Gregorian-style choir, distant bells]

Pater...
Peccator...
Creator...

Pater...
Peccator...
Creator...

[Verse I]

You gave me breath beneath a blood-red moon,
A sharpened hand, a purpose and a name.
You taught me mercy was a gift for fools,
And every living soul could feed the flame.

You taught me how to take a man apart,
Not flesh from bone, but everything within.
To leave him breathing when I'd burned his world,
And make him beg forgiveness for his sin.

[Pre-Chorus]

I learned each lesson at your knee.
Oh Father, are you proud of me?

[Chorus — Full choir]

SINS OF THE FATHER!
Written in the blood upon my hands!
SINS OF THE FATHER!
Now you'll learn what only I understand!

I was the blade you forged in darkness,
I was the beast you set upon the weak.
Now stand among the ashes, Father.
I want to hear you speak.

[Choir]

Pater! Peccator! Creator!
Pater! Peccator! Creator!

[Verse II]

You found a wife and built another home,
As though your hands had never fashioned me.
You filled your halls with laughter not my own,
And called forgetting absolution's fee.

So one by one, I taught them what you taught,
That everything beloved can be removed.
A friend, a child, a servant and a love,
Until there's nothing left that can be proved.

[Pre-Chorus]

You gave me solitude for free.
Tonight I'll give it back to thee.

[Chorus]

SINS OF THE FATHER!
Written in the blood upon my hands!
SINS OF THE FATHER!
Now you'll learn what only I understand!

I was the blade you forged in darkness,
I was the beast you set upon the weak.
Now stand among the ashes, Father.
I want to hear you speak.

[Bridge — Half-time, pipe organ dominant]

You call me monster.

[Choir, whispered]

Monstrum...

You call me monster
As if another shaped these hands.
As if another taught me
How a broken spirit bends.

[Lead, quieter]

You cannot take creation
And discard it when you're through.
Every horror that you see in me
Was first alive in you.

[Choir builds]

Pater...
Peccator...
Creator...

[Lead]

And do not think I came because
I need you at my side.
You left your son abandoned once.

[Music drops]

But if my father dies...

I'm only orphaned.

[Instrumental — Organ into guitar solo]

[Breakdown — Spoken over low choir]

You taught me to leave men standing
in the ashes of all they loved
before allowing them to ask, politely,
for me to let them kill themselves.

[Pause]

But for you, Father...

I want to hold the blade myself.

[Choir swells]

Now...

Beg.

[Father, distant/whispered]

Please...

Please kill me.

[Silence]

[Monster, spoken]

No.

[Final Chorus — Full band and massive choir]

SINS OF THE FATHER!
Written in the blood upon my hands!
SINS OF THE FATHER!
Now at last you finally understand!

You made the blade!
You made the monster!
You made the hell in which you'll stay!
And every soul you dare to cherish
I will tear away!

SINS OF THE FATHER!
There will be no mercy from your son!
SINS OF THE FATHER!
You will live to see what you have done!

No grave will take you from me, Father!
No blessed death will set you free!
You gave me life and left me lonely!

NOW LIVE...

LIKE...

ME!

[Outro — Choir and funeral bells]

Pater...
Peccator...
Creator...

No absolution.
No release.

Pater...
Peccator...
Creator...

[Monster, whispered]

I learned it all from you.