the|mercy|cage
[ s c r e e : transmissions ]

1  - [act i] Satellites [radio-9:48a]
2 - 	The Pure Design Of Light 
3 -	Prozac, God & The Atomic Bomb
4 -	Rend [sutured]
5 -	An Incision 
6 -	Force On Moving Charges
7 - [act ii] The Braun Tube Manifesto
8 -	Magnets Coil [wasting] 
9 -	[god/in] The Mechanism
10 -	Erase [rub/out]
11 -      Reunion
12 -	The Industries
13 - [act iii] Church Of The Cathode Ray
14 - 	Transmit
15 -	Hymn_01
16 -	(a)=arcsin
17 -	Reduce.Distill.Purify.Teach	
18 - [act iv] All Martyrs’ Day [The Rapture]
19 - 	Dying Into The New [deadgirls]
20 -	A Book Of The Dead
21 -	Cipher
22 -	Requiem [torchsong]
23 -	Exit-static [radio|out]

--------
The Pure Design Of Light

as the shutter trips i see
the neurotic boy inside
on the fringe of this societal itch
the placebo in effect
see the artist interact
watch the death of all that shines
watch the traces stolen...

through the act
the collapse
the facade comes crashing down

try to contain the fire
taken on faith’s refrain
& the moment collapses

[let it burn]
wind down/disengage
turn the page/read between the lies
[let it burn]
replays the same old song
first to cut out
when everything you know is wrong

through the pure design of light
he develops the masquerade
still standing on the outside looking in

& it burns
let it burn
make it burn
& the facade comes crashing down

& i am last to fall  
i succour this release
got out, dropped the bombs
lost in the noise of the scree.

so long
say farewell
the lesson will be learned....

--------
Prozac, God & The Atomic Bomb

"fuck prozac" she said
it's such an ordinary drug
it'll make you better if better 
is really how you need to feel
fake plastic overture
the smile crack'd
the mirror wavers
15 years of freedom in one
tiny
little
pill
& yet...
like a virus she comes
like a virus she comes
& we suffer the flesh
we are as one

no more vibration, no more colour
to not go quietly into the night
where did your light go?
the flame snuffed out
the lamp convulsing
dry swallowed, somewhat damaged
crawling on the floor
the picture incomplete
attacks the image
takes a blowtorch 
to the flame of memory

scars like the sun
sheds its lie on everyone
as ever, the same...

and we suffer the flesh
missed dreams of hope, faith 
oh everything is wrong
awake with the dead
he dreams of prozac, god & the atomic bomb.

--------
Rend [sutured]

4:30 am, i can't sleep again
listening to iggy’s "idiot" on the stereo
i don't mind
i don't mind

maybe i'm insincere
maybe i'm wrong footed in the gloom 
this shop-worn angel on the wrong side of the room
& the voices alluding to human frailty
echo through the wall
maybe i don't need it anyway
after all this time
i don't mind
i don't mind

give me justification
validate my one in ten
as we danse around & around & around & around this
again & again & again...
& someone told me once:
"we could be heroes"
[i remember]
just for one day
wash it all away
maybe next time i'll be sure
it's o.k.
i don't mind
this is a prayer
don't ever let me stop...

--------
An Incision

weathered away by the sheer weight of meaning
no pause to recoil & you fall in line here
it takes seed, a glimpse of the wound
under the idea
& you know
this isn't always what it seems to be
a need to compare
i can see past you into forever
i can see the end
she is hacked by the answer
face down
& i never take the strain

she enters the arm on the wings of the needle
the media covenant claims this as truth
a violent revolt to this taste of the artless
grasps for the proof 
she's trafficking in answers 
[& we fly]
stained by the mark of the word
under order of our lady of pain
the secret
blistering under the skin
bears the imprint of the incision
[& we fly]
still yearning for a brighter day
[& we fly]
we'll blow this lie away
& she is hack'd by the answer
face down again
& i never take the strain
she is hack'd by the answer
flakes out again
& i never take the strain

BEARS THE IMPRINT/OF THE INCISION

--------
Force On Moving Charges

grinding, let the fire burn low
as the pulse comes flickering back
we are bound by belief in all that dies
& i will the skin 
to dissolve
i worship the drug-flesh
& let the corpse go
make it rain forever
make it black
& make me whole...
let the cipher call the priest
you can be my gallows pole

this desolation in the vein
poisonous & vile
tearing out the centre of the cancerous heart
& i am defined by the sickness
oh the irony defies belief
another metaphor to signify decay
& yet it shines
let the cipher call the priest
you can be my gallows pole
let the vultures be released
you can be my gallows pole

you are the priestess
you are the whore
you are deified/vilified
you're all that i know
you are the priestess
you are the whore
you are my world
sacrosanct
you.
said.
destroy.

--------
Magnets Coil [wasting]

bright eyed & weak kneed
converging on the sin
she rips apart the circuitry
& puts the wires in
reflecting on the shame
of a life gone astray
kill the body, tune the mind
& watch the worthless flesh waste away

wasting away
rusting on the vine
this mechanical halo
steps out of time
you call for the angels
but they've all gone away
the future's not here to stay
let the past sing
[breaks god]
flays away the skin
[breaks god]
the experiment begins
[breaks god]
make it clean, make it new
metal on metal screaming
"I renounce you"

wasting
i refuse to understand
wasting
take the body, make it whole
put out my hands
wasting
i refuse to understand
wasting...

dilate the mind
as the body lies
church comes home

distils the code
lost in the dream
feeding it back into the soul of a new machine
bulb flickers on the scene of the crime
a step too far this time
make the past scream:

[breaks god]
flays away the skin
[breaks god]
the experiment begins
[breaks god]
make it clean, make it new
metal on metal screaming
"I renounce you"

wasting
i refuse to understand
wasting
take the body, make it whole
put out my hands
wasting
i refuse to understand
wasting....

violate the mind
let the body die
take me home.
 
--------
Erase [rub/out]

wrapped the meaning in barbed wire again
this subtle black pornography
the horror of the word thru her eyes
she is my new god
new credo
she is the doctrine made new
she is...
hollowed out by the scene implanted
& she is becoming
oh she has become 

something rotten in vegas
danse the danse obscene
borrows out through the hole
she is the end of things
melissa flashes the postcard perfect smile
porn star predatory
she is the wire made real

pretty young dead things
debased/removed
welcome to the big hurt
a permanent stain 
the spectacle of
ruined TV starlets fucking on camera
never further away
so much further away

oh you are not your body
you never were
embrace the strange
rub out the word
the word
the world
oh set the nothingness free

nails back a new form of ignition
spark it up, strike it back, opens the vein
trip the shutter
til it all falls down
trip the shutter
til nothing pure remains...

--------
Reunion

celebration day
& yet again
i feel this small
she sets fire to the stars
she has come possessed

structures collapsing
& i feel almost human again
mad as birds
shares my bed
godhead bleeding through the walls
[fucking on prozac never seemed so pure]
oh let it stain

& the flames lick higher
as the heat grows stronger
& i just feel dirty
it comes to nought & i suffer
join the black celebration
let the hate bite harder
reunion
let it stain...

lost in the madhouse
she walks the tightrope of the nightmare again
delusional, entrenched
dulled by her will
& the tourniquet tightens...

as the flames lick higher
& the heat grows stronger
& i just feel dirty
it comes to nought & i suffer
join the black celebration
let the hate bite harder
reunion
let it stain...
let it stain.

she is the knife of mercy
she is the blade when all is right
& i am numbed by occasion
& i am bathed in the light
she says:
"you were always a failure"
& she says:
"you were never that good anyway"

bodies entwined, flesh elastic
i lick the sweat off her skin
this is a trigger for the downside...

as the flames lick higher
& the heat grows stronger
& i just feel dirty
it comes to nought & i suffer
join the black celebration
let the hate bite harder
reunion
let it stain...

& the sane face etched
with the restless horror 
as the inmates feint
it turns to smoke
as it lingers
join the black celebration
let the hate bite harder
reunion
let it stain...

--------
The Industries

the artificial closeness
one always covets
the string he tied unravelled
the act evolving
bound together by this
surreal thing of exotic fiction
denied the process
where do we go from here?
[step inside the industries]

embrace static screams
free-formed, rushing forward
this is the meaning
of the end times
the lie uncovered
bursts through the other side of fate
flails away at the certainty
i will not follow...
where do we go from here?
where do we go from here?

i see my ministry
my flock, clean slate is spread before me
i see my ministry
this vision of the end of everything 
[where do we go from here?]
i've seen my ministry
my flock of sheep is spread before me
i've seen my ministry
this vision of the end of everything 
[where do we go from here?]

--------
Transmit

conditioned actions
concentrate it's over now
neon flashes in the head
disembodied/uninvolved
deprogrammes the tyranny of distance
faith & the bomb strike out
this frail fucking excess unresolved

one fleeting moment
harsh static override
blindly groping in the dark
for some fragment of the stain
& i am proof of the word made flesh
& i am the bringer of a brighter decay

it moves around
& strikes up the call
Transmission/Ignition
it's an act of war
moves around
strikes up the chord
Transmission/Ignition it's...

erased by the radio.

something to tolerate
forcing the instrument through
it slits the tendons, warm incision
scraping everything new
[ignites the fire]
grasps the flame within her hands
[ignites the fire]
i finally understand

it moves around
& strikes up the call
Transmission/Ignition
it's an act of war
moves around
strikes up the chord
Transmission/Ignition 
Ignition it's...

erased from the radio
& the past is washed clean
15,000 voices scream
& they sing:

"we are trapped inside this lie
we are discarded by the mundane
we are a blank generation of hate
we are, we are
we are beaten but unbowed
we are a new release for the pain
we are a force emerging
we are, we are as one..."
& i am king.

it moves around
& strikes up the call
Transmission/Ignition
it's an act of war
moves around
strikes up the chord
Transmission/Ignition 
Ignition it's...

erased by the radio
erased
& i am king...

--------
Hymn_0.1

another anthem for the disappeared
feeding back this time
i promised you the murder of faith

& the siren blasts to herald
the dawning of another age
with rapt & keening voices
the lie enshrined again

marked by the sins
we're inching up to it

i never said that all was well
you know it scars like hell
oh man it hurts like anything
time to piss another useless lie away
we pray
we pray
i never said that all was well
you know it scars like hell
man it hurts like anything
time to piss another useless lie away
we pray
to the church of the cathode ray.

crucified by the past
crucified by the shame
the sheep go marching on & on
repulsed from the barricades

& the siren blasts to herald
the dawning of a new age
indoctrinates through fear
& i am on my knees again

i never though it would end this well
it scars like hell
it hurts like anything...

--------
(a)=arcsin

ever the tragic beauty queen
miss vegas '84
this is the seed of the word
this is the base for the metaphor
arms splayed in the shape of the cross
another crucifixion play
how'd we get so wrong?
& why are you so far way?
why are you so far away...

tell me...where is the end?

bang the rhythm of a new drum 
bang the rhythm of the new...

--------
Reduce.Distill.Purify.Teach

you took
you removed all that was pure & right
you tore it all down
& replaced it with this hole
& i sit here
wracked with fear of the surrounds
of the disease
you took everything away...
wind back the hands of time

i am poisoned by the stain
of this chemical halo
neurotic from the sickness
as the blade slips in
like the leper said:
"reduce, distil, purify, teach"
this cancerous exorcism 
of all that you stole from me
you took everything away...
wind back the hands of time

i am poisoned by the stain
you took everything away...
you took everything away

wind back the hands of time
[reduce distil purify teach]
[this cancerous exorcism] 
[all that you took from me]
[rain, rain wash away]
[purifies the sin]
[the horror of the expectation]
[razor slipping in]
wind back the hands of time.

--------
Dying Into The New [deadgirls]

inside the doll factory
revel in
the joy in this submission
traced back
the source of all infection
is framed with these pictures of dead girls

it reels from
it comes from
interred by
returns to
it reels from
erased from
inferred by
returns to

never was the same
stumbling towards the fall
never was the same
stumbling forward…
[angels body with the dead girls face]

necrosanct
in matters of flesh
you are not your skin
you never were
yet she is crucified 
on the stations of the cross
nothing nears the art of the incision and
it reels from
it comes from
interred by
returns to
it reels from
erased from
inferred by
returns to

never was the same
stumbling towards the fall
never was the same
stumbling forward…
[angels body with the dead girls face]

dreamed the great divide
with the unspoken violence
of all that came before
in the language of denial
she conjures up dead things
diving into the new
dreamed the great divide
in the unspoken violence
of all one can't ignore
a permanent solution
dying into the new.

--------
Cipher

nitrous falling
like liquid from the back of the hand
wrapped in cellophane
neural seize
never stop
take the blue pill
it eases the delusions
& the thin black line inside winds it's way on
slips in
impaled on the needle
this is wrong
oh this is madness
the tapping of the vein
the methlab logic
of a final rave in vegas
reacting to the baying crowd
all tomorrow’s parties come again
[bite down]
she picks at the stitches
[bite down]
she sets the scene for the fall
[bite down]
& i bear witness
to prick at the answer
[bite down on deliverance]

come & find me...
come & find me.

call sister lightning 
to diarise the breakdown
this mote of understanding
the evidence is clear
balanced on the knife-edge
& beaten by the meaning
these pattern systems failing
her final words ringing in my ears:
"you were always on my mind"
"you were something else that shined"
"you were ever underneath this lie"
"you never set me free"

[decipher]
tell me what you need it to mean
[decipher]
looking to the day it fell apart
[decipher]
reconcile the silence in between
[decipher]
help me decipher your heart
[this was never justified]
[crack the code expose this lie]
[decipher]
tell me what you need it to mean
[decipher]
help me decipher your heart.

come & find me...
come & find me.

[decipher]
tell me what you need it to mean
[decipher]
looking to the day it fell apart
[decipher]
reconcile the silence in between
[decipher]
help me decipher your heart
[stay the course for the answer]
[stand firm & never admit defeat]
[decipher]
tell me what you need it to mean
[decipher]
help me decipher your heart.

--------
Requiem [torchsong]

you are my torch
you take the pain away
trapped under glass
pining for you
yearning to join you
you are my torch...

we can dose up on cigarettes & speed
& trawl the mainstreet again
same scene, different day
let's numb the pain for old times sake
& we sing...
oh lord & we sing

words like armour
we danse among the debris
this concept of failure 
inhales & prays for relief
something wrong
somehow under siege
more man than machine

& maybe inside i feel old, i feel ugly
& maybe the outside is clawing back in
the wires that i severed i never said leave
the lies that i told you to make you believe in me...
i'm coming home
believe in me.

----
all songs copyright 2005 josh wood