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The End of Religion

from The End of Religion by GREGORY

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about

Again I am in Adam’s debt for creating this astoundingly beautiful and thematically divergent series of musical works and allowing me the freedom to arrange and emote atop them with humble voice. The stark stylistic deviation from our usual metal was both refreshing and challenging to say the least. Adam is the Man!

Special thanks to the incomparable Sona Gevorgyan once again for lending us her beautiful singing voice on this project, and for tackling it in English this time! And another special thanks to the world famous Tammy Lier (www.tammylier.com) for her magnificent performance of all the female spoken lines. You guys rock!

- - - GREGORY

lyrics

The End of Religion
An Oratorio by Adam McLean and GREGORY
Circa - 2013 AD




MOVEMENT #1

---“I want to catch a butterfly, Midnight, but I didn’t.”---

Patience churned by ancient need
Breath forestalled with unspoken promise
Then love’s spark fountains unrequited fulfillment
Alas, this final, ‘little death’… - GREGORY

“We hope in precisely that which we cannot see.” – St. Paul

And thus we begin again
Each time enhancing potential endings
Perhaps this time we can realize
Our place and the purpose for which we strive
Just one more time
We could have been together
Two enraptured as one
But God has ordained us disentwined
2 – 1 = 1


MOVEMENT #2

“These emotional fractals have coalesced into the hard substance of memory with a grace only dreamed in life.
And so I believe.” - GREGORY

It started tens of years ago
When I was so alone
But now I hear only echoes

“Take it on faith”, she said.

It came to me through shattered dreams
That there was more to know
Still, I could not freely let go

“Trust in what you cannot see”, she pled.

Some things are not for you to know


MOVEMENT #3

[ And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.”
- Acts 1:7, King James Bible ]

Nothing I imagined ever seemed to matter
For they denounce me and all that I perceive
They drag her away from me

[ Why dost thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters.”
- Job 33:13, King James Bible ]

So contumacious that a truth be shattered
So they beseech me away from this unrequited soliloquy

[ Oh Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name.”
- Nehemiah 1:11, King James Bible ]

She does not believe me
Somewhere is an answer to these mysteries
That I am seeking - Awaiting an epiphany
I am sifting through conundrums of antiquity
To see what she sees


MOVEMENT #4

REVERENCE for what you cannot see
No more INDULGENCE in the fruit of Adam’s tree
PENITENCE for my wavering belief
RETICENCE in the sins that I conceived

Once upon a time there was a maiden so fair
From a single book she quenched her thirst
From the rest, she did not dare
I longed to open her eyes to many things
To new realms of discovery
Of this Age of Enlightenment, she was simply unaware

---I have found all that I need here---
---Please do not try to confuse me again---

And so to be with her, I must believe?

---In all of this I solemnly believe---
---To be with me, you must concede---

I cannot deny all the facts laid out before me
In lieu of your creative, canonized poetry

---Then I will pray enlightenment befalls your soul today---
As I struggle in bewilderment at love to be delayed
---I have put my faith in God that He will show the way---
Reality supplants your fables
In this, I cannot sway


MOVEMENT #5

“But how can you be sure? How can you trust ostensible fact over faith?”

I can imagine how I will reveal truths to her
Science undeniable
I will explain away the mystery confounding her
Releasing her to me
I will relieve her of all things impossible
Rip God down from the sky
She will grow in a wave of enlightenment
I am her Renaissance Man
And she will need me

[ That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith of both you and me.
–Romans 1:12, King James Bible ]

“This is an affront against what I have known. How can this be?”

I will expose her to things so wonderful
Progress she could not deny
I will remove all things incompatible
So that our love will never die
And she will need me

[ …keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of Science falsely so called.”
- 1 Timothy 6:20, Kings James Bible ]


MOVEMENT #6

“If Nature needs nothing of God to be, are we then less than I dreamed?
Could I have been so wrong?”

If I hold this course devoid of faith
While kneeling at her blessed alter
Am I a hypocrite beyond admonishment
Praying for her pure resolve to falter?

“Praying in the wake of my confusion, I’m feeling left behind.”

Waiting for her sacramental offering

[ But without faith it is impossible to please him…”
- Hebrews 11:6, King James Bible ]

Waiting…

---I shall grant you one chance---
---For the pleasures that you seek---
---And when that mortal coil is sated---
---I shall call you back to me for absolution---

And then she asks this act of me:
That I request Holy permission
She is waiting for a SIGN

“I will pray for you. I will pray for Truth to be revealed.”

[ And this shall be a SIGN unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place…”
- Jeremiah 44:29, King James Bible ]

Are you out there Holy Father?
If so, hallowed be thy name
For creating someone so beautiful
So pure and unashamed
Nothing in all Creation could supplant the way I feel
This be the only way that I can have her,
Then I need you to be real


MOVEMENT #7

A deprecating gesture hardly placates the need to promulgate sanctimonious myth when one’s core belief system begins to crumble in the light of common acceptance of the absurdity of blind faith.
– GREGORY

If Time is your construct
And Nature be thine shadow
Then why emote ambiguous
Of the one thing that truly matters

I brought her to witness mathematical proofs
Her faith redesigned, her convictions aloof
I showed her these things, the stark contradictions
I explained innate fallacies in cryptic predictions

---If nothing is real, then what should I feel?---
---These new things you’ve shown me, I’m falling away---

Chasing Forever, round and round we go
To get past your fear of falling, you just have to let go
---Racing together, so much I did not know---
---Escape velocity, I’m losing my hold on everything---

[ And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him…”
- Luke 8:47, King James Bible ]

Darkness befalling, no more light withstanding
What of the afterlife? Was it all a misunderstanding?
Myths and fables; the end of my religion?
Foundations shattering down, dissolved into indecision

“Am I only this body? Am I not a soul?”


MOVEMENT #8

Perfection in flesh laid out before me
But her spirit swept away
For the spoils of consummation
I no longer need to pray

Her archetype dismantled in the morning light
Her resolve surrendered unto me
Passion slaked at the expense Life Everlasting

I never meant to change her
Into this hollow shell
For me it was Heaven
For her a simple Hell
With nothing more to believe in

[ He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
– John 1:11, King James Bible ]


MOVEMENT #9

All my gifts returned to me
Charms to indiscretion
Time has a way of canting
Certainty to question
---And still I need an answer---

Tempered by your lessons
I am fraught with imperfection
Her world turned away from me
In a moment’s hesitation
---And still I seek an answer---
---Falling out of step with you---
---Because nothing was true---

What if I changed? What if
I BELIEVE

“It simply does not matter anymore.”
Could it be the same if
I BELIEVE

“Everything I thought I knew was wrong.”
You passion unstained if
I BELIEVE

“Fairy tales and childish myths.”
Your vigor regained if
I BELIEVE

“A primitive accounting of complex things.”
Our past love attained if
I BELIEVE

“Nothing of God, only Nature?”
Ardor unchained if
I BELIEVE

“Nothing left for me here beyond this physical coupling.”
Fervor reclaimed if
I BELIEVE

“Nothing that will last.”
Faith unashamed if
I BELIEVE

“Nothing but Death coming.”
Would you come back if
I BELIEVE

“No salvation from decay…”
Would you believe again if
I BELIEVED?
BELIEVE!

Nothing so quiet as a lover’s disdain
Nothing so fleeting as passion restrained
Feigning is futile; the Truth is so plain to see
That you are no longer here with me
“I never knew this. I never dared to imagine…”
You are no longer with me
---Nothing can ever be the same---
You are no longer with me


MOVEMENT #10

No more angels calling
No more hymns becalming
No more fear of falling
No more use forestalling The End

“Now I know that when I am gone,
there will be nothing left of me.
So what is the point of our being?
We’re just going through the motions before we die.
One step away from OBLIVION DREAMS.
You were right.
I was wrong.
Take what you want.
Take it all…”

Fervor so diminished as she admitted me inside
An empty castle waiting where no deities reside
Gone the sensuality with nothing left to hide
Nothing to discover when there is nothing to confide
Now everything is common place for her inspiration died
I tried to reawaken her, but her lack of faith so denied
I destroyed her faith in everything
I killed her afterlife
A stillborn resurrection
Her immortal soul denied
I took everything
I took her life

Patience churned by ancient need
Breath forestalled with unspoken promise
Then love’s spark fountains unrequited fulfillment
Alas, this final, ‘little death’


MOVEMENT #11

It was the coldest day on record
At least according to my heart
It was the day she left this world
When my other half departed

She succumbed to human frailty
In my arms with a final kiss
I had an answer for everything
But never one for this

And now I know that I will never find her
Without the faith I stole from her
I am so alone
And ready to atone

What have I done?
No one could endure this without that higher power
So I am ready to accept what she already knew
God, what have I done?


MOVEMENT #12

“We hope in precisely that which we cannot see.” – St. Paul

Sitting here all alone
I am ready to atone
Dying to be with you

Begging forgiveness again
My body approaching a physical end
Still I envy you

I believe in everything I took from you
---What have you done?---

The fragrance of iniquity
No longer reeks of the bitterness that diminished my soul
For I have found the dissuaded faith you cast aside
When you left me here to die alone
You must be waiting there for me in the promised afterlife
To thee, I come

[ And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.”
– Luke 22:43, King James Bible ]
To thee, I come
---What have you done?---

[ And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him…”
- Luke 8:47, King James Bible ]
To thee, I come
---What have you done?---

[ Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”
– Psalm 73:25, King James Bible ]
---What have you done?---
To thee, I come


MOVEMENT #13

[ Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels;
and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.”
– Luke 20:36, King James Bible ]

“Perfection… perfection… my perfection…”

And thus we begin again
This time is forever without an ending
Embracing the heart of eternity
I finally believe

“And so I believe… I believe…”

---“I want to catch a butterfly, Midnight, but I didn’t.”---

We begin again
Never ending
We begin again
Again

“These emotional fractals have coalesced into the hard substance of memory with a grace only dreamed in life.”

And so I believe.

- - - GREGORY


the end of
The End of Religion

Copyright-2013, All Rights Reserved

credits

from The End of Religion, released June 6, 2013
Musical Score: Adam McLean
Arrangement, Lyrics, and Arias: GREGORY
Liturgical Recitative: Sona Gevorgyan
Libretto: Tammy Lier

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GREGORY Las Vegas, Nevada

1987: The PHARAOH Project – Birth Rights
1988: BEHOLDER
2008: PRESCIENT – Emergence
2011: Proof of Concept
2011: Light Horizon w/ Adam McLean
2012: Birth Rights (pt 2) w/ Adam
2012: VIVID DOMINION
2012: The Imperative w/ Adam
2013: The End of Religion w/ Adam
2013: Apostasy
2014: Dead River Scriptures
2014: in a matter of days w/ Jordan Miller
2014: The Forge of Gods w/ Adam
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