Old Music Tuesdays: The Empire Shall Fall
The Empire Shall Fall (@TESFmusic) is a metalcore band based in Providence, Rhode Island. The band’s vocalist is Jesse David Leach (of Killswitch Engage fame; Twitter: @EyeAgainstI). Jesse Leach is one of my favorite vocalists and lyricists. I like vocalists/singers with variety, and he’s got it. His singing involves a pretty wide melodic range, although not the widest. His screams are what originally drew me to Killswitch Engage and to his other work. Where some metalcore vocalists stick to a safe range, Jesse always takes chances and mixes it up so it never becomes repetitive or boring. The song I’ve embedded is a good mixture of both his singing and screaming abilities.
The band has cited Meshuggah and At the Gates as musical influences. (Both are Swedish metal bands.) I definitely can hear the influence of both. Meshuggah is a math/prog metal band complete with quirky time signatures and jarring time changes. At the Gates is a major progenitor of melodic death metal. The Empire Shall Fall has taken both the melodic and off-timing influences and rearranged them into a pretty interesting mix. Again, the track I’ve selected is a shining example.
The last thing I want to discuss is the lyrics. The Empire Shall Fall, if you couldn’t tell by the name of the band, is a political group. However, instead of touching on hyper-specific political issues, the lyrics are more about the human spirit and its struggle for freedom against the coercive power of the state. Jello Biafra (@jellouncensored), Cynthia McKinney (@cynthiamckinney), and Ron Paul (@RonPaul) are all cited as political influences, so of course I’m on board.
Enjoy the song, check out the lyrics, and buy the CD by clicking the Amazon link. Thanks for reading!
Lyrics
I forge the path that I walk, alone with my back to the doors of my prison;
an open road that seems endless before me and I found that each day
that I stop the revolving world and inspect the framework
of my thoughts and motivations that inspire movement.
Each step taken as I breathe deep.
Each sight and sound entices and taunts me.
The fear rises up inside of me.
Panic!
I cannot run or make undone the past; these moments; the words that were spoken.
Each step now heavy; burdened; but I choose to…
Dance with the dead and with the spirit of freedom burning within.
We must.
Dance with the dead and it’s the lessons that lead us inspire our strength.
Embraced in white noise in a coma-like sleep as the world around me moves in its twists and its turns.
As I seem to float along in spirit; in flesh above and below connected with the pain.
This Narrow path I walk alone leads me to cities filled with souls.
Lost in the tempest empty ambition fills the streets.
Suppressed deception like the cracks in the foundations of buildings
Shadow meets light like waves crashing and receding each day.
As time passes I feel the breathing of crowded streets.
Dance with the dead. This life without breath.
There’s no time for amends this epitaph I send.
Dance with the dead and with the spirit of freedom burning within we must.
Dance with the dead and its the lessons that lead us and inspire our strength.
The earth is cracked.
The water rises and I could hear them scream choking then there was silence of the dead.
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