Track 1:  Enclosed (heavy doom metal)

This song plays with the idea that rather than restricting us, the art and architecture of a church can actually open us to the glories of God.  In keeping with the album's title, it explores the things that are revealed to us within sacred spaces.

A day within your courts is better than
A thousand spent elsewhere
The thrills and ecstasies of life all count
For naught unless you’re there
 
Enclosed within a holy space I feel
All earthly walls dissolve
My mind and heart and soul expand until
I’m bound within your love
 
The holy architecture of a church
Can lift the human mind
Stained glass, carved stone, and sacred art
Leave other space behind
 
A day within your courts is better than
A thousand spent elsewhere
The thrills and ecstasies of life all count
For naught unless you’re there
 
Yet what defines a holy space is more
The stillness of the heart
The sound of silence that the Lord requires
At last to speak His part
 
And when I feel Him speak His word to me
A voice I cannot doubt
I’d stay forever in His quiet court
And never venture out
 
A day within your courts is better than
A thousand spent elsewhere
The thrills and ecstasies of life all count
For naught unless you’re there
 
A day within your courts is better than
A thousand spent elsewhere
The thrills and ecstasies of life all count
For naught unless you’re there

Track 2:  If I Make My Bed (doom metal)

I based these lyrics on Psalm 139.
 

You know me, Lord, when I sit and arise
My ways are all set forth before Your eyes
I have not even thought a word to say
That is to you not clear as shining day
 
You hem me in around, before, behind
Such knowledge is too great for my poor mind
Oh, is there any place that I can go
A place to hide from One Who knows me so?
 
If I make my bed within the depths, You’re there
Or if my lungs should fill with heavenly air
If I with wings should fly on morning’s sky
Or in the sea’s dark waters I should lie
Though life to me should seem unending night
To You all darkness shines in brilliant light
 
You know my inner parts, You knit me whole
And I am fearful made, so knows my soul
No part of me was hidden from Your gaze
And in Your book are written all my days
 
If I make my bed within the depths, You’re there
Or if my lungs should fill with heav’nly air
If I with wings should fly on morning’s sky
Or in the sea’s dark waters I should lie
Though life to me should seem unending night
To You all darkness shines in brilliant light
 
Search me, O God, and know my thoughts and heart
And if in me there even be one part
That grieves You, cut it out, cast it away
And lead me in the everlasting way
 
If I make my bed within the depths, You’re there
Or if my lungs should fill with heav’nly air
If I with wings should fly on morning’s sky
Or in the sea’s dark waters I should lie
Though life to me should seem unending night
To You all darkness shines in brilliant light
 
Though life to me should seem unending night
To You all darkness shines in brilliant light

Track 3:  Cold Comfort (doom metal)

Not everyone who follows Jesus has an emotionally overwhelming experience.  Just as there are many Christians who remain with physical afflictions, so there are people who love God and know He is real, but they know it more from reason than from emotion.
 

The lame who follow Christ don’t always walk
The deaf don’t always hear nor do blind see
Their hope for healing is not in this life
But lies at some point in eternity
 
The same is true for those with crippled hearts
Who cannot sense God’s love yet know it’s real
They reason from the Scriptures building proof
Which gives cold comfort though they cannot feel
 
There is no music to this form of love
A valid syllogism is their psalm
Although like Thomas they would give their life
To put their fingers in Christ’s bleeding palm
 
At least cold comfort’s better
Than comfort not at all
And logic’s reason gives them
A place where they can call
On a God who must love them
Who says He loves us all
 
Like other wounded souls they keep their hope
That they will also be made whole one day
For they would like to feel as others do
The warmth of God’s bright love and there to stay
 
When people talk of how God makes them feel
They smile and nod pretending to agree
And try again and harder still they try
To catch a glimpse of what their friends all see
 
At least cold comfort’s better
Than comfort not at all
And logic’s reason gives them
A place where they can call
On a God who must love them
Who says He loves us all
 
Who says He loves us all

Track 4:  A New Name (heavy doom metal)

Many people in the Bible had their names changed, thus revealing something about them that they may not have known themselves.

A name can tell a lot about a thing
But only He Who made it knows its truth
With names we bless or curse the things we see
What names have strengthened or have wounded you?
 
His family called him Jacob, yet one night
There was revealed to him his deepest self
He wrestled God until the breaking day
The Lord then changed his name to Is-rye-el
 
A name can tell a lot about a thing
But only He Who made it knows its truth
With names we bless or curse the things we see
What names have strengthened or have wounded you?
 
When Jesus met him, Simon was his name
But truth revealed, alone of all the flock,
He spoke it boldly, Jesus changed his name
And said, “I’ll build my church upon this rock.”
 
A name can tell a lot about a thing
But only He Who made it knows its truth
With names we bless or curse the things we see
What names have strengthened or have wounded you?
 
To him who conquers God will give a name
Unknown to all except to Him alone
That one will find his self revealed at last
His name engraved upon a pure white stone
 
A name can tell a lot about a thing
But only He Who made it knows its truth
We’re not defined by titles made by man
What name will he reveal that day to you?
 
What name will he reveal
 
That day to you?

Track 5:  Light in the Darkness (triumphant, symphonic metal)

Truth was revealed in Jesus, Who is the Truth, and as a result, we no longer need to guess at shadows of the truth as did the prisoners in Plato's famous Allegory of the Cave from Book VII of his Republic.
 

And God said
Let there be light
And darkness fled before His blaze
 
The dark that men create is their own folly
With it they hide their shame and sin
Then Christ burst forth in rays of God’s own glory
To show the way to life again
 
In Christ the truth no longer is concealed
A secret wrapped in myth and lore
We need not guess at what He has revealed
A gift that’s ours forevermore
 
In Him is life, the light of all mankind
True light from light, the One Who gleams
That we forgiveness, love, and grace may find
Throughout all time His radiance beams
 
In Christ the truth no longer is concealed
A secret wrapped in myth and lore
We need not guess at what He has revealed
A gift that’s ours forevermore
 
Leave now the dreary cave of Plato’s shades
And go to Him Who lights your way
And tossed no more on nighttime’s darkened waves
You’ll walk in His eternal day
 
In Christ the truth no longer is concealed
A secret wrapped in myth and lore
We need not guess at what He has revealed
A gift that’s ours forevermore
 
A gift that’s ours forevermore

Track 6:  Torn Curtain (heavy doom metal with heavy, smooth vocal)

In keeping with the theme of the album's title, I wrote this song about what was revealed when the curtain in the temple was torn at the death of Jesus.  When you think about it, the rip in this particular piece of cloth increased its value.
 

There was a piece of cloth
From top to bottom torn
The tear increased its value
From what it had before
 
Of purple, blue, and scarlet
Fine linen it was made
And hung from hooks of gold
With gold its posts o’erlaid
 
The holiest of holies
It hid from human sight
Where shined God’s mighty Presence
For none could bear its light
 
But when the dark of sin
Had fallen on the land
The dark that pierced Christ’s side
And nailed each holy hand
 
The light of God poured forth
To vanquish death and sin
And rent the cloth in two
That all might enter in
 
There was a piece of cloth
From top to bottom torn
The tare increased its value
From what it had before

Track 7:  Unrolled Scrolls (heavy doom metal with heavy, smooth vocal)

There is much to be gained from the study of theology and biblical commentaries, but what if the Author of the Bible actually revealed its deepest truths to us?  This is what Jesus did when He read from the scroll of Isaiah and what He continues to do today through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
 

We seek out scholars to explain
The things we struggle hard to know
They do their best, but in the end
They also must to others go
 
What if the author of the text
Could share with us its deepest core
Then light would dawn for ev’ry one
Our minds not trapped in darkness more
 
Although the priest gave Him the scroll to read
He could not know the eyes with which He’d see
The sacred words that He Himself inspired
But when He spoke, their hearts all felt the fire
 
The words He breathed before He drew first breath
The Word now spoke and gave to them His flesh
As He revealed the things they had foretold
Were now fulfilled, the scroll by Him unrolled
 
He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me
To give the poor good news and liberty
To free, restore, and heal that they may savor
The blessings of the year of God’s rich favor.”
 
The scholars do good work, it’s true
Explaining details we don’t know
Yet Jesus still unrolls the scroll
To Him we’re always free to go
 
The words He breathed before He drew first breath
The Word now speaks and gives to them His flesh
As He reveals the things they have foretold
Are now fulfilled, the scroll by Him unrolled

Track 8:  Palingenesia (heavy doom metal with heavy, smooth vocal)

Palingenesia is the Greek word in Matthew 19:28 when Jesus speaks about the renewal of all things, and it literally means "Genesis again."  This song starts the trend for all future Bloodwashed albums to feature a song titled in Latin or Greek.
 

In Genesis God spoke and all was made
Then gave His handiwork to man
To rule with care that he might live with Him
In peace, for such was God’s own plan
 
Yet with his force of will man thwarted God
And laid to waste the Garden and all life
And brought upon himself and all his line
Unending pain and death and strife
 
Then Jesus Christ came with His Father’s message
That He both can and will make all things new
Restoring Genesis with His full blessing
And walk once more in peace with me and you
 
The dark and evil ways today are with us
The life of Genesis not yet restored
With pains of labor nature cries and groans
As all creation waits upon its Lord
 
Yet Jesus Christ will come with God’s own message
That He both can and will make all things new
Restoring Genesis with His full blessing
And walk once more in peace with me and you
 
If you believe that Jesus is a liar
Then deep despair makes perfect sense
But if you think that He, the Truth, speaks truly
Then cling to hope until this dark age ends
 
Yes, Jesus Christ will come with God’s own message
And He both can and will make all things new
Restoring Genesis with His full blessing
And walk once more in peace with me and you
 
Yes, Jesus Christ will come with God’s own message
And He both can and will make all things new
Restoring Genesis with His full blessing
And walk once more in peace with me and you

Track 9:  Things Revealed (triumphant, symphonic metal)

The idea of all aspects of our lives being one day revealed can strike fear into our hearts, but when you consider that God already knows our deepest secrets and, as Paul points out in Romans 5:8, sent Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners, there is actually much to look forward to on that day.
 

We fear the things revealed on Judgment Day
The curtain of our lives now pulled away
But God already knows our every thought
And still our souls with His own blood He bought
 
When we at last know just as we are known
We’ll stand, but not in dread, before His throne
But in the trembling awe both of His grace
And of His radiant love
When at last we see His face
 
The sins and failures, weaknesses and pain
We tried so hard to hide and cleanse their stain
Made truly clean, no blemish we will show
As by His crimson flow we’re white as snow
 
When we at last know just as we are known
We’ll stand, but not in dread, before His throne
But in the trembling awe both of His grace
And of His radiant love
When at last we see His face
 
No more the tapestry of our false pride
For we will live blood-washed and sanctified
The wounds to hearts and bodies fully healed
We enter now true life by Him revealed
 
When we at last know just as we are known
We’ll stand, but not in dread, before His throne
But in the trembling awe both of His grace
And of His radiant love
When at last we see His face
 
Then in the trembling awe both of His grace
And of His radiant love
At last we’ll see His face