The Guilt & the Grief

We are the gears in this churning machine The burning steam from the crack in the surface We are your soul’s insomnia, the restless heart of indignation Forever awake You’re all insane, staring at inevitable change The selfish few who will stand in the way But with each orbit you beg the world to turn at your will To rotate in reverse You’re not a hero if you’re trapped behind a mask Can’t hear them screaming when your head is in the sand We’re hopeless, we’re helpless We’ll wait here for a sign Or stare into the sun until we’re blind And out of time You left each other to drown in a sea of ill concern In search of a thorned crown you were never meant to earn You’d set the world ablaze to warm your hands on the flames How did we let it come to this? We’re all to blame This isn’t progress This. Is. Not. This isn’t progress Misled and sick in the head, playing the victim again You’re not a hero if you’re trapped behind a mask Can’t hear them screaming when your head is in the sand What will it take to make you see? We’re hopeless, we’re helpless We’ll wait here for a sign Or stare into the sun until we’re blind And out of time We are the gears in this churning machine The burning steam from the crack in the surface We are your soul’s insomnia, the restless heart of indignation

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Feb 21, 2026

I was a king cast down, no throne nor crown No claim to my name or my past A sense of self-worth so immeasurably small In a universe stretching so vast, and so airless Day by day my life force continued to fade Pull me from this atrophy, restore the life blood back into my veins Strength comes from admitting weaknesses inside us Staring our fears in the eye I’d give anything To be the one who kept composure To start over And I want you to know there won’t always be an answer There won’t always be a perfect ending Is it all too late? Are we too far gone to save? Never thought we’d walk so willing to an early grave Haven’t we suffered enough? Haven’t we shouldered the world? The world that beat us down I’d give anything To be the one who kept composure To start over I’m a truth unspoken I’m a life untold I’m a mind unbroken Til my blood runs cold

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Feb 21, 2026

I came into this world an unmarked page But I've stained the paper with lines that I cannot erase Discarded my identity A fragment of what I used to be An iron mind in paper walls Is not a stable foundation in this ongoing storm And now these hands of stone have eroded, collapsed again I see a stranger's face staring in the mirror Who I was, was somewhere lost along the way Caught in an empty space, I never thought I'd be here Each day I feel it take a part of me No retribution. No compromise Selfishly self-immolating inside Burn, burn me alive. I've seen the other side Burn me, set me alight I see a stranger's face staring in the mirror Who I was, was somewhere lost along the way Caught in an empty space, I never thought I'd be here Each day I feel it take a part of me I can’t deny this feeling, I can’t ignore the pain Of knowing I am human, and we all (feel the fucking same) We're all born to feel this way And so I ask myself Is the measure of a man, his character, his worth Contained by what his heart holds or contained within his works? My motivations have never strayed But somewhere I think they were buried along the way I see a stranger's face staring in the mirror Who I was, was somewhere lost along the way Caught in an empty space, I never thought I'd be here Each day I feel it take a part of me I've seen the other side

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Feb 21, 2026

Hold your tongue and close your eyes There’s nothing here to see but sacrifice Swallow the pill to ease your mind Just bloodsuckers with an axe to grind But we won’t be silenced, when there is so much at stake You’ve lost all trace of humanity You’re all condoning the violence, closed mouths speak in volumes the same You’ve lost all trace of humility I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, it’s got to end These walls they fucking talk to me, the bars they scream a prayer How can you even sleep at night, how can you say you care? Separation, you’ve cut the conversation But it whispers on the wind Can’t deny it, there’s so much said in silence Complicit and contained, you’ve lost your way You stitched the lips of an honest man With no attempt to understand You’re not so different When we can’t trust our protectors These hypocrites and social hypochondriacs Who will guide us home? Now the poison’s in the water The serum’s in the very air we breathe Can you feel it in the air? Can you taste it on the wind? The war you think you’re fighting is still yet to begin But if you looked into their eyes, then maybe you would see The dis-illusion of a land of prosperity You stitched the lips of an honest man

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Feb 21, 2026

We fell together, and then we fell apart So absent minded I was blinded from the start Excuses hollow, absent and alone Trying to find a place for me to lay my head and home I needed some time to take time for myself I needed a moment to breathe I needed some silence to placate the violence growing inside of me So scatter my ashes, and throw me to the wind There’s no rest for the wicked, and god, how I’ve sinned So unaware, so disconnected So absent minded I was blinded by the choice But everything I have could be taken away Without a moment to spare With nothing ventured, there’s nothing gained But you have to believe I still cared Give me some time to take time for myself Give me a moment of sleep Give me some quiet to break up the riot growing inside of me So scatter my ashes, and throw me to the wind There’s no rest for the wicked, and god, how I’ve sinned But I tried and I tried, I just wanted to be A better man for the rest of my days I know that the world is bigger than you and me Cut me open and see how I bleed So scatter my ashes, and throw me to the wind There’s no rest for the wicked, and god, how I’ve sinned But I tried and I tried, I just wanted to be A better man for the rest of my days I know that the world is bigger than you and me

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Feb 21, 2026

I’ve learned a lot about repentance, a lot about my shame I felt the dark inside me long before it called my name I thought my spine was stronger, ‘til my bones began to break From all the weight of never-ending Hate. Hate what I’ve done When the floodgates are open, and the damage is done Hate what I’ve become The fight forgotten hasn’t always been won I feel the pressure closing in It weighs on my mind ‘til I start to cave in Regret is calling out to me, and I’m tired of answering So sick of searching for a sense of relief So sick of seeing my conscience as the enemy So cut me off before it’s too late to see I’ll weigh you down ‘til you’re sinking with me Forgiveness never seemed so far Pick at the scabs enough, soon they turn to scars I was young and idealistic, that was stripped away by time And in the end all that was left was Hate. Hate what I’ve done When the floodgates are open, and the damage is done The clocks won’t stop, the race is already run I feel the pressure closing in It weighs on my mind til I start to cave in Regret is calling out to me, and I’m tired of answering In a crooked spiral In a spin that never comes to rest We turn again, we turn again In a flame of repentance We wash away the pain of our regret We burn again, we burn again... (We burn again) In a crooked spiral In a spin that never comes to rest We turn again, we turn again In a flame of repentance In a permanent purgatory We burn again, we burn So sick of searching for a sense of relief So sick of seeing my conscience as the enemy So cut me off before it’s too late to see I’ll weigh you down til you’re sinking with me

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Feb 21, 2026