The Empire Strikes First
Bad Religion
2004 ReleasedUpvote Your Favorite Album Today!
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1
Overture
01 : 09
2
Sinister Rouge
01 : 53
3
Social Suicide
01 : 34
4
Atheist Peace
01 : 57
5
All There Is
02 : 57
6
Los Angeles Is Burning
03 : 23
7
Let Them Eat War
02 : 57
8
God’s Love
02 : 32
9
To Another Abyss
04 : 07
10
The Quickening
02 : 19
11
The Empire Strikes First
03 : 23
12
Beyond Electric Dreams
04 : 02
13
Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever
03 : 49
14
Live Again (The Fall of Man)
03 : 39
15
The Surface of Me
02 : 59
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Track Lyrics
Atheist Peace Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Maybe it's too late for intellectual debate
But a residue of confusion remains
Oh, changing with the times
And developmentally tortured minds
Are the average citizen's sources of pain, yeah
[Chorus]
Tell me what we're fighting for!
I don't remember anymore
Only temporary reprieve
And the world might cease
If we fail to tame the beast
From the faith that you release
Comes an atheist peace
[Post-Chorus]
Woah, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh, atheist peace
[Verse 2]
Political forces rent
Bitter cold winds of discontent
And the modern age emerged triumphantly
But now, it seems we've stalled
And it's time to de-evolve
And relive the dark chapters of history, yeah
[Chorus]
Tell me what we're fighting for!
What progress ever came from war?
Only a false sense of increase
And the world won't wait
For the truth upon a plate
But we're ready now to feast
On an atheist peace
[Post-Chorus]
Oh, oh-ho, oh-oh, yeah
Ah-ah-ha-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ha, atheist peace
Los Angeles Is Burning Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Somewhere high in the desert, near a curtain of blue
Saint Ann's skirts are billowin'
But down here in the city of limelights
The fans of Santa Ana are witherin'
And you can't deny that livin' is easy
If you never look behind the scenery
It's showtime for dry climes
And Bedlam is dreamin' of rain
[Chorus]
When the hills of Los Angeles are burnin'
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burnin'
[Verse 2]
This is not a test
Of the emergency broadcast system
Where Malibu fires and radio towers
Conspire to dance again
And I cannot believe the media Mecca
They're only tryin' to peddle reality, catch it on
Prime time, story at 9
The whole world is goin' insane
[Chorus]
When the hills of Los Angeles are burnin'
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burnin'
[Bridge]
A placard reads, "The end of days"
Jacaranda boughs are bending in the haze
More a question than a curse
How could hell be any worse?
The flames are startin'
The camera's runnin'
So take warnin'
[Guitar Solo]
[Chorus]
When the hills of Los Angeles are burnin'
Palm trees are candles in the murder wind
So many lives are on the breeze
Even the stars are ill at ease
And Los Angeles is burnin'
Let Them Eat War Lyrics
[Verse 1: Greg Graffin]
There's a prophet on a mountain and he's makin' up dinner
With long division and a riding crop
Anybody can feel like a winner when it's served up piping hot
But the people aren't lookin' for a handout
They're America's working corps
Can this be what they voted for?
[Chorus: Greg Graffin]
Let them eat war (Ah, ah-ah, ah)
Let them eat war
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war (Ah, ah-ah, ah)
Let them eat war
There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride
[Verse 2: Greg Graffin]
From the force to the union shops
The war economy is makin' new jobs
But the people who benefit most
Are breakin' bread with their benevolent hosts
Who never stole from the rich to give to the poor
All they ever gave to them was a war
And a foreign enemy to deplore
[Chorus: Greg Graffin]
Let them eat war (Ah, ah-ah, ah)
Let them eat war
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war (Ah, ah-ah, ah)
Let them eat war
There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride
[Guitar Solo]
[Interlude: Sage Francis]
We've got to kill 'em and eat 'em before they reach for their checks
Squeeze some blue collars, let them bleed from their necks
Seize a few dollars from the people who sweat
'Cause it's freedom or debt, and they won't question it
At a job site, the boss is godlike
Conditioned workhorses park at a stoplight
Seasoned vets with their feet in nets
A stone's throw away from a rock fight
But not tonight
[Bridge: Greg Graffin, Sage Francis, Both]
(Feed 'em death) Here comes another ration
(Feed 'em death) 'Cause they're the finest in the nation
(Feed 'em death) But there's nothing left to feed 'em with
'Cause it's freedom, or it's death
[Chorus: Greg Graffin]
Let them eat war (Ah, ah-ah, ah)
Let them eat war
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war (Ah, ah-ah, ah)
Let them eat war
There's an urgent need to feed
God’s Love Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Striking at mental apparitions
Like a drunk on a vacant street
Silently beset by the hands of time
Indelicate in its fury
An aberrant crack as skeletons yield
To unrelenting gravity
While viruses prowl for helpless victims
Who succumb rapidly
[Chorus]
Tell me
Tell me where is the love
In a careless creation
When there's no above?
There's no justice
Just a cause and a cure
And a bounty of suffering
It seems we all endure
And what I'm frightened of
Is that they call it God's love
[Verse 2]
With twisted torment make believe
There's a truth that we all submit
Believe my eyes, my brain complies
To all that they interpret
[Chorus]
So tell me
Tell me where is the love
In a careless creation
When there's no above?
There's no justice
Just a cause and a cure
And a bounty of suffering
It seems we all endure
And what I'm frightened of
Is that they call it God's love
[Bridge]
I know there's no reason for alarm
But who needs perspective
When it comes to pain and harm?
We can change our minds
There's a better prize
[Chorus]
But first, you've got to tell me
Tell me where is the love
In a careless creation
When there's no above?
There's no justice
Just a cause and no cure
And a bounty of suffering
It seems we all endure
And what I'm frightened of
Is that they call it God's love
[Outro]
They call it God's love
My pain is God's love
Beyond Electric Dreams Lyrics
[Intro]
Here we go, now!
[Verse 1]
No one here can show you where it is, but I can point to a sign
On the roof of the world without apparent design
The frozen definition of a lunatic ambition to rise
The air is thin, the future is dim, dimension hard to find
[Chorus]
Up on a mountain
Encased in solar rays
Beyond electric dreams
Of inarticulate passion plays
Coming down a mountain
Eons of a human reign
The conversation of impassive planets
Intercepted by the human being
[Verse 2]
Ratiocination is a practicable way to derive
An attitude of altitude and probity by which to abide
Or maybe a theophany of flaming creosote in disguise
The air is thin, the future is dim, dimension's undefined
[Chorus]
Up on a mountain
Encased in solar rays
Beyond electric dreams
Of inarticulate passion plays
Coming down a mountain
Eons of a human reign
The conversation of impassive planets
Intercepted by a human being
[Bridge]
Fear glaring cold in the crystalline geometry of night
Obscuring form and tracing faceless fears of a superhuman immensity
In a patch of sand, or a raptor's guileless, shivering intensity
I'm only a visitor, an atom of atoms
On a jutting, red-spattered synagogue of granite
As it crouches, literally, in space
A frozen, amoral giant gazing heavenward forever
[Chorus]
Let's go where the raptor goes
To the mountain in a cosmic glow
We'll have a genuine terrestrial show
On a mountain, on a mountain
Let's scan the horizon clean
For any trace of human schemes
And try to touch upon immortal themes
On a mountain, on a mountain
[Outro]
Up on a mountain
(Let's go where the raptor goes)
Eons of human reign
(To the mountain in a cosmic glow)
A conversation of impassive planets
(We'll have a genuine terrestrial show)
Intercepted by the human being
(On a mountain, on a mountain)
Up on a mountain
(Let's scan the horizon clean)
Encased in solar rays
(For any trace of human schemes)
Beyond the electric dreams
(And try to touch upon immortal themes)
On a mountain, on a mountain
(On a mountain, on a mountain)
Up on a mountain
(Let's go where the raptor goes)
Eons of human reign
(To the mountain in a cosmic glow)
A conversation of impassive planets
(We'll have a genuine terrestrial show)
Intercepted by a human being
(On a mountain, on a mountain)
Up on a mountain
(Let's scan the horizon clean)
Encased in solar rays
(For any trace of human schemes)
Beyond the electric dreams
(And try to touch upon immortal themes)
On a mountain, on a mountain
(On a mountain, on a mountain)
Up on a mountain
(Let's go where the raptor goes)
Eons of human reign
(To the mountain in a cosmic glow)
A conversation of impassive planets
On a mountain...