Featuring Charles Wiley on drums; Alec Sullivan, vocals; and Dan Baldassarre on lead guitar. R. Charan Pagan- vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, bass. Written and produced by R. Charan Pagan

You came to me from right out of a dream 
A vision of beauty and bliss 
But a poisonous potion glistened on your lips 
And my fate was sealed with a kiss 
Bitter and jaded your thirst for revenge 
Concealed by an innocent smile 
But underneath your genial façade 
Is a person that’s vicious and vile 

Flying so high until my wings are taken away 
(I’m falling) 
As loud as I scream you can’t hear a word that I say 
(I’m calling) 
You come and soon I am covered with wounds you inflict 
(With disdain) 
I tell myself that I can endure anything 
(Feel no pain) 

Death with a gun would be fast and no fun 
You know that would never suffice 
You choose a whip with a poisonous tip 
And your strikes are deft and precise 
You live for the pleasure of dealing out pain 
A sickness a morbid disease 
The more blood is shed the more that is fed 
This demon that you must appease 

Flying so high until my wings are taken away 
(I’m falling) 
As loud as I scream you can’t hear a word that I say 
(I’m calling) 
You come and soon I am covered with wounds you inflict 
(With disdain) 
I tell myself that I can endure anything 
(Feel no pain) 

Death with a gun would be fast and no fun 
You know that would never suffice 
You choose a whip with a poisonous tip 
And you will make me pay the price 
You live for the pleasure of dealing out pain 
A sickness a morbid disease 
The more blood is shed the more that is fed 
This demon that you must appease
credits
released 20 June 2014 
R. Charan Pagan: lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, bass guitar 
JmfT: backing vocals 
Alec Sullivan: backing vocals 
Dan Baldassarre: lead guitar 
Charles Wiley: drums 

Recorded at Echo Bar and Charan Pagan Recording studios. Mixed by Erik Reikers and mastered by Ken Lee Mastering.
tags
tags: metal thrash metal anger bitch despair evil experimental hate heartbreak love protest music protest songs Los Angeles
license
all rights reserved

Mind At Wrest - Falling

Mind At Wrest is a highly  technical and progressive metal band with a foundation in solid melodies. Guitars scream out intricate and memorable phrases with lots of harmonies. The bass provides brilliant lines, counterpoint to the other instruments. Vocals are heavy and can be described as fierce  growling but the politically-charged, poignant words can be understood despite the ferocious delivery. Drums are extremely technical and powerful. They offer the perfect compliment to the heavy sound- a recipe for a tornado of force with pinpoint focus in its direction. Mind At Wrest is both powerful and eloquent.

Mind At Wrest - Kleptocracy - Brady Bill (clean)

Mind At Wrest - Kleptocracy - Brady Bill

Though the words of the song are certainly an over-simplification of the events surrounding Chelsea Manning, they are closer to reality than what you will hear most people say in the news. Typically, Manning has been made the focus of the story in the world of politics and in the news media. How much do you hear abut the crimes and immoral acts that were revealed by the release of the documents? Politicians and the media don't want to talk about that, just whether Manning is wearing pants or a dress now. I prefer to focus on the innocent civilians that were killed indiscriminately and the BP oil platform blowout off the coast of Azerbaijan. This is information that US citizens should be aware of and does not harm national security at all.

My guess is that the claim that Manning leaked the documents because she was going through a time of confusion regarding her gender was a defense attorney-created contrivance in an attempt to garner sympathy. I think it was a bad move to play that card. I think that Manning did what she thought was right, that she wanted to use the proper channels to release the information and, knowing the importance of the information she had, made the decision to release the documents through the one venue (Wikileaks) that was willing to take the information.

Daniel Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers and is often commended for releasing those secret documents "the right way", meaning through the proper channels of the press who would ensure that important national secrets would not be made public. But Ellsberg laments using the proper channels because thousands of lives could have been saved had he spent less time ensuring the security of the information and released the documents earlier.

Ellsberg and Manning both released confidential government information, through different methods. One of them will regret that he didn't choose the method that would have saved more lives, the other will regret being incarcerated for doing the right thing in a controversial way. The moral dilemma is one that nobody wants to find themselves in. I think some reverence is due to those that have found themselves in that situation and did not turn a blind eye to injustice, no matter how they ended up releasing the information that exposed it.

LYRICS;
Life on the line, in a foreign land
Consequences on his mind, the truth in his hand
Think for just a moment, what would you do?
Like David Rovics sings: what if you knew?

Spill your guts or be
An accomplice to this travesty
Or spill your guts and be
The conscience of society

Surrounded by secrets, mired in lies
Witness to democracy becoming imperialism in disguise
Opposed to the system of oppression and of greed
Sacrifice for country his virtue and his creed

Spill your guts or be
Complicit in this travesty
Or spill your guts and be
The conscience of society

Miscarriage of justice, he sits inside a cell
The criminals he exposed, free and wreaking hell
He took on the powerful, war profits their game
A hero and a patriot, Bradley Manning was his name

Spill your guts or be
An accomplice to this travesty
Or spill your guts and be
The conscience of society

Spill your guts or be
An aide to criminality
Or spill your guts and be
The conscience of society
Spill your guts or be
An accomplice to this travesty
Or spill your guts and be
A hero of democracy

CREDITS:
released June 13, 2015
R. Charan Pagan: lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, bass guitar
JmfT: backing vocals
Dan Baldassarre: lead guitar
Charles Wiley: drums

Recorded at Echo Bar and Charan Pagan Recording studios. Mixed by Erik Reikers and mastered by Ken Lee Mastering.

all rights reserved

Mind At Wrest - Spill Your Guts (Ode to Chelsea Manning)

According to religion, god doesn't value the lives of gay people as much as straight people, women as much as men or black people as much as white people. This sounds more like human ignorance and prejudice than the views of a deity.

Your god has stricken your people
With oppression and disease
But still you pray to him
And bow down on your knees
In Sodom and Gomorrah
With wrath he took the lives
Of those who believed as you do
Yet you still believe his lies

Seen as a lower order
Treated as second-class
Labeled as ‘the weaker sex’
Yet you attend the mass
Of a god who gave men the right
To control and abuse
When it comes to abortion
You don’t even have the right to choose

Your god has chosen your role
In life to be a slave
As such you were righteous
He now sees you as strays
Lost in a world of drugs and crime
To damnation you are moored
Freedom for your people has made you
Guilty in the eyes of the lord

You’re guilty in the eyes of the lord
You’re guilty in the eyes of the lord
You’re guilty in the eyes of the lord
You’re guilty in the eyes of the lord

Myopicracy

Guilty In the Eyes of the Lord

She won't pity you
Give her your heart, she'll push a dagger through
Suck your life away
What's to stop her, you will always stay
She'll dish it out, you swallow it
Her hold on you is like a tourniquet
You allow her to control
Your weakness feeds her callous soul

You're gonna run
You're gonna crawl
You're gonna come when she calls
You can't escape
From her hold
A prisoner of her callous soul

Can't protest you have no voice
Won't compromise you have no choice
You can't revolt, you're too afraid
Her selfish orders will be obeyed

She says that she loves you
Can this be true
Slowly but surely
She is killing you

Try to make a stand
She'll push you down with a heavy hand
You cannot resist
Enforce her law with iron fist
She spits it out, you swallow it
Her hold on you is like a tourniquet
You allow her to control
Your weakness feeds her callous soul

You're gonna run
You're gonna crawl
You're gonna come when she calls
You can't escape
From her hold
A prisoner of her callous soul

You're gonna run
You're gonna crawl
You're gonna come when she calls
You can't escape
From her hold
A victim of her callous soul

Mind At Wrest - Kleptocracy - Brady Bill (clean)

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