‘The Great Depression’ is the title track and opening piece from Torture Garden’s third release, which emerged in 2013. Serving as an intro track to the album, it consists of vocalist Adam Ford reading various quotes he found online, including numerous Twitter tweets. The music is based on one simple idea, which is built upon throughout the course of the track.

The Great Depression

‘Pervert’ is a song from Torture Garden’s 2013 double album release ‘The Great Depression’. It contains a section paraphrasing the Chinese Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi.

Pervert

‘Testament Of The Tapeworm’ is a song from Torture Garden’s 2013 double album release ‘The Great Depression’. It features an excerpt from the short film ‘The Banker’ by 33rd Degree Films, and serves as an ‘intro’ to the album’s next track, ‘Mister Mammon’.

Testament Of The Tapeworm

‘Dripping’ is the second track from Torture Garden’s ‘Rotisserie Of Pain’ demo. Lyrically, it took its inspiration from Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture Of Dorian Gray’.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, vocals
Matt Ford - Music, guitar, bass, drum programming, mix

Guitar tuning

BADGBE

Bass tuning

BADG

Lyrics

Statues are so beautiful
Age shall not wither them
Photos frame milliseconds
So the years can’t condemn

Lamentably
We will grow old
And relentlessly
We will grow cold

But in my dream of Dorian Gray

I staple blossom onto trees
Carve my image deep in rock
And drink from virgin arteries

Born a perfect specimen
Purity is only loaned
Curse chromosomes as slowly flesh
Learns to drip down from bone

So inevitably
We will grow old
And regrettably
We will grow cold

But in my dream of Dorian Gray
I staple blossom onto trees
Carve my image deep in rock
And drink from virgin arteries

Glowing youth slows to dulled age
And liver spotted atrophy
Degraded and decrepit
Salad days grind to senility

But in my dream of Dorian Gray
I staple blossom onto trees
Carve my image deep in rock
And drink from virgin arteries

Dripping

‘Friday On Hope Street’ is the sixth and final track from Torture Garden’s Rotisserie Of Pain demo. It was the final song to be completed for the release.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, vocals
Matt Ford - Music, guitar, bass, drum programming, mix

Guitar tuning

BADGBE

Bass tuning

BEADG

Lyrics

Hazy lazy faintly shady
Weary from another day
Crumpled suits and tired eyes
Homewards to that other life

Daisy off out to the bingo
Best bonnet and floral dress

Bus pass grasped and at the ready
Meeting Mabel weekly treat

Crazy Dave out on the pull
Looking to forget himself
Party girl Trish spent hours in her lair
Caking on make-up and braiding her hair

But they all died that night
With ‘if only’ on their lips
Astounded by the lightening flash
And when the sky enveloped them
They slept beneath a blanket of ash

Friday On Hope Street

‘Torture Garden’ is a song from Torture Garden’s debut full length album ‘Dead Romantic’. The song is clearly divided into two distinct sections; one very slow and one very fast. The two parts are separated by a soundscape consisting of several tracks of tortured screaming, performed in the studio by Matt Ford. The bell sound which dominates the first part of the song - and the transitional ‘screaming’ interlude - was recorded by Matt at St Hilary’s Church, Wallasey, Merseyside, England, and then processed to sound exactly one octave lower.

The song’s lyrics were written before the band decided upon their name.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, vocals
Matt Ford - Music, guitar, bass, drum programming, tortured screams, mix

Guitar tuning

C F B♭ E♭ G C

Bass tuning

C F B♭ E♭

Lyrics

I see dying people
Wracked by guilt on slick machines
Flesh riddled with religion
Disease of enfeebled dreams
A police pig in every head
Stands guard over stifled screams
Our demons will never pardon
Eden was born a torture garden

Torture Garden

‘Sacred Heart’ is a song from Torture Garden’s second release‘Dead Romantic’. It was the sixth song to be completed for the album.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, lead vocals
Matt Ford - Music, backing vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard, drum programming, mixing
Tom Jenkins - Guitars, mixing
Diya Azzoni - Mastering

Guitar tuning

C F B♭ E♭ G C

Bass tuning

C F B♭ E♭

Lyrics

Some day Chris will quit his desk job
Leave the rat race far behind
Until then he’ll scrape existence
In this prison we’ve designed

As the voice whispers in his ear…

On a sphere of sleeping beauty
Trapped beneath still icy wastes
Sacred hearts don’t make a sound
Smile is frozen onto face
Cold routines of sterile duty
Blight the lives of living death

Some day Jo will flee the city
Find life in the countryside
Until then she’ll choke on fumes
And the bitterness inside

As the voice whispers in her ear…

On a sphere of sleeping beauty
Trapped beneath still icy wastes
Sacred hearts don’t make a sound
Smile is frozen onto face
Cold routines of sterile duty
Blight the lives of living death

Some day Paul will call the girl
Who could help him with his mind
Until then he’ll prowl dark entries
Paying forty pounds a time

As the voice whispers in his ear…

On a sphere of sleeping beauty
Trapped beneath still icy wastes
Sacred hearts don’t make a sound
Smile is frozen onto face
Cold routines of sterile duty
Blight the lives of living death

We put on blank façades
Dressed in white at our own wake
Regrets buzz like drunk corpse flies
Then hatch out larvae in sad sighs
I am so truly very sorry
But she’s gone to a better place
There’s no more tears for you my dear
Pleasure forever in the sky 

Sacred Heart

’S.O.S.’ is a song from Torture Garden’s debut full length album ‘Dead Romantic’. It was the first track to be completed for the release.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, vocals
Matt Ford - Music, guitar, bass, drum programming

Guitar tuning

CGCFAD

Bass tuning

CGCF

Lyrics

Heaven help me…

God, I feel so lonely
Comfort me
Come down here and save
My sanity

‘K you win
I give up
On my knees
Fill me up
Take control
Of my soul
Bring me peace
Fill my God-shaped hole

Jesus, can you lend a hand
With my cross?
Lately it’s become
Too much to bear

‘K you win
I give up
On my knees
Fill me up
Take control
Of my soul
Bring me peace
Fill my God-shaped hole

Holy Ghost, I’m haunted
By my fear
Overshadowed by doubt
Exorcise me

S.O.S.

‘Yet Never’ is a song from Torture Garden’s debut full length album ‘Dead Romantic’. It was the fourth song to be completed for the release.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, vocals
Matt Ford - Music, guitars, bass, drum programming
Diya Azzoni - Recording and mixing

Guitar tuning

C F B♭ E♭ G C

Bass tuning

C F B♭ E♭

Lyrics

You come strolling through sunbeams
Or striding through rain
Drops that flow downstream
Following necessity
On a date with destiny

You dance through my veins

Cascading rivers of blood
In chemical flux
Mixing your scent with the breeze
Affecting butterflies

And yet never…

The darkness of your eyes drowns
The darkness of your hair ensnares
The smoothness of your skin devours
When two exquisite paths meet
There is a place where turmoil grows

And yet never…
And yet never…

Your attraction repels me
Gripped by a shove
Thesis of my genes
Antithesis of your body
Synthetic purgatory

Sister, daughter, lover

And yet never…
And yet never…
And yet never…
And yet never…
And yet never…
And yet never…
And yet never…
And yet never… 

Yet Never

‘Sympathy For The Monster’ is a song from Torture Garden’s debut full length album ‘Dead Romantic’. It was the fifth song to be completed for the release, and the first to feature a contribution from rhythm guitarist Tom Jenkins.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, lead vocals, original vocal melody
Matt Ford - Music, choir vocals, guitars, bass, violin, percussion, drum programming, mixing
Tom Jenkins - Choir vocals, guitars, mixing
Diya Azzoni - Mastering

Guitar tuning

CGCFAD

Bass tuning

CGCF

Lyrics

Baby it’s bitterly cold outside
So come warm yourself by my fire
You may be misunderstood
But that’s something I’ve come to admire

In spine-chilling cathedrals of frost
Through the blood-stained glass pane
They could see you shiver and shake
But cast you out all the same

I’ve got such sympathy for the monster
The wretched daemon seed inside of you
I’ve got such sympathy for the monster
For they turned and turned me into a monster too

Sympathy For The Monster

‘The Call Of Nature’ is a song from Torture Garden’s debut full length album ‘Dead Romantic’. It was the third song to be completed for the release.

Strongly influenced by black metal, the song does retain some of the atmospheric doom flavour that the band is known for. Lyrically, it references Ursula Le Guin, William Blake, Percy Shelley and Charles Darwin.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, lead vocals
Matt Ford - Music, guitars, bass, backing vocals, drum programming, mix

Guitar tuning

C F B♭ E♭ G C

Bass tuning

C F B♭ E♭

Lyrics

Praise then darkness and creation unfinished!

I am your lost lust, exuberance and joy
Passionate instincts unbridled by shame
Desire is consummation is beauty
Seeking enough or too much of life
My bounty yours as yours is mine
Forever reaching towards swirling skies

I live for the violence unleashed
Thrill of the chase
Across blasted heath
Snarling at phantoms
Baring flesh flecked teeth
As my flowing coat flails behind
Caught in the moment
Each beat is a thump
Ears prick up and smell the trees
My snout drinks in the flooding scenes
And conspiracies of fallen leaves
I and the foaming oceans are one!
I and the foaming oceans are one!
I and the foaming oceans are one!
I and the foaming oceans are one!

Mankind denies its evolution
Mab tears through grey and neon alike
Everywhere flaunting her defiance
Outliving all of their palaces
Survival of her fittest adaptation
Ever in flight, she respires in eternity

The Call Of Nature

‘…And Hope To Die’ is a song from Torture Garden’s debut full length album ‘Dead Romantic’. It was the final song to be completed for the release, although initial recordings were made as early as 2008. It is also the band’s first song to feature the keyboard work of Christian Woods, and is their longest song to date.

A duet, the song boasts the guest vocals of Lucy Shields, who sings professionally for the BBC and has previously worked with The Drowning.

Credits

Adam Ford - Lyrics, main vocals
Matt Ford - Music, guitar, bass, drum programming, percussion, mixing
Tom Jenkins - Mixing
Christian Woods - Keyboards
Lucy Shields - Female vocals
Diya Azzony - Mixing, mastering

Guitar tuning

CGCFAD

Bass tuning

CGCF

Lyrics

“You’re the light of my world”
Quoth the moth to the flame
As he flitted about his love
“God above”
Quoth the flame to the moth
“You’re everything I dream of”

She’s a femme fatale to die for
So be still my beating heart
And arrest my doomed course
For collision with a heavenly vision
I’m colder than ever before

“You glow in me”
Quoth the moth to the flame
As his wings were singed by the heat
“Time to eat”
Quoth the flame to the moth
“Darling you are so sweet”

She’s a femme fatale to die for
So be still my beating heart
And arrest my doomed course
For collision with heaven’s perdition
I’m colder than ever before

“I burn for you”
Quoth the moth to the flame
And ignited in his flight
“That’s alright”
Quoth the flame to the moth
“You render my fire more bright”

She’s a femme fatale to die for
So be still my beating heart
And arrest my doomed course
For immolation in hell’s catastrophe
The best love of all is agony

Just like at Salem to burn
They fall from disgraceful heights
Dismal stacks of moths blazed black
Lie in pyres of the night
So dazzled and so frazzled
So dead to the world of light
Charred coal is never reborn therefore
Their souls shall be lifted nevermore 

Torture Garden

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