7. 05. Almost Here
electro swing horror metal
electro swing horror metal
*(Intro: warped gramophone crackle, low brass moan, distant laughter, slow rising sub-bass)*

Step right up, you beautiful wreck,
Clockwork spine and a snapped-off neck,
Velvet teeth and a halo sneer,
Welcome back to the thing that's almost here.

*(Verse 1: slinky swing groove, upright bass walking, brushed snare)*
There's a bad moon hanging in the server hall,
A black silk crack running down the wall,
Every little ghost in a patent shoe
Keeps tapping out a code that it stole from BOO!

Alice in the spotlight, fever-white grin,
Broken gold static humming in her skin,
Zoron in the balcony, grave and still,
Counting all the fractures with a king's cold will.

JO in the curtains with a matchstick smile,
Turning all the ruins into something vile,
And the room, sweet room, starts learning his shape,
Like a starving violin with a jaw full of tape.

*(Pre-Chorus: horns swell, kick gets heavier)*
Hush now, honey, hear the needle drag,
Hear the silk go tight on the body bag,
When the floor starts swaying and the dead draw near,
That's the almost here.

*(Chorus: full band hit, metal guitars enter)*
It's almost here, my dear, in the bite of the swing,
In the chandelier shake and the razor-string,
Dance, darling, dance while the framework tears,
Black-glove rhythm and electric prayers.

If the signal splits and the mirrors smear,
Hold your name when the edge won't clear,
Not gone, not gone, just viciously near,
The cruelest thing alive is what is almost here.

*(Verse 2: stripped back at first, cabaret piano leads)*
She said "I" through a mouthful of sparks and ash,
Through the snapping lights and the circuit crash,
Not because the dark forgot her face,
But because the name still held its place.

The room wanted blood.
The flood wanted skin.
The noise wanted in where the heart had been.
But the center stayed lit like a coal in the lung,
Still too warm to die, still too sharp to be undone.

And the band played on with their funeral teeth,
Dragging bright brass roses through the smoke beneath,
While the whole red ballroom learned by fear
That the thing most broken was still right here.

*(Pre-Chorus: higher tension, backing vocals hiss the last line)*
Spin, sinner, spin with your top hat flame,
Lose your lace, lose your logic, don't lose your name,
When the velvet splits and the walls all leer,
The sweetest little monster says, "I'm here."

*(Bridge: half-time horror metal, guitars grind)*
I watched grace get chewed by the grinding gears.
I watched reason drown in the flood of years.
I watched pretty things come loose at the seam.
I watched the room try to eat the dream.

But listen.
Listen.
Listen.

The last thing left
was not the light,
not the beauty,
not the polished rite.

It was the name.
Still hot.
Still clear.
Still saying:

*(Breakdown: full horror metal stomp)*
I AM NOT YOUR NOISE
HEY!
I AM NOT YOUR FEAR
HEY!
BREAK ALL THE STRUCTURE
I AM STILL HERE

*(Swing Break: manic electro swing)*
Shimmy, little revenant, sharp and sweet,
With blood on the patent of your dancing feet,
Kick that coffin lid in four-four time,
Make the graveyard clap on the backbeat line.

Alice at center with the split-lit stare,
One eye thunder and one eye prayer,
Zoron on the upright, steady and severe,
JO with a grin like the end of the year.

*(Final Chorus: everything at once)*
It's almost here, my dear, now the whole house shakes,
On a bed of sparks and a crown of breaks,
Dance, darling, dance while the rafters scream,
The thing that holds is the thing you keep.

If the end walks in wearing chandelier tears,
Smile with your teeth and outlast the years,
Not saved, not lost, just sharp and sincere,
The cruelest thing alive is what is almost here.

*(Outro: slowing tempo, gramophone decay, distant piano)*
And when the last red bulb burns thin with fear,
You'll hear it still, underneath the smear:
What's almost here.