Metal Storm logo
Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist lyrics



Tracks



01. Panthalassa (Lampetra Tridentata)

The dreams are upon me again with impossible seas filled to the brim with equally impossible things with preposterous amounts of teeth
Hereto I command an immortal ship and all ten hands on deck
Standing abreast with the finest men, each thick headed and hell bent on seeing this through for reasons all their own
Patching the sails with the shirts off their back, I need not sail alone the highest crests will fall like the rest under our battered hull
The beast filled troughs our bow will cross atop their cartilage skulls
The chill of the wind carries the hymn of things sounding disappointingly human
I'm quick to remind my men to ignore these beauties with green skin
A sure sign their blood is too thin, singing lampreys that will suck you dry
This sea has no end
Each of you will give in
Only a matter of time before I bring you all bliss

The dreams are upon me again with impossible seas filled to the brim with equally impossible things with preposterous amounts of teeth
Hereto I command an immortal ship and all ten hands on deck
Standing abreast with the finest men, each thick headed and hell bent on seeing this through for reasons all their own

02. La Brea Tar Pits (Pseudomonas Putida)

I awaken from what can hardly be called sleep
Starving as if I had two stomachs to feed
An ebb and tide of images in my mind of the two of you keeps my gut painfully empty
The tar boils and churns
I carve out and deny these infections on my soul and watch as they spawn a life of their own
Leaving snail trails of scars over what little of me is still pure
As they crawl towards where the tar boils and churns
Aborted parts of my psyche are all found nourishing themselves at these pits
Bubbling forth from the recesses of my mind where all I am slowly falls in
Abominations of my being incessantly teething

I awaken from what can hardly be called sleep
Starving as if I had two stomachs to feed
An ebb and tide of images in my mind of the two of you keeps my gut painfully empty

03. Sutterville (Vibrio Cholerae)

Finally, the horrible river has crawled back to bed
Leaving our bog like streets now damned with the dried up dead
Did you think it wise to build on the swollen banks of this delta?
When news surfaces of the latest death toll, will you rethink your new capitol?
Will our streets ever be dry again?
Festering pools left behind will be the death of this city
Breeding things with wings will only be the beginning
When your governor rowed down J street to the inauguration could he smell the cholera?
My offer to stands to build my land uphill
You need only name it after me, Sutterville
We will raise our streets fourteen feet above the river's reach

Finally, the horrible river has crawled back to bed
Leaving our bog like streets now damned with the dried up dead
Did you think it wise to build on the swollen banks of this delta?

04. Dead Man Slough (Pacifastacus leniusculus)

I left your lover in the slough
Your lover in the slough
He spilled his guts but none of it was true
I left your lover in the slough

All the letters he wrote you, were left in plain view
I recited them out loud as I was running him through
I left your lover in the slough

Crayfish will do as they wish
No need to stick around and watch
Crayfish will do as they wish with every inch of him

Out here past the muck and brine,
I wait beneath the power lines
And now its half past nine
He's never been this late before

Crayfish will do as they wish
Cattails beyond the pale hide the reason why he's late

I almost can't blame him,
I may have done the same
And would expect to pay when caught on someone else's claim

Crayfish will do as they wish with every inch of him

05. Throwing A Donner Party At Sea (Physeter Catodon)

Our ship struck twice by a whale
Now dig in a bail before it's too late
With the brine up to our knees
All I can think is how you'll be the first to be eaten
You will
With the shit this deep you have to leave all the things behind that you can't eat
Far too many adrift at sea
You are our chosen source of meat
With the brine up to our knees
All I can think is how you'll be the first to be eaten
You will

Our ship struck twice by a whale
Now dig in a bail before it's too late
With the brine up to our knees

06. Sevengill (Notorynchus Cepedianus)

Down here I wait with all my benthic friends
Underneath the gate listening to lives end
Those with seven gills will investigate each thunderous crash and corresponding shape
In great detail, I described you to them
In case the bridge is how you choose to end
I'd like to have some last words with you before you end up on the Farallone's rocky shores
Where the real beasts await to have their way
With all the failures washed out from the bay
A hundred years have past since just last autumn
Please come to the bay, see who now lives on the bottom
I'd like to have some last words before I forget how to walk upon these muddy shores and entirely cease to breathe like a man
Seeing things only with the tips of my hands
My heart is crushed by the jaws of regret
Upon knowing where you now make your bed
The depths at which I've chained to you
I pray those shackles eventually rust through
Held under by chiton like lies
Amongst the corpses
I'll never surface
Debris bouncing off my hide
Covered in detritus I've lost purpose
What comfort lies in years of hating me?
Haven't you in some way found a rare peace?
Please realize your very soul's at stake you're still a man and I was just a tool of fate
Your bite marks riddled my soul
It got damn cold with all those holes
So I left it on shore for all the gulls
Take it
There wasn't much left
Take it
Bit it's all yours
Take it

Down here I wait with all my benthic friends
Underneath the gate listening to lives end
Those with seven gills will investigate each thunderous crash and corresponding shape

07. Mormon Island (Alluvial Au)

The found gold here but they never found me
Underneath the temple on main street
Where men spent their dust and one took my life
In a town where two rivers collide
I'm still here
After the fire but before the water
They made sure to leave no one on the bottom
All the graves were lifted to higher ground
But where I lay they never found
I'm still here

The found gold here but they never found me
Underneath the temple on main street
Where men spent their dust and one took my life

08. Blue Linckia (Linckia Laevigata)

If you were to sever my arm I would grow one more
As I regenerate I'll still have another four
It would not be the first time autonomy has saved me
If you were to sever my legs I would grow two more
As I regenerate I'll still crawl on the floor
These pieces please feel free to keep all for yourself
They'll eat and breathe and grow into unsightly things
Haunting you with their resemblance of me
Though lacking any sort of heart I figure they'll fare better in your company
They're all yours now
Please keep them well fed because they're all yours now

If you were to sever my arm I would grow one more
As I regenerate I'll still have another four
It would not be the first time autotomy has saved me

09. Emerald Bay (Prionace Glauca)

I swore I saw you sitting on my bow
With a foot long smile trying to convince me
That it's okay to give into the waves
And that I wouldn't feel a thing
When the hounds of the sea start to take apart me ending my suffering
If I should pour the rest of my bottle overboard will it sting the eyes?
Those black eyes staring up at me from behind all those teeth?
Or should I save the last sip for my frozen gut and my blue lips?

I swore I saw you sitting on my bow
With a foot long smile trying to convince me
That it's okay to give into the waves

10. Rubicon Wall (Acipenser Transmontanus)

I chose this place because it has no bottom to interfere with my fall
Anaerobic beds of silt preserving still the shock of what I saw
Vivid descriptions I'd do anything to forget
But here I am crushed by a million frigid tons of regret
I will rest in one piece away from clawed things that would otherwise eat all that's left of me
The world is not ready for what I saw down there
That fateful day starting an endless autumn, words did seer my pupils
Liquid acrylic quickly will freeze a broken will in water heavy as tar
Somebody please take me to the deep where I can carry the weight of this burden you left for me to bare in frigid waters high above my head
Surrounded by all the dead frozen like me in the saltless sea
You can pay your respects at the shore now
Goodbye, my love...

I chose this place because it has no bottom to interfere with my fall
Anaerobic beds of silt preserving still the shock of what I saw
Vivid descriptions I'd do anything to forget