EPICA Design Your Universe (2009) 15. Unleashed (Duet Version)

15. Unleashed (Duet Version)

[Bonus track]

[Feat. Amanda Somerville]

Declining, all color fading

Defining, time coming for me

Rescinding, my inspiration

Receding consciousness

Back in the day, I can recall that,

My thoughts were unclouded and sage

There was no black staining the walls of my memories

Now there's a haze pushing me sideways

And leaving me nothing to gain

Taking me back, locking me cold in disparity

Where was I meant to be?

I feel I'm lost in a dream

Long for the day I can be myself

When I'm free

When my sun has set

Released my soul forever

I'll have no regret

To be free

I'll exist again

No more lost endeavors

Nothing to contend

When I'm free

Color declines, all that defines me

Is falling away, far behind

Nothing to keep me with the time, the here and now

Where am I meant to be?

I feel I'm lost in a dream

Yearning again only to be myself

When I'm free

When my sun has set

Released my soul forever

I'll have no regret

To be free

I'll exist again

No more lost endeavors

Nothing to contend

When I'm free

Time is just a concept

And always the first thing to fade

Agony and weakness

Nothing we can never evade

Years are cruel, they break us

Bringing on decay and despair

Awareness and perception

Something we can never repair

Cure me, free me, help me, see me

No more worry, no more losing

Save me, near me, help me, hear me

No more heartache, no misery

Cure me, free me, help me, see me

No more worry, no agony

Save me, near me, help me, hear me

No more heartache, no despairing (We despair)

Cure me, free me, help me, see me

No more worry, no repairing (No repair)

Freedom for me is all I'm really wanting, needing

Give me power to break out

I can't hold on for any longer

My time has come to end it all

No one to blame, fate's only random

It's nothing we'll ever explain

So it remains

Where was I meant to be?

I feel I'm lost in a dream

Long for the day I can be myself

Free

When will I be unleashed?

It's not the way it should be

Yearning again only to be myself

When I'm free

Unleash my consciousness

When I'm free

When my sun has set

Released my soul forever

I'll have no regret

To be free

I'll exist again

No more lost endeavors

Nothing to contend

When I'm free

EPICA Design Your Universe (2009) 14. Incentive

14. Incentive

[Bonus track]

How can we conduct

Symphonies of our destruction

Without having a clue

How to interpret the darkest notes?

There is no need to feel so depraved

A spotless disease is what I am

All those fools that I have enslaved

Were so long ago already damned

There is no need to be so engaged

The master of the stash is what I am

All this distress is what I have engraved

Is forming the path that I defend

Come with me, acquire the key

To unlock forbidden doors

Come with me, be finally free

The incentive, you decree

There is no need to feel so alone

When your white guide knocks at the door

Don't you disappoint her, no don't you dare

She'll destroy you to the quick, to the bone

Come with me, on your knees

The celebration ends

Come with me, never flee

Save me from this

EPICA Design Your Universe (2009) 13. Design Your Universe - A New Age Dawns - Pt. VI

13. Design Your Universe - A New Age Dawns - Pt. VI

We're blind and eager

Avarice will set us back to blank

Those who wager all will have to name a reason

If you can't let go, you will end up empty handed

If you can't control, you'll live your life in vain

Who decides about my time to come?

Who is able to break through the circle of life and doom?

Don't look back

Keep on track to break the curse

Take the chance

Design your universe

We can't undo what we have done

So show us now what we've become

Confront us with our viciousness

And our weakness

We can't evade our destiny

So show responsibility

For we all surely have a sense

Of our consciousness

To take for taking's sake

Will leave a path of loss and strain

And endless breaking of faith can warrant acts of treason

If you can't let go, you will end up empty handed

If you can't control, you'll live your life in vain

Who decides about what's true or false?

Who is able to sift through the treasures from the flukes?

The time has come, we have to see

That total wisdom is in reach

The time has come to colour in the lines

We must identify the signs

So many people are full of hate

While love and light are in their reach

So many people will harm themselves

But life can be so beautiful

So many people will idolize

While their own success is in their reach

Don't forget you're able to

Design your own universe

Find your balance, sink into rumination

Ipsum te reperies

Potire mundorum

Potire omnis mundi

EPICA Design Your Universe (2009) 12. White Waters

12. White Waters

I see a silhouette, liquid that moves

Skin like a pearl in the sea

I cannot resist this, her voice in the wind

But is it my eyes are deceived?

Is it you I see?

Lie down in my arms

Trust what you see

Smooth your brow, you will be with me

To find your relief

Gazing at whitecaps, coming so close

Everything's suddenly clear

Numb with the aching, and still I am waiting

The water is pulling me near

Would you welcome me?

Lie down in my arms

Try not to breathe

Quiet love, you are now with me

You need no words to speak

For my mistakes, I am to blame

Never believed that it was all meant to fall

I'd give my life, to have you near once again

Take me away, would you forgive me?

EPICA Design Your Universe (2009) 11. Semblance Of Liberty

11. Semblance Of Liberty

Born to fight, and we're born to flee

Doomed to live on ecstasy

Born to lie, and we're born to cheat

Look in the mirror, who do you see?

Born to flee, and we're born to fight

Without your mask, you're terrified

Don't hide your personality

That's who you are, your identity

If the virtues of tomorrow

Cause the greed of today

We won't have a future

Nor liberty

Born to breathe, and we're born to pursue

That's all we are supposed to do

The semblance of our liberty

Is nothing more than slavery

Born to flee, and we're born to fight

Is it failure that's our delight?

Born to cheat, and we're born to lie

Look at yourself, have you lost your mind?

If the virtues of tomorrow

Cause the greed of today

We won't have a future

And no more liberty

If the virtues of tomorrow

Set the need on the way

We won't have a future nor liberty

Private vice leads to public virtue

[Laughs!]

Raised to think that we are free

Living in our caves

Being slaves

We lost control of our lives

At the mercy of the waves

Massive waves

Blind to see what's going on

Conditioned as we are

And we are

We lost control of our greed

But now we face it all

Face our fall

Keeping all that we've created

And consuming all that's possible

Reaching deep into temptation

Nothing can stop us

Guarantee our hard-earned profits

Multiplied ten-fold if possible

Reaching out for new redemption

Nothing avails our needs

My opponent won't rule out raising taxes.

But I will, and The Congress will push me to raise taxes and I'll say no.

And they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again, and I'll say to them:

Read my lips

[George H. W. Bush]

If the virtues of tomorrow

Set the need on the way

We never had a future anyway

We had no future 'till today

Time and tide

Will not wait for anyone

EPICA Design Your Universe (2009) 10. Deconstruct

10. Deconstruct

If we could see ourselves, the mirror would reflect insanity

Instead we camouflage the flaws that lie within

Condone the suffering we witness as we mingle casually

We need to right ourselves, or else we will derail

Aiming too high

You are bound to fail

Patience is a vital virtue

That you'll never have

Don't force me to believe

We're caught up in the greed

'cause I just care for me

To break it, we'll need everyone

Think it through: unite is the only way

A raging tragedy ignored will have its justice, finally

Distress and poverty is everyone's disease

We'll come to realise for all we've done

there is a price to pay

Yet hope is never lost, there always is a way

Trumping the game

Is no easy way

Enterprise and discipline

Will pay off in the end

If we ever could look into fate's mirror

We would never have ended up here

We're distracted by every sin committed

It should always be ever so clear

If we ever look

We would never be here

Don't force me to believe

I'm never needing anyone

I only care for me

I'm thinking through

And mine's the only way

We are caught up

In our failure

Now our union

Is our savior

It's the only way

If we ever

We would never

If we're clever

We're together

EPICA Design Your Universe (2009) 9. Tides Of Time

9. Tides Of Time

You were always there to hold my hand

When times were hard to understand

But now the tides of time have turned

They keep changing

Seasons range, but you remain the same

A steady heart, a sun to rain

You'll be the light that's shining bright

High above me

Autumn gold losing hold

We are leaves meant to fall

There's a meaning to all that fades

Freezing winds were stayed by warming words

To touch your healing to the hurt

I'll treasure every lesson learned to the embers

Fight her face

Wash his pain

Fire fails, blushes pale

We will answer the call

There's a meaning to all

Seeds of eulogy to sow along with dreams

Fill the need that can leave us grieving alone

Frail is our beauty in the end

But all we count is sentiment

A memory stays to guide the way, and whisper

Don't lose sight, don't deny

We are leaves meant to fall

There's a meaning to all our

Seeds of eulogy to sow along with dreams

Fills the need that can leave us grieving alone

A symphony resounding in our minds

Guides us through what we knew would come all a long

Sometimes I feel I don't have the words

Sometimes I feel I'm not being heard

And then I fear I'm feeling nothing more

Sometimes I feel I don't want this change

I think we all have to rearrange

And now I feel there's no one losing me

Seeds of eulogy to sow along with dreams

Fill the need that can leave us grieving alone

A symphony resounding in our minds

Guides us though

As you hear me

As you do,

As you need me

Making true

What we knew would come all along