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Songs In The Key Of Strife

by The Martyr Index

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1.
Survival 03:37
Strong like a mountain, bending like a reed Got a loathsome burden and a vicious mouth to feed They can take what they want and when they want they can take a lot While we hold on for our fucking lives We kick hard and we cut like knives. Gotta tear it down, turn it all around! It’s called survival. It’s called survival, baby Ain’t no denying we’re just surviving, baby Gotta get us hope, keep us off our knees Got no fuel to burn, got no air to breathe Never asked for a decadent life and it ain’t about the means ‘bout the only thing we know is the only thing they fear We got a terror inside that you know burns up the atmosphere Gotta tear it down, turn it all around! It’s called survival. It’s called survival, baby Ain’t no denying we’re just surviving, baby Gotta get us hope, keep us off our knees We’ve got the will, they got the means! This world will sunder somewhere between! Masters of plight, ready to fight! Vendors of greed, time to take heed! We are the weed you planted as a seed! We still laugh, we still cheer, we are victorious, we’re still here: It’s called survival. It’s called survival, baby Ain’t no denying we’re just surviving, baby Gotta get us hope, keep us off our knees Wanna be thriving, not just just surviving...
2.
Jailbreak 02:24
I heard 'bout this kid in Watts who ain't hurt no one Got beat down by the cops then they planted him with a gun Then the judge say "boy, there's a consequence for what you done" And since his skin ain't white he ain't never gon' see the sun They burned down his American dream, and left it smokin' on the interstate Man wants a better life, moves to Detroit from Kabul Drivin' hack to feed his family and put his kids through school Until one day he's arrested with no right to trial Because Homeland Security put a terror threat on his file They burned down his American dream, and left it smokin' on the interstate Chain gang Think you'll find freedom and justice the  American way? Just ask Huey or Mumia or the cats at Guantanamo bay They make money for every person they put away So if you ain't rich, you're guilty and they'll throw you in anyway, yeah So tear down their American dream and leave it smokin' on the inter... Break outta their American dream and leave it smokin' on the inter... Burn, burn down their American dream and leave it smokin' on the interstate
3.
Lions 04:08
Lions! Got to feed 'em like lions. Like lions! Got a hunger like lions! Can you hear them coming, marching hard against the plain? Dust clouds welling up like it's 'bout to rain. Banners flying, filling the whole damn sky with dread Soon the rivers here'll be running red! Lions! Got to feed 'em like lions. Like lions! Got a hunger like lions! No Mercy for the meek, no pity for the poor, Just a hearty appetite, always hungrier than before! Slaves to their drives with an instinct for insanity. A cruel inheritance for a hopeless humanity. Lions! Got to feed 'em like lions. Like lions! Got a hunger like lions! And when their bellies Can't hold no more And the master's dying On his killing floor Will we all turn 'round And walk away Or will another Rise again that day 'Cause we're too blind to find another way? We just can't seem to get away… From lions! Got to feed 'em like lions! Like lions! Got a hunger like lions! Lions! Got to feed 'em like lions. Like lions! Got a hunger like lions!
4.
Kamikaze 02:27
I am the glory I am God's wrath I am the soldier walking down the chosen path My name is vengeance Courage is my creed My immolation is the highest of all deeds I am divine wind: I am Kamikaze! Kamikaze You shake in terror And spit my name Without your weapons maybe you would be the same My heart is Christian Hindu, Muslim, Jew I am from Jaffna, Berlin, Gaza, or Beirut I am the shahid: I am Kamikaze! Kamikaze! Loyalty and honour into death! Loyalty and honour on through death! Kamikaze!
5.
The Deserter 03:50
Looking through the cracks at the whitened, bloody corpses 
 Of the children who came to hide from our superior morality 
With my stomach turning like the blade of a blender I force it back inside me 
I beamed my pride vociferously, but I still eat their agony - oh! We keep on telling ourselves that we're so fucking civilized
 And that every action we take is somehow something we can justify 
 But I know why those rockets fire, ‘cause I've seen life inside the wall 
 And you know it don't leave any of us with much of an alibi at all I've got to get right out of here 
Just pack my shit and disappear 
 Gotta get right out of this place 
Find my self in another space And for a holy land a true saint is so hard to find
 We’ve got the bloody truth dripping down our fingers and it don't feel right 
You can dedicate this hate to whatever you need to make you feel OK 
But I've got no more inside of me and I've just got to get away I've got to get right out of here 
 Just pack my shit and disappear 
 Gotta get right out of this place 
Find my self in another space I've got to get right out of here 
 Just pack my shit and disappear 
Gotta get right out of this place 
 Find my self in another space 
 I've got to get right out of here 
Just pack my shit and disappear 
Gotta get right out of this place 
 Disappear without a trace!
6.
No one noticed when the discourse started to spin
 The story that matters getting buried alive beneath the mass of ad hominem 
True reality TV, a confectionary for your eyes 
A good ol’ fashioned spectacle is always better than lies 
Manufactured celebrities, cult of personalities Government win public fail
 Tiger chases its own tail 
 Corporate culture sprouting seeds 
 Obsessed with triviality Ambassadorial duplicity, loathing of democracy
 Dictator regimes, splitting wide at the seams beneath the weight of their hypocrisy 
 Oh, but the gossip burns the ears and titillates all of the senses 
Like ‘dozers rolling over the story, left whitewashed and defenseless
 Abandon all causality, escalating casualties Government win public fail
 Tiger chases its own tail 
 Corporate culture sprouting seeds 
 Obsessed with triviality Hold fast! Don’t buy the trick! Don’t!
 Don’t fall for the bait and switch. 
We gotta see past, see through all the shit. 
We gotta move on, move on, move on... 
Fight forward! Open your mouth! Shout!
 ‘til counter-bullshit discourse resounds. 
 Up! Up now! Get up with your voice!
 We gotta move on, move on, up and out! Public win government fail 
 Tiger biting its own tail
 Social culture sprouting seeds 
 Sturdy, vibrant polity! Up now! Get up with with your voice! Up! Up! Up!
 Fight forward! Open your mouth! Shout! Shout! Shout!
 Up now! Get up with with your voice! Up! Up! Up! 
Fight forward! Open your mouth! Shout! Shout! Shout! Shout!
7.
Axe to Grind 03:10
The same old tricks have worked for years Built upon our deepest, darkest fears With the public trust misplaced Democracy's been erased, our country laid to waste And I will not digress From this illicit mess Party lines have not been kind and I have got an axe to grind Let loose your axe and swing away The same old tricks have worked for years Dividing ridings with unequal peers From poll to poll they deck the halls Heretics and robocalls We stand on guard for nothing at all And I will not digress From this illicit mess Party lines have not been kind and I have got an axe to grind Off with his head, make sure he's dead We can't just sit around Stand up and make a sound  And I will not digress From this illicit mess Party lines have not been kind  and I have got an axe to grind Let loose your axe and swing away
8.
“Farewell, Mohammed, for we will avenge you.
 We will mourn your life today, but tomorrow we will run them through" 
The autocrat he rises so high up in his throne
 For his ignorance and his decadence his terror he will be shown You didn’t know that it would cause a chain reaction 
How could you have foreseen that you would light the fuse 
The little grocer man from Sidi Bouzid up in a smoky haze 
His broken heart, a little spark to shake the world and stoke our rage Farewell to the systems of corruption and tyranny 
Donning shackles of our own fear through a filter of the enemy But now you cannot tell me. No, now I won’t be told
 Who I should hate to uphold the state ‘cause now I have grown so bold You didn’t know that it would cause a chain reaction
 How could you have foreseen that you would light the fuse 
The little grocer man from Sidi Bouzid gone in a smoky haze 
 His broken heart, a little spark that could ignite our rage You didn’t know that it would cause a chain reaction 
How could you have foreseen that you would light the fuse 
The little grocer man from Sidi Bouzid up in a smoky haze 
His broken heart, a little spark that could then ignite our rage
9.
Lively Dead 03:54
The morning washes away the lies as promise opens her eyes With guilty ghosts up in the air she falls back in the nightmare She’s trying so hard to wake up... And what her blood requires makes her palms perspire. Addiction takes away from her ability to conquer She sold her luck to the living She sold her luck to the lively dead And she just can’t stop giving Into the voices in her head. And she wants so badly to be dry... And when it rains, it really pours into her wounds and in her sores. And all the guilty ghosts above become the people she loved She sold her luck to the living She sold her luck to the lively dead. And she just can’t stop giving into the voices in her head. She sold her luck to the living She sold her luck to the lively dead And she just can’t stop giving Into the voices in her head She sold her luck to the living She sold her luck to the lively dead She just can’t stop feeding The monster that needs to be fed

about

What's that? Some oil-town anti-authoritarian butt rock? Yes, please! Calgary's The Martyr Index is back with their most aggressive line-up ever, and a new record to back it up. Their third LP, "Songs In The Key Of Strife" is an homage to the spirit of Stevie Wonder's "Songs In The Key Of Life", but with the audio sting of the Scorpions, Thin Lizzy, Joan Jett, and maybe even a hint of Sabbath thrown in for good measure!

"The Martyr Index are back, after a two-year hiatus, and their upcoming full-length, Songs in the Key of Strife, sees the pinko punks as fiercely vitriolic as ever. Their traditional quasi-anarchist undertones have been forged and honed to perhaps their finest edge ever and the album's nine songs whip past like a razor blade across your face. The Martyr Index are relentless on Song in the Key of Strife, giving no quarter and hedging no bets. In ideological warfare, there are tactics and there are strategies: you can be guaranteed that the Martyr Index are a terrifying tactical force with their cross-hairs locked on the stillborn heart of, in their words, "unrepentant frontier capitalism." Fat cats and greedy aristocrats, never send to know for whom the boots stomp; they stomp for thee." - Sebastian Buzzalino, Beatroute

credits

released March 15, 2013

All songs cc and © 2013 The Martyr Index
Recorded, engineered, and produced by Casey Lewis at Echo Base Studios, Calgary, Canada
Cover art by ElSeed www.elseed-art.com
Design by Marek Vermin
Band Photography © 2012 Luke Moilliet

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The Martyr Index Calgary, Alberta

The Martyr Index is your favourite fist-in-the-air, banner-flying, ol' dirty pinko rock and roll band, hailing from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Surrounded by the opulence of what could be considered the Bahrain of North America, they are exactly the kind of contradiction that you would expect from a quasi-anarchist discourse feeding off the fruits of unrepentant frontier capitalism. ... more

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