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Swimming To The Stars (A)

by KOZEN

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1.
Calluses 03:52
I set my skin against the steel It writes the song that my soul feels The viciousness of flesh against the strings* The struggling that taught my soul to sing With my hands I'll forge the voice of the insane and the unsafe I'll be ripping through the steel until it breaks This rough skin, you can never wear it thin Calluses hammer, bend, and tell it like it is It's all this friction that leaves you thick-skinned And still we press on with conviction Because the darkest day is when you learn to play the blues** Enduring all things and rejoicing with the truth*** So when the music fades and all is striped away**** This song within remains With my hands I'll forge the voice of the insane and the unsafe I'll be ripping through the steel until it breaks forth into praise This rough skin, you can never wear it thin Calluses hammer, bend, and tell it like it is (Guitar solo – Maxwell Kozen) In the skin that's broken, scarred, and torn You'll find the place where strength is born For new life came to human flesh The day that blood was shed This is how my hope sings Saviour, take these six strings This rough skin, you can never wear it thin Calluses hammer, bend, and tell it like it is * - Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky, 9-46 gauge in this case. ** - Both literally and figuratively. *** - 1 Corinthians 13:6-7. **** - “The Heart Of Worship” - Matt Redman, 1998.
2.
Fall in the maw of slumber You let your soul be taken Death walk your own penumbra The haven of mistaken Becoming just a fragment of who you really are The shadow ocean stagnant has let you sink so far Woah, it’s swallowing you whole And you’re becoming what you’d never known And now you’ve lost control The sludgy tide of shadow slow seeps into your mind The oceanic pressure erodes your will in time Your virtue is enraptured by the deceptive deep It hypnotized your purpose and lulled your love to sleep Woah, it’s swallowing you whole And you’re becoming what you’d never known And now you’ve lost control Wake up, O sleeper* As light begins to spill Wake up, O sleeper The light is deeper still** (Guitar solo – Maxwell Kozen) Wake up! Woah, it’s*** swallowing you whole And you’re becoming what you’d never known And now you’ve lost control Now you've lost control * - Ephesians 5:14 ** - Betsie ten Boom to her sister Corrie, just prior to her death. Ravensbrück Nazi concentration camp, Northern Germany, Dec 16, 1944. See "The Hiding Place". *** - That is, the Light, no longer the shadow.
3.
How can you stand on sinking sand When you’ve been given solid land? Your wonderless, immobile feet Resign themselves ever to sink All your axioms of oblivion* Paralyzing the joy that we would sing I won’t suffer this unholy** war of yours Tonight we break the floor Shatter the prison doors Tonight we break the floor Can’t hold back anymore Tonight we break the floor We drop the beat and you won’t dance Sad songs we grieve and you won’t cry*** Fragmented, disembodied life**** No wonder you can’t sympathize But if we don’t shout, all the stones cry out So I’ll give you one last chance To use your feet for what they were made for Tonight we break the floor Shatter the prison doors Tonight we break the floor Can’t hold back anymore Tonight we break the floor (Get up and move your feet, come on let’s go!) Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!^ Tonight we break the floor Shatter the prison doors Tonight we break the floor Can’t hold back anymore Tonight we break the floor * - Proto-Gnosticism of the 1st century, merging dualistic Greek metaphysics into an otherwise earthy and organic Hebrew view of the human person. ** - Spirit of Antichrist, viz 1 John 4:2-3. *** - Matt 11:17, paraphrased **** - A second reference to Gnosticism ^ - Psalm 150
4.
From Heaven 04:58
So bright, she’s the dark light* that awakened me She’s a shadow, she’s as radiant as day Shadowed underneath her wings of soaring melody Secret angel**, with a message saving me A sweetness that’s this deep is far from quaint The lion may be good but He’s not tame*** When you see her face she’ll say “don’t be afraid”**** Her brightness blinds you but your eyes can’t look away And her glow proves that she’s not just one of us She’s from heaven but she’s oh so dangerous “Breathe”, she tells me, “take a burst of bravery” Wings on my feet, gaining speed and unafraid She propels me fearlessly to destiny^ Living too fast for shame to make us hesitate A sweetness that’s this deep is far from quaint The lion may be good but He’s not tame When you see her face she’ll say “don’t be afraid” Her brightness blinds you but your eyes can’t look away And her glow proves that she’s not just one of us She’s from heaven but she’s oh so dangerous And we live fast, so fast Nothing can stop us now ‘Cause we live fast, so fast Not slowing down (Guitar solo – Maxwell Kozen) And we live fast, so fast Nothing can stop us now ‘Cause we live fast, so fast Not slowing down (Guitar solo – Jericho Leal) * - Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 ** - That is, it is not well known that this human individual is an “angel”, and may well be commonly thought to be quite the opposite. *** - Amalgamated paraphrase of Mr. Beaver and Lucy Pevensie, referring to Aslan – The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. **** - Multiple instances of angelic appearances in the New Testament begin with the angel reassuring the human party to not be afraid. ^ - Men should not be afraid to be inspired by, influenced by, and instructed by women.
5.
Undercurrent 04:27
Today I watched a day go sailing by A look of longing in tomorrow’s eyes For yesterday I chased it desperately at anchor speed And let my rudder tangle in the weeds Then night fell on the sea And my ship sank The stars are swept out of their place While I just watch them flee It’s like the heavens rushing over me I’m gone, I’m gone I’m gonna find my way from this Undercurrent Time like a torrent starts to pour Faster than I can see I feel my shadows catching up to me I’m gone, I’m gone I’m gonna find my way from this Undercurrent Do you feel time pull like the undertow? The dread of everything that dwells below? It’s bottomless I see the lights from where I want to be I feel the gravity that still impedes But just you wait and see I’ll cut through it* The stars are swept out of their place While I just watch them flee It’s like the heavens rushing over me I’m gone, I’m gone I’m gonna find my way from this Undercurrent Time like a torrent starts to pour Faster than I can see I feel my shadows catching up to me I’m gone, I’m gone I’m gonna find my way from this Undercurrent (Guitar solo - Maxwell Kozen) You took the anchor’s bait Clinging on to doubt’s dead weight You** could have walked on waves The stars are swept out of their place While I just watch them flee It’s like the heavens rushing over me*** I’m gone, I’m gone I’m gonna find my way from this Undercurrent Time like a torrent starts to pour Faster than I can see I feel my shadows catching up to me I’m gone, I’m gone I’m gonna find my way from this Undercurrent * - Our hero has just begun to see Invisible things all around. ** - Someone not entirely unlike St. Peter. *** - The sky and sea have become one as the world unravels.
6.
Have you been told your dreams are nothing That colours lost their war with grey? The ancient cornerstones are crumbling Foundations eroding away?* Love comes enraged to see these lies erased The source of dreams will glow forever He paints with light and brand new days And spins a whirlwind through the river Uniting deserts with the reign⊕ The waters sang and harmonized with flame And colours** graced your eyes to call your name And now no distance is too far to fetch a dream When nothing turns out to be quite what it had seemed Because we press towards our hope with faith And hope does not put us to shame*** We’ll dream our dreams with eyes awake With eyes awake (Guitar solos by Jericho Leal and Maxwell Kozen) The flight, the flood, the flame They have called your name Warrior etherealΘ – forge your blade Child of creation – keep the faith River winder – press toward your upward calling Mortal⊕ come choose life Call dawn to end the night⊕ To shed new light on landscapes⊗ crumbling Yield⊕ up every doubt that holds you Sail⊕ the sky and breathe beyond the blue^ (Piano interlude by Sidone Harrison, Guitar solo by Maxwell Kozen) * - Altikale is extremely isolated, though not uninhabited. ** - The angel saw that our hero was finally ready. *** - Romans 5:5 Θ - Ethereal only by virtue of his calling, not his nature. ⊕ - The Captain Ethereal EP – Maxwell Kozen, 2013. ⊗ - No Orphan EP – Maxwell Kozen, 2013. ^ - Swim beyond the sky and breathe in the midst of the heavens.

credits

released April 26, 2016

All songs written, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Maxwell Kozen

Kyron Newbury - Drums
Jonathan Aristide - Bass
Jericho Leal - Guitars
Maxwell Kozen - Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Programming
Sidone Harrison - Keys

Kyron Newbury plays TRS Drums.

Additional Musicians:
Antonia Lawrence - Vocals on "From Heaven"

Cover art by Tyler Dooks (www.instagram.com/mad_average/)

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KOZEN Toronto, Ontario

KOZEN is a genre-bending progressive metal band from Toronto, Canada.

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