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Best Laid Plans

by End of an Empire

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1.
2.
Ripped from my hands Those best laid plans A gut-punch to my sensibilities Life throws curves Frays the nerves Undercut by the instability Those constants I relied on Stripped away, security gone In the depths of the unknown I can't find a solid foot-hold I did all I could to prevent this Yet I'm still in the abyss We spend today Building these webs To hold tomorrow With one fell swoop Those cords are cut And we're left holding sorrow Lean not on your own understanding Just so hard to let go We spend today Building these webs To hold tomorrow With one fell swoop Those cords are cut And we're left holding sorrow That need to be in control Runs deep So hard to break it
3.
Burdens 03:22
On the verge of a panic attack All the worst possibilities in my head After months of holding strong Resilience cracks, I can't go on Just had to function Hold onto hope Be a rock for the ones I love Until I couldn't cope And now I'm shaking World spinning, mind racing Been holding this weight so long A shell of a man, I am undone Why do I shoulder burdens Like I'm the only one to hold them Caught in between, in between Responsibility And knowing I've got nothing left And now I'm shaking World spinning, mind racing Been holding this weight so long A shell of a man, I am undone I don't want this, I can't hold this Yet I cant't let go, all I know is the rescuer And now I'm shaking World spinning, mind racing Been holding this weight so long A shell of a man, I am undone A shell of a man I am undone Why do I shoulder these burdens? When they only pull me down I need to love myself Why do I shoulder these burdens? I need to love myself When they only pull me down Yoke is easy, burden is light But I'm holding on so tight I need to love myself Yoke is easy, burden is light I need to love myself But I'm holding on so tight I need to love myself
4.
Look into the eyes of the enemy Feel the fury of their gaze Staring back intently Their values a plague Disavow, Disdain Take solace in your disgust It's gonna be them or us Lost in the slipstream of righteous rage Leading with your fists in uncertain days So self-assured pulling the trigger You say they hate you you're just as bitter We swallowed the poison pill We donned the blinkered mask Are we on a mirrored course? Never bothered to ask If this conflict has the same source 'Cos you both believe in force Lost in the slipstream of righteous rage Leading with your fists in uncertain days So self-assured pulling the trigger That other face that you hate Is Just A Mirror Reduction to faceless enemies A co-dependent bigotry Justifying our hostility Every excuse for our complicity This conflict has the same source You both believe in force You both believe in force
5.
I have become So disillusioned Challenging your attitude And your xenophobic views Going over this again Arguments of culture and skin When it's my family tree And I am tied to thee I have become Alienated And I have isolated A self-imposed eviction Avoidance of the friction Pulling away Jumped from family tree And now so far from thee Can't choose where I come from But I've tried to hide it Can't choose where I come from But I've tried to change myself Can't choose where I come from But it no longer feels like home It no longer feels like home No longer feels like home The values you've adopted So far from who you were Every time you speak those words I am recoiling further Can't choose where I come from But I've tried to hide it Can't choose where I come from But I've tried to change myself Can't choose where I come from But it no longer feels like home It no longer feels like home
6.
Hold On 04:02
Before I know it it I've Spent too much time In the dark, In my pain In my fear So consumed with the ache A waking nightmare Captured by the moment Emotions running rampant A chain reaction of dread in my mind And I'm drowning, I'm drowning inside Take a moment and breathe Just breathe Still your mind, let it be Take a moment and breathe Just breathe Hold on, hold strong In those moments in time When emotions engulf Cos we all have days Where it all gets too much We lose our perspective Just want to give up Take a moment and breathe Just breathe Still your mind, let it be Take a moment and breathe Just breathe Life Is Fraught But Things Won't Be this way forever Please hold on Dear God hold strong With all of your might And your knuckles pressed white Hold on Hold on tight it will get better This distress won't last forever
7.
Imagebearer 04:23
If I'm an imagebearer Am I defined by how you see me? The product of my insecurities? The healed scar of my tragedies? Expectations of my culture Or rejection of the same? If I'm an imagebearer Am I ashamed of your name? Culture-cringe in my heart But your words flood my mind Torn by my vision of you And the framework they've entwined Can I follow in spite of them? Can I love you in spite of them? Embodying what you said Because of you, not them If I'm an imagebearer Why my dread for those who claim To be your faithful followers And distance myself from them? Proud of their intolerance Hypocrisy in their prayers If I'm an imagebearer Is my image tied to theirs? If you can sweat blood in the garden Stare down death on a cross If you can forgive your killers That's an image to be proud of If you were a man of sorrows Crown of thorns in your hair If you conquered through suffering That's an image I can bear Am I an imagebearer? Culture-cringe in my heart But your words flood my mind Am I an imagebearer? Torn by my vision of you And the framework they've entwined
8.
All the temptation The frustration The knots that we're tied in Unmet expectations Miscommunication For better or for worse I just want you The depths I would dive The lengths I would go The fires I'd face All the anxiety Consuming entirely Shadows on the soul After the trauma Echoes linger Disrupting connection I just want you Let there be no doubt Let truth ring out I just want you All the temptation The frustration The knots that we're tied in Unmet expectations Miscommunication For better or for worse I just want you The depths I would dive The lengths I would go The fires I'd face Just to bring you home Let there be no doubt Let truth ring out I just want you
9.
You were sure that I would walk away when I saw how damaged you thought you were Conditioned to expect rejection 'Cos that's all you thought you were really worth When I think of what he did to you The wounds you're carrying from his abuse We just wanna be held We just wanna be loved A heart so battered when all you were longing for Was someone that you could adore Hopes driven off a cliff By the tongue of the narcissist But I'm not pulling away Knowing that this is Not the end of who you are Determination to grow beyond The lies that were forced in your head Determination to make a better life Than the one you have had When you're reaching out I'm reaching right back for you When I think of what he did to you Re–building what was so crushed and subdued I'm down for life And I know it will be Worth the fight This is a defiant love In your corner whatever may come This is an oath, a solemn pact When you're reaching out I'm reaching right back This is an oath A solemn pact When you're reaching out I'm reaching back This is an oath A solemn pact When you're reaching out I'm reaching right back
10.
So sick of making love to my pain That parasitic mistress No longer lost in crisis And yet still we congress The world will carry on While I shut myself away Lost in the feedback cycle So sick of making love to my pain It's left the sky a paler hue Effects of trauma seeping through It's left the sky a paler hue Effects of trauma So sick of making love to my pain I need a better way In all my fractured dreams To learn to hope again Envy for all the smiling ones Their sunshine and my rain I need a better way So sick of making love to my pain I need to hope To find my hope To spite my woe I need to hope Hope is not glassy-eyed naivety Hope crawls forward Iron-willed in spite of pain Hope is courage and defiance Of easy nihilism, jaded cynicism And I will smile again Hope crawls forward And it won't be killed Hope crawls forward So sick of making love to my pain That parasitic mistress Learning to let go of her hand Her empty promises Denounce the lie that pain Is all that life will give me in the end Count my blessings And I will smile again
11.
This is the hand we were dealt, better get on with it So we shut our doors and kept our distance Doing our best with the world on hiatus We all just want to survive the pandemic But from the woodwork the voices are shrieking “Free speech is over!”, the panic is spreading Finger-pointing got them drawing lines And fringe voices are on the rise They prime with fear Then stain with blame Painting shadows around every corner The world in hues of confusion, no solution And with it comes the mental exhaustion But giving into fear's helping no-one Prime Fear Stain Blame They prime with fear Then stain with blame Painting shadows around every corner Flailing for a sense of control The conspiracy smears the soul They prime with fear Then stain with blame Painting shadows around every corner I reject their airbrushed fear I paint hope

about

The second album from Wellington, New Zealand's End of an Empire.

credits

released September 23, 2023

Recorded in Auckland, New Zealand by Tom Broome at KDrums Studios
Additional recording in Wellington, New Zealand by Joram Adams
Mixed by Matt Livingstone
Mastered by Dave Baxter

Hamish Morgan of Happy Valley appears on Burdens
Chris Dies of Chasing South appears on Hope Crawls Forward

End of an Empire is
Hamish Dobbie
Jerome Morris
Rowan Miller
Sam Coates

Korōria ki te Atua

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End of an Empire Wellington, New Zealand

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