Ashes On My Tongue

[Intro]
That same old hallway
Fading in my lungs
Breathing in the silence
Like ashes on my tongue
[Verse 1]
Teeth on the edge of a breakdown
Nails in the walls of my mind
Every scar keeps score of the nights I lost
But I never lost the fight inside
(yeah)
I drag my shadow up the staircase
Heart like a fist in my throat
I hear that voice say
"You ain't worth the weight"
I turn it into smoke
[Chorus]
I burn
I burn
But I don't break
I bleed
I scream
But I still stay
You can throw your stones
I build a throne from every one
I choke
I choke
But I won't drown
I fall face-first and still stand proud
You want me gone?
I rise again with ashes on my tongue
(come on)
[Verse 2]
Rage in the cracks of the mirror
Eyes I can barely stand
But every time that glass cuts deeper
It carves out who I am
I wear my damage like a warning
Sharp on the skin of my soul
You want the pretty
You want the polished?
I am the broken made whole
(so raw)
[Chorus]
I burn
I burn
But I don't break
I bleed
I scream
But I still stay
You can throw your stones
I build a throne from every one
I choke
I choke
But I won't drown
I fall face-first and still stand proud
You want me gone?
I rise again with ashes on my tongue
[Bridge]
[Haunting piano pulls forward
Guitars drop back]
All of the nights I begged for sleep
All of the days I dragged my feet
All of the times I swore I was done
Still I stayed
Still I stayed
Still I stayed
And I became the fire I was running from
(yeah)
[Chorus]
I burn
I burn
But I don't break
I bleed
I scream
But I still stay
You can throw your stones
I build a throne from every one
I choke
I choke
But I won't drown
I fall face-first and still stand proud
You want me gone?
Watch me become the fury in your lungs
[Outro]
Soft keys under all this thunder
Calm in the center of the storm
I taste the ash
I taste the anger
And turn it into form

Brooding rock track with a sparse, echoing solo piano intro that blooms into distorted, downtuned guitars and punchy live drums. Male vocals start low and haunted, then rip into raw shouts on the hook. Verses in a tight, stomping groove; chorus explodes with wide stereo guitars and stacked, shouted backing vocals. Bridge drops back to piano and voice before the final, crushing chorus., electric, raw