The Tax of Toil

[**"The Tax of Toil,"** is structured to reflect the cold, rhythmic mechanical stomp of **Satyricon** in the verses, shifting into the grand, theatrical, and blast-beat-driven ritualism of **Behemoth** for the climax.
### **The Tax of Toil**]
**[0:00 – 1:00) | Intro]**
*[Drums: Slow, heavy floor-tom rhythm. Guitar: A cold, dissonant tremolo riff that slowly builds in volume.]*
**[1:00 – 2:30) | Part I: The Petition (Satyricon Style]**
*[The tempo locks into a mid-tempo "Black 'n' Roll" groove. Vocals are raspy, dry, and rhythmic.]*
**[The Old Man:]**
I stand before the scythe, but I do not bow
Look at these hands—every scar is a broken vow
To a system that promised a harvest of light
But left me to rot in the frost of the night.
I gave forty years to the soot and the gear
I traded my vision for water and fear.
I punched the clock until my knuckles were bone
Building a temple for a god on a throne.
**[2:30 – 3:15) | Part II: The Ledger of Lies**
*(Bass-heavy bridge. The rhythm becomes more jagged.]*
**[The Old Man:]**
I paid every tax, I followed the law
I kept my tongue silent behind a locked jaw.
I raised up my blood to be stronger than me
But they fled from the shadow of my poverty.
They don't visit the cellar, they don't know my name
To them, I am nothing but a relic of shame.
The hearth is cold. The cupboard is bare.
I am a ghost in a house of despair.
**[3:15 – 4:00) | Part III: The Reaper’s Response (Behemoth Style]**
*[Tempo explodes into blast beats. Guitars become thick and orchestral. Vocals shift to a deep, layered guttural.]*
**[The Reaper:]**
**Sovereign of nothing! Martyr of dirt!**
**You wore your obedience like a hair-shirt.**
**You fed the machine with the oil of your soul**
**And expected the void to return you to whole?**
**The state is a furnace! The family, a flame!**
**They consume the fuel and forget the name.**
**Your "honesty" was but a chain made of glass**
**Behold the transition! Let the shadow pass!**
**[The Old Man & The Reaper (Dual Vocals):]**
*Vana fides!* 
*Labor sine fructu!* 
*Relictus in tenebris!* 
**[4:00 – 5:30) | Part IV: The Final Duality]**
*[Crushing, slow breakdown. Operatic choir in the background.]*
**[The Old Man & The Reaper (Dual Vocals):]**
*Vana fides!* 
*Labor sine fructu!* 
*Relictus in tenebris!* 
**[The Old Man:]**
I was a good man...
**[The Reaper:]**
**You were a slave.**
**The only thing honest is the width of the grave.**
**[5:30 – 6:30) | Part V: The Grand Exit**
*(Grand, cinematic blackened death metal finale. Wall of sound.]*
[The Old Man & The Reaper (Dual Vocals):]**
*Vana fides!* 
*Labor sine fructu!* 
*Relictus in tenebris
No medals for taxes! No statues for toil!
The weak are recycled back into the soil!
The kids are gone! The gold is spent!
Death is the only god that doesn't collect rent!
**[(6:30 – 7:00) | Outro]**
*[The music is fading away]

Norwegian atmospheric satanic black metal, Death metal, male pitch agonizing shriek, no soloing ,black n roll