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TONGUE STONES (Megaptera megachasmacarcharias)
What was the catalyst, the final offense, that forced her presence
To intervene, to make known, this planet of stone, is truly her bone
And her flesh, ripples with troughs and crests
And our lakes, are her breasts
And her veins, quench our thirsts
But we pour our filth in first
Our judgment came not in flame, but in flood
A crawling lake of brine, thick with oil, thick with blood
Beg for, forgiveness from higher ground
Scents of cetacean serpents carried for miles
One baleen grin hides another serrated smile
When, pectoral fins block out the sun, all is lost
For those out of her reach, she'll swell rivers into the creeks,
Pushing creeks into the streams, until the highest lakes boil and teem
Torrential flows carving pinnacles clean
We are debris from which god's hands filter feed
When new shores lap at our highest peeks
The world as we know it will flow past their teeth
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MATING SCARS (Isurus metridium)
A bloodied rostrum and missing fins, teeth marks raked from gill to grin.
From far away, it's easily seen, the ordeal through which I had been
Specific gravity, taken it's toll, fateful events left their holes
Teeth replaced from ones behind, nictating membranes hide swollen eyes
Uncanny, I sailed straight to thee, in tonic immobility
One drop in a million
Spiteful seas and sharper shores, I'd suffer all again
And navigate with magnetic pores, a thousand chance occurrences
Uncanny, I sailed straight to thee, in tonic immobility
One drop in a million
To migrate is to suffer
Like fleeting friends, thermoclines come and go
A family asunder, I cheers the deserters,
An unfathomable reward, now breaths and grows
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SNAKEHEAD (Channidae erectus)
No further offerings of our own flesh and bone, the stranger found in pieces on shore, has limbs to spare, and can grow more
A sign, an omen, a living totem, a walking fountain of meat.
Asteroidian limbs grow again and again, pleasing the pool of teeth
Sacrifice anew of fresh sinew, his scent sinking like teeth in soup
Sentries arise from the halocline
Water will flow from elder to embryo, the driest of days are days of old,
Bring every bowl, fetch every pail, cup thy hands both dry and frail
We'll all be drunk with water again
When we've regaled the demons enough, bring our gift back up
And feed him well with the oiliest slop
Yank the rope and hoist him high, he'll regenerate overnight
When fins follow, let him drop
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Don’t let them know what the child can do
Put him to sleep with the strongest brew
And make him more symmetrical
Burn all the pieces, leaving not a quantum
Don’t let them know what the child can do
Growing back three where there was two
And keep his reach contralateral
Don’t let them know what the child can do
Cover him in ochre to hide his Linckian blue
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CENOTES (Troglocambarus maclanei)
Former alps make reluctant isles, ants in a storm, we are all condemned
Now the greatest minds sit not on spines, we are all their nutrients
Every drop of reserve, unfrozen, still did not reach the highest peaks
So a clever, brine cracks a faucet of time, pouring archaic seas,
Each set of waves smarter than the last, climbing tides never recede
Once benign pools now smile right back, patient for us to concede
A millennium, ago, my father was of my age, rumor has it, I look just like him
Subterranean rivers flow through chrono fissures, I will follow them and see for myself
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"It's heavy and foreboding, but folkloric and didactic in its storytelling — a Jules Verne for headbangers' row. Oceanic descriptors aside (and to be expected), Giant Squid fully inhabits this realm, shifting through moments of tumult with grace in just five songs and 35 minutes." -
NPR.org
"...yet another gorgeous offering by one of the most adventurous and unique bands in music today--music, not just metal.", "9/10" -
lastrit.es (formerly
metalreview.com)
"It’s nice to know a band such as Giant Squid always can be depended on to move me musically and spiritually." -
metalmeadmetal.com
"From the pattering drums and mountain-leveling guitars to the sweet, melodic violin and the chant-like vocals, both guiding songs from titanic sludge to pensive ambience, each element is impressive, but it is the way that they flow together, perfectly complementing one another into a vital, organic whole, that makes Cenotes truly remarkable." - REVOLVER Magazine
"Somber, slow, and ominous. Just the way experimental metal should sound, a fluid integration of multiple influences despite their inherent variations. Now that’s craft! Giant Squid: alpha predator of the 2011 best metal album seas? No questions there." -
orlandoom.com
released October 26, 2011
Engineered, mixed, produced by Matt Bayles
Remastered for digital and vinyl by Tim Green (originally by Ed Brooks)
Composed by Giant Squid
Lyrics by Aaron John Gregory
Album art by Aaron John Gregory
