The Pit, The Pendulum

[Verse 1]
Blindfold off
Stone and sulfur
Rope-burn wrists
Breathing rust and dust
Judges gone
But their sentence lingers
Like a brand on my tongue
That I can’t adjust
Candles crowd
Like a waiting jury
Shadows lean
Till they scrape my skin
I don’t know
What they named my “error”
Only know they swore
I wouldn’t walk again
[Chorus]
In the pit
The pendulum
Swinging closer
Counting down
Every arc a cruel amen
Every breath a stolen vow
In the dark they call it justice
In my chest it feels like doom
I taste iron
I taste incense
In the pit
The pendulum
[Verse 2]
Walls breathe heat
Like a furnace praying
Rats parade
Over shattered tile
Somewhere far
A choir’s complaining
But down here their god
Never turns his eyes
I can hear
Bootheels in the ceiling
Soft commands
In a foreign tongue
Spanish hands
Doing holy torture
For a crime they carved
But never spoke aloud
[Chorus]
In the pit
The pendulum
Swinging closer
Counting down
Every arc a cruel amen
Every breath a stolen vow
In the dark they call it justice
In my chest it feels like doom
I taste iron
I taste incense
In the pit
The pendulum
[Bridge]
[Acoustic guitar and violin enter softly]
Whispered prayers
To a faith I never followed
Burn my lips
Like the chains on my skin
I don’t beg
For their cold forgiveness
I just beg the blade
To finally choose
Violin weeps
Like a throat in hiding
Wood and string
Carry all my sins
If my name
Is erased from history
Let this sound remain
Where the darkness sings (yeah)
[Chorus]
In the pit
The pendulum
Swinging closer
Counting down
Every arc a cruel amen
Every breath a stolen vow
In the dark they call it justice
In my chest it feels like doom
I taste iron
I taste incense
In the pit
The pendulum
[Outro]
[Band drops
Solo violin over acoustic]
Last thin thread
Between flesh and heaven
One more swing
And the circle’s done
If their god
Keeps a book of martyrs
Write me down in ink
As the unnamed one

folk, Epic power/speed metal ballad with male vocals: galloping rhythm guitars and double-kick verses, half-time crushing chorus, melodic lead breaks. Dramatic violin doubles vocal lines, then soars in counter-melodies; acoustic guitar enters for a hushed bridge before the full band slams back in. Big choral backing on the title hook, cinematic dynamics from whisper to full roar., power metal, violin, acoustic, metal, speed metal, ballad