Echoes in my teeth

Intro (Clean guitar, distant ambience)
I was small when I learned to stay quiet
Big shadows, loud hands
Every word felt like a verdict

Verse 1 (Muted riff, tense)
I learned the floorboards better than your eyes
Counted steps like prayers at night
Your voice was a weapon dressed as truth
“Man up,” you said, as I learned to bruise

Hands like weather—never knew the storm
Promises snapped like brittle bones
You called it “discipline,” I called it fear
Still hear you when the room is clear

Pre-Chorus (Build)
I swallowed words till my jaw locked tight
Turned my anger into a place to hide
You don’t remember, but I do
Every mark you left me grew

Chorus (Explosive metal)
I WAS A KID, NOT YOUR PUNCHING BAG
NOT YOUR FAILURE, NOT YOUR DAD
I GREW UP BLEEDING BETWEEN THE LINES
TRYING TO SURVIVE WHAT YOU LEFT INSIDE
YOUR VOICE STILL LIVES IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD
TEACHING ME HOW TO HATE MYSELF INSTEAD

Verse 2 (Faster, aggressive)
I wore your rage like hand-me-downs
Stitched in shame, passed around
Every mirror learned your tone
Every “almost” felt like home

I flinch at love, I brace for war
Still wait for fists behind closed doors
You’re gone but you never left
You just changed shape inside my chest

Rap Bridge (Beat drops, Linkin Park energy)
Yeah—
I was eight years old tryna read the room
Heart beating fast like it knew what you’d do
Every insult carved a permanent groove
Now my inner voice talks just like you

I don’t trust praise, I expect the hit
I overwork just to feel legit
You taught me pain before you taught me strength
Now I measure love by how much it takes

Therapy words don’t erase the past
But I’m learning how to breathe through the cracks
I’m not your echo, I’m not your son
I’m the man you couldn’t become

Breakdown (Half-time, brutal)
You don’t get to ask me why I’m cold
When you taught me silence before control

Chorus (Bigger, layered screams + cleans)
I WAS A KID, I WAS INNOCENT
YOU WERE THE ONE WHO CROSSED THE LINE
I’M STILL UNLEARNING WHAT YOU SAID
STILL PULLING YOU OUT OF MY MIND
THIS PAIN FOLLOWED ME INTO MY NAME
BUT IT ENDS WITH ME—I BREAK THE CHAIN

Outro (Quiet, then heavy resolve)
I survived the hands
I survived the words
I survived becoming what I was afraid of

(Last hit)
This ends with me.

Metal, has a rap breakdown, l, male