Blood on the Balance Sheet

[Verse 1]
You sign your name in other people’s losses
Shake their hands, then salt the open trade
You build your walls from contracts you demolished
Turn open doors to gates of razor blade
You count the favors, burn the fragile bridges
Smile in the smoke, insist the sky is clear
The harbor’s empty, all the markets quiet
But you still toast another wasted year
[Pre-Chorus]
You feed on fear
Call it order
You choke one voice
To scare a quarter
How many lives
Are worth your seat?
[Chorus]
Who keeps the blood off the balance sheet?
Who names the bodies you delete?
You call it “strong,” you call it “great”
It’s just a gilded cage of hate
I want the numbers, want the names
Every dark coin, every grave
Stand in the light, feel the heat
Answer for the blood on the balance sheet
[Verse 2]
You flood the squares with boots and armored windows
You raid the dawn to catch a whispered doubt
You sell the fear like cheap electric candles
Say “trust in me” while you keep cutting out
You trade our futures for a taller symbol
A tallest tower full of hollow men
You stack your trophies made of silent people
Then swear you’d do it all again
[Pre-Chorus]
You call it law
It’s just a muzzle
You call it fate
It’s rigged and shuffled
How many lies
Can one throne seat?
[Chorus]
Who keeps the blood off the balance sheet?
Who names the bodies you delete?
You call it “strong,” you call it “great”
It’s just a gilded cage of hate
I want the numbers, want the names
Every dark coin, every grave
Stand in the light, feel the heat
Answer for the blood on the balance sheet
[Bridge]
Look at their faces
Not just your flags
Look at the workers
Crushed by your bags
Look at the mothers
Hands in their hair
Look at the borders
You drew in despair
You wanted power?
Here is the cost
The trust you poisoned
The children you lost
You wanted glory?
Then take this too
The debt of the dead
Now clings to you (yeah)
[Chorus]
Who keeps the blood off the balance sheet?
Who names the bodies you delete?
You call it “strong,” you call it “great”
It’s just a gilded cage of hate
I want the numbers, want the names
Every dark coin, every grave
Step from your guards, to the street
Answer for the blood on the balance sheet
[Outro]
Say my name
You work for me
You breathe my air
You spend my grief
I will be here
When you retreat
I’ll read the blood
On your balance sheet

Slow-burning alt-rock torch song with female vocals, minor-key piano and distorted bass drone. Verses start sparse with close-mic vocal and distant toms; pre-chorus adds tense strings and ticking percussion. Choruses hit hard with overdriven guitars, wide harmonies, and a heavy, deliberate kick. Final chorus pushes gritty vocal ad-libs over a rising feedback swell, then cuts to a single exposed piano chord., raw, female vocals