song analyses
each of nailed shut's songs have very vivid imagery, often telling a story. this page is meant to help compile those stories! i'll be using a combination of descriptions given by the band and personal readings to break each and every song of theirs down.
cerebellum
the point of breaking / a brittle skull, unwell / clenched teeth of aching / veins to paint pastels
i find myself teetering on the edge / loss of balance, from the weight of a sledge / cover my eyes / blind to the dread / making sense of what he did -
cerebellum / cut open his head / cerebellum / cover your face with dread
bury the hatchet / split open my head / bury the hatchet / i'll pull it together again. bury the hatchet / split open my head / bury the hatchet / pull it together again.
snip / my spine / snip / my spine / i’d rather crawl, through it all. i’d rather crawl, through it all.
CEREBELLUM / “I CANT OPEN MY EYES” / CEREBELLUM / FEAST HIM TO THE FLIES / GOD / "I CAN'T OPEN MY EYES" / GOD / "I CAN'T OPEN MY EYES"
this song is stated to be about a struggle with poor mental health - considering the references to an external event, implied confrontation between the narrator and another person, and metaphors for dissociation, i believe the narrator is specifically living with post-traumatic stress disorder.
macabre
there’s a breathing ahead / tossing and turns / “you must have been misled” / a sickness full of concerns
peel me, skin me, douse me in gasoline (x4)
stillness, clung to a bed / pry me open instead / i’ve parched all that I’ve bled / there’s only lust in the end
WHY’D YOU HAVE TO GO? GOD
so lay awake / between a state of dreams / sinking beneath /these muffled screams
dear god / there’s only lust in the end / macabre / i taste my final breath
this song has been described as being about night terrors.
purify
pulling at my skin / soon i'll be pale once again / you've torn apart my ribs / cultivating what's within
i've been worried / (that you) can't see glory / i've been worried / (that you) can't see glory (anymore)
made me your enemy / i'll make you beg and plea / on your knees she bleeds / as you plague the priest (x2)
gracious / taste of my disease / grievance / birth a single breed
just so vain / pain will sustain / you're just so vain
itching at the skin / drained of blood, gone thin / a wooden spine of sin / surrogating heaven's kin
i've been worried / (that you) can't see glory / i've been worried / (that you) can't see glory (anymore)
CROWN OF THORNS / MAYBE A KING / FUCK A CROSS AND / DIE FOR YOUR SINS / BITCH
PURIFIED TO YOU I FALL / AWAKENED BY / GOD / SILENCE BROKEN / GOD / PURIFY
burgeon
burgeon, don't comply / choke on words, flatline / trapped inside the light
i swear i've been here before / a spotless problem, drenched in gore / white as coke from the light / scalpels dig into our delights
might as well cut clean (cut, cut cut) (x4)
burgeon, don't comply / choke on words, flatline / trapped inside the light
i've been trapped inside / shackled beneath these lights / i've been trapped inside / leave me in the light / leave me in the light / LEAVE ME IN THE LIGHT
(fuck me til i bloom) days go by where i / (fuck me til i bloom) bleed myself anew / (fuck me til i bloom) yet i sit and pick (fuck me til i bloom) at the flakes of you (x2)
this song, as described by asher, is about a reoccurring nightmare in which one wakes up in the middle of a surgical operation. there's an initial panic waking up in the scene, but the narrator eventually accepts the situation as inescapable and even starts to twist the procedure into a pleasurable experience.
amygdala
killers / in the wake of the night / sinners / tongue tied, throat closed tight / leave me / in the creek where the body remains / save me / crawl through mud as i'm writhing in pain
soon my tissue decays / and my face becomes clay
wasting away / (please won't you) pull me out / scratching / i've gone blind / gurgling / airways confined / prying / you've raped my mind / the end is bitter when it's all you'll find
(i can't help you) panic / the end is bitter when it's all you'll find / (i won't heal you) panic / the end is bitter when it's all you'll find
(BLEEDING, IM BLEEDING, IM BLEEDING OUT) I’D PITY YOU / THE END IS BETTER WHEN ITS ALL YOU’LL FIND (x2)
faith / can't / help / you
there's blood on my hands so i can't let you go / there's blood on my hands as the pestilence grows / the blood on my hands pulls me deeper below (IT'S FOR YOUR GOOD)
it's for your good (x3)
teeth
swallowing teeth, for a taste / of introspection, that’s been laced / heavy my head gets, a single tear / filled with water, blessed by fear
i’ve been / pulling teeth / piece by piece / i’ve lost count / jaw thin / twisted root / bite my tongue / choke on soot
soon this love / will come to its end / a love once red / is now blackened / soon this love / will come to its end
soon this love (all my love) / will bleed out its end (all my love) / soon this love (all my love) / is bruised and blackened
SO PULL MY TEETH / ENTER MY SKIN / BREAK BONE BY BONE / WALLOW IN MY SIN
so pull my teeth and chew / enter my skin / you've made me whole / you're what's within / you're what's within
this song has been described as being about a typical nightmare phenomenon - all of your teeth falling out. (or, as mentioned in a video that went viral, "pulling out your fucking teeth"!) this dream is a common sign of stress, especially when anticipating loss or struggling to communicate. paired with the mentions of love here, this song's narrator is bracing to lose their lover (or is processing that their lover has already grown apart from them).
sorrow in sin
step / over / into the light / and flesh will peel with ease / bury your burdens in spite / scraped skin bloody your knees / mother won't you swaddle your son? / your hunger unsatiated / i pray for the smiling sun / burning the instigated
no / one / can / hear you scream / in / heav / en / seraphim (x2)
open your eyes / there's no sight
perpetrator / shown the light of god / love thy neighbor / feed us filth and rot (x2)
conspirator / you question my light in god / love thy neighbor / feed us your filth and rot / peel back his skin / bleat for us my little lamb / i'm here to swallow your sin / and free you from the damned
NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM (NO ONE, NOBODY CAN) (x8)
gather / rip apart as a wolf repeats / mother / when you're in heaven who is there / to hear you scream?
unreleased music
currently, the tracks broken and curled, devoured, dust to dust, formaldehyde, and playing god have not yet been released. you can hear these tracks in their live recordings at inkarceration and wcdb albany! in a post-inkarceration interview, asher described formaldehyde as being a story involving two people, one of whom is dead, trying to reach back out to one another.