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

this song has been described by the band as being about struggling with mental health - i believe the narrator to be dealing specifically with post-traumatic stress disorder

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

the narrator's been pushed to their mental brink by a (violent) external force

cover my eyes / blind to the dread

dissociation as a coping mechanism

making sense of what he did

going to assume any usage of third person pronouns from here on out is discussing the narrator's assailant

cerebellum / cut open his head

could be a desire for justice/revenge, could also be a desire to know the assailant's motive (as the cerebellum aids in decision making)!

cerebellum / cover your face with dread

the cerebellum also plays a role in the fear response - a chain reaction reliant on memory.

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.

in the wake of the traumatic event, the narrator is expected to just move on. doing so actively harms them, but they still opt to mask what they're going through instead of triggering themself by acknowledging their trauma

snip / my spine / snip / my spine

just want to acknowledge that before this bit, the song has a spoken section repeating the bury the hatchet verse before saying what sounds to me like "i'd rather crawl / through it all / than be with you / than be with you". i didn't include it here because these are the lyrics as written and personally shared to me by asher. i'm doing enough personal interpretation in these popups, i don't want to add in my own whole ass lyrics

i’d rather crawl, through it all. i’d rather crawl, through it all.

considering the earlier instance of "than be with you", this isn't just a one-time thing. the narrator experienced an extended period of abuse, which was seemingly very difficult to escape. still, despite the pain the narrator is experienncing in this struggle, they are in a better place than the site of their abuse

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"

macabre

this song has been described as being about night terrors

there’s a breathing ahead / tossing and turns / “you must have been misled” / a sickness full of concerns

stillness, clung to a bed / pry me open instead / i’ve parched all that I’ve bled / there’s only lust in the end

so lay awake / between a state of dreams / sinking beneath /these muffled screams

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)

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)

burgeon

this song is about a nightmare in which one wakes up in the middle of a surgical operation. asher has mentioned the dream scenario is meant to explore his personal fear of feeling that one has lost control of themselves

i swear i've been here before / a spotless problem, drenched in gore / white as coke from the light / scalpels dig into our delights

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)

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

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)

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)

teeth

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)

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 and chew / enter my skin / you've made me whole / you're what's within / you're what's within

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

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

gather / rip apart as a wolf repeats / mother / when you're in heaven who is there / to hear you scream?

devoured

hands of god / hand to god / i’ve become / one with god / i’ve become / feed for god / i’ve become / nothing but

broken and curled

drenched in sweat / kicking as I’m dragged from this world / a fractured neck / fingers snapped, broken and curled

if this is heaven / than why do I play god / i’ll watch above / above my stone rain the echoes of your sobs

if this is heaven (PULL ME OUT OF THIS GRAVE) / than why do I play god (THEY WATCH ABOVE) / i’ll watch above / above my stone rain the echoes of your sobs

bury me in all your wealth / a gut of gold with dire health / acts of horror. spill my guts / lick clean the floor, lick clean my cuts

centipede

Embracing, / this waste of filth of all that I’ve become. / erase me. forever rotten, / i’ve lost all sense of love.

burn the curtain / dance in the scent of a flesh set on fire / was it worth it? / a masquerade of my acted on desire

knuckle deep / for my soul / to use / to keep. / dug too deep / left for dirt / to abuse / to weep

I’VE / LET / THIS / FILTH / TAKE / ALL. / EVERY INCH THAT I CAN’T HELP BUT RECALL

SPIN ME OUT / IT BLURS ME / PICK APART MY LEGS / LIKE A BUG, I’M NOTHING / A CENTIPEDES LAID EGGS

from out the womb / i’ve shed the walls of the filth of my desires / (SHEDDING) / it twists and turns / a little blood turns a bug into a liar / (MY SKIN) / indulge, (INDULDGE) / and fuck, (AND FUCK) / erode, (ERODE) / repeat.

FILTHY ROTTEN TO THE CORE. / I WANTED TO BE / YOUR GOD. / YOUR WHORE. / TASTE OF WANTING / SOMETHING MORE. / I WANTED TO BE / YOUR GOD.

Filth. Fleas. A wretched disease. / Breeding. The rot that’s inside of me. / fear not, / For i / am with you

SPIN ME OUT (SPIN ME OUT) / YOU BLUR ME (IT BLURS ME) / TEAR APART MY LEGS, AND GIVE INTO THE DREAD / LIKE A CENTIPEDE / GROSS ME OUT (SPIT ON ME) / YOU’D HURL ME (I’M HURLING) / TEAR APART MY LEGS. GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR DREAD / I’M A CENTIPEDE

FILTH. / FEED ME. / MY SHEDDING. / FILTH. / BREED ME. / FILTH. / RIP ME. / FROM SHEDDING. / FILTH. / FORGET ME.

heaven below earth

SILENCE / SO / GOLDEN / IT / MISTAKES / TORMENT / IT / IRATES / MORALS / IT / LEAVES ME / RETCHING

CARVED / LIKE THE BARK OF A TREE / AND BURIED IN DIRT / PREMATURELY / TORQUED / ORIFICES THAT BLEED / THE SAND THAT / SPILLS OUT / OF MY BODY

SO I / PUSHED MY BONES / TO ERODE / NO ONE KNOWS / WHERE WE GO / BUT I’M KNOWN / IN A POOL OF CARTILAGE / SO I / SNAPPED MY BONES / TO ESCAPE / FROM MY HATE / DESECRATE / NOW I’M IN / A POOL OF MY CARTILAGE

DROWNED IN THE BATH OF THE SOIL / WITH BROKEN WINGS I CAN’T GET AWAY / A RODENT SLICK STUCK IN OIL / PAIN IS SLIPPING / BREAK MY NECK / TRYING TO GET AWAY

MY NAILS / THEY’RE DIGGING / A SPLINTER / LEFT STINGING / I'M TWISTING AND PULLING / (DIG. DIG. DIG.) / INFECTION / IS SEEPING / (DRAG ME DEEPER BEGGING) / IM BEGGING IM BEGGING / MY NAILS / THEY’RE DIGGING / A SPLINTER / LEFT STINGING / I'M TWISTING AND PULLING / INFECTION / IS SEEPING / SEEP INTO ME DEEPER

I WAS SOMEONES BABY / NOW I'M LEFT DECAYING / LATELY / FEELING LIKE I’M WAITING / MEANT FOR MAYBE JUST THE / RAIN TO WASH AWAY / MY REMAINS / LIKE A / STAIN DRY ON THE / PAVEMENT / BABY / PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME / PROMISES MADE

AND NAIL MY CASKET SHUT / AS CARNATIONS / FILL MY EYE HOLES / SO MY SIGHTS / AND MY SENSES / TOUCH GOD

unreleased music

currently, the tracks dust to dust, formaldehyde, and ripe have not yet been released. you can hear most of these tracks in their live recordings at inkarceration, denver, 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. all of these unreleased tracks except for formaldehyde and ripe can be expected to be part of their next ep! their very first demo, ripe, is something the band keeps exclusive to live sets. there is no full-song footage of ripe available online (to my knowledge)!

song analyses