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Death at the Opera House

by Chrome Lakes

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1.
A Failure to Start We seemed once divided Into pieces fragments splinter off Never one to need to confide in We were confined by the time this all By the time this all went down Flushed out filled and repeated Current mood depleted To be deleted A noble cause to confide in In a state of stasis redefine The time's time to relax and Unwind and lose your fucking mind Let me out or keep us in Let it out or keep it in Hope not depleted Never retreating Let it out Don’t keep it in Won’t let it out Can’t keep it in A failure to start will only end you It could end us too Making jumps to hop in place It’s too dangerous for us Readjust to find nirvana Meditations on another plain The days leak into weeks then When a year feels like nothing at all We aspire to not digress and What’s transpired will not define us all Never retreating Never repeating Let it out Or keep it in Let it out Don’t keep this in A failure to start will only end you It could end us too Making jumps to hop in place It’s too dangerous for us Simple curse on the mend Complicated truth I shall not pretend Kept it, I won’t keep this in Can’t keep this in A failure to start will only end you It could end us too Making jumps to hop in place It’s too dangerous for us To leave this place
2.
The Weaker Kind Truth never was Your strongest suit A partial cry Always disguised There never was A prescription The brightest high Always declined It’s the weaker kind It’s the weaker kind The weaker kind of lie Now you’re standing on the stairs The railing's waving goodbye As you fall down to your side Then you realize That you’ve gone to the Darker side of this life When thoughts they blur The spiral timed Olympic sprint The finish line Of the weaker kind The weaker kind The weaker kind of lie Now you’re standing on the stairs The railing's waving goodbye As you fall down to your side Then you realize That you’ve gone to the Darkest side of this life You can’t describe Oh the weaker kind The weaker kind It’s the weaker kind of lie Oh the weaker kind It’s the weaker kind It’s the weaker kind of lie
3.
Rehearse to Reason We’ve carved out a place A place where we escape You’ll never forget Those good old days We’ve carved into trees Our initials expecting The roots to grow Take hold and lift away Practicing patience A moment you don’t own Reverse the roles And we'll feed 'em to the crows Marvelous things they Won’t appear out of the clouds The ground work must be Laid out right now To quench the thirst To get ahead While you still can Rehearse to reason We’re never stopping We’re addicted to the sound One misstep taken There’s a death at the opera house A whodunnit story No clues left to be found A mass exodus confronting The crowd right now To quench their thirst To get ahead While you still can At side stage we wait For the curtain to slowly close Reverse to poison What does it really mean Acting a scene What does it really mean Making a scene What does it really mean How does it teach meaning Rehearse to reason Reverse to poison This is the worst movie I’ve seen
4.
Institute of the Placated Mind Intoxicated typographer Will speak and spell for a tithe Urban landmine Pay nullified Institute of the placated mind Pulling bootstraps Known abstract Immediate change of The meaning required To be refined Redistribute your mind Speak and spell for a tithe Redistribute your mind The rich on a hot streak Of steak and fine wine Of the least most importance Of the quickest decline A paper weight made of gold While a thousand donkeys carry They carry your load They carry your load Redistribute your mind Speak and spell for a tithe Redistribute your mind Circumcise all the wires you fried Redistribute your vacated mind Institute of the placated mind I don’t mind, I’m sure you won’t mind Redistribute your mind Redistribute your mind
5.
Algorithm Funeral Once I was a stubborn young man Internet was still just a joke I would only do the things I wanted Van up in the sky filled with smoke Did whatever we wanted Whenever we wanted How do you contend With your contentions Are you content With your only options Preserve and fortify Romanticize The past of younger days Of different expectations It’s all summed up in ones and zeros A predetermined outcome For the remainder of your stay here An algorithm funeral For the wasted soul On the tips of my lonely thumbs Is the eulogy How do you contend With your contentions Are you content With your only options How do you pretend What’s your intentions Who do you think You’re really hurting How does one contend With their contentions Keeps going round And around and around And now we’re spinning Same argument Same backwards plan Romanticize what isn’t real
6.
All the Way Gone All the wonders of the world Won’t ponder on no more All the mystery Gone the way of the buffalo All of the way All of the way gone Along with what was known Reduced to rubble and dust May it rejuvenate A candlestick burnt at both ends The fire starters will pretend Not us, it’s them What do we keep to wander alone When ruins are ruined and gone All the way All of the way gone No preservation will lead to a Collapse of catastrophic failure The making of our own Leading us into nothing Let it rejuvenate A candlestick burnt at both ends The fire starters will pretend Not us, it’s them May it rejuvenate A roman candle burnt at both ends The fire workers will defend Not us, it’s them Let it rejuvenate A candlestick burnt at both ends The fire starters will pretend Not us, it’s them May it rejuvenate A roman candle burnt at both ends The fire workers will defend Not us, it’s them
7.
Pencil Pusher Take a pencil gouge out Both your jaded eyes Plain and simple Hear the bell crack And fall from the sky Wave the wand Replace all the Burned out dead bulbs In your mind replenish the cells Where none remain at all Will you become the way you wanted In a dignified state Or will you choose to cheat it Either way We’ll dance on your grave Relive past lives Bet and win then lose it all At the same time Never sure if all is well Or who needs to stay and fight To stay upright Wave said wand Relight all the desires inside Ignore them all go fully ghost Long before the knife fight Will you become the way you wanted In a dignified state Or will you choose to cheat it Either way We’ll dance on your grave We’ll dance on your grave You goddamn pencil pusher Will you become the way you wanted In a dignified state Or will you choose to cheat it Either way we’ll dance on your grave You fucking pencil pusher
8.
Wash Over 04:10
Wash Over Of all the days to go out Of all the goddamn ways To say goodbye, didn’t realize The last message I’d ever receive Strange thing to be hearing Startled wide awake Worst news ever The shock begins to take Wash over Stoutest oak trees Couldn’t come between Horror collide with terror In spite of life lived reposed Not fair at all head up stand tall Startled wide awake Worst news ever The shock begins to take Wash over Startled wide awake Worst news ever The shock begins to take Wash over No fair toll, not at all Not fair at all, not at all No fair toll, not at all Not fair at all, not at all Startled wide awake Worst news ever The shock begins to take Wash over The rain will cease And the floods will stop Though it stings We carry on and on
9.
Weapons of Mass Delusion Weapons of mass delusion Can’t see through it All of the lines Flying the flag at half mast For the last half of the century When will we be through this decay When will the people have their say Anyone, anyone who isn’t confused here Doesn’t know or really understand at all Human condition relent Set the limit let yourself rest Do you push through or resist Either answer is of consequence When will we cease to exist What is this bomb that ticks ticks ticks Anyone, anyone who isn’t confused here Doesn’t know or really understand at all Everyone, everyone who thinks They’re in charge here doesn’t know What happens next or what to do Feel it fall, feel it rise up Feel it fall and rise up in your chest Manifest in the question The answer’s obscure and incorrect Feel it fall, feel it rise up Feel it fall and rise up in your chest Manifest in the question The answer’s obscure and incorrect You’ll settle, you’ll settle You’ll settle for this You’ll settle
10.
War of Attrition We need a reset Erased, erased into a Whole new beginning We have always played the game Antiquated blame The sharks will always circle tanks Holding shovel in hand We’ll scrape away The filth that remains Reset the servers Anxiety is now to blame Treacherous roadway Steering with only feeling A cliff to disregard The world at large and what is true Truly happening What is this, what’s going on Who holds the gun It’s a war of Of attrition Of every day breaking away Take what remains Take what remains Human thought is not A strand of a particular Conspiracy or of Your own volition I am still concerned What to make of a war Of attrition Attritional catastrophe Who holds the gun Of a war of Of attrition Of every day Can’t break away Take what remains Take what remains
11.
Ridiculous Nightmare Opportunist seeking opportunity Reconstructing images They wish to be seen Memory abstract to me conceptually Why are we placed where we’re placed Amongst the diamonds or the rough Rearrange slim to none It’s a ridiculous nightmare Not sure who rules who Not sure how to see it through Slink through the mist And who are you And what have they done to us too Who holds the key So to speak Factually Who holds the key So to speak Why are you placed to where your placed Amongst the diamonds or the rough Rearrange slim to none It’s a ridiculous nightmare Wound all of the way up We’re making believe Our time is free Essentially expendable You’re catching a cold You’re catching your death Mountains, mole hills Scraping lines of turmoil brewed Lasting for millennia Skewered for the blatant truth Who holds the key So to speak Why are we placed where we’re placed Amongst the diamonds or the rough Rearrange slim to none It’s a ridiculous nightmare Wound all of the way up We’re making believe Our time is free Essentially expendable You’re catching a cold You’re catching your death Who holds the key So to speak
12.
Later On… You breathe the salt air in Delighted as it stings your eyes You stay the victim in your own bliss And maintain it Later on against The grain we’ll stay Later on regress Later on we’ll change Whole moon half awake Ocean with one foot in only Way that you hold me up against Somewhere other ways No such thing as late When it comes to me I believe it Later on against The grain we’ll stay Later on regress Later on we’ll change Play the odds against Your luck and favor Bright eyes It’s always worth it Fade out The way we came in Later on we’ll spread Joy of engagement But for now we’ll stay tethered Later on we’ll say It was all worth it Against the grain was the way You breathe the salt air in As it stings your eyes The sea the state we’re in Forever wide

about

Chrome Lakes unlocks a big sound with their third record, Death at the Opera House. Heavy yet melodic guitars and an aggressive rhythm section merge with pop sensibilities, showcasing the band’s ability to walk the line between their more hardcore and pop tendencies. The record offers songs that are both working class anthems and earnest explorations of grief and suffering. The songs are rebelliously hopeful though, and their blistering guitars feel beefed up, harkening the second half of the 90’s distortion like Hum and White Pony era Deftones.

These songs are wild and frantic, chasing down a feeling about finding humanity in a world glitched out, jacked in, and still barely kicking. Each track harnesses the alienation and frustration of a generation living through gig economies, endless war, unsatisfying labor, and proliferating grief. You can feel it in the songs, even before the lyrics kick in. But sonically this band remains cohesive and patient. It’s easy for a band to yell about the disillusionment and the failures of the world, but it’s hard for a band to do it well—something Chrome Lakes leans into with the practiced hands of a collective. The potential chaos of each song is harnessed by a patience that comes from the band's maturity and collaborative approach.

Unlike a lot of bands who lose their angst and soften over time, Chrome Lakes turns up, plays harder, and produces a record that showcases a crystalized realization of their sound. Sometimes heavier, sometimes chunkier, sometimes faster, held together by their collaborative spirit and Chad Fox’s crooning storytelling. The lyrics circle around the need to escape and the need to fight for the people we love. There is a trauma-bonded kind of trust unfolding in these songs, and so there isn’t a rush to get out of the songs. Experience tells them to wait, let the song end organically. Maybe Fox and the band have a lot to say, the angst of their previous records having evolved into a kind of anger, but the record is not full of resentment or bitterness or even righteousness, but hopefulness. Though grief finds us and death is always lurking, these songs tell us, we can make it if we find our people. The songs tell us to mourn and heal, then find companionship in this gutted out ride through the future-present of a dying world toward a future ripe with the possibility for change.

-Josh Young

credits

released October 13, 2023

All songs written by Chrome Lakes
Additional lyrics & vocals on Later On... by Irene Barber
Produced by Chrome Lakes & Derek Moree
Mixed & Engineered by Derek Moree
Recorded at Diamond Drive Studio & the Boiler Room
Mastered by Chuck Macak at Electrowerks Recording
Layout & Design by Kyle Shaffer
Photos by Aaron Yost

Chrome Lakes is:
Chad Fox - Vocals & Guitar
Phil Sells - Guitar
Bryan Barrows - Guitar & Keys
Aaron Yost - Bass & Vocals
Jay Beaman - Drums

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Chrome Lakes Seattle, Washington

Chrome Lakes formed in 2013 in Seattle, WA, and have been a staple of the PNW music scene ever since.

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