Cover art for The Cleansing by August Burns Red
Mar. 24, 20231 viewer5.6K views

The Cleansing Lyrics

I watched you from the sky
As populations rise
Feasting on Earth like flies
Ensuring your demise

Generations repeating the pattern
Their stories told but never changed their minds
A life of excess, keep feeding the glutton
Bask in filth like a hoard of swine

Come now, watch the fall
You begged for relief, now I bring you the cleansing
Come now, watch the fall
A plague of contempt, a down pouring of pain

I've watched you from the sky
As the impoverished die
Pay no heed to their cries
Now tremble as I rise

Feel my pestilent hands
Pernicious touch
My ruinous arms embracing you
My blade to the hoard
Avenging the dirt, I'll spare but few
It takes but one to make
A spark to emanate
The masses, soon to wake
Their voices resonate

Exposed for who I am
No more hiding in the shadows
I'm praised by the weeds
I'm cursed to the gallows

A hero of the heathens
I'm a pillar of despair
A vast and vacant chasm of darkness
You'll find me there
You'll find me there

As I move on through the hoard
Insistent on spreading my rage
Underneath black dirt and dried up tears
Their faces begin to change

A man rose to his feet
His temper refused defeat
A song for the runaway
The people, they heard him say
"Take back your voice
Lift your heads
And focus your eyes on the sky
Our time must not yet end
Together, together
Together we will mend

We will mend
Our time must not yet end
Together we will mend
This song's for you my friends
This time, these lives, this world
Is ours to tend"

From the throne to the thorns

I've watched you from the sky
As the sun starts to rise
Revealing my disguise
I can finally close my eyes

Come now, watch my fall
Come now, watch my fall
Come now, watch my fall
My deceit created defiance
Come now, watch my fall
My treachery led to their triumph

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Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did August Burns Red say about "The Cleansing"?
Genius Answer

JB Brubaker:

This is my favourite song on the album. I’m extremely biased here because I wrote the song. I wrote the lyrics, and it was the first thing I wrote during lockdown in the pandemic. This song speaks of this unseen evil or force that’s taking over mankind and just destroying us and the planet. And then there’s this person in the
story of the song who rises up and rallies those who have survived into reclaiming the earth and basically conquering this evil.

via Apple Music

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