Flotsam and Jetsam

This self-titled release is the twelfth studio album by Flotsam and Jetsam, released on May 20th, 2016. It contains the song “Iron Maiden”, a tribute to the famous band. It’s also the only Flotsam and Jetsam album to feature drummer Jason Bittner, who left the band shortly after its release to join Overkill.

In theory, the album started in January 2015 when Eric AK, guitarists Mike Gilbert and Steve Conley, bassist Michael Spencer, and drummer Jason Bittner got in a room together to start rehearsing for upcoming 2015 European tour dates, and to commence writing for the band’s next record. Initially the band concentrated on the back catalog and most recent set-lists to make sure the touring obligations would be fulfilled, and the band was comfortable playing together. After a 5 month initial writing process, the band completed 18 rough ideas to start having Bittner track drums to. The end result is the self- titled effort Flotsam and Jetsam which is the culmination of a year of hard work showing five very distinct personalities and influences come together for common goal of creating another soon to be metal classic, as well as another pillar in the foundation of a band that has managed to stay alive and current amongst an ever-changing music scene.

“Flotsam and Jetsam” Album Artwork

TRACK LIST:

  1. Seventh Seal (5:50)
  2. Life Is a Mess (4:20)
  3. Taser (4:11)
  4. Iron Maiden (3:40)
  5. Verge of Tragedy (5:19)
  6. Creeper (5:33)
  7. L.O.T.D. (4:47)
  8. The Incantation (1:38)
  9. Monkey Wrench (4:15)
  10. Time to Go (4:19)
  11. Smoking Gun (4:55)
  12. Forbidden Territories (6:44)

MICHAEL SPENCER – BASS | MICHAEL GILBERT – GUITARS | STEVE CONLEY – GUITARS | JASON BITTNER – DRUMS | ERIC A.K. – VOCALS

Lyrics

SEVENTH SEAL

From the book of Revelation
Seven seals hide the of time
A little lamb with seven horns and seven eyes
Apocalyptic document
Papyrus scroll sealed in war
Seven seals mark the suffering

The first four were the horsemen
Each with a mission in mind
Conquest, famine, death and war
The cries of the martyrs
For his word is fire
Run to and pro till the end of time

Seven trumpets roar, seven bowls of wrath
A seven headed beast, the seven seals of the scroll
Peels of thunder, lighting cracks, rumbling the sky

Fire from the altar, judgement is coming down
As the priest becomes executioner
The great storm from the throne of God
Turmoil and chaos bring
Seven angels start the trumpeting

LIFE IS A MESS

No way back from here, life’s so sweet
Stumble into something, keep the excitement down
Go. There’s no place for insanity to race
There is no pit stop for fear
Just take a ride it’s fucking nice outside
And your troubles will still be here
Troubles will still be here, troubles are here

Just look inside there’s a scared little child
All wonder trust and happiness
Go out and play it’s a fucking nice day
And your life will still be a mess. Life is a mess

One day we will all be in a better place
And the next we’ll all be dead
One day there is riches and happiness
And the next we’ll all be dead

Go ahead and march the circle young anarchy
Go ahead and join the flow
Go ahead and swing your fists in the air
With people you don’t even know
I’m not here to hurt anybody
And I’m not here to fight
I’m not here to leave on a gurney
I’m here to swing all night
The music gets the juices flowin’
And it’s taking me away
It’s only a matter of time
Till I just can’t refrain
Get ready, weapons up
Go

TASER

Fifty thousand volts of death
I can’t move or take a breath
Inject venom, force feed pain
Total power he will gain
Ever ready poison flies
Breaks you down to comply
Pierce the skin with his command
Take you down with one hand

In the muscle in the skin
Into veins of blue again
Barbed intruder violater
Stinging your brain into place
Heavy metal forces jolting
Brings you to the floor
Freeze, alto, stop, tinghzi
Hit the ground hit the door

I feel the hand of thunder
Its power pulls you under
Its unforgiving grip of death
Electrocute my innocence

They say stop and you think run
Better than a smoking gun
Feel the power know the might
Flying wires take a bite
Flashing lights are in your eye
Feel like you’re about to die
Try to run but muscles slow
Johnny law is now in tow

Recovery is rather quick
The memory of pain will stick
Feeling glad you didn’t die
See the laughter in his eye
The only choice is stay or run
Officer with smoking gun
Feel the sting of power flow
Down the only way to go

IRON MAIDEN

Back in the time when the gods would tell
You what to do or you’ll go to hell
The father cried and the angels fell
Constant reminder in the church’s bell

The fear of ending being stuck right here
The same evil every year after year
In the present we can see it clear
One god, one being to fear

The punishment for religious crimes
A sleeping place for the rest of time
Bleed your soul 50 piercing blades
The iron maiden where you’ve been laid

An evil bishop in a chamber of hell
He says the demons hide so well
We’ll have to bleed him from head to toe
It’s the only way to really know

Disobey a priest or king
It’s all upon yourself you bring
A bed of spites for eternity
Torture test your will to be

The punishment for religious crimes
A sleeping place for the rest of time
Bleed your soul 50 piercing blades
The iron maiden where you’ve been laid

Up right and leaning for the blood to flow
Drains you of life but slow
Involuntary screams of pain
The sound of blood like dripping rain

Disobey a priest or king
It’s all upon yourself you bring
A bed of spites for eternity
Torture test your will to be

The punishment for religious crimes
A sleeping place for the rest of time
Bleed your soul 50 piercing blades
The iron maiden where you’ve been laid

VERGE OF TRAGEDY

The pressure building up in blood flow
The pushing right behind the eyes
Teeth chattering as if the snow blows
Emotions over flowing time

A stirring pot of plazmic chemicals
The nauseous feeling in the gut
Fingers are numb and hair is standing
The strongest urge to feel the cut

Right on the verge of tragedy
All senses feel intensity

There are no words to start the calming
There is no exercise of mind
Here’s hoping it will let the course flow
And dissipate in ample time

Loss of control is very frightening
All thoughts to how to make this end
The wave of heat comes without timing
Irritating uninvited friend

Right on the verge of tragedy
All senses feel intensity

Cold sweat and everything goes silent
Black spots that cover everything

CREEPER

In the heart of battle
You can see the steam rise
From the open wounds of the dead
The bodies carpet the whole hill side
A river flowing red

Hundreds of thousands of people
Spending lives just for me ya
All the suffering so I can be set free

Evil and his army out there
And I will hunt them all down
No chance at all they will survive
My friends and neighbors go there
With one vision in mind
To rid the world of another hypnotized

Ignorant interpretation
No love thy neighbor rule
Skew the writing
For the self serving view
Create your own new meanings
To justify your feelings
You wanna rape and kill
So Allah loves you

Kill for the kill
Call it God’s will
Every death has a price
Kill for him and arise

They don’t discriminate ya
Religious masturbator
Big plans for multiple kills
The evil takes the hand of
Every sweat, dirt, lovin’ freak
The big man has no mercy
For the weak

The torture and the screaming
This makes your Allah proud
So proud you hide behind a shroud
Doesn’t matter where you hide
Pray and prepare to die
Your reign is ending
And it’s time to go

L.O.T.D.

Long ago in another time
Somewhere near Gadera line
Demons in a man’s place
Tombs of evil everywhere
Demoniacs imprisoned there
Begging, pleading to be spared

Banished, amidst forgotten posts
Legion’s ranks filled
With the world’s outcast
Deployed to desperate regions of sand
Prepare for attack
Awaiting the command

Evil men turned into swine
By the hand of him divine
Forgiveness in an altered state
Miracles are to believe
Pigs all running to the sea
Evil dying one by one
People in the town are saved
Ask him to leave anyway
Sails away at their request

Fear of what you cannot understand
Is forcing you to play a hand
That doesn’t coincide whit what
Your heart feels deep inside
This man who saved you from evil
And his nasty friends
Is told to leave, banished out

Never to return again
The trumpets sound. The dragons free
One from the land, one from the sea
The anarchist, false prophets three
Unholy family pretending to be a king
Though history there has been
A gathering of evil men
Who all could be the anarchist
Pretending to be right
That guide you to a promise land
And rule you with an iron hand
And seduce you into loving him
And believing he is God

Long ago in another time
Somewhere near Gadera line
Demons in a man’s place
Tombs of evil everywhere
Demoniacs imprisoned there
Begging, pleading to be spared
Evil men turned into swine
By the hand of child divine
Mercy held for demons sake
Miracles are to believe
Pigs all jumping in the sea
Demons dying one by one

THE INCANTATION

(Instrumental)

MONKEY WRENCH

There’s a real thin line between
What’s real and what’s fantasy
Crawling slowly
Towards a breaking point for me
Falling faster down a hole
Bottom I can’t see momentum gaining
As I’m picking up speed

There’s a force that’s forcing me down
There’s a drive that’s driving me away
There’s a catch that catches me off guard
There’s a point that I just don’t get

The water’s so clean I can see bottom
Through the hole in the boat
Pitch and bail
Till the end of our sunshine
Everything that I am dragged through
The muck and the grime
Don’t count on me
Cause it’s my fuk’n time

I don’t wanna be the monkey wrench
That carries all the pain
Making this all feel so real
It almost carries it’s own weight

TIME TO GO

I see the sunrise every mornin’
As I try to sleep my mind erasing
Still replacing what I’ll never keep
The world is spinning even faster
Faster spinning speed
Ten million horse power
Powered by the rich and greed

See like dying people on the move
A daily grind no hope
Or dream of where to find
One of another kind
The skin I’m walking in belongs
To someone I don’t know
I don’t know where I’m going
But it’s time to go

It’s time to go
Unlock the chains around your feet
It’s time to fly
Unlock the chains and spread your wings

I get the feeling there is something
That’s about to start
I don’t pretend to know it all
I barely know my part
We play the roll we pay the toll
We get what’s coming back
You slap a face
A fist is surely comin’ on attack
The lights are dimming

It’s a trick to pull you down
And everything you think
Manipulates the sound
Everything is happening so fast
Can’t keep control
I don’t know where I’m going
But it’s time to go

It’s time to go
Unlock the chains around your soul
It’s time to cry
Take down the blindfold from your eye

I can see the shit goin’ around
I can see the shit goin’ away
I can tell that everything is wonderful
As long as I’m livin’ your day
Frustration punch you in the eye
There’s a line you just won’t cross
I’ve been spun around so many times
I think I just got lost

It’s time to go
Unlock the chains around your feet
It’s time to cry
Take down the blindfold from your eye

SMOKING GUN

Words are spoken around a lie
A hundred needles in the eye
Hands and hearts in a fiery mess
Burning trust while still in the dress

Writing from the window signs
Seems to think that two are combined
Truth and loyalty locked behind a door
Rather by a lying bitch
Than found to be whore

Caught red handed, knees are down
Weapon in hand, going to town
No back story, no where to run
Caught red handed, with a smoking gun
With a smoking gun

FORBIDDEN TERRITORIES

Destiny so close at hand
The future it holds for man
Boundaries encase the lives
Of those who choose not to die
Confined to a world without end
The sentence of life now begins
Imprisoned to face the curse
Of perpetual hell on earth

Forbidden territories
Notorious, sovereign power
To control the underworld
Infamous city of old
Existence now at stake
Survival of the human race
Demands were made for amnesty
For all defected and diseased

Against time
Race through the night
Loosen the grip
Of the hold on his life for all
Why to exist
For in failure
They share his sentence that calls
For the end of humanity
Till the world is
Free of all
The pain and the sorrow
For one man’s quest to see tomorrow

Annihilation
Must now take place
Contest all that stand in the way
Abduction
Which holds the key to life
We would like to believe
Destination as time expires
The wall that separates desires
Beyond the wall man’s freedom lies
The answer to remain alive