When the Storm Comes Down

“When the Storm Comes Down” is the third studio album by Flotsam and Jetsam, released on May 1st, 1990. It was the last album with Troy Gregory on bass guitar, as he left the left in 1991 to join Prong. Distancing a bit from their previous releases on Metal Blade, “When the Storm Comes Down” served up a more accessible thrash formula, offering much slower tempos, in an overall sound which sadly suffered from a crude production.

The album was re-released on June 10, 2008, by Metal Mind Productions. This release is remastered with a bonus track and limited to 2000 copies. The re-release also contains new packaging and liner notes from the band members Eric A.K. and Ed Carlson.

“When The Storm Comes Down” Album Artwork

TRACK LIST:

  1. The Master Sleeps (4:35)
  2. Burned Device (6:26)
  3. Deviation (3:04)
  4. October Thorns (5:33)
  5. No More Fun (3:45)
  6. Suffer the Masses (6:05)
  7. 6, Six, VI (5:05)
  8. Greed (4:24)
  9. E.M.T.E.K. (5:49)
  10. Scars (4:14)
  11. K.A.B. (0:25)

EDWARD CARLSON – GUITARS | KELLY-DAVID SMITH – DRUMS | MICHAEL GILBERT – GUITARS | ERIC A.K. – VOCALS | TROY GREGORY – BASS

Lyrics

THE MASTER SLEEPS

Wake the master
Is all you survey
Pictures down the well of my thoughts
In settled dust they’re hidden away
Forced down the yellow pills then I stepped into the screen
God were you sleeping so you couldn’t hear their screams

God were you sleeping, something feels so strange
When I open my eyes wide you fade away, you fade away
Reflections on this wall consume the tides consuming me
Rejuvenated and cold reasons ripped apart, man bought an d sold

I open doors never chosen for me
Lost my sense of reality
Now I’m free like a rat in a cage
Sleeping God You’re a stranger to me

Now I know my place in life as time devours me more each day
Sands will sift away, our time slips away
Can you feel it slipping away, you’re growing older day by day
Now I know my place in life and it devours me more each day, no, no

BURNED DEVICE

Down in the deep, black hole of my heart
I feel the pain inside of the dreams that died
And I saw a dark message clawed on a wall today, it said
Forever burn this world, it’s far too late

Now I stare out my window, I see the towers rise
Toxics seep into my backyard before my very eyes
Industrial revolution, no other solution
For the junk cultured junkies needs
So take a deep breath because it ain’t over yet
The machine it’s got to bring you down to your knees

Outside the gates of redemption inside my happy home
Contact with big Mr. Mega Bucks on my cellular phone
Dollar for dollar the business hounds holler
Sour mouthed stomachs well fed
And I’m moving the game yet I still complain
The paranoia, it swells inside my head

How will I ever know which way the wind blows
Will there be no place to hide when the storm comes down
To tear off my hide, defenseless, rich or poor
When the wolves start gathering round my door
Self-destructed, I never anticipated
Such pain from the things that I’ve created

Burn, burn, burn, burn, the device and the ice that’s in my heart
Burn down the lies and the hatred in my eyes
Let it burn, burn to see the world turn
And it’s all there in front of me
And I feel compelled to make you see…reality
This is the turning point, these are the crossroads
Detonated lunacy and it’s not a dream, it’s not a dream

No greener sky, no blacker seay, no greater war inside of me

Now I stare out my window, the patients on the lawn
Loved ones visiting hours wonder what went wrong, wrong, wrong
Outside the gates of redemption, my mind is never alone
Hospitalized, lobotomized, big machine, please come take me home

This is reality

DEVIATION

Fractured chess game knights move
Chaos no point to prove
I’ve been changing my open mind
Self defensive intentions you’ll never find

Deviation detour your moral code
You Understand I refuse to play the role
Say have a seat, I think I’ll stand
Stained glass here I come with brick in hand

No explanations, for my deviation
I’ll give no explanation, for my deviation

See me, are you surprised
I symbolize all you despise
Never, never your faithful pawn
You run your rat race, it’s that I spit upon

No explanations for my deviation
I’ll give no explanations, for my deviation
No explanation for my deviation

OCTOBER THORNS

What was it, something that I realized
A need inside me took me by surprise
I see two sides now, I just don’t know
Subjected now an addict of control

Mirror yourself if you can even try
Gaze deep into God’s sleepy eye
Arabesques in my cold burn freeze
Deliverance upon my dirty knees

Dominator life’s blood, my need
The balance in my hands, the life blood seed
Underneath a hood of stars, I realized just who you are

Ooh, my October thorns in my side
It makes me wonder will the need subside

You miscalculated the algebra of need
I died for you, now why shouldn’t you return the favor

You’ve come to learn junkie of control
The more you push the stuff, the more it flows
Twist the plot of demand supply
A grim reflection of both you and I

Now I know just who you really are
I realized just who I really am
Now I now just who I really am

NO MORE FUN

I see the mighty fortress crumble, tumble to the ground
Swarms of rumbling bumble bees, consume the frantic crowd
Seething, breeding mescaline drench the pretty girls
Boredom for excuse, there’s no more fun in the world

Me outside my window, me inside my door
Inside or outside, I don’t give a fuck no more
Say I’m angry, have a lousy attitude
It’s hard to be optimistic when I share the world with you

Pretentious asshole, time to move aside
Can’t survive on your hypocrisy and lies
You’re building up, but you’re tearing down
The mighty fortress crumbles, tumbles to the ground

And I can’t understand, can’t understand, can’t comprehend
Indifference to my fellow man, no longer amused
Just pissed off and confused, still I laugh
Me eyes are dry and I don’t know why, I wonder why…
And I’m so fucking happy

SUFFER THE MASSES

The promise cast, the hopeful lured
Stabbing by the pointed words
Tortures of the damned you’ll find
Guilt preys upon the human mind

All you know and all you feel
Is all there is and all that’s real
Innocent told you’re a worthless pain
Eventually drives all insane

Bleak optimism gained
A lame excuse to hide the pain
Instinct stifled be ashamed
For what you feel is right and sane

Suffering, told what you feel and need is wrong
When conflicting with the machine
The machine that’s run so long

Suffer the masses, contradicting views inside
Suffer the masses, the personality divides
Suffer the masses, what’s told and what you know
Suffer the masses, now, now the neuroses grows

Generations handed down
The false smile to hide your frown
Instinct stifled don’t be afraid
For what you feel is right and sane

The promise cast, the hopeful lured
Stabbed by the pointed words
Tortures of the stabbed you’ll find
As guilt devours your broken mind

6, SIX, VI

Doing the descend, I’ve been waiting
To step into a dream
It is, it was, it seems
Satan in your stereo, crucifix receptacle
Menace in your muddy eyes, a candy coated fear
Do I remember me, transcending partisan

Hunter and hunted, now one in the same
Vast delirium, multitudes of attitude
T.V. is your brain
Vile, greasy vermin nicotine scars
Cheap, lethal bourbon, my refuge in the bar
Open mind defended, seen through a filtered lens
Gaze upon the symbolism, I wanna know what the message sends

Warfare concealed a symbolism, a martyr for your daughter
Stigmatised in my holy water, 666
Is it threatening as it seems
Sometimes there’s nothing left to tell
Sometimes I can’t understand myself

No, no single key, to calculated spontaneity
Confusion, illusion
What use sanity
Battering down the walls built inside of me
Battering down…

Passing me through revolving doors
Your will whole of the law
Doors in your mind unwind, unwind
Symbol in your muddy eyes words are dismissible
Nothing is true, all is permissible
Open mind defended, seen through a filtered lens
Sometimes There’s nothing left to tell
Sometimes I can’t understand myself

No, no single key, to calculated spontaneity
Confusion, illusion
What use sanity
Battering down the walls built inside of me
Battering down the walls built inside of me
Battering down…

GREED

Greed can’t wash your filthy hands
Now you know Just where you really stand
Competition. Man against man
Vicious players, Game of life has no plan.

Candidate for office, You vote for me,
I’m young, smart, smooth-talkin’, no one can bullshit me
Promises promises Just another vote.
High paid thief in office, sharpened lies cut your throat

What do you really want What will you pay
To stab another back, To get your way
And grease the painted palms, all gagged and bound
You try to rip me off I’ll bring you down

Kill Or be killed, that’s what we’re all taught
Money, drugs, religion, they’ve all got their plots
To make it to the big time, then pay off the cops
It’s greed that motivates them and only death will make them stop

Guilt tool of the trade, you crushed someone’s mind
To get your own way, you were my friend
You’ve cut the bloodline that never ends

E.M.T.E.K.

Experiment for the government, I hear they’re paying well
I needed the money, all I have is my courage to sell
Innoculations for the benefit of all mankind
A human guinea pig, I’ve laid my life on the line
I didn’t plan on this misery, this drastic change
Organ donor before my death, what a foolish risk
Had suspicions when they hooked the needle to my wrist
Felt the sickness as the fluid gushed beneath my flesh
My peeling skin turns green, at least I can pay the rent

Masochistic nausea I can’t chase away
Transforming my life is fading away
Blood cells mutating in unnatural ways
Hair is receding, my skin turns to scales
Genetic imbalance of self-induced hell

Distort the tissue to create the strain
Biological warfare is their f*&$#*g game
I’ve paid the price the naive accessory
Cash mutated, I am no longer me

From the labs out to the streets the virus strays
Transforming my life is fading away
Blood cells mutating in unnatural ways
Hair is receding, my skin turns to scales
Genetic imbalance from self-induced hell
No immunization, no antidote to sell
Genetic imbalance from self-induced hell

SCARS

Stare up into the sky, who’s in charge
Will it matter which bills are paid when she decides to do us harm

Forces of nature destiny control
Even the rich can’t buy their lives
When death becomes her toll

No conscience no love a heartless dare
No matter where you hide she’s there
Rape the land, bite the hand that feeds you
One day gonna take it away
Feel the chill from her icy stare
No self control, it will take its toll
The life we’re living here

Scars on her face, filth in her hair, pollution in her eyes
We kill the creatures she creates
Then we wonder why she cries
Scars on her face, filth in her hair, pollution in her eyes
We kill the creatures she creates
Then we wonder why she cries

With the power she possesses, wipe clean the slate again
Mass operation or daddy’s cash
It just won’t matter who’s your friend

K.A.B. (Instrumental)