About

This song is a diatribe, a list of grievances, a pressure valve released. It began to form early in the pandemic as the political opportunism of that moment was dawning. It was apparent then, that the least of us would shoulder the greatest burden of that time while the usual suspects would exploit it for profit and political advantage. Later, beset by images of war, floods, smug politicians, profiteers and plutocrats (and as we in Australia approached a do-or-die federal election) the song was vitrified and recorded live in the studio.

In some ways it is a recount of the pandemic years, in some ways a picture of things as they are. I suppose most obviously it is a reminder that actions (and inactions) in time will be judged. It feels like we’re at a tipping point where our very planet is crushed beneath the ballooning bulk of insatiable, irrational greed and an ever more perversely distorted balance of wealth and power. The yesteryear manifestations of this are present dysfunction and disparity.

Music has a great capacity to unify, evoke compassion and enable us to imagine a better way, so this song is like a tiny grain of sand which I hope will draw us together - gravitationally - in a polarised time and get under the skin of wealth and power. May we consider love, compassion, egalitarianism paramount and reject their antithesis and may history look upon this moment as a turning-point towards reason instead of a point of no return.

Lyrics

The ceasefire hit
As the enemy landed
No one could do shit
They had to go home empty handed
I guess it worked out
Just like they planned it
The poor in the front line
The rich in command

Unseen and unheard
Tireless and unwavering
The enemy of all
And the servant of nothing
Hold onto your hat
There’s a mighty judgement coming
There’s a mighty judgement coming

Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
I guess a lot of good people died for nothing
There's a mighty judgement coming

From the back of the pack
A butcher dressed in the Union Jack
Cracking the bullwhip
Swinging the axe
Dividing up the nation
And grabbing the cash
Zealots all over the place like a rash

Under cover of darkness
Let the cardinal through
The rich folks on the big boats
Well they can come too
Throw a bone to the lepers
And sink their canoe
There's a mighty judgement coming
And it's bigger than you

Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
I guess a lot of good people died for nothing
There's a mighty judgement coming

Well it's business as usual
In the halls of greed
People are dying
To service the need
And the need is so great
That the board all agree
We're gonna have dig in
And we’ll have to dig deep
Sell the earth out from under your feet
Dig a hole in the fabric of your history

The profits go upstream
The losses come down
We used to get a dribble
But we've lost a lot of ground
And where are we all supposed to live now
That your holiday apartment has kicked us out of town?

Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
I guess a lot of good people died for nothing
There's a mighty judgement coming

There's a war in the street
A war in the home
There's a war going every time you pick up the phone
There's a war against reason
A war against compassion
There's a war against the truth
Which has long been out of fashion
There's a war on the left
A war on the right
If you want to get to Heaven
Well you're gonna have to fight for it
There's no short-cut and there's no easy way
The pearly gates are privatised, it's 'user pays'

Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
Oh there's a mighty judgement coming
I guess a lot of good people died for nothing
There's a mighty judgement coming
There's a mighty judgement coming
There's a mighty judgement coming

Credits

Released November 18, 2022

George Carpenter - Drums
Crick Boue - Lead Guitar
Jared Franzen - Bass Guitar
Karl S. Williams - Guitar, Vocals

Written by Karl S. Williams
Produced, engineered and mixed by George Carpenter
Mastered by Matt Redlich