Ben Antoniadis

Ben is a Kulture Artist A Liberated Artist A Front Line Freedom Warrior of Hope Melbourne based, Ben, we believe is one of major poets of our current times. Here he sings about the struggle to keep hope alive in his own country. LIGHT OF HOPE (B.Antoniadis) Heading down the open road Though fear swept through here some time ago Invading every town along the way Where few held their ground in its wake Where the people were tired and torn Some shell shocked, some battle worn I met a man on the road who stood tall Though he had nowhere to call home He said, “The soul of a nation has grown cold And it’s written on the face of every lost soul” Yeah, the heart of a nation is broken And the truth cries out to be spoken Where the conscience of men, silent too long Like the silence of every stillborn So, speak the truth, my friends There’s a light of hope up ahead Some say it’s where the fallen have risen Some say it’s where the newborn cries, a song of freedom Yeah, the heart of a nation is broken And the truth cries out to be spoken Where the conscience of men, silent too long Like the silence of every stillborn Get the song here: https://kultureclo.com/beat/ben-antoniadis-light-of-hope--18733524 Or Buy his Album, Mad Season Here. https://kultureclo.com/music/albums/ben-antoniadis-mad-season--156617

WHAT MUST BE, MUST BE (Written by Ben Antoniadis) The gods declare their might, with ominous words of thunder And cast a broken light, upon man’s cursed wonder As the stars return again, like watchmen on the night shift Above the troubled souls, who pray they receive the gift Dionysus holds court, looking like some ancient pimp Satyrs roam the woodlands, looking for that elusive nymph But Venus holds your heart, in the home where love resides While Pisces bathe in crystal lake, as feuding Geminis collide Voiceless, hungry huntsmen, creep inside your head Where the hopeless, aged hunted, nest in baby’s bed A child is born, weathered and worn, with the wounds of a past life Though a man dies, before his time, in the womb of an unlived life The hermit sits by candlelight, with pen like sword in hand Slaying the dragon of a distant past, in some forgotten land Though wise enough to know, no wiser than before And old enough to feel, younger than before Icarus falls from the sky, into deep, blue sea Blackened maidens sing the blues, from the shores of eternity And serenade shipwrecked souls, who gather on the sand Wondering where it all went wrong, with the world in the palm of their hand Drunken angels hover above, then rest upon the shoulders Of luckless drunkards without love, lest they grow colder To whisper in their ears, prayers of whiskey warmth And bless them with shelter, from the raging storm Though the sages at a loss, to fill in the blanks Of that cryptic, cosmic crossword, as they walk destiny’s plank From the ship of sprawling souls, on the endless sea Who sing the ancient chorus, “What must be, must be”

NEW WORLD DISORDER (Written by Ben Antoniadis) Totalitarian new world cabalists Wanna control your every moment Dishonourable members of parliament That you wouldn’t trust to mind your children And the lamestream whores on the wires Report, “nothin’ to see here” While the comatose masses, in spiritual paralysis Believe every word they hear Oh, it’s broken, perverted The system’s so twisted Everything is inverted Like truth never existed The pettiness of government Possessed and riddled with disease Hears not the cry of innocence Trampled under bureaucracy Oh, it’s broken, perverted The system’s so twisted Everything is inverted Like truth never existed And in the synagogue of Satan They hail their coming order But there’s nothin’ orderly about killing When the bloods runs on the floor Oh, it’s broken, perverted The system’s so twisted Everything is inverted Like truth never existed Oh, it’s broken, perverted The system’s so twisted Everything is inverted Like truth never existed

A HEART CAN’T BE FOOLED FOREVER (Written by Ben Antoniadis) All the pain felt in a single day, could blow a hurricane for forty days And all the love felt in a single night, could burn the stars for forty nights And though the light goes out sometimes The darkness ain’t forever And though it sometimes tricks the mind A heart can’t be fooled forever Mystery and doubt like the lining of the clouds Passion and experience in every thorny crown True, the love I felt that fateful night Drowned itself in a barrel of sweet delight And though the light goes out sometimes The darkness ain’t forever And though it sometimes tricks the mind A heart can’t be fooled forever Supermen come and go Saviours outgrown by their own clones Though love is real and faith is the answer To that question you always wanted answered And though the light goes out sometimes The darkness ain’t forever And though it sometimes tricks the mind A heart can’t be fooled forever

NEVER BE THE SAME (Written by Ben Antoniadis) They said nothing would again be the same Isn’t that the same after every day? As night falls and the owl descends Revelling in the dreams of a sleeping wren Lest he feed on the wisdom of mice and men They said the world had changed forever But the future a land of never-never The ever-present falling away Every last crumbling rung On that staircase of days to come They said you will never be the same I asked who was I yesterday But I failed to understand a word The responses they gave And just smiled and went on my way They said nothing would again be the same Isn’t that the same after every day? As night falls and the owl descends Revelling in the dreams of a sleeping wren Lest he feed on the wisdom of mice and men

MILLION DRAGS (Written by Ben Antoniadis) Time bomb ticked, a new century lurked Enemies rigged mechanics in the karmic clockwork Silent war raged, there would be no armistice Vengeance be a dagger through the heart of justice False idols cloaked in heavenly disguise Suburban ravens smiled with murder in their eyes The squatter sought refuge in a house of cards As a black dog bellowed in his mother’s backyard Ashes to ashes, dust to dust Through eternal smoke, love finally turned to disgust Delilah and Echo plotted revenge where they once swooned One come all over, the other under blood red moon Innocence first offered at the altar of vice Before angels let roll the devil’s dice Now madness burns luminous like a dying sun As a million drags finally bring the squatter undone So a time bomb ticked, a new century lurked Enemies rigged mechanics in the karmic clockwork Silent war raged, there would be no armistice Vengeance be a dagger through the heart of justice

SHIPS PASSING IN THE NIGHT (Written by Ben Antoniadis) I never felt the beat of your heart I never felt your skin in the dark I never felt the touch of your lips But it’s over now and I’m set adrift Like ships passing in the night Under the moon’s silvery light I reached out for you I didn’t know it’d be a last goodbye You were my delusion, babe But hey, that’s alright I fell for you like a child from the start I swore my love but I was really shooting in the dark No tellin’ what this bolero might say To try to keep the loneliness at bay Like ships passing in the night Under the moon’s silvery light I reached out for you I didn’t know it’d be a last goodbye You were my delusion, babe But hey, that’s alright That’s alright I wanna say thanks for all the memories But darlin’, there really ain’t that many You came in a flash of light I was blind for a little while But I can see again tonight Like ships passing in the night Under the moon’s silvery light I reached out for you I didn’t know it’d be a last goodbye You were my delusion, babe Yeah, you were my delusion, babe You were my delusion, babe But hey, that’s alright That’s alright

ONE LAST WISH (Written by Ben Antoniadis) Ben Antoniadis - vocals, acoustic guitar Kambiz Kashef - electric lead guitar One last wish etched upon a starlit list Light kisses my cheek as I leap into the abyss With open arms I fall through her waiting embrace Through her body like air as she vanishes without a trace One last wish tattooed upon this ravaged skin Upon flesh still scarred by imaginary sin For a life carved out by its own design Where my thoughts may be yours but my love is mine One last wish engraved upon an ancient stone Where descendants of the past bury its bones Yet its spirit will rise, its ghost will haunt their lives And decay the ever-present as love yearns to survive One last wish before all-knowing grace How and where do I address this love which bears no face? Maybe a prayer to the heavens above the fire down below Till the beat of each heart stops, nobody knows

MAD SEASON (Written by Ben Antoniadis) A daffodil withers in the harsh sun The lion bathes in the light of the kingdom Nature's picture of order above reason Till the rains come and the colours run And chaos reigns in a mad season In machine city of steel and glass Hierarchy casts a predatory glance From vulture's perch in the penthouse Upon every man and every mouse And every soulless carcass left lying on the ground And in the dank streets of discontent A gold-toothed gypsy sings a fine lament A song to lover, many moons ago Romancing the streets with tales of weal and woe The thief who stole her heart, now steals the show In the piggery of the political class Snouts in the trough as the buck is passed And the media take us all for fools As the masses line up for roll call On reality TV show they call “Divide and Rule” The ship of fools sails into the sunset As the sun casts a shadow on its deck Where the devil deals picture cards as they wager their souls But the cards are marked and Satan just laughs As each sailor folds And in the dank streets of discontent A gold-toothed gypsy sings a fine lament A song to lover, many moons ago Romancing the streets with tales of weal and woe The thief who stole her heart, now steals the show Still the ideologues spout their lame isms Only to create greater division And to create even greater schism Between fact and hype, between truth and lie Between you and I But I am you as you are the other And you are me as I am your brother May God be with you and God be with me May we be one The sum greater than me and you and everyone And in the dank streets of discontent A gold-toothed gypsy sings a fine lament A song to lover, many moons ago Romancing the streets with tales of weal and woe The thief who stole her heart, now steals the show

A NIGHT IN DECEMBER (Written by Ben Antoniadis) You came along like a breeze on a hot summer night In mid-December, around about midnight You gently moved like a spirit across the room Looking like a deer in the bar room lights And like a drunk sings an old sailor’s tune Oh, my heart raises a glass to you You wrapped me up in all of your mystery and charms And made me laugh, as you larked about I still remember that playful, twinkle in your eye That little spark of light, flicker in the night And like a drunk sings an old sailor’s tune Oh, my heart raises a glass to you And I’ll always smile to remember Your spirit of tenderness That beautiful night in December As we lay upon starlit bed You came along like a breeze on a hot summer night In mid-December, around about midnight You gently moved like a spirit across the room And all because of you, I remember that night And like a drunk sings an old sailor’s tune Oh, my heart raises a glass to you And I’ll always smile to remember Your spirit of tenderness That beautiful night in December As we lay upon starlit bed

MEMORY OF THE HEART (Written by Ben Antoniadis) Up in the house on the hill Where the haunted lay frozen still And hear the voices come through the walls And murmur the quiet call That reflection tells a sweet lie As the lessons of days gone by Evaporate into the sky When the river of insight runs dry Oh, the ghost that comes and goes That whispers what everyone knows And floats through the cracks in your mind Where the fool bides his time Don’t embrace the whore of success Nor the naked failure of the blessed Lest the folly of false belief Reward that liar and thief And as the evening shadow takes hold Clear those weary windows to the soul So to find a glimmer of hope Beyond the sway of the hangman’s rope Oh, the ghost that comes and goes Reminds us what everyone knows Forgotten almost from the start Though forever buried in the memory of the heart

SEPARATION STREET (Written by Ben Antoniadis) A million midnight souls pour their hearts out in the comments section Crying in the darkness, looking for that starry connection My heart is heavy with the weight of the ocean I shed a tear for every lost soul that ever lost someone All this separation, it seems, will never make sense And every shining star just a dying sun in the firmament With world-weary mind I try to find that place with no beginning, no end But each time wind up back where I started again Now I sit by the window and fill my lungs with smoke A blessed tale on my tongue though a careless, blasphemous joke Oh, holy is he who humbles himself Though who’ll be the fool who thinks he truly knows himself? All this separation, it seems, will never make sense And every shining star just a dying sun in the firmament With world-weary mind I try to find that place with no beginning, no end But each time wind up back where I started again So I post a comment to the sacred heavens above Scrawled upon the wing of a sleeping turtle dove And hope that in the morning it will deliver my song To the Lord of the Dance, now dawn has nearly begun All this separation, it seems, will never make sense And every shining star just a dying sun in the firmament With world-weary mind I try to find that place with no beginning, no end But each time wind up back where I started again

BEYOND THE LIGHT (Written by Ben Antoniadis) God is out there but you’ll find Him inside The infinite somewhere when you close your eyes The silent shadow that embraces the night The nameless face beyond the light Though man can’t help but put words in His mouth To make sense of his suffering in a world without Though one must believe to see what is true As one must feel to know Him within you Fret not, my friend, that the road is long That the days unending and the song unsung Revelation may come in a moment of time When you ask with the heart and let go of your mind God is out there but you’ll find Him inside The infinite somewhere when you close your eyes An old man’s hope some broken night A child’s wish beyond the light

ROOM WITH TOO MANY MIRRORS (Written by Ben Antoniadis) Ben Antoniadis - vocals, guitars, programming James Rogers - bass Max Mery - drums (bass recorded by James Rogers, drums recorded by David Lees) Recorded, mixed & mastered by Ben Antoniadis I lay in the midday sun A hummingbird lays a sunflower upon my tongue Changes come in waves Timeless and tideless Flowers in bloom by lonely graves For the souls of yesterday We dance alone in the light of revelry Then fall silent with shame when they see In a room with too many mirrors And too many secrets to keep Oceans of time flood open mind Then recede in the blink of an eye Heat beats down from heaven above Hell freezes over in time An avalanche of angels in the sky Falling into endless night Chanting in the light of cosmic vision As wisdom slips from their lips in silence In a room with too many mirrors And too many reflections in your mind Naked before the cult of the sun Accused of all I've said and done Silent before a jury of one I write my own confession And like the first monkey shot into space Bewildered and oblivious to his fate Trawling the walls of imagination Painted with distant constellations and black holes In a room with too many mirrors And more truth than can be told

CULT OF THE COMMON GOOD (Written by Ben Antoniadis) In the cult of the common good No one is free but it’s all good The more equal among us preach loud above us And tyranny rains down upon us In the cult of the common good The fascist wears a black hood As the puppets parade on the world stage And corruption spreads like the plague Baby, stay safe in the cult of the common good You won’t be free but it’s all good In the cult of the common good Just do exactly as we say you should And don’t question our law, rotten to the core Just politely ask, “Please, sir”, for more In the cult of the common good Believe everything we say you should But don’t worry, you’ll have free speech Just as long as we agree you’re free to speak Baby, stay safe in the cult of the common good You won’t be free but it’s all good Baby, they say how beautiful it’s gonna be You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy

THE FIRST TIME (Written by Ben Antoniadis)

BROKE MY WORD (Written by Ben Antoniadis)

MAD SEASON (Written by Ben Antoniadis) Ben Antoniadis - vocals, acoustic guitar, programming Len Hawco - electric guitar, programming Recorded, mixed & mastered by Ben Antoniadis and Len Hawco

TURNING THE PAGE (Written by Ben Antoniadis) Turning the page to a new dark age I hear the Revelator say Surrender to the timeless sage Keep the faith where mystery leads astray When time stands still And temptation breaks your will Under the light of a falling sky Winding our way to judgement day Counting the days under chemical rain Where war is waged on every man And there’s nothing left to do but make a stand On the hill Rising up until Some will live and some will die God bless the child With the spirit of the wild Where innocence dreams tonight God bless the child With the spirit of the wild Where innocence dreams tonight

ANONYMOUS FRIEND (Written by Ben Antoniadis) There’s a woman down the street Told me she’s the whore of Babylon But she’s only ever been good to me So I told her that she’s not She’s been to hell and back, it seems Seen heaven in between Days that burned like chapels ablaze And nights that shined serene When I walk by, I stop to say hello She always gives me a smile A soul that glows with something of hope Though walks a tortured mile Today we both had a smoke And spoke of the End Times She said the demons all been let outta hell And I told her she was right But the passersby will walk on by And not see the warning signs The truth before a blind man’s eyes That she sees in the coming light She gave me a gift as I went on my way A gift for anonymous friend She slept outside the church last night And probably will again Oh, the broken brother on the street Do you give your last dollar? Oh, the fallen sister, would you wash her feet? And receive like any other? There’s a woman down the street She told me she’s the whore of Babylon But she’s only ever been good to me So I told her that she’s not There’s a woman down the street She told me she’s the whore of Babylon But she’s only ever been good to me So I told her that she’s not

HACKABLE ANIMALS (Written by Ben Antoniadis) * digital download available at: https://kultureclo.com/beat/hackable-animals-by-ben-antoniadis--18068050 Soulless pseudos of materialism Well-versed in New World Utopianism Tighten the noose of zeros and ones Around the necks of our daughters and sons With contempt for free will as a thing of the past That hackable animals need wise up fast To realise they’re only free to comply With the dictates of psychopathic pie in the sky Oh, the fallen angels too proud to ever understand They’re mere counterfeits, cogs in God’s great plan And though the duality of man the story of his Fall These little earthen gods will never hack the soul Yet, it’s forbidden to question the revolution And the road to hell ain’t even paved with good intentions Progressive, inclusive, sustainable? No, the terrorised flesh in the mouth of the cannibal The arrogance of intellect, the absence of reason The mouthpiece at the pulpit with lack of wisdom Where the wicked one comes in appearance of light To deceive the misguided in the witching hour by night Oh, the fallen angels too proud to ever understand They’re mere counterfeits, cogs in God’s great plan And though the duality of man the story of his Fall These little earthen gods will never hack the soul Yeah, the fallen angels too proud to ever understand They’re just a necessary evil in God’s master plan And though the duality of man the story of his Fall These little earthen gods will never hack the soul

LONESOME GULL (Written by Ben Antoniadis) * digital download available at: https://kultureclo.com/beat/lonesome-gull-ben-antoniadis--17901706 Is time on our side? Do the stars align? Are the goddesses for us? Or do they laugh in our faces? These questions I can't answer tonight Or any other night of my life Without faith to light my way Through the darkness and strife I'm just a lonesome gull on the breeze Floating between the sun and the sea Silence your loose tongue Don’t feed the demons Speak the truth always Whatever may come Surrender your soul to the Great Beyond Humble yourself before the Lord above Believe in the light, that it save you tonight I'm just a roving raven tonight Drunk on hope and the promise of flight I'm just a rambling soul on the road Travelling with the wind in my soul

TYRANTS IN TIARAS (Written by Ben Antoniadis) * digital download available at: https://kultureclo.com/beat/tyrants-in-tiaras-by-ben-antoniadis-17910388 Grotesque princes of flesh squeeze into Lolita’s dress Decadent, mendicant friars see too many sins to confess Blue-blooded, black-suited liars disembowel the governments Tyrants in tiaras dine on the blood of the innocent The herd all hail their masters and delusions of disaster The brainwashed zombies all quiver for they fear the changing weather As the prophets of scientism stoke the fires Where they crawl upon the earth like bugs in the dirt Above the graves where dead men see See they’re asleep at the wheel And some already done a deal Already sold their soul What you got left when it’s gone? My baby prays for the godless, to find their way back home I’ve been down that hole, been down that road before Where the people come and go and some stay forevermore But what is forever to a man living moment-to-moment? Where some are asleep at the wheel And some already done a deal Already sold their soul What you got left when it’s gone?

SO FAR FROM HOME (Written by Ben Antoniadis) * digital download available at: https://kultureclo.com/beat/so-far-from-home-ben-antoniadis--17689791 I was so far from home Where the black winds blow Where the fools bury their gold And the medicine men dig up their soul For a glimpse of what God only knows I was so far from home Roaming wild and free Saw the serpent leer from the tree And whisper to the wayward Eve When all the while the enemy was me I fell to my knees as the night fell hard I looked to the stars and the spirit above And prayed for release From the enemy I was so far from home When I lost my way I got led astray Playing the games people play Every other day I was so far from home Where the wild things grow Where the dreamers are bound to go With an offering to the great unknown For a glimpse of what God only knows I fell to my knees as the night fell hard I looked to the stars and the spirit above And prayed for release From the enemy

21st CENTURY USURY BLUES (Written by Ben Antoniadis) * digital download available at: https://kultureclo.com/beat/21st-century-usury-blues-ben-antoiadis-17689367 Ben Antoniadis - vocals, rhythm guitar, synth Len Hawco - slide guitar, bass & drums Produced by Ben Antoniadis & Len Hawco