The Shipp’s new album picks up the story where Dark Side of the Ocean left off. For the first time ever, you can read the FULL story as well as the lyrics EXCLUSIVELY in the album artwork! Get your copy here!
COSMIC INNUENDO, VOL. 2:
Capsized Empire
(summary)
ALL ABOARD, AND I’LL SING YOU A TALE, OF BURIED TREASURE IN THE EMPIRE OF THE ANGELS…
The Office of Naval Intelligence was established in 1882 to stop the rise of pirates such as Robert Wiliams in the Reverse Underground Railroad. He was a Navy hero who won the Medal of Honor during the Civil War, but his lust for riches tempted him for 17 years until he turned from a decorated hero into the very villain he had been fighting against.
The Sea Lords continued their espionage into the dusk, off shore, incognito beyond the breakers, spying on these sailors in the pub, on the docks, when certain of them slipped away. Lurched over with shifting eyes, they stealthily descended below the pier. The crashing waves covered their murmurs as a special knock opened a hidden door below the dock. While they thought their black market was undetected, to the angels it might as well have been in broad daylight. For the angels had a spyglass of advanced Angelion technology that could see not only through the wall, but even through the wall of their hearts.
In the black of midnight the sailors emerged, quietly hauling their black market booty: black bags, black chests, and black people, hooded and cloaked in chains for trafficking, led out by these sailors now exposed as blackbirding pirates, and boarded through the bottom of their ship The Midnight Torch.
You might go into a black market, and come out with some black loot, but wherever you’re going next is a one way trip.
The old prophet’s voice rang out from the pier…
“Avast ye, Robert Williams! Cap'n t' be black spotted! Behold! An angel from the sea came t' me in a dream t' give one final warnin' afore ye fall into the crosshairs o' the sea 'n trip the trap that closes its jaws o'er ye wit' one swift chomp! The Kingdom o' Heaven be right here, at hand, knockin' even now on the mighty door o' yer heart! But if ye step onto that ship, 'twill be the last step ye ever take on land, 'n all Heaven can’t stop the last light o' yer soul from bein' snuffed out. Fer ye will become naught more than a beast in scallywag’s skins, possessed by the instincts o' yer flesh till all that remains o' ye be a walkin' lust!”
Yet now did the cursed captain drive the final nail in the coffin of his heart. With raised fist to curse man and God, the dastardly crew sailed on… into the wild black yonder, no home sweet home port to welcome them, only the sure, swift demise of their short-lived legend, hanging at the end of the gallows that awaited them wherever they should dock.
The Midnight Torch set its sights on Cuba where Williams’ great treasure lay, that treasure being the large sum waiting for him in exchange for his black market narcotics, arms, and even people – kidnapped from their free land to be sold in bondage to a land where human trafficking was still legal. These were the most sinister of all sailors. The damned, yet still living. Yet they were too dense, too hardened, too burned, scarred, and numb to see themselves for what they really were – fools. Somehow they still saw themselves as cool, tough guys…
The Sea Lords completed their espionage on the Other Side and returned to their upside-down kingdom at the bottom of the barrel, where they had collected the sunken souls of men in their Angel Aquarium. The council convened, the books were opened, and the scales were set to judge these villains who had just sailed over into their jurisdiction. After reviewing the evidence, the myths and legends of men were unfortunately confirmed.
“After centuries of benefit-of-the-doubts, these men are truly nothing but land monsters after all, surely poised to sink more and more souls into our territory.”
The verdict was unanimous and the judgment final: ironically the best thing for man and angel-kind alike was to release the devil of the seas to shipwreck these barely-undamned pirates, before they reached their devious destination, for the wages of sin IS death.
If you’re sailing on a devil’s errand, that must make you a devil, and you attract more of the same company you are. A wicked heart on the seas is a dark beacon bringing all devil ships to its port.
“Know all the rules of the game, but got no strength to play it. Don’t need more evidence, I need a miracle to hack my instinct. Put your strength in me, to bear their trespasses. Open my eyes to see their sin through the same grace that I’ve been given.” ~ “Scallywags”
~~~Hear the audio version of this tale HERE!~~~
And read the REST of the story EXCLUSIVELY in the album artwork! Get your copy here!
