(Intro) (Clean guitar → distant distortion | 8–12 bars)

(Clean, reverb-heavy guitar. Low ambient noise. Slow build.)

Locked in your mind, locked in your head,

My heart holds an image and wants to be fed,

I’ve seen her face, I can feel her soul,

Like she filled the gaps I didn’t know were holes,

(Drums fade in lightly — toms, cymbal swells)

(Verse 1)

(Low growl / restrained scream | chugging riff)

She lives in the silence between every breath,

In the pause of a moment, in thoughts about death,

Not alive, not gone, just stuck in between,

A ghost of a future that might’ve been seen,

(Palm-muted guitars, tension building)

Is she memory, dream, or wish I created?

A version of love I subconsciously painted,

Locked in my chest, buried deep in my head,

An image my heart keeps begging to be fed.

(Pre-Chorus)

(Rising vocals | drums open up)

(Guitars open slightly, less muting — build energy)

I feel her when the world goes quiet,

I hear her scream when I try to be silent,

She’s closer than blood, further than truth,

A lie I believed just to get me through.

(CHORUS / HOOK)

(scream/sing hybrid)

(Open chords, massive drums, sustained notes)

I LOVED YOU — BUT YOU NEVER BREATHED

YOU FELT SO REAL — BUT YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE

I BUILT YOU FROM THE PARTS OF ME I LOST

WE MADE PEACE — WHILE BREAKING LAWS

(Let last line ring out — crash cymbals)

(Post-Chorus Riff)

(Instrumental | 8 bars)

(Heavy riff, headbang tempo — no vocals)

(Verse 2)

(More aggressive | faster cadence)

Late-night drives with the windows down,

City lights burning as we spin around,

Cheap wine, bad jokes, laughing too loud,

Running from truth in the middle of crowds,

Fingers intertwined like it’s always been right,

Confessing our sins in the dead of the night,

She knew my demons, I knew her flaws,

We make peace while breaking laws.

(Short scream / accent hit)

(Pre-Chorus 2)

(Shorter, more desperate)

But tell me — where did we start?

No first touch, no beating heart,

I trace the past but it falls apart,

Just a scar where a memory should start.

(CHORUS)

(Repeat – heavier vocals)

I LOVED YOU — BUT YOU NEVER BREATHED

YOU FELT SO REAL — BUT YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE

I BUILT YOU FROM THE PARTS OF ME I LOST

WE MADE PEACE — WHILE BREAKING LAWS

(BREAKDOWN)

(Half-time | brutal)

(Drop-tuned chugs, silence between hits)

I — never — met — you

I — never — held — you

I — never — lost — you

(Pause)

YOU WERE NEVER REAL.

(Final Verse)

(Quiet → explode | realisation)

(Clean guitar returns, vocals almost spoken)

Then it hits me slow like a crack in the glass,

You’re built from the things I never had,

Every smile was hope, every touch was repair,

You were everything I needed — but you weren’t there.

(Distortion crashes back in)

(FINAL CHORUS)

(Last, most emotional)

I LOVED YOU — BUT YOU NEVER BREATHED

YOU WERE MY ESCAPE — MY MAKE-BELIEVE

I DON’T NEED THE LIE TO FEEL ALIVE

I LET YOU GO — SO I SURVIVE

(Outro)

(Instrumental / feedback / clean fade)

(Slow riff dissolves into clean guitar + feedback)

Locked in your mind…

Locked in your head…