This performer has a few rather sad songs.
- The chorus of "The Industrial Revolution (and How It Ruined My Life)" is very somber in its nostalgia-laden Take That! of modern consumerism.
- "Anastasia" is about a real girl who was killed at age 17.
- "The Accordion Player" will tug on your heartstrings.
- "Feathery Wings". One's heart can break upon hearing this line near the end of the song:
- "Crusade" is a very sad song that left more than one person staring at the recorder. It's about a valiant and heroic Knight in Shining Armor who seeks to slay a dragon, he fights and slays it but in his moment of triumph the dragon's child appears and starts mourning its dead parent. At this pitiful sight, he remembers his father's words "Son, know your enemy as I know my son." meaning to know them well. Years later, our Older and Wiser hero hears from his own child that he's going to fight the Muslims, who are described in the same monstrous terms as the Dragons he tells him: "Son, know your enemy as I would have them know my son." It is not that the dragon should not be slain, but that you understand why the dragon attacks, to empathize with your foes and not dehumanize those you fight against. Do not devalue them simply because it makes it easier to fight them.
- The last verse of "The Beast of Pirate's Bay". The "Beast" is actually a whale that escaped whalers and is trapped in the bay in incredible pain. The singer of the song tried to help it escape but in the end all he could do was put up a sign and set up a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax about a monster in the bay to keep people away from it.
- "Underground"
- "Born Bad".
- "This Sea".
- The end of "Blue Eyed Matador."
- "Dunce".
- "All the Way Down".
- "Almost Human". It kind of makes you want to give the devil a hug.
- "The Chosen" has a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds and Abusive Parent.
- "No. 1 Fan" can turn some people into a sobbing mess.
- "Churchyard". The last part, "No one should find out what it's like/Standing here, not having the means/To buy the medicine to save their lives."
- "Goodnight Demon-slayer" is definitely bittersweet enough to be a Tear Jerker.
- "The Ship's Going Down" makes you feel sad as the people's lives end abruptly and can't say goodbye to their loved ones. Of course, it turns hilarious in "To the Bottom of the Sea"—due, in part, to the reveal that most of these folks survived to have a massive battle royal with the local sealife.
- The end of "When the Circus Came to Town" is so bad, it gave him difficulty recording the lines.
- "Sacrifice".
- Just by the nature of the song, Voltaire's cover of Leonard Cohen's legendary "Hallelujah"
. Voltaire himself admits he has a hard time singing the song without getting emotional.- Most of Heart Shaped Wound focuses on a bad breakup and lead to Voltaire having difficulties with recording due to breaking down in tears at many points.
- "Innocent" is a song offering comfort and reassurance to the victims of bullying.
- Voltaire: These songs are battle-tested.
- "Never" as it deals with his trauma from being sexually abused as a child and how he didn't tell anyone until much later (which one of his family members told him he "was asking for it")
- His Gothic Homemaking special about his struggles with suicidal thoughts. It puts a lot of his songs in perspective, sadly.
- His premiere video for his song "Human Nature". Clearly Voltaire was going through something as you can see him visibly crying as he performs. Also doubles as Harsher in Hindsight as Leonard Nimoy would pass away the year after the video was released.
- "What Will We Do" and "Someone Like You", both written in mourning of the real life Goblin King David Bowie. You can hear his voice breaking in both the recording and live premiere videos of these songs.
- In a similar vein, his cover of "As The World Falls Down" he did live in 2016 in honor of David Bowie, especially as he's visibly tearing up and stated that when he found out the news about Bowie's death, he was in a bar where a bunch of men were crying.
