A shimmer trace of divinity lost in the beckoning midnight vault (We are) lulled within the wake of a cold November's nightfall
Nightfall...
A communion of life and eternity, of Races scattered in the depths of the universal dark
Above us minds went sailing free and blossomed in the vast nocturnal sea
Paragon of beauty, Oh, spark of Creation; We march to the rhythm of the Night
Starborn flew the Dove of Man in the eventide of life, whose wonders crowned our yesterdays with light
Fire - Earth - Water - Wind
We lived beneath the waning moon of truth And danced in hunger for the Powermind (of Youth)
Like the dark to a dying Flame; Sweepingly embracing its grieving remains Defiantly blazing the black that awaits Counting the days 'til the new Age awaits
Times' lustful cyclones arise, Piercing the fairest of Skies In elysian awakening of spiritual glory we see what our history belies
Meadows of Asphodel Burning in the hunted dawn Tragedies die among fiery flames as the firewood of Wisdom is sawn
Our Guardians were blind My lightbringer ephemeral
Within the heart of all; A cold and dusky melancholy night, as ever sullied the fair face of light
Whose seeds of life they grind To dust, of vapour is our mind ...evermore
Paragon of beauty, Oh, spark of Creation; We march to the rhythm of the Night
Nightfall by the shore of time, a tidal wave of fire and woe Swept away with the last of life the core of the enigma as bestowed
Our crystal spirits melt to flow the mountainside along To join as one with seas of old in symbiotic songs:
"Communion... Within the Oversoul of the Universe"
We are but fragment of Eternity, pale shadows of what we'll once be
In life's outer regions I will find the foremost Tranquility Chanting the odes of Magonia A soulstream in flight to the Otherworld
...to the Otherworld
2. Crimson Winds
[lyrics: Stanne]
Force of anger, Mordant senseless wrath Manifold is the Terminus of oneself Invocate ye lord of the Left-behinds Preserve a seat for the weakened minds
Reserving that limpid yet so used Veil of deceiving hostility Close now is the threshold of insanity
Neverending force of hatred, fear, them darkened spheres Deprecated existence, Manifest of darkness be
Manifest for unspeakable actions Fire sermons to condemn those fallen Fallen from pride, fallen from the manger Father, lend to me thy wisdom, Thy wisdom of old
Now all is clear: "Pierce the side of the neverending blindness Then thereby be it stated in the name of the forgotten Father of Light, Father of Darkness -I will not implore to no master of thine!"
Everflaming
Intemperate malice in the extreme Forms are twisted, Everfalling Crescent skies, the wait, The calling Eyes unseeing, Stars rearrange Tears of our blood running from the runes
Misgivings fall silent Excitement stir up the spheres My sweet Norderland
To reap the fields of ignorance and lies Trails of omission swept away Never be found again
Release of agony So Hebulous, yet ominous is the Terminus Flames of Hatred burn me Firesoul - Hear me, Blinded fool -Take heed to the forgotten twilight Now kneel to the omniscient twilight
Crimson Winds, Ornaments in the dark The weep of pain, Drowned by tears Drowned by tears of Northerly blood Runes of force, Fulfillment of a sombre ordeal I know "Pierce the side of the neverending blindness Then thereby be it stated in the name of the forgotten Father of Light, Father of Darkness -I will not implore to no master of thine!"
Everflaming
Everlasting lust for wisdom and for solitude Coming of dawn, Knowledge in the image of flesh
Unbridled to the world I wander now Light cast upon this place of mysteries Truth hurts for my tongue is venomous
Unbound yet bound for disbelief Darkness, I grasp your every nerve Everflaming now and forevermore
3. A Bolt Of Blazing Gold
[lyrics: Sundin]
A bolt of blazing gold, lifted from the horizon's edge Another radiant dawn sends new hope, avowed my hearty pledge My yearning to be part of nature's truthful solitude Of wisdom's inner light that shines in mystic multitude The guiding source within, so few of us will ever know And few will ever climb the great world-tree from which we've grown But those who seek will find the rhythm that vibrates high and far And rearrange the cosmic threads, the pattern of the Weave of Stars
A bolt of blazing gold, a sunfire in zenith hurled Oh, wingless skydancer, rejoiced upon the warmth unfurled What wonders do you hold ensnared with your mighty heart? What secrets may be mine to brother-share as we depart?
Of richest emerald forged, my soul still rises, longingly From inferno's winding caverns, through dark air soaring, restlessly If silence was enough! No words can grasp my starkest thoughts No language known to man portrays my naked sentiment
A bolt of blazing gold, swallowed by the waveless sea The ocean-winds set sail, in breeze towards their destiny On solarbeams they rode, white sea-gull-wings in harmony For a moment's startling glimpse a sienna-burnt tranquility
Oh father of the coloured sky, unwear thy robe of shadowhood Let nature's soul once clash again 'neath blooming glades of golden wood
We're the ones who seek to dance to fallen serenades The magic hymns of gold; as softly sung, the sunlight fades ...away
Of richest emerald forged, my soul still rises, longingly From inferno's winding caverns, through dark air soaring, restlessly If silence was enough! No words can grasp my starkest thoughts No language known to man portrays my naked sentiment
A world of silent stone, as frozen in the nightly sky In heaven's dark recesses laid, no living soul draws nigh For seconds all is still, no moonlight heaves throughout the dark Nor do the heavens breathe, no dryads wreathe within the dark
Within my dark domain...
4. In Tears Bereaved
[lyrics: Sundin]
Beautiful, oh web of stars that looms amid the sons of Earth Enfolds me in thine sylvan arms that unity's vehement charms befalls a weary son of Earth
Beautiful, in tears bereaved in sylphlike sadness, left to bleed Bewailed upon a bed of thorns, impaled, a heart, on sorrow's horns A seeker's ode to thee I read My tearful soul thy mourning heed
The stream that leaves thine open wounds; A life-blood licked by hungry hounds No verdant balm to soothe our wounds Wherefore betwixt two worlds I'm torn Ere thralled by sin I'll die - forlorn
This slumbering world of shallow fools may one day clasp the cosmic Hell lest journeymen by Earthen rules bring forth the truth for which Angels fell
To the earth and sky and sea I call that thou may answer me; Father of Nature, of beast and mankind, my soul for thy love, my tears for thy pain ...An Eden in fire, what lives shan't remain
For when I live under a different sky, beneath the ethereal hills the clouds passing by Remember the time of which I cried to be part Remember these words, for they have flown from my heart.
5. Skywards
[lyrics: Stanne]
Cast out from a world of selfdeceit in senseless fear of denial
Forgive the others indifference and on paths of wisdom trait In grief thou shalt not wander With hopefilled heart now walk
Do not fear the slow proceeding Fear only the stillness of invention
Mocking words and actions a defeat for intellect and mind
Saveth me for I know not how to break free from these chains of scorn Oh I wonder how can I turn the sense of doubt in the minds of them all
Our needs are depending in images in life and the more you agree in the far more they ask
I am an outcast but I am free to speak the words from my heart And when I know the secrets in the minds of the weak I shall return and be grateful For the lessons learned from the past Hear me, See me I am now forever one with myself
I sense the forces that deep within me burn I smell remains of fear forever gone I feel now comfort with who I have to be Now is the time for retributive thoughts
To be content is happiness Not the overflow of material things that we seek to make a stand in this era of greed and self-inflicted pain in the shape of disappointment
Do not fear the slow proceeding That's all I ask of thee
What lies ahead you will never know so come prepared
Oh I wish for thee to see the vast plains and the field, The open seas, The wailing trees The treasures of my kingdom reach the level of understanding now exploring, Considering the actions of the past
On a journey forever
Still you're in the water struggling while I clasp the skies Can you see the lifeblood dripping from the cheek of everscorn?
Yes I can!
I am an outcast but I am free to speak the words from my heart And when I know the secrets in the minds of the weak I shall return and be grateful For the lessons learned from the past Hear me, See me I am now forever one with myself
6. Through Ebony Archways
[lyrics: Stanne]
There is a silent man in a tower Mute in a blinded world Yet words dance on virgin lips Freezing the winds of blood
Clad in layers of darkest velvet Drenched in the gloomy light of dawn ...All Black
And in his wait for the grand finale Standing atop of the stairs From dawn to dusk his heart's a blaze
Uncovering words from an obsolete state of mind Sharpen them! Turn them into arrows! Descend into grief - Without a bow no arrows fly ...Bitter Black
Passing through the ebony archways Hand in hand with the wisdom of stars Wisdom dressed in blackest array
There is no man in that tower Walking the shores in black Bitter frost now bite the walls of hope No traces in the sand...
7. Shadow Duet
[lyrics: Sundin]
\Voice of the Shadow of Beauty\ - sung by Anders Fridиn /Voice of the Shadow of Darkness/ - sung by Mikael Stanne
\shadows play in my wilderness' mindscape they seek\ /one spiteful and wicked one humble and meek/
\a windswept pale landscape of edified thought\ /two frictional forces a triad have brought/
\woven\ /a soft breeze whispers slowly/ \within me\ /in the valley of my mind/ \the aerial mists sink falling\ /and its breath both foul and holy is like the deer to a dying hind/ \slowly traversing the atmosphere calling\
/wordless, yet in soul so true/ \nameless, yet it lives in you\ /shapeless like the purity of pain/ \lawful when all fear is slain\
-one shadow of beauty caressing the flowers the paleness of winter reflects in her eyes-
\deity of stardom\ /enticer of stardoom/ \so soft and so silent\ /maternal - eternal/ \serenity fades\ /blinded by visions of sunlight nocturnal/ \with the darkening of skies\
/one shadow of darkness a shade of deep hate a wanderer's spectre with fury ablaze in sheets of sharp silver laid youthful to die reborn into vengeance dark flames dance in grace
dark flames dance in grace in the grace of storms/
\one shadow of beauty\ /one shadow of darkness/ \sailing free on the sea within my mind\
\surging dark oceans perpetual waters creator of life and reclaimer of souls\ /mother ocean/ \watching the deep fjords uneasily moving\ /whipping the white waves towards the cold air/ \rising like swans in a scarred, sudden motion\ /a cascade of lost feathers adrift on the sea/
\hark\ /a serenade in the tongue of the wind/
\the sighs of the centuries, so sonorous in the bower hovering further athwart a leafy cover\ /a shelter for those whose time's wind make them wither and therefore they choose to guide this time-wind hither
alas, in tune with the tide of time i was, but I'm not nor I'll be with its pride
yes, aeons have flown but more is to come for I know time/ \but time is not eternal, their life stars not immortal\ /a friend that I greet with open arms/ \setting souls can never\ /a brother soul of deadly harm/ \pass through the pearly portal\ \no bliss be given\ /and joy/ \nor joy\
/flowing down the gates of hell fire/ \i cry for you...\ /don't spill your tears for me but for your kit and kin/ \my scions of light?\ /deprived of the lust and the treasure of pleasure which is the fuel for life and glory/
\silent your dark desires within entirety's light\
\hear me /you who hold the fate of stars in hand before creation's eye I stand my soul set free/ in summerland\
\mighty the strand of the universe\ /a chaos void tomb of dead worlds/ \hark\ /what?/ \divinity flows in your heart cast it alight, the seed of all art slowly reborn from a sunless state of mind\ /silent, you fool/ \a cradle of roses embedded in stillness and shade\
/silent, you fool thine words are untrue remember Endymion's crestfallen tears serene art the gods, yet pain is their way he touched by the heavens his hellfire nears
a silent divinity, now see your body of air/ \free now your heavenly body of air\
\come bathe in the rays of the all-seeing one holding the fate of all life in both hands breathing life-force like gold made from sand\
/my winged steed of moonlight black stallion of thunder we rode above the greenish earth and tore the green asunder/ \but what you left bleeding destroyed a soulforsaken world and your deeds of sharp silver decoyed a mindforsaken herd\
\a duet of shadows\ a duet of shadows \a duet of thoughts\ a duet of thoughts \of beings we feed with the dust of our thoughts residing within us the two-fold wheel of life of insight created: a triad of jewels\
a thin leaf of the life-tree's truth
8. My Faeryland Forgotten
[lyrics: Sundin]
Labyrinth of time... Mine alone for now and ever more (I'm all alone...)
...and I flew above sepulchral monoliths, nebulously dancing beneath the dew (Of morning, in ye twilight land of old) Abiding teardrops borne by thorns, thine fragments I twine true (In mourning, stream adorned in rage untold)
...flow adorned in rage untold Eternal - forever - more And they'll forever grow and hold in heart what springs anew
From the shadows glades unwitnessed which light the flames from deep within where we all grew ...Everlasting ember-glow
Labyrinth of Time, in harmony confined
Thus the dark heat from beyond the stars engulfed a world of fear still robed in ice A throne in fire dies... Pulsating through the skies
He who wore the gown shall drown the "Reich of tears" in cries Enthroned in fire dies... A kingdom's last demise
And I know... The ardent hearth midst life and death won't end my journey morrowless (I won't laugh in mirth all sorrowless)
Come, fly afloat on a wave of emotions, of crestfallen scorn Oh, this my whirlwind of darkness a tide I once lulled but alas now withdrawn
Now...hand in hand with sorrow towards the still, perpetual seas Into the tranquil depths of solitude in bliss my spirit flees
Through the wind I will go To my twilight land, alone Where sanctuary is mine Within my throne world, my labyrinth of time
And he who is the God of an infinite shape and faces, ever weaving fates of life upon the pattern of his traces In the Golden Dawn of Winter he'll stand risen from the night in serenity all solemn, clad in moonlight's milky white
Through the wind I will go To my twilight land, alone Where sanctuary is mine Within the hands of this labyrinth of time
Labyrinth of time... Eternal - forever - more Time...infinity of mind Divinity of life
Labyrinth of time In harmony confined
Burn - upon my Might - by my Command - into the fire
Your throne of fire fell... Bestowed upon your Hell
Burnt shall be your "Might", and your command shan't drown my fire (...My Faeryland Forgotten)
...Mine alone for now and ever more
9. Alone
[lyrics: Sundin]
"Let me die", I cried as the curtain fell and I stared in woe at the world before me My weeping eyes could not bear to tell or the shattered kingdom in ruins before me
What became of the lands that were? A pearl in the nest of memories Forever gone...departed by the minds of man
Scavengers, feeding on your mother's blood Parasites of life, with my heart I condemn your ignorant ways
Like the leaves of the high trees I wither and fall, Borne by autumnal winds to my funeral hall
I'm all alone in the grip of the silent sadness
I have been told to honour life and what therein I'll find but if all I see is darkness, let me die and wake up blind As the gleaming blade before me, singing lullabies of loss Whispering "Death is your redeemer to the Paradise you've lost"
Mankind, evoker of inferno Let me burn your honoured Crown of Creation and dethrone you to ashes for aeons to come
Why should I stay here where I do not belong? Of weakness burns my within...And empty shell
I've lost the way to the sanctity I need
I'll greet the dawn that brings no life, no frail beams of sun to cleanse the black night My mournful roam has ended
I hide in the shadows white binding my time, sheltered from this world which disorderly rhyme with the fury of damnation
Once I held in my hand the starlight of Eden and the white sky lay open in a soul that was free (But the years flew so fast as the shadows were cast and I woke up one morning with no reason to be)
I'm all alone in the shade of the nameless Sorrow I'm all alone within a shadow fire of fear
Take me home to whence I came Where I'll find light to feed my flame of life
