1. RAVENS OVER THE BATTLEFIELD

(Instrumental)


2. NO MERCY

Riding down the road I wonder what is truth and what is lie?
Washed my hands of blood but they were never clean and dry
An old man asked the reason why
I laughed and looked him dead in the eye and said

Odin told me there's no mercy for the slain
Die fighting- fight and ye shall rise again
In the end it's all the same
In the end there is no mercy for the slain

So you ask me if I believe that this end shall come to pass
I tell you faith is strong but flesh it is not built to last
Seek your answers as I've sought mine
We'll all die if we are old or in our prime

Odin told me there's no mercy for the slain
Die fighting- fight and ye shall rise again
In the end it's all the same
In the end there is no mercy for the slain

And I could hide under a rock and hope death passes by
I would not live an instant longer
I can meet life with blade bared and battle cry
I know my life will just get stronger

Odin told me there's no mercy for the slain
Die fighting- fight and ye shall rise again
In the end it's all the same
In the end there is no mercy for the slain


3. PERMAFROST

Dawn breaks on your windowsill
The morning is quiet and still
There's not a sound
I see you sleeping there
Unawake, without a care
Above the ground

So sincere, yet I feel nothing
No meaning to life or loving

You passion burns hot like a fire
Burning heedless of this cost
You cannot burn away this ice
This heart bathed in permafrost

Out the gate and far away
Feeling nothing more to say
In this land of ice
Purity in streets of snow
I feel nothing more below
And it feels nice

Can you speak in tongues
And try and stop what has begun?

You passion burns hot like a fire
Burning heedless of the cost
It cannot burn away this ice
This heart bathed in permafrost
You cry and say that you need me
Without me you feel lost
No lament will ever change me
My heart lies in permafrost

And the dawn will come on fields white with snow
My funeral will come with embers all aglow
But not in black will my coffin be mourned
White as ice is the only color I'll have on

You passion burns hot like a fire
Burning heedless of the cost
It cannot burn away this ice
This heart bathed in permafrost
You cry and say that you need me
Without me you feel lost
No lament will ever change me
My heart lies in permafrost
Can you set the sky on fire?
Is that what you desire most?
Only cold fills my desire
All I seek is permafrost


4. RAVEN WINGS

The City of Fallen Angels I call home
I feel it's rot deep inside my bones
Sooner or later you'll be dead
Scream the voices in my head
Remember the last words that she said

Suicide City and the dawn breaks in blood red
Another night where we didn't wake up dead
Too stubborn to die, so she said goodbye
I remember the look of hope in her eyes

She cried
Keep the Ravens on your right
Never let them out of sight
All these thoughts and memories
Lift you up on Raven wings

And so we'll ride across the plains
Seeking vengeance, seeking fame
Though it lead us to Hel's Gate
A man cannot run from his fate

She cried
Keep the Ravens on your right
Never let them out of sight
All these thoughts and memories
Lift us up on Raven wings


5. NOTHING BUT REGRETS

Slowly a tear rolls down your cheek
We slowly turn away
Neither of us found quite what we seek
This is the price we pay

Wish that I could take it back
Wish that we could start again
Was it wrong to love too fast
When all it cost me was a friend?

They say pride goes before a fall
Broken hearts upon my wall
Reap the crops that I have sown
Nothing but regrets to call my own

Slowly your car leaves the gate
I do not see you looking back
I was never good at facing fate
Or my mistakes at that

Wish that we could start over
Wish that it was not this way
When we walking in fields of clover
All we did was walk away

Every time I got downhearted
Every quarrel that I started
Every time I cast the first stone
Nothing but regrets to call my own

Wish I didn't have to choose
Wish we didn't have to lose

And the sky will turn to grey
And the pictures fade away
Slowly my heart turns to stone
Nothing but regrets to call my own


6. HYMN TO DEATH

A river flows beside me
A rose withers inside thee
Every promise broken
Torn away, sold into slavery

Will you walk beside me?
Will you try to guide me?
Teach me what I know
Or hang about while evil roams free?

I stared into the abyss
When I had nothing left
I gave the Queen of Hel a kiss
And I lost all fear of death

Singing Ring a Rosie
Bleached earth yields no posies
Dust to dust we fade
A slow decay, the same old story

Listen as the death bell rings
Do you hear the words I sing?
Will you cry aloud
As acid clouds melt through everything?

I stared into the abyss
When I had nothing left
I gave the Queen of Hel a kiss
And I lost all fear of death

A hymn for the dying and the damned
For all those buried in the land
That every night with my last breath
I will sing this Hymn to Death


7. OCTOBER SKIES

We climbed up out onto the rocks
Watched the waves break into spray
Cold wind struck like electric shock
The sky turned to a dusky gray

And there beneath the stormy sky
We laughed aloud as the waves crashed higher
We climber back down across the beach
And built the base of our bonfire

We sacrifice our regrets to the crackling flame
Taste the salt air on your lips, you will never be the same
Plunge my hand into the fire, I swear I will feel no pain
Put yourself into the fire and you will never be the same

Past midnight and the moon is fading
A crescent dark against the stars
Drain the horn with the embers fading
Let darkness cover up our scars

And there inside your bloodshot eyes
I watched you cry a thousand tears
Black against the October sky
Into the fire we thrust our fears

We sacrifice our regrets to the crackling flame
Taste the salt air on your lips, you will never be the same
Plunge my hand into the fire, I swear I will feel no pain
Put yourself into the fire and you will never be the same

And as we turned to leave you asked me where I stand
And I told you someday I would die by my own hand
You were not surprised but still didn't know what to say
I laughed and whispered "Not today, no not today."
Not today, no not today.
Not today, no not today.
Not today, no not today.
Not today, no not today.


8. RAGE FOR A DYING WORLD

Tonight I greet an old girlfriend
She comes to me in the dark of night
On raven wings she brings the end
And robs the blind of their sight

So look within and look without
Stars abound under the moon
Dance in circles, scream and shout
The end is coming real soon

I'll sing rage for a dying world
For a plan unfurled
And our souls bought and sold
I'll sing revenge on the point of a knife
And witness the end of all life

I'll greet my lover with a kiss
Without feeling, without heart
She'll bring the world into new bliss
While we wonder if her work is art

A song of ebon leather wings
A song for the soon departing
A song for all the love she brings
And a cry for the broken heart strings

I'll sing rage for a dying world
For a plan unfurled
And our souls bought and sold
I'll sing revenge on the point of a knife
And witness the end of all life

I'll watch her come to me in dreams
I'll testify to everything
Witness the onslaught of her touch
I think I owe her that much

But each bullet in a playground
Each bloodstain I have found
Has purpose in this web we weave
In the end we'll fall like autumn leaves

I'll sing rage for a dying world
For a plan unfurled
And our souls bought and sold
I'll sing revenge on the point of a knife
And I'll witness the end of all life

Come sweet release, oh come sweet end
I think of all I'll leave behind
One scarred corpse and grieving friends
And nothing that was truly mine


9. S O B

Well I woke up in the morning on the wrong side of the bed
And I got to thinking about all those things you said
So I got on my bike and rode across these hills
I took each curve just a little faster
You always told me I was a walking disaster
But I laughed, coz honey it ain't speed that kills

Yeah, I'll be gone with the break of day
You never know if I'll be back someday
I go where the ravens call my name
I got two wolves riding by my side
And I know life comes and then life dies
But I've always been a winner in this game

I never had money, I never made it rich
Sang from the heart, never had perfect pitch
Lay it down, make my trigger finger twitch
Coz I'm a hard riding, hard drinking, hard fighting son of a bitch

Well I've been to the Gates of Hel and back
I've seen the ocean seas turn black
And I always knew when the battlefield was near
I been across this land and world
Seen men die, seen flags unfurled
And I never knew a trace of fear

I never had money, I never made it rich
Sang from the heart, never had perfect pitch
Lay it down, make my trigger finger twitch
Coz I'm a hard riding, hard drinking, hard fighting son of a bitch

At the end of the road I reach the ocean
And I think about years of devotion
To a cause that I know I'd die for
I know someday the dead will rise
And waves of fire wash the skies
And I will rest, this time forevermore

But I never had any regrets
I lived and loved and rode with the best
And I know there's no mercy for the slain
I think about the hearts I broke
And all the ghosts I turned to smoke
And I know that I'd do it all again

I never had money, I never made it rich
Sang from the heart, never had perfect pitch
Lay it down, make my trigger finger twitch
Coz I'm a hard riding, hard drinking, hard fighting son of a bitch
I never had money, I never made it rich
Sang from the heart, never had perfect pitch
I shot a man in Reno just to watch his corpse twitch
Coz I'm a hard riding, hard drinking, hard fighting, hard biting, fast talking, back breaking Goddamned son of a bitch


10. A GIFT

From the mountain I see far
Rapine, ruins, cross the world
Brightly burns the morning star
And a future tense is unfurled
Golden glows the dawns first light
Caress the children of the blight
The crops will fail and hearts will rot
When the God of Lamentations be forgot

I am not afraid to die
I am not afraid to fly

I would give to you my eye
Sacrifice to you my ears
The price I pay is all inside
Wounds never heal with the years
Take from me my good right hand
And bury my heart in the land
Bathed in fire and born anew
A gift I gladly give to you

So nail me up on the tree
Leave for nine days, let me be
Let me walk the strands of fate
That desire may hunger sate
And screaming blood you bring me down
From off the tree unto the ground
Bringing with me symbols stained
A gift for gift that's paid in pain

I am not afraid to die
I am not afraid to fly

I would give to you my eye
Sacrifice to you my ears
The price I pay is all inside
Wounds never heal with the years
Take from me my good right hand
And bury my heart in the land
Bathed in fire and born anew
A gift I gladly give to you

I am not afraid to die
I am not afraid to fly


11. HOME

We rode at night through the endless mist
In dark catacombs strangers kissed
We spoke of death and not of life
We spoke of war and eternal strife
We dared to dream what might be real
Dared to question, dared to feel
And there at last the oceans swell
Beyond the dead laying in their bones
Open wide the Gates of Hel
Hey Mother- I'm coming Home.

And back and forth our visions crossed
Into the air our lives were tossed
Red waves crashed on a deserted shore
Left us wanting more and more
What we need and what we crave
Joy to lead us from the grave
And there at last the oceans swell
Beyond the dead laying in their bones
Open wide the Gates of Hel
Hey Mother- I'm coming Home.

A thirst for life beyond compare
A candle burning with a falcon's stare
Wind swept southward through the mist
To lick our frozen fingertips
So at night we say good bye
There's a time to live and a time to die
And there at last the oceans swell
Beyond the dead laying in their bones
Open wide the Gates of Hel
Hey Mother- I'm coming Home.


12. WARNING

In visions I have seen the forest bathed in fire
The smoke rises to block the sky until all light is gone
I feel it in my heart, like an ever tightening wire
And every night I pray that I am wrong

Soft like a lovers touch, the seeds we reap are sowed
The scythe swing low to cut crops not grown strong
Brother kills brother as we walk this killing road
And every night I pray that I am wrong

I am no prophet, but I have grieved for Odin's son
And I have tread the road to Hel and carved it into song
I foresaw the Final Winter and it has begun
Still every night I pray that I am wrong

Fimbul winter fast approaches
Waves of fire cross the land
This is the future I have seen
Not one penned by poets hand
Will you join us, make a stand
Though ye know the final score
Waves of fire cross the land
So you are warned- would you know more?
Take warning –would you know more?
Take warning…


13. BALDUR RISING

I am the vessel, waiting to be filled
The breath flows evenly, silent and then still
The gates are open, the road to Hel is wide
The God is rising to once more see blue skies

Trapped in the earth, I feel the dark permeate
Tapped from the first the joy I create
From the depths of Hel I sit here and wait
For the day to come when I cross Asgards gate

Blind arrows scourge, mistletoes kiss
I feel the cold, the warmth I miss
I wait until the time will come
When once again I'll see the sun

Down in the earth, my seeds will sleep
And every promise we shall keep
Held safe from all harms touch
A single tear to give, too much

And yet the impossible denied
The All Father's one forbidden ride
That which Hermoth failed to do
I find the seed planted in you

Bring me back to walk Midgard
Bring me back to heal the scars
And take me back before my time
Wyrd will weave this promised sign

I am the witness, I know what I have seen
A future bright with life, pure, fresh, clean
These are the visions I have seen with my own eye
I'll walk the road to Valhalla, until the day I die.