1. RENOVATIO (RENEWAL & RELAPSE)

A mirror image of my face
Down in my soul, a deep, dark place
Thence beckons me, with tears implores
To join it on th' Acherontic shores

Come and see what I have done
But, pray, do not tell anyone

You know the world is bound to burn
And so I wait to watch it turn
Painting pictures of myself
For more than all, I love myself

I am most glad that you could come
It's barren here, and bleak and glum

I paint my fears in hues of red
And when I love, I love myself
And should I die, you'll sink down dead
Please help me now, I hurt myself

When you feel the warm flow, then
The pain is lessened once again


2. DOOMSTONE

I've been waiting
All my life to see the light
Now I'm fading,
I'll be amongst the stars tonight
I'm the mirror
Of when time had first begun
All shall be clearer,
I'll be staring right into the glowing sun

Lay me low, set a tombstone at my head
Just let me go with a rock in time to shield my bed

Just send me on
With living memories carved in lifeless stone
I shan't be gone
Although the shades of life are shed
I'm on my own
Where the feet of future generations tread
So I wander,
A pilgrim in a paradigm
I pace and ponder,
Amidst the ravages of time

I'll sleep, laugh and hope no more
No more self-deception
No more blinding/self-appointed lies,
As the truth needs no disguise beyond schemes of perception

Laid to rest with a tombstone on my brow
The alkahest of powers stronger holds me now

I'll have my will,
Within the golden halls i'll quaff
As time stands still,
I'll raise my cup to my own epitaph
I'll lisp the words
Which represent the body in its stead
And they'll be heard
By the living and the sullen dead

Lay me low, set a tombstone on/at my head
Just let me go with a rock in time to shield my bed

And at the raising of my cup, there will be read, my epitaph
By the leaden tongues of the living and the dead
Who congregate, where all equate, as time stands still, within the shade

– So I wander –


3. HO THEOS ERCHETAI

I'm standing here in time and space
A king and priest o' th' Adamantine race
I gaze into majestic skies
The moon, the sun chase before my eyes
This frolic wanton astral dance:
A childhood dream of happenstance
Within this realm King Chaos lent
From Nothing's texture nothing rent

In the threat of destruction
Lies the spell of life renewed
O'er this first, foremost reduction
The spirits of the Waters brood

I'm standing here in time and space
I behold the true Godhead's face
The terrors of proud mortal life
But monuments of corrupted strife

Promise of the mystic union:
Past and present come to merge
Covenant of divine communion
In the cataclysmic surge

I'm gazing at the astral bliss
The portal to the vast abyss
Within this realm King Heaven claimed
This element for mankind tamed

From the word of creation
The catastrophe is here
This the core of execration
I face the terror without fear

Ho Theos Echestai is a feeble tribute to the grandeur that is Paradise Lost.


4. IN THE SHADE

A cross of ore as an anchor weight
And a golden coin to pass through the gate
A poem into marble driven
Ashes to the ocean given
Forged in ice, thus youthful still
Maggots feasting at their will
May a skeleton from the gallows pend
Or life in the fire flare to its end
The soul departs on desert plains
The gorge devours the last remains
A corpse hung high upon the cross
Wounds cut deep to relieve the loss
A body in rich ointments laid
All falls short of a tombstone in the shade


5. BENEATH, BEYOND

Sleep well, sleep well, all is not said:
My love sings every day
And all that breathes in mournful song
May well live on for aye
(The Embrace)

There's cruelty and violence and lies like before
It's a cankerous society that wreathes outside of my door
I'm in reclusion here, I'm all on my own
Far, far away from that raging warzone

The years took my pleasure, they hid my sunshine away
Threatening each hour with the searing curse of dark decay
So swiftly estranged from all I had known
So quickly forgotten, deserted, alone

Beneath, beyond, in my chamber on my own
Beneath, beyond, I am lonely and alone

And it's only by moonlight that I open my door
I'd fain see my loved ones as I used to do before
But whence came that horror? – There's no love in their eyes
What fear grasps them when I try to kiss them good-bye?

Beneath, beyond, in my chamber on my own
Beneath, beyond, I am lonely and alone
Beneath, beyond, am I meant to leave this all behind?
I cannot wander, my tears have left me blind

This is my cathedral, my castle and my citadel
This is my seclusion, my shelter and my shell
This is my safe château, my chamber and my cell
This is my high heaven, my house, my hearse, my hell


6. DREAM A DREAM

From the dawn's edge comes the sun
Every day, for everyone
For dabs and fools, the masters of these years

I try to hide my sanity
From most of all humanity
Its creed and call, ringing in my ears:

“Let's dream a dream and when we smile
All was quite well worth the while
Shoo the tear that taints the day
And happy come as happy may”

My brain may wreck and spirit flee
From this cruel hypocrisy
All that's left, the only node
Is this body as an abode

Wherever I avert my eyes
Bloom frilly, frothy, sweet, pink lies
Whose syrup saps and drips into my sphere

I laugh and laugh for vanity
And quaff to bleak profanity
I play my role, and roll on while I'm here

Let's dream a dream and when we smile
All was quite well worth the while
Shoo the tear that taints the day
And happy come as happy may

I dream a dream and when I smile
All seems quite well worth the while
Shoo the wretched tear away
And happy come what happy may


7. DE RERUM SANCTARUM UNA

(no lyrics available)


8. PSYCH-ICON

Materialised in astral light,
Condensed corona, aural sprite
Lucid phosphors emanate,
Phantom template satiated
Distorted, then vividified,
Erst nebulous, then de-mortified
Luminous apparition hailed,
Spectre embalmed, transcendence veiled

An image of the mind arising, captured in a picture frame
Nimbus of the mind's devising, dancing in th' ethereal flame
Psych-Icon: the living are still
Psych-Icon: the dead walk at will

Terminated substantial sight,
The third eye opens, pure and bright
Lucid dreaming regulated,
Mind control over souls belated
From Plutonian spheres they glide,
Yon urnal realm where they abide
By essence bodies medial deigned,
Insight, outsight, trans-sight gained

An image of the mind arising, captured in a picture frame
Nimbus of the mind's devising, dancer never twice the same

An image in the mind arising, translated into a picture-frame
Light being undergoing concising, from state sublime to sensual shame
Psych-Icon: the living lie still
Psych-Icon: the dead walk at will


9. HORS DES SENTIERS BATTUS

(instrumental)


10. AGE OF DESPAIR

(no lyrics available)


11. AN ANGEL TALE

We don't see the sunlight dancing on the moon
We don't gather wisdom from the weathered rune

Walking through the wasteland of our squandered youth
We stumble over fragments but don't accept the truth

Man's on the brink, those gods-to-be
They think they think but they cannot see
That they're losing out

We meet a wingless angel take him by the hand
We nail him to the temple door because he cannot stand

"What is thy charge?" we ask him, "why leav'st the hea'enly pool?" -
"I was sent here to save you – I know now I was fooled."

Man's on the brink, those gods-to-be
They think they think but they cannot see
They think they think but they cannot see
That they're losing out


12. DEADLOVE

(You to me are all)

No end to you, no end to me, our spring-time lasts forever
In love, in love, for years and years whom Death's spell doth not sever
You to me are more than life

You cradle me, I hold you tightly, we drown in our embraces
I whisper softly and you lie quietly as the calm embalms our graces

DeadLove – love is dead and alive
DeadLove – love beyond the grave

Trust's as fragile as a feather, shared with someone to confide in
The more time we spend together, the more you open up to me and let me see inside
Into love beyond the grave

Call it real love, love beyond the grave
Call it real love, pure love
Call it lust beyond the grave
Call it real love, pure love, true love
Call it love, DeadLove

We part again, I wish/whisp good night and say a prayer: God keep your night
You to me are more than life
You to me are life and light


13. THE VOID THEREAFTER

(no lyrics available)