1. FROM THE DEPTHS OF SPRING

(Instrumental)


2. HOWL

I taste the broth that seeps down through the gorge
I wipe the blade I once wrought from the forge
The taste of flesh, the ash of oaken fires
I bide my time by the mire until it dries

To me the world is a heart
No chambers void, some shallow
And when the light prepares to depart
A pulse for my breath to follow

I sense the throes of twilight born anew
I fear its wrath as all my brothers do
Though life turns dark and movement steals the night
I rejoice in the spoils at morning light

To me the world is a heart
No chambers void, some shallow
And when the light prepares to depart
A pulse for my breath to follow
Retrieving senses dormant while daylight reigns

The eyes of dusk ignite
A promise of teeth and claw
Revoke my bones from sleep
Upon my tongue a feral howl

Stars!
Watchers of the dark
Blood drips from my wailing plea
Stars!
I seek your blessing
To paint the blood of my hunter
Upon the weapon that reaps my prey


3. FROZEN PROCESSIONS

Weave the intent from
Our resolved unknowing
Present the solutions
In a morose soliloquy

And as we speak those final rhymes
Paving the road for continuation
A path to paradise
Witness the blessed rotten flesh
Mercy!

These processions I've joined are not bound for rebirth
They are frozen
Heading for the sky
Silently

Never asking why

To be as one with Earth and the worm within it
Will not suffice for those whom we know as sacred

Between us we divide a boundless worth
Projecting upon ourselves the elation
I shall meet you in paradise, my beloved
In memoriam

These processions I've joined are not bound for rebirth
And they seem so lost
I am no less bound to this road
But the pains and joys of certainty are not mine
I am not staring beyond the clouds
Not heading for the sky
And silently
Always asking why

These processions I've chosen to follow have shackled me
To the hearse that rides forever
Into the sky
Silently
Never asking why


4. A SHAPELESS DERELICT

As dry as they come
This desert 'neath a hollow sun
With nothing ahead
But the ragged shapes of the dead

A smile of the crazed
Comes, settles and stays
Empty before me, empty behind
And the sun forever shines

Nothing is the fire inside
This be all end of life
Waiting for the flame
To tear through the game
Ashes
Night to revive

The merciless tide
That brings neither change nor life
Carries a shapeless derelict
On spectral waves of static

There is a locker inside
Where my heart forever lies

On burning fields of blackened grain
The flesh is a lie
I am but a sigh
In a storm of soul debris

Wrecked is the ship that tore through the crust
For untold ages is strode with tattered bloody flags
But in the depths where black voids erupt
A still force engulfed the vessel's might

Be all
End all

Sailing on
Towards the sun
The flame will tear through the game
Night is revived

Sailing on
Towards the sun
Tortured eyes repeat the lie
The flesh am I

Be all
End all


5. SET ALIGHT

Hiding is
A life for some
We wait for the storms to come
Maybe they
Are always there
Striking down on others where we can't go

Crashing into their hearts
Souls ablaze
Thunder shaking their minds
Wide awake
In the dashing lightning
In the pouring rain
As their bodies bum
A jolt of life for one last time

As die rumbling drifts by and fades
I can only claim to have dreamed
And when the flicker in the clouds is to be seen no more
I travel on

Here we walk
Every day
Searching and dreaming ourselves out of the grey

Colours bled from our hearts
Ornate stains
Flowing into our minds
Wide awake
In the flashing lightning
In the pouring rain

As our senses fade we feel desire to catch fire

Call the storms
To gather
Mind from matter
Let the fire
Split the atoms
Reassemble

Ignite us
Unite us
O fork of electric demise

Autumn's grey
Floods the skies
Colours fading from your eyes
Fertile clouds
Drifting in
Waste no time
Lightning strikes

Crashing into our hearts
Souls ablaze
Thunder shaking our minds
Wide awake
In the flashing lightning
In the pouring rain
As my body bums I feel alive one last time


6. ON LONELY TOWERS

I will rest here
And I might not awake
Was there ever a place for one to lie
It must be here
An ocean green
My hands on stone
Scarred and battled

Shreds of banner cloth
Dance recklessly in a desolate breeze
Clinging to their weathered rods
Perched on lonely towers

Praying for faith under darkening clouds
Songs of chaos burning holes in the sky
Praying for faith under darkening clouds
They marched on lonely towers

Their screams live on
As wraiths in the wind
And only when time ends
Their voices may be stilled

Dire winds
Break the leaves
Failing suns
Beyond the mist

Who are you?
A promise from the spirits of life

Darkness has ceased
To flood my mind
I will wait until the dawn
I will wait until the dawn to die

My body is weak
But my will takes flight
I will wait until the dawn
I will wait until the dawn to die

And as you speak
My fear subsides
I will wait until the dawn
I will wait until the dawn arrives


7. CHAOS, THE SONGS WITHIN

Dissolved the bonds of brothers
Now the fires have witnessed lives tom
On these fields of loss no order had ever resided
At the hour of extermination
None had lived for gold, none had lived for hate
And as the bloodsmoke rose I realized
I may have decided this

Sunshine failing
In blackened monotone
Like songs within me
Chaos echoes
Stars unveiling
On heaps I stand alone
Like songs within me
Chaos echoes through

A sense of darkness and war
I've known it before

Revolt! a wonder of this
Sacrifice, we shun the lies born
To spread die flame across the borders in which I confided
In vain
We are the oncoming storm!

The sun has died
We watch the dark arrive

Providing the fissures
Energy
Shattering barricades
Force
Defying black visions
Purify
Preparing the mighty for
Defeat

I sense the darkness of war
I'll know it now as before


8. SIRENS OF OBLIVION

Now that all is said and done
Time for the falling leaves
Follow the heaviest heart
Letting go of promise
The promise of tomorrow
Under corroding rain
The smile of the newborn
Falling to her grave

Extinguished like fire
Like freedom in chaos
I study my victories
Now lost in bitter endings
Will to betray eternity
Withers with the flowers blue
The skies darken in celebration
Celebrate the raven

All life bows to sirens of oblivion
As they begin their eternal song
The sweetest voice in a world that bums
Where beauty always wants to die

The path unfolds, the path is mine
Now that you touched with your light
The path unfolds, I seek out my grave
A human gesture, forever cleansing

From solitude to here, from here to eternity
The seconds of solace arrive
In this final chapter, a voice calls my name
Before the darkening skies

Ravens of the burning sky
The sirens of twilight
Set alight, now we're coming home
For all this beauty wants to die


9. THE VAULT

Now that all is said and done
Time for the falling leaves
Follow the heaviest heart
Letting go of promise
The promise of tomorrow
Under corroding rain
The smile of the newborn
Falling to her grave

Extinguished like fire
Like freedom in chaos
I study my victories
Now lost in bitter endings
Will to betray eternity
Withers with the flowers blue
The skies darken in celebration
Celebrate the raven

All life bows to sirens of oblivion
As they begin their eternal song
The sweetest voice in a world that bums
Where beauty always wants to die

The path unfolds, the path is mine
Now that you touched with your light
The path unfolds, I seek out my grave
A human gesture, forever cleansing

From solitude to here, from here to eternity
The seconds of solace arrive
In this final chapter, a voice calls my name
Before the darkening skies

Ravens of the burning sky
The sirens of twilight
Set alight, now we're coming home
For all this beauty wants to die