1. XIBIR (ORCHESTRA ONLY)

(Instrumental)


2. BORN TREACHEROUS

With defiance and resistance
I burn the bridges and their names.
Will I ever comprehend
my own spells and games?

Let me keep my world,
Let me have my slaves.
They all do wonders for me
So I can leave things be.

Let me keep my world
As I'm too blind to see.

When I lay in bed at
Night wishing well,
When I pray for recovery
Feeling Hell.

Suffocating in my own filth
With no fresh air to inhale.

With defiance and resistance
I burn the bridges and their names.
Will I ever comprehend
My own spells and games?

Born treacherous...

Insanity keeps me away and free
From the core of responsibility but once
The pace quickens I'll be derived
From myself in total mind captivity.

Let me keep my world,
Let me have my slaves.

Let me keep my world,
Let me have my slaves.
They all do wonders for me
So I can leave things be.

Let me keep my world
As I'm too blind to see.
Born treacherous...


3. GATEWAYS

The core principle of freedom
Is the only notion to obey,
The formulae of evolution and
Sin leading the way.

The rebirth is near completion as
We slowly awaken from slumber.
As we slowly awaken from slumber!

Gateways...

The malpractice of the spirit ends
When the gift is once again attained,
No rules or restraints are longer valid
When the ancient future is reclaimed.

Gateways...

No rules or restraints
Are longer valid when the
Ancient future is reclaimed.

It's all there for the eyes that can see,
The blind ones will always suffer in secrecy for
It is the omen of what lies submerged breeding
Untouched within us bleeding.

The core principle of freedom
Is the only notion to obey,
The formulae of evolution and
Sin leading the way.

The rebirth is near completion as we
Slowly awaken from slumber to receive
The light that shines in darkness,
The light that shines forevermore.

Forevermore!

Be the broken or the breaker,
Be the giver or the undertaker.
Unlock and open the doors,
Be the healer or the faker.

The keys are in your hands,
Realize you are your own sole
Creator of your own masterplan.


4. DIMMU BORGIR

(Instrumental)


5.DIMMU BORGIR

Forces of the northern light - Assemble
Forces of the northern night - Call to arms
Summoned by the secrets of sacrifice

Meeting destiny on the road we took to avoid it
As we only compete with ourselves
Left is that of a confident union

What bridge to cross and what bridge to burn
Deceit is everywhere you turn
We weed out the weak and their weep

Evolving - Compulsively
Behaving - Inconsistently
Yet the pulse is pounding
Restoration is the name
For those who are left in the game
Invocation in the name of our flame

Dimmu Borgir!
The deviants seek but one place
Dimmu Borgir!
Forward onward march!

Forgive we shall not
Forget we shall not
With trickery and treat
Enemies will face defeat

No place for dreamers
As our formation is lava
Fire is with or against you
And so it burns

Constant retribution calling
From the shadows of three consecutive sixes
Merging with the cold dark vacuum
Talent is worthless unless exercised

When the world is turning
You'll find your true nature
When the first is last and the last is first
You'll be where you choose to be

Forgive we shall not
Forget we shall not
Fire is with or against you
And so it burns


6. CHESS WITH THE ABYSS

Old dreams return
Disillusioned I yearn
Am I buried beneath sand and clay?
The caress of cold soil
With limbs crippled to the coil
Locked inside a nightmare womb

Tarnished and grief stricken
Emptiness within a void
Longing for the sun to shine
To discourage the demonoid

Salvation!
Darkness reborn!

We seem to keep fading away
Holding on to that last final sway
A doctrine of self salvation
Darkness reborn on resurrection day?

Stagnating in dead waters
While circling above the surface
Of the deep pale desert sea
Cutting that other life of lines

Salvation!
Wish we'd never met
Salvation!
And rather gone our separate ways
Salvation!
All times spent together
Salvation!
Are the darkest of days
Salvation!
Darkness reborn!


7. RITUALIST

Shedding the old skin
Procreating new sin
Incubation and isolation
A new storm is brewing

Ritualist!
Shedding the old skin
Ritualist!
Procreating new sin
Ritualist!
Incubation and isolation
Ritualist!
A new storm is brewing

Away with obstacles to progress
Those deficient in ambition to prosperity
Yearning but what already is gone
The remains digress
And start anew

Ritualist!
Aligned with the continuum
Ritualist!
Expanding the source at hand

Aligned with the continuum
Expanding the source at hand
Altering the past and the present
The future changes the chain of command

Transfusion of new blood
Congregation of the true blood
With no chains attached
We're letting the past rest
And things will never quite be the same

Transfusion of new blood
Mobilization of true blood
What's leaving is already left behind
What's leaving is already left behind

With no chains attached
We're letting the past rest
Things will never quite be the same
When we are in charge of the game

Dispatching the chained ones
While being watched by the eyes of time
Everything is clearer now
The search is on for the next horizon

Ritualist!
Moving forward with silence and rapid pace
Ritualist!
Since the horror dawned upon our immediate race
Ritualist!
The veil has once again been extracted
Ritualist!
From the mist that dimmed our eyes


8. A JEWEL TRACED THROUGH COAL

Through moors and mists of deception
The uninitiated are conjoined
Illusive bliss feeds obsession
A feeble orientation is provoked

Inflammatory bonds will be broken
Being the shepherd no more
Yearning for that ever glowing token
In ongoing lore

Images appear before my eyes
At any given time
Burdened bearing all their lies
Leaping laughter and secret smiles

Inflammatory bonds will be broken
Being the shepherd no more
Yearning for that ever glowing token
In ongoing lore

The treasure lies not in regression
But in reaching the levels of becoming
That harboured within us for centuries
Centuries of long lost knowing

Spirit and matter defined
Spirit and matter refined

The upper planes accessed
Insight and co-alliance addressed
Spirit and matter defined
Spirit and matter refined


9. ERADICATION INSTINCTS DEFINED

(Instrumental)


10. VREDESBYRD

Reis deg opp, la oss bestride
Den tanke fra vår lend og dyrk på
En forbannet jord en smertens ætt.

For så og tynge de
Barmhjertiges skjød som
Har tiltro til den sjelloses brød.

For den tro du besitter er intet annet enn
Avsmak og hovmod og din nøden etter
Viten er en overflod av hån og skjend,
Smerten i mitt hjerte er ikke tørste
Etter himmelsk legeme.

Ei er det sviktende søken etter
Englemakt det er ilden og den brenner
Det er bare det at do skjemmer for den.

Ta del i skyldens skygge behag
Din sjel med syndens under for hvor
Er vel do når lampen slukkes.

Men døden kommer ei med vårt
Bud gjenklang fra den prektiges arv
Vil innfri det endelige forderv.

Reis deg opp, la oss bestride
Den tanke fra vår lend og dyrk på
En forbannet jord en smertens ætt.

For så og tynge de
Barmhjertiges skjød som
Har tiltro til den sjelloses brød.

Bring dom over andre en ditt eget hode der
Do gjemmer din skam i lovsang så skal do
Få smake frukten av din egen bortgang.

Som en flokk av helveds
Opphav og forvaltere av foraktens
Sønn parerer vi deres list med
Avskyens prakt med.

Beviset på vår tunge byrde
Ligger deres sinn i åndenød
Skamfert tilbake uten makt.

Reis deg opp, la oss bestride
Den tanke fra vår lend og dyrk på
En forbannet jord en smertens ætt.

For så og tynge de
Barmhjertiges skjød som
Har tiltro til den sjelloses brød.


11. PROGENIES OF THE GREAT APOCALYPSE

The battle raged on and on,
Fuelled by the venom of hatred for man.
Consistently without the eyes to see
By those who revel in sewer equally.

We the prosperity of the future seal,
Cloaked by the thunders of the north wind.
Born to capture the essence of
The trails of our kind.

Zero tolerance must be issued
Forth behind the enemy's line.
So it shall be written and
So it shall be done.

Zero tolerance must be issued
Forth behind the enemy's line.
So it shall be written and
So it shall be done.

The battle raged on and on,
Fuelled by the venom of hatred for man.
Consistently without the eyes to see
By those who revel in sewer equally.

We the prosperity of the future seal,
Cloaked by the thunders of the north wind.
Born to capture the essence of
The trails of our kind.

Discover and conceive the secret
Wealth and pass it unto your breed.
Become your own congregation,
Measure the sovereignty of its invigoration.

We who not deny the animal of our nature,
We who yearn to preserve our liberation,
We who face darkness in our hearts with a solemn fire,
We who aspire to the truth and pursue its strength.

Are we not the undisputed prodigy of warfare,
Fearing all the mediocrity that they possess?
Should we not hunt the bastards down with our might,
Reinforce and claim the throne that is rightfully ours?

Consider the God we could be
Without the grace once and for all?
Diminish the sub principle and leave
Its toxic trace once and for all?


12. THE SERPENTINE OFFERING

My decent is the story of everyman
I am hatred, darkness and despair
My decent is the story of everyman
I am hatred, darkness and despair

Evoked and entertained through centuries
Wrathful and sullen--dormant still
The ferocity pervades everywhere
Waiting to be released at last

Hear my offering
Ye bastard sons and daughters
Share my sacrifice
Share my sacrifice

My decent is the story of everyman
I am hatred, darkness and despair
My decent is the story of everyman
I am hatred, darkness and despair

My decent is the story of everyman
I am hatred, darkness and despair
My decent is the story of everyman
I am hatred, darkness and despair

Reconcile not with the fear of the snake
But embrace it as your own
Inject it's venom into your veins
And replant the seed that gives growth
Still shrouded in mystery
Until you arise above perception
A veil of ignorance is in motion
Continuing throughout generations

A veil of ignorance is in motion
Continuing throughout multiple generations
Let me be the one that deliver you from the deceit
And back into perfect accordance with the laws of nature

The snake is notoriously tempting
But the snake is fair
What is worse than not knowing?
To live or disappear?

The ferocity pervades everywhere
Waiting to be released at last

Hear my offering
Ye bastard sons and daughters
Share my sacrifice
Share my sacrifice


13. FEAR AND WONDER

(Instrumental)


14. KINGS OF THE CARNIVAL CREATION

Incarnated marvels simplified effects
From such a disconsolate kind.
Impotence of the once so perfect living,
Erase and rewind.

Stand rigid for the next battle,
Peace means reloading your guns.
The love for life is all hatred in disguise,
A carnival creation with masks undone.

In search for the guidelines to the gateways of sin,
Through mires of misanthropy with wrath in mind.
Sophistication as cruelty and perfection as the virulent truth,
Confidently dawned to pick the best of enemies.

An abyss womb
Stretched wide open,
Exposed to retaliate.

With the stigma feasting upon
Your flesh as I wish you well,
Thorns from the fountains of
Fate licking lepered skin.

Worshipped by anyone's
Mass on our Planet Hell.
What on earth possessed you?

Consuming illusions made from
Hysteria and swallowed tongues.

Devoured by doubt,
Conducting arts of misconception.
Testimonial sufficiency declaring
Numbness of all perceptions.

Glance into the blackness
Hidden beneath your surface
And enjoy the suffering,
Sanity drained in disrespect.

With such bedevilled faith in good
Subsequently trusting evil.
Next step for mankind will be
The last seasons in sin.

With the stigma feasting upon
Your flesh as I wish you well,
Thorns from the fountains of
Fate licking lepered skin.

Worshipped by anyone's
Mass on our Planet Hell.
What on earth possessed you?

Consuming illusions made from
Hysteria and swallowed tongues.
Left are the kings of the carnival creation,
Carrying out the echoes of the fallen.

Sense the withering eternity as it fades away,
The ultimate graceless voyage of all times.
Only Death will be guarding your angels silently,
Cripples joining arms in clamour.

Institutionalized for the rebirth
The herd will be hunted!


15. PURITANIA

We do away with your kind!
Countdown to exterminate,
The human race

4, 3, 2, 1...

Let chaos entwine,
On defenseless soil.
Remove errors of man,
And sweep all the weakening kind.

I am war, I am pain,
I am all you've ever slain.
I am tears in your eyes,
I am grief, I am lies.

Bygone are tolerance,
And presence of grace.
Scavengers are set out,
To cleanse the human filth parade.

I am pure, I am true,
I am all over you.
I am laugh, I am smile,
I am the earth defiled.

I am the cosmic storms,
I am the tiny worms.
I am fear in the night,
I am bringer of the light.

Earth successfully erased!


16. MOURNING PALACE

Daylight has finally reached its end,
As evenfall strikes into the sky.
Far away in the dark glimpsing moonlight,
Sickening souls cry out in pain.

Whispering voices and summoning screams,
Waiting for Satan to bless their sins.
Blackhearted angels fallen from grace,
Possessed by the search for utter darkness.

Hear the cries from the Mourning Palace.
Feel the gloom of restless spirits,
Hear the screams from the Mourning Palace.
Feel the doom of haunting chants.

Eternal is their lives in misery,
Eternal is their lives in grief.
Abandoned in a void of nothingness.
A chain of anger, a fetter of despair.

In this garden of depraved beings,
This unsacred place of helpless ones.
Satan blessed the creatures,
Inswathed them in endless night.

Whispering voices and summoning screams,
Waiting for Satan to bless their sins.
Blackhearted angels fallen from grace,
Possessed by the search for utter darkness.


17. PERFECTION OR VANITY

(Instrumental)