1. PROLOGUE / AN OATH IN DARKNESS

(Instrumental)


2. TONIGHT IT DESCENDS

Where at night the shadows feast
(… Shadows feast)
High above the city, fast asleep
(… Fast asleep)
Skywards strides a slender beast
(… Slender beast)
With solemn cries, his lips concealed
(… Lips concealed)
A voice so raw, Death rattle, that sound
(… That sound)
With his rotten paws and daunting claws,
(… Daunting claws)
He dwells before the waning moon,
(… Waning moon)
Above rooftops and lanterns' eerie gloom...

He soars and seeks the flickering light
The glow that guards us through the night

A thin black line across the sky
A drawing so elegant yet awry
Hovering, uttering an ominous cry
Through fog and blight, with all-seeing eye

Paris below, all draped in snow
Life buried, it lies beneath
The stars, aeons of light, that died.
We mourn them when we sleep.

A voice so raw, Death rattle, that sound
(… That sound)
With his rotten paws and daunting claws,
(… Daunting claws)
He dwells before the waning moon,
(… Waning moon)
Above rooftops and lanterns' eerie gloom...

Here hidden amidst butcheries and home of many a whore
Under the cobwebs of time,
Lingers enticement of yore
Wary lanterns flicker, illuming lost lore
Casting shifting shadows on the decor

A gathering of men, varied in age and profession
Yet they all share this macabre obsession
To abolish the chains in which morality is bound
To burn down all dogma right down to the ground
Six impious feet profound

In the dungeons, almost forgotten, together alone
Condemned to the gallows, their name cast in stone
Reside the sinners, their cult full-blown
Sharing their tales before kissing the skies
The hourglass ticking away that precious time
Time to die…

So tonight it descends again
To spy on these 7 mortal men,
Whose shadows stride like ghosts
Black hearts in which dark secrets host

Insidiously they ritually congregate
At the den, so ornate
The raven lands on their moldy inn
And waits for their stories to begin…

Where at night the shadows feast
(… Shadows feast)
High above the city, fast asleep
(… Fast asleep)
Skywards strides a slender beast
(… Slender beast)
With solemn cries, his lips concealed
(… Lips concealed)

So gather, parvenus of the world around
Let us take you on a journey unbound
Listen to these tales of erotica and the grave
The misfortune of those enslaved


3. THE THING IN THE MIRROR

“An individual chooses and makes himself.”

I spent years gaining wisdom acquired during centuries,
My addiction
Defined by the wise, the priests,
Giving liturgies in the mortuary
in anatomy and surgery…
I witnessed a myriad of afflictions
Even gained myself a morphine addiction
I, however, was brilliant in my field
The competition, moved to tears
A honours student, defeated by none
I destroyed the opposition, one by one
At 27 I was top of the bill
Yet my morals went straight downhill

Every morning I took a step back
Obsessed with my reflection, a putrid wreck...
I devised a scheme to restructure my face
Rethink this concept of this degenerate race
Absolve the imperfections without a trace
My incisions as visions of grace
Cut by cut I approached absolution
Beauty lies in fierce retribution
Mankind is a pitiful institution
The time is nigh…

Wait… wait… wait… wait…

Absolve me,
this clutch of flesh repels me
And cast away these chains
And behold true to form
my incarnation, almost complete...
From vile blood we've been spawned
conceived in a womb unbound
Semen and blood in collision
such malediction, a surgeon's frustration

Wait …

Several years have passed
The scars are healed, yet I must confess
What once was, has departed forevermore
And as in nature I too should cease
My face has turned into something that should not be
A human wreck, crumbling
On foundations of chalk.

I am no longer a divine creation
I am a grotesque manifestation
A devil far beyond recognition
Now delivered in the arms of perdition

I learned to distinguish the ugly from the divine
Yet I lost track of my very design
Science alone delivered a cursed solution
A faulty design that led to no absolution


4. EYELESS - SOULLESS

Imagine a world bereft of light
All is painted black, everblight
This obsidian symphony
In the noxious caress of night

Eternal solstice, bestowed upon me
Born eyeless in an abject universe
A precious gift

Eyeless… I am
Soulless… You are
Now be my witness…
And confess… The sin of being enslaved

Deep within me I started to be
Aware of a world beyond
The limited senses, our mortal coil
By humanity spawned

Regression immanent
Boundaries omnipresent
A cure needs to be found
for the helpless and the damned

Eyeless… I am
Soulless… You are

"The disease that contaminates our spirits
Must be exhumed exposed and exterminated
Before we perish and fall into a perpetually besieged void
Bleak and ice-cold we would fall and fall
And fall until we vanish
In the thick black poisonous fume out of which
We have been formed"

A frozen landscape consumes me
A nightmare vision of the horror that awaits us
From dimensions unknown

From beyond the grave (the spirit maze)
The spirit maze (from beyond the grave)

Eyeless… I am
Soulless… You are
Now be my witness…

From beyond the grave (the spirit maze)
The spirit maze (from beyond the grave)

Imagine a world bereft of light
All is painted black, everblight
This obsidian symphony
In the noxious caress of night

Eternal solstice, bestowed upon me
Born eyeless in an abject universe
A precious gift

Alas… I am
So less… You are
Now be my witness…
And confess… The sin of being enslaved

A frozen landscape consumes me
A nightmare vision of the horror that awaits us
From dimensions unknown

From beyond the grave (the spirit maze)
The spirit maze (from beyond the grave)


5. CODE NOIR

In the name of Bon Dieu I recall
A tale that shattered the dreams of us all,
We, disciples of the elder faith
With the Loa, keepers of our spirit gate

Bugid Y Aiba, herald of war
Avenge the evil they're liable for
Self-proclaimed erudites
Pompous, insolent parasites

In the name of science they would oppress
Their baleful trail drenched in blood and heinousness

As our village was plundered and torched
Our spirit, flesh and cult was scorched
Debased and violated
A stigma branded on our head!

Baron Kriminel, judgement betide
Those who ravaged our land and our pride
Strike fear into their hearts
Ere head from body departs

In the name of science they would oppress
Their baleful trail drenched in blood and heinousness

I stood behind the trees and witnessed
A display of atrocity and vice
The tortured cries of my beloved
Still echoed through my mind
...Through my mind

I dragged myself onto their ship
Surrounded for weeks by rats and the stench of disease
To finally stray into Parisian alleyways

"A race so trivial... Barbarians, mere animals
Unworthies, impure and devolved...

Let's exploit these peasants and have beens,
They're lecherous, disgusting,
Repulsive, obscene and unclean

Abolish their habits, rituals and families,
Burn their houses, they're cursed
Deny their presence, convictions and heritage
Unburied they will be, food for vultures"

So say your blessings, dear mad men
In this world, belong no more
A sacrifice in blood you will be
To feed the Iwa

Say your blessings, dear mad men
For this world is no longer yours
Kneel down and bid adieu to the ground
As the barons escort you underground

La Croix!
Samedi!
Cimitière!
Kriminel!

I thank you for your future contribution
To the spirit world in which you will reside
This ritual, materialized, will put an end to
The suffering of those sacrificed

So quiet now, for soon you'll be dead
Fear not
As I
Fear not
As I claim your head