1. IN SEARCH OF THE TRIUMPH BEYOND... (OBSIDIAN OVERTURE)

A quarter century
Of aimless miserable existence
Sights set on an early end

To awake
Into solemn eternal slumber
An all-consuming reverie

Passage of time
Has opened a clandestine path
Away from a life as ash

As I traverse
An ascent to uncharted peaks
A new journey begins...

In search of the triumph beyond
Obsidian Euphoria

[Solo - Sanders]

Existence in this traumaverse
Has rendered me helpless and cold
Yet burning strength of spirit
Shall melt my shackles and set me free

Once barren land
Now holds triumph unbound
Obsidian Euphoria
Shall know my name

Over beyond the end
Dissonance keeps bleeding on
Days spent weeping
Silver, ashen tears

Across darkest plains
Towers the obsidian fortress
Inside, my salvation
Beyond, no true end

Sky cloaked seraphs humming golden music… of my life, my everything
“Venture, be free young soul, purpose will burn once again. Flaming dawns bring joy anew.”

[Solo - Iacovella]
[Solo - Longerbeam]

Trapped in erroneous skin
Preventing my progress, reducing my strength
I must shed this bleak mirage
To lift the weight of my sorrow

Scarlet mesmerism of thoughts unfold
Blood phantasms eclipse the prism
Which holds my tears, the key
To the shining ebony doorway

A singular step, there is no turning back here
Scarlet songbirds call atop dead trees

Once barren land
Now holds triumph unbound
Obsidian Euphoria
Shall know my name

Over beyond the end
Dissonance keeps bleeding on
Days spent weeping
Silver, ashen tears

I no longer wish to exist as ash in this realm of stone icons
Until my dying day I will search for the triumph beyond Obsidian Euphoria


2. INTROSPECTION III

“Unlocking a reverie of shining foliage
At the cusp of a malaise once dependent upon…”

[Solo - Longerbeam]
[Solo - Walburn]
[Solo - Longerbeam]


3. SHALLOW ECSTASY

If only I could feel
The slightest sense of peace
A shallow ecstasy
Relief from unceasing mind

A chemical void
Has rendered me restless
Will I survive to see
The fabled halcyon day?

In my search for peace
Will I be torn apart?
Lose my sense of self
And become another...

Sealing of the void
Created by endless strife
Must not reopen
Wounds on the flesh of man

My own antagonist
Looks like me but is not me.

Image of self
Perverted in medical haze

I've ensnared myself
In unreality
The flame of healing
Still distant and pale

My pursuit of light
Is theft of another's
For light will never
Shine on me

If only I could feel
The slightest sense of peace
A shallow ecstasy
Relief from unceasing mind

A chemical void
Has rendered me restless
But a halcyon day
Will come at last

In my search for peace
Will I be torn apart?
Lose my sense of self
And become another...

Sealing of the void
Created by endless strife
Must not reopen
Wounds on the flesh of man

[Solo - Iacovella]
[Solo - Walburn]
[Solo - Iacovella & Walburn]


4. SHED THIS ERRONEOUS SKIN

A colossal shame,
Forced into the womb of spirit
Which birthed a bleak mirage of self

And induced trepidation,
Of exile and deathless consequence
A sentence from a pious throne of gold

I am not who I am
Merely a vessel entrapped in brooding fog
I know not what I am
Deletion of id, both loathing and longing for what I could become

To muster the strength
To resist Obsidian Euphoria
I must dissipate this bleak mirage of sel
I realize that I am
Longing to be swept into the warm embrace of validatio

Solo - Longerbeam

Shed this erroneous skin
For it is grey and rotten
Shed this erroneous skin
I am not my home!

A molted shell upon the ground
Turns to ash in the flame of glory

In search of the triumph
Beyond Obsidian Euphoria
Self-discovery unbound
A newfound solace emerges within

Solo - lacovella

Shed this erroneous skin
For it is grey and rotten
Shed this erroneous skin
I am now my home!

Imbued with the will To move on
And build the strength
To live my truth
Gone are the days I'd hide
Enter the light of l

Solo - Walburn


5. BLOOD MIRAGE

Elusive scarlet illusion
Shattering the veil of shelter
Which crashes down eternally
Transient through voidscapes

Paralyzed my spirit
Painted crimson creation
A mirage ensconced in blood
Ensnared for all eternity

[Solo - Sanders]

Furtive shining days
Umbral imprints vanish
Halcyon, send me forth
Halcyon, see through my will

Elusive scarlet illusion
Shattering the veil of shelter
Which crashes down eternally
Transient through voidscapes

Flaming horizon blazing dark
Claiming calmness again
Nostalgia, hear this call
I long for viridian forever…


6. HALCYON MEMORY: DREAMSCAPES ACROSS THE BLUE

“What am I longing for?
I wish those days had never ended…
Dreamscapes across the blue
And cityscapes, starlight wandering”

[Solo - Iacovella]

Nostalgia’s embrace in chrome
And alcoves of mountainous green
Unite as an imprint dream world
And paint serenity’s blissful picture

These gently speaking halcyon memories
Wavering my resilience yet shining bright through time

Bonding arcs in blue
The most profound love
Held in our hands
But only for a brief whisper…

These gently speaking halcyon memories
Wavering my resilience yet shining bright through time

“To then wither quietly on distant shoulders
Bearing the burden of a crossroads
Presented prematurely in an ancient anguish…”

To then wither quietly
Bearing the burden of an ancient anguish

Shivering ghastly color from liquid dark
United as an imprint dream web
It coexists eternally, in its resilience
Cleaving strong alongside the light

[Solo - Walburn]
[Solo - Iacovella]

These gently speaking halcyon memories
Wavering my resilience yet shining bright through time


7. SILVER, ASHEN TEARS

Behold! A living penumbra
Obscured by maladjustment
Inability to fend for oneself
A miscarriage of nature and nurture

Swathed in materiality
Yet longing for sustenance
I journey towards warmth
I journey towards understanding

An oath’s befallen scourge
These thoughts decay on
God rays align to break these shackles

This place of bountiful light
Sings our gilded song
Of a final golden pursuit

Cast aside and spit upon
A mockery of lineage

The dissonance within
These silver, ashen tears
Guides me away from pain

I cannot thrive without
The banishment of fear
A search for what I've dreamed

An oath’s befallen scourge
These thoughts decay on
God rays align to break these shackles

This place of bountiful light
Sings our gilded song
Of a final golden pursuit

Never once without these ails
Eternal failure cascades dark fells

[Solo - Longerbeam]

I search for that which I've never known
Solace and love encased in stone

"Brume soaked scarlet facades long wept
Discover the face they lay upon
And evaporate as gentle mist..."

Over beyond the end
Dissonance keeps bleeding on
Days spent weeping
Silver, ashen tears

I have found that which I've never known
Solace and love exhumed from stone

Harvesting obsidian shadows
Brume soaked scarlet facades long wept
Discover the face they lay upon
And evaporate as gentle mist

Longing to cry tears of a golden, blossoming might to pierce through the highlands
Eclipsing this burden to quietly unlock the door to others' compassionate guidance,
which graces my heart and untethers my mind from this caging affliction
Past the final pursuit... everything lies
The end of my suffering

[Solo - Walburn]

Past the final pursuit... everything lies
The end of my suffering


8. THE FINAL PURSUIT OF LIGHT

And so it all
Has to come to this?

A final pursuit
To conclude my emptiness

A golden light reveals
A fortress, ensconced in blood

I venture forwards
Not knowing if it truly exists

Black talons grip and call me home
To transcend form, to transcend form
This eternal ashen rope around my neck
May stunt my growth into stone

I no longer wish to exist
As ash in this realm of stone icons

A myriad of obstacles
Have laid upon this path
But none as great
As the mirror's scarlet gaze

Beyond the mirror lies an imprint dream world
The stygian blue within which wrought my soul and mind
The sediment of my spirit manifests as five faces
Its mirror eyes weep silver ashen tears

[Solo - Walburn]
[Solo - Longerbeam]

Marish and frozen, wide eyed
It comes near, pale and white-eyed
Kneels to whisper in my ears
Hemlock words for my demise

Enraptured and wading into time
Nostalgia laced years for all time
Hearken back to shores of days gone by
Rapt in silver, seraphs cloaked in sky

[Solo - Iacovella]

Their pursuit of light
Has been theft of my own
But my own, it lies beyond

Obsidian facades long wept in shadows

From a flaming horizon and blazing dark night
I long for viridian freedom

Freedom from erroneous skin
Which I thought I had shed
Shedding of five faces
Revealing my true home

Yet, that home still feels so far away
Locked in obsidian, the key to my blood
The bleak mirage of self will dissipate
And reveal a path, but to where?

And it’s nowhere, this is nowhere
Do I not belong beyond the end?

True understanding of where I must build my home
Is not this fortress, but on the plains of golden life
This pursuit is final

Their pursuit of light
Has been theft of my own
But my own, it lies beyond

If this is truly the end
And there is no more to see
Release me from these shackles
Such that I may be set free

[Solo - Sanders]

A life full of newfound purpose
A desire to continue
Shall rise to stone from ash
I have begun anew


9. BECOMING THE STONE ICON (OBSIDIAN REPRISE)

[Solo - Sanders]
[Solo - Iacovella]
[Solo - Longerbeam]
[Solo - Walburn]

From life as ash, I have grown into the
keeper of realms. I may not reach the end
Of this journey, but beyond Obsidian
Euphoria, I'll become a stone icon.

“Beyond Obsidian Euphoria, life begins anew.
Standing strong as stone,
Yet forever aware of the ash from which it was molded…”