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Beneath the Swaying Fronds of Elysian Fields

by Nero or the Fall of Rome

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1.
The Cross of Nero Be sure to hold your children tight On your bed of straw I will pour linseed oil And I’ll guard your sleep tonight As you dream of flames and glory They’ll burn Rome to the ground From Circus Maximus to the Fields of Mars And they’ll spare only mothers’ cry For nine days to come I’ll fill the vacuum of night Illuminate the sky with fire And where the ashes will touch the ground I’ll raise one thousand crosses for you, liars! And you shall pray your god Cause I bring mercy in one hand In the other, nails and thorns May your saviour be with you May you soon be with your saviour May your sons be with you May your sons be with your saviour Once upon accidental holocaust and progress Those houses of wood so close together And Tiber itself paved with fire For nine days to come “They have burned your sanctuary to the ground They have defiled the dwelling place of your name”* On the cross of Nero You shall burn for Rome And through the flames of Nero You shall walk and fall *Psalm 74:7
2.
Coils of Night It’s dark and you haven’t had supper yet The shadows stretch but days get shorter After the sunset you suffer in vain And never ask for whom the bell tolls, it counts each of your miseries As you face many ghosts and hear weak voices from the past And you whisper to your faint heart the truth Years are cruel and even harsher ones yet to come And coils of night tighten around your throat They say the serpent hides in flowers It sleeps where you bend down your knees The hunger urge pushes harder When the night takes over this garden As it orders, calling louder You will gather the fruits from the trees of this garden You will drink the water I let flow from the mountains And will you doom your free will as your fathers before you Cause you have put your own heart above god? There’s no need of venom or mercy Nor any pathetic admission of guilt No fault or compassion, it won’t let you breathe And the foggy morning won’t bring any comfort or relief It will slowly crash your bones They say the serpent rises with darkness It crawls silent behind your shoulders The horrid jaw hisses strident When regret takes over your blackness As the tide it grows, devouring all “…Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.” Corinthians 10:9
3.
Cold Bones 05:37
Cold Bones From the age of Noah and the greatest flood We have been sent to march towards the land of Nod Only once you answered the call And now you only drag cold bones We have crossed the river without staring back At the grace we were leaving to follow the wolf pack So, you are doomed to roam And you know to whom you own Cold bones, they gather at the East of Eden Where the dawn lingers and broken souls lie together Sharp tongues we’ve fed with hate and plagues And so, few words were left upon your wretched Cold bones With devotion we’ve bent To idols, altars and dark thrones Cold bones Old bones, they wander at the edge of desert Where the sun points to the horizon but there’s no haven Warm veins, faint hearts we have oppressed With the last stone that the hand of Cain had cast “As when one plows and breaks up the soil So our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave." Psalm 141:7
4.
Beneath the Swaying Fronds of Elysian Fields On the brightest flame you have scattered the incense And honoured the dead with blood given back to the earth You have dreamed of rolling hills through a frame of fire A path through fields of grain and spikes beneath the sun rays This is the road back home, this is the end of dust No time is left for doubts or prayers to gods Cause much you have seen and much has been sold This is your last journey on earth so close your eyes Then you can almost see the swaying fronds of Elysian Fields And touch the fresh grass and feel on your face the Zephyr breeze Beneath the swaying fronds of Elysian Fields There’s no blood to pour on this land No hunger and cold, nor sickness or famine No farewells and tears to hold Your lips will be forever kissed by the morning dew And you won’t have any memory of the fear of death Then you can almost see the swaying fronds of elysian fields In the Zephyr breeze that blows from the west to the east And you have dreamed of rolling hills through a frame of fire A path through fields of grain and spikes beneath the sun rays So please wait for me at the gates of Elysian Fields It has been told, come back with it or on your shield And I finally see the swaying fronds of Elysian Fields So, I can rest forever in death’s arms in peace Beneath the swaying fronds of Elysian Fields “There is no Death! What seems so is transition This is life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life elysian Whose portal we call Death.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
5.
A White Crow in the Blizzard “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves But beware of men for they will deliver you up To the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues” * It flies against the wind A white crow in the blizzard It lies upon your chest A black crow after midnight The lies of man they mislead the ages Like a white crow in the blizzard You can spot its eyes but its feathers As December brides fade to white So, you have defined the value of life Hand on gospel, hand on heart And so, you have forged your bloodline Finger on trigger, hail to the king “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” ** We fly against the wind as white crows in the blizzard It lies upon our chest, the weight of loss and guilt The heart of men it is pitch and leather Like a black crow after midnight You can’t spot its eyes nor its feathers But wings of darkness do always flutter So, I have defined the value of death Once it comes, then it takes And I have sealed the last of oaths I won’t drag any chain I can break “If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black, you mustn’t seek to show that no crows are It is enough if you prove one single crow to be white.” William James *Matthew 10:16 ** John 8:44
6.
7.
Graves Above 06:26
Graves Above It towers among the clouds One of the fourteen legends For long time it has haunted your mind and dreams The attempt at the way through the spur Yet no one has returned A colossus of millenary rocks A glacier with a pulseless heart Baptized in everlasting wintertime Abode of the ancient gods and the dead You won’t hear the singing of birds But the sound of iron that cracks the ice And the loud noise of wind will stun you To tear you off the mountainside Graves Above Six feet under the starry vault Graves above the clouds And the mortals down below In a coffin with the worms Impossible may not be forever But there’s no certainty when you climb through the arms of fate You won’t have breath enough to sing a song Not even one final verse Not even your final words Graves above Six feet under the starry vault Graves above the clouds for those who sleep On the shoulder of the giant with the gods Lethargy relieves the frostbites pain Now blood is freezing in my veins Through the tears the route is clear In the slumber of my awakening Now, at the end, I know where I belong Now, at the end, I own my fate in my hand And my grave above Six feet under the starry vault “Just the bare bones of a name, all rock and ice and storm and abyss It makes no attempt to sound human. It is atoms and stars It has the nakedness of the world before the first man Or of the cindered planet after the last” Fosco Maraini, Secret Tibet
8.
Our Epitaph Shall be Carved in Stone One day all those you have known will die No eye will ever linger on your grave Ruins left to decay And a name cast to the oblivion The leaders you’ve followed will be grain And the flag you have served defamed Yet the fields of your youth are sick Burnt and barren An Epitaph to the slaves Shall be carved in stone To mark our deeds with words And tears of those we love Will make saltier the sea And those days of grief When joy and sadness will Haunt the same memory But you didn’t dare to wear a different uniform Or sew your own one From rags of sorrow and patches of failures Nights in the rain and journeys “These are the woes of slaves They glare from the abyss They cry from unknown graves These are the bones of slaves They gleam from the abyss They cry from yawning waves”* An epitaph to the slaves shall be carved in stone After the last stone will be set on my grave Raise a glass and call my name Yet I hear you celebrating Soon you’ll follow and I’ll be waiting An Epitaph to the braves From Avernus shall be heard To prove that we were slaves But our hands were not bloody *Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

about

This album is our revolt against modern metal.
Keep it old!

credits

released April 27, 2020

Produced by Giorgio Maraia and Nero or the Fall of Rome
Mixed and mastered at Mile Road Studio
All music by Federico and Elia. All arrangements by Nero or the Fall of Rome
All lyrics by Federico. All graphics and cover illustration by Robert Brockmann
Talharpa and shamanic drum by Alessandro Antonello
Band logo by Fabio Zecchin

Federico “V”: rhythm guitar and vocals
Elia M.: rhythm/lead and acoustic guitars
Fabrizio T.: bass
Luca L.: drums
Mirko A.: live guitar

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Nero or the Fall of Rome Verona, Italy

Featuring members of Riul Doamnei, NERO OR THE FALL OF ROME is an epic/doom/black metal act with an old school attitude and influences of bands such as Darkthrone, Bathory and Candlemass. "Beneath the Swaying Fronds of Elysian Fields" marks the band's debut with 8 tracks soaked in tragic and epic atmospheres constantly moving between menacing black metal and doomish shades. ... more

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