1. |
The Cross of Nero
08:10
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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
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2. |
Coils of Night
07:00
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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
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3. |
Cold Bones
05:37
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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
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4. |
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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
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5. |
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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
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6. |
Mortui ut Patria Vivat
04:21
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7. |
Graves Above
06:26
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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
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8. |
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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
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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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