Opera IX - Anphisbena
Original Version American Import Version 1. Many Moons Ago 1:38 1. Many Moons Ago 1:38 2. The Serpent's Nemeton 6:43 2. The Serpent's Nemeton 6:43 3. The Prophecy 6:10 3. The Prophecy 6:10 4. In Hoc Signo Sanguinis 8:31 4. In Hoc Signo Sanguinis 8:31 5. Immortal Chant 6:48 5. Immortal Chant 6:48 6. Scell Lem Duibh 1:59 6. Scell Lem Duibh 1:59 7. In The Sixth Tower 4:49 7. In The Sixth Tower 4:49 8. Battle Cry 10:55 8. Battle Cry 10:55 9. Anphisbena 7:42 9. Anphisbena 7:42 10. One Road to Asa Bay (Bathory cover) 9:12 10. One Road to Asa Bay (Bathory cover) 9:12 total time 64:27 total time 64:27
Many Moons Ago The final battle is near to be We've collected all the heroes And thousand men with us... Our time is at the end But our seed will return one day This, is now the story begun Many moons... ago! The Serpent's Nemeton Far-away echos accompany the dim lights of torches Old and mighty trees twine along the holy way of an ancient procession Simple but obscure songs are murmured in the deep arboreal temple Only two mighty blades shine in the reflection of fire From our directions come the old sages, each with his number and each carrying his ancestor's treasures Everything repeats as in an old prophecy marked by a vision donated by the Spirit of Nature And nothing is quiet in the dark heart of the forest It's inhabitants voices The breed of the trees and the men's mantra are part of a unique great ritual Nothing is quiet... nothing The four shining serpents slowly draw near to form a circle following the rhythm of Dark and deep rumbles like the heartbeats of a huge dragon as he is drawing near Everything wheels in an alchemist dance, where the symbols will become laws preserved By a family of sages, the men of the oaks Four serpents united and became one circular serpents, just one in the ancient nemeton Where each man was near his stones and symbols Now, everything is silent in the large forest And even the magical lights of the flames seem to burn out in the silence In the circle of men and stones, only the oldest one begins to sing a new but terrible prophecy The Prophecy My name is no-one and a thousand, but the old sages crowned me Queen Mother I am the breath you can hear among the leaves of the trees My sap emerges from the deep lakes flowing into the rivers and into the immense oceans My blood, hot and violent, cleaves the grounding a blazing trail left by a fire dragon Dark and deep is my womb where I generate any form of life Here, the ancient learned to receive the old supreme art I have created sprites and guardians, fools and sages to defend my original power Hidden in a language written on stone shapes and symbols Many where the children who worshipped my thousand faces with honour and respect And I, good and terrible, fed them at my sacred springs with water and dragon's flash Now I'm dying and so are all my faithful servants that men called Gods of Pagos Now, the power of the only god hangs over me And worse my fate will be if they forget about me And with me the most ancient legend carried on by purest emotions will end Follow the ancient path and don't turn to the false light Raise your arms to heaven and you'll be protected Let the spirit walk with your body and draw the cross in the circle Abandon the sufferings that belong to your false nature Love me and I will love you Hate me and I will devour you Descent into my crypts where the darkness of life reigns And nourish the eternal sacred flame Defend your brother tree and your sister stone because their lives are mine Follow the snakes' trail Because it will lead to me In Hoc Signo Sanguinis Mark your body with the symbol of agony because I am the truth Bend your head and lower your eyes because my light will shine upon you and will burn your sins O humble man, dance during the macabre journey of your life I'll be the only relief for your sufferings, since evil has reigned over your soul eternally I am the saviour with the blazing sword that crashes the dragon's power My prophets with their black cloaks will travel along the winding ways of faith The mother's time is now over I am the only father of this world and I will put my scals on the ancient temples My brave warriors will cut down the profane and cursed rocks and the enemy's messengers will burn Never more idols in the cursed forests but only shelters for your weak soul O humble man, listen to my world because from the time I come, you'll be saved Your life will be valueless without sin and your death will be horrible without regret Follow the book's word and don't let be deceived by the man's word This is what is written and predicted by the man of the desert that was led to our lands Shores by the lady of the waters, deceived by a dark veil In him the seed of discord and ruin was hidden Our masters and princess fell under the weight of power and corruption and the men of the cross Promised them new reigns in exchange for new souls What a mysterious magic hit our eyes so that we couldn't see the god's beauty anymore? What a mysterious spell broke up the light of our soul so that we couldn't feel The great mother's power anymore? What a terrible curse stroke our people so that they couldn't follow the old cults of the forest And say their prayers in a stone temple anymore? Under the symbol of the ichthys they promised the coming of a new reign This reign will be built with the martyrs' blood This reign will be fed with the weak's fears It will be a stone temple and will refuse the light Write all this in the stones and hand it down by the force of the voice In order that others may rewrite it with blood Immortal Chant I am the grey conqueror, he who's come by cold and storm The grey wolf called by the full moon, and the snarling beast hidden in the cold mist Brother Tree and Sister Stone Hear my call! Brother Thunder and Sister Night Announce my coming! May it's reflection be seen in the eye of the owl, and be amplified by the wolf's cry I'm the inborn hunting and the battle's fury The strangled breath of the escape and the vane hope of a refuge I'm the agony of the preyer and the red blood on the sword The creature suffocated gasp and the last plea before the void May glory walk beside me and death in the grey cloak follow May red poems of blood be traced by the cold steel in the pages of time I lift this immortal song, in memory of our fathers and in honour to our gods! May the past return to live in the shadow of the moutains In the darkness of the woods, and in the light of the plaines In the depth of the lakes, and at the heights of the glaciers In the grey humid mist, and in the hot mesmerizing sun Do not betray your fathers, and don't deny your instincts For we are the wolves for whom the preyer awaits Just like the old grey wolf, beneath the pale kiss of the moon We shout our war cry to the freezing sky we become death! So that nothing is betrayed Beneath this pale moon, I engrave my body is eternal signature of the corruptible flesh May night swallow day and the moon be tainted red! May the grey wolf return howling in the cold icy storm For nothing will ever be forgotten! May the spirits of my forefathers resurrect once more To erase the affronts inflicted to my land Scell Lem Duibh [Instrumental] In The Sixth Tower Shining in darkness the vary eyes of the lord o birds of prey announces the passing of time With his piercing call The thick dark leaves of the forest dance in the wind and in worshipful adoration The heavens tremble and the bright lightning flashes, leaving the heart's of the forests sons The howling of the wolves become a macabre litany Premonitions, obscure premonitions crawl in the night air Built on dragon's bones the imposing tower stands There the old of the oak turns the profaned sealed pages The timeless pages built on sacred and terrible rituals The wrinkled hands turn the pages, the hypnotic starring eyes nourish the thousand thoughts In the whirling magic of this silent ritual While the moonlight reflects the dragon's breath When the ancient gods ruled the earth, giving abundance and death with a simple and fair hand Glorious were their crowns, but the greed let the man to no longer follow the way of faith But only the path of power. His greed drove him to excavate the depths of the earth In search of hidden treasures The rocks were broken and scattered to extract gold and gems Mans disrupted the earth creating chasms liberating wealth and tremendous powers imprisoned In the womb of the earth for thousands of years Blinded by a mad quest, made pacts with the lord of the abyss Repayed with the supreme art of metals The sublimation of the elements earth, wind, water and fire Death and destruction would spread Blood of the guilty and the innocent may spill on earth nourishing the abyss Battle Cry Impotently at the end of an era we assist As a last rampart we protect the ancient wisdom Our valour multiply our blades But this is not enough Falsehood and treason have reduced our lines And increased the ones of the enemy of the ancient gods Their thirst of lands and power will bring death and destruction for centuries to come The gods, offended by whom have blackened them, have forget us As two terrible dragons battle arrays clash One white as his prophet's livery, tint in nothingness and emptiness of his sentences The other one red, as shame and rage for thousand years of eggression endured Through sparks and flames, bloody rivers flood through the green plains The schock is terrible and many sons of the earth lost their lives on the field Brother they were, now full of hate infused by the priests of the god of the desert For a supposed difference of belives The white dragon dispers and disbound his enemies, divouring them with fierce Without mercy, without honour! And after our killing, they convert our sons with tortures They fill our sons hearts with fear and suspect, hate and ignorance Another era will have to pass over But nothing is linear in the circle of time The wyrd repeat himself and the forgotten forces will free themselves Gathering our sacrifice! Anphisbena Solitary and imposing the sacred tree wait the spirit's circle Night receive the silvery lightning star Take my hand, brother! And give it to a sister as we can close the spirit circle High parfumes spill in the air, celebrating again the time wheel The great golden serpent wrap again his throne Here his royal look meet his opposite, two visages facing themselves in the eternal fight for equilibrium From his wooden throne the black goat of the woods wait his dismemberment as a rites for a continous fertility The nine knights surround the sacred enclosure, carefull guardians from the profane eyes The virgins dance following the way of the mother For the ancestral rite give again gift of continuity at his nation, his ancient nation Who have protected his cult for centuries Fires shines in the dark night and the torches accompany the whirling dances as a serpent that wrap his pray Take my hand brother and give it to a sister, for we are the sacred circle of the spirits Protector and guardians of the ancient knowledge And turn your voice to thunder, because this night the mother will unite with the god And we'll have a new life and a new king The light of the fires shine on the Anphisbena, that is the millenary lady of the underworld She will welcome the new initiated in the eternal circular dance Magics and maledictions from the stone temples will be able to make nothing against The most ancient wisdom, neither the new knowledge And even in the knights of the cross will cut the sacred tree and will banish the serpent The ancient seed will germ again infusing new roots And a new and imposing tree will rise again under the double golden serpent sign One Road To Asa Bay [Originally performed by Bathory] One man rode the way through the woods Down to Asa bay Where dragon ships had sailed to sea More times than one could say To see with own eyes the wonder People told of from man to man The God of all almightyness Had arrived from a foreign land The rumours told of a man Who had come from the other side the seas Carrying gold cross around neck in chain And spoke in strange tongue of peace He had come with strange men in armour Dressed in purple shirts and lace Smelling not of beer but flowers And with no hair in face And the bold man carrying cross Had told all one of Asa bay The God of all man woman child had come To them all save And to thank Lord of Heaven One should build to God a house And to save one's soul from Hell One should be baptised and say vows A man of pride with the Hammer told new God To build his house on own And spoke loud of the Gods of their fathers Not too long time gone The rumours said the man with a beard like fire And the Hammer in chain By men in armour silenced was and by Their swords was slain Those who did not pay the one coin Of four to man of new God Whipped was twenty and put in chains then locked By their neck to the log (To the log...) And so all of Asa bay did build A house of the cross Every hour of daylight they did sweat Limbs ached because faith does cost And on the day two hundred There it stood white to the sky The house of the God of the cross Big enough to take two dragon ships inside And all of Asa bay did watch The wonder raise to the sky Now must the God of the cross be pleased And satisfied Just outside the circle of the crowd One old man did stand He looked across the waters And blotted the sun out of his eyes with one hand And his old eyes could almost see The dragon ships set sail And his old ears could almost hear Men of great numbers call out Oden's hail And though he did know already Though he turned face towards sky And whispered silent words forgotten Spoken only way up high Now this house of a foreign God does stand Now must they leave us alone Still he heard from somewhere in the woods Old crow of wisdom say ...people of Asa land, it's only just begun... Lyrics in plain text format