1. |
Dying Culture
05:19
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We’ve broken our promise…
Buried again in haste,
one more relic of our past
that we once rejoiced to
reap from our hills
Watch horrified as our branches die
twisting in inhuman shapes,
brittle and breaking, they turn to dust in hand
No men fertile are they I’ve found
who tend to the oaks, the ashes and thorns,
their seeds left withered and dry
Borne away
from your velvet embrace
unto darkness and decay
(neither legend nor destined
to live in the hearts of men)
It was but yesteryear
solar brilliance seared our hearts
as crested its course over
green hollows’ grace
Feel of the soil,
bury your hands,
spit your curse on
the idols foul
The age of our youth has passed,
such as ne’er to come again
Borne away
from your velvet embrace
unto darkness and decay
(neither legend nor destined
to live in the hearts of men)
Dying days,
though your lights grow e’er more dim,
light the path unto my grave
Look you upon the remnants past,
those same as we once loved:
they’re brittle now, and crumble to touch,
and scatter like ash in the wind
Feel of the soil,
bury your hands,
spit your curse on
the idols foul
If given the chance
to return to the eve
of your retreat,
I’d never look back
The age of our youth has passed
such as ne’er to come again,
so turn your face to the mirror,
remember: this is ours to shoulder now
This is the sound
of our culture dying
Borne away
from your velvet embrace
unto darkness and decay
(neither legend nor destined
to live in the hearts of men)
Dying days,
though your lights grow e’er more dim,
light the path unto my grave…
(abandoned,
forgotten)
Unto our graves…
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2. |
Like The Sea I Raged
05:10
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By onyx sky we crept to harbours’ throne
where docked their fleet in stone
We every kinsman slew:
the iron grip will wait for none
Sworn unto fealty, we left them nothing
O’er azure sea we sailed to shattered coast
alight with passion’s ghost
We moved across the frozen shore,
and there we burned our household’s name away
As life defines the earth,
so light denies thy crown
“Make a vow to me
that your resolve would never falter,
and save a bough for me,
for our doom grows ever nigh”
On garnet field we fell as damned the fates,
consumed by desperate hate,
that one which cleaved our bond,
that killed our king, that cursed our name forever
As night falls below,
so blood denies thy crown,
and darkness reigns forevermore
“Once a man, like the sea I raged…”
“Chaos rain upon thee!”
“Once a woman, like the earth
I gave fortune to the sea…”
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3. |
Ten Years On The Tundra
04:57
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Frost, ice:
rape me well, I say
The sun rises never again
on the old and grey
Winter buries the decade in
blink of an eye
as I gaze back along my tracks,
and I see nothing but snow
Tundra, bury me:
bury deep my tired bones
The wasteland breaks a man
and leaves him seeking death again
Craving ever thee -
the cleft divine in warmth exposed -
so tundra hear my plea
and bury me
Endless storm of revery,
this vile curse of inheritance
that was laid upon me
Punishment justified
this I will not deny,
but one last time, across the rime,
make my blood to flow,
to flow...
Tundra bury me:
bury deep my tired bones
The wasteland breaks a man
and leaves him seeking death again
Craving ever thee -
the cleft divine in warmth exposed -
so river, hear my plea
and drain the last of me
Frozen dead,
rise from your grave again
Grip my hand
out of the earth
Praise the sun
that it illuminate
our cold roots:
bring them to life
The cries of the loyal still echo
over the treeless expanse
To not one of them do I hearken:
too hard has grown my heart…
But fruits the likes of these
are seldom won,
and least of all by we,
the men resigned to die
Tundra bury me:
bury deep my tired bones
The wasteland breaks a man
and leaves him seeking death again
Craving ever thee -
the cleft divine at last exposed -
and so river, I beg of thee,
drain the last of me
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4. |
Bury Deep My Tired Bones
00:41
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(instrumental)
"Goodbye..."
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5. |
Light My Pyre
05:07
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Heart awake
Shadows of hate
rise from your memory,
blacken your gaze
Hesitance
isn’t your act to take
I’ve dug my grave:
build it higher
I can see the end (hands bound)
atop the burning ground (urn for your bile)
Flames lick my feet and I scream and you smile
Light my pyre
Set my blood on fire
Strangling me with jealousy
of every time that
my desire grew limp,
and stray I would
with my wandering eyes:
you longed to blind them,
blind my sight once and for all
My skin melts away (I’m yours),
muscle torn and frayed (embraced and scorned)
At last you’ve got what you wanted and
my blood boils for you,
for you and you alone
Light my pyre,
for passion’s lust cannot be mine,
the one you’d see
to set my heart afire
and cast my ashes to the sky
Build a mound for me
and bring me to my knees
before your stubborn love bleeds out
Light my fucking pyre now
The price of love
too steep for me,
and yours fulfilled
would swallow me whole
End this now
Let me go
Disavow:
break my body
over branch and stone
Carrion birds
sick with the rain
that dampens my carcass
clean my remains
Burned out corpse
I have become,
have faith:
my legacy’s erased -
charred and broken
Hold you high your head (I’m gone)
and step oe’r the dead (no more your scourge),
but tell me: what of your spirit is left unscathed?
I beg thee
Light my pyre,
for passion’s lust cannot be mine,
the one you’d see
to set my heart afire
and cast my ashes to the sky
Build a mound for me
and bring me to my knees
before your stubborn love
bleeds out
Light my fucking pyre now
Rend me limb from limb
and all my flesh from bone
I reap as I have sown
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6. |
Auras
05:37
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Once given oaths to break in vain,
we were made to own
all the torments we create
These are the hills,
cold lie the bones
we were charged to keep as whole
So thoughtless we are,
their memories harrowed
Auras spiral out to pull us in,
fraying our eternal bond
Clouded vision in oblivion:
craving existence beyond
Open your eyes…
Look to the east where broke the day
‘Neath the shadow cast,
withered souls to turn away
Once noble hopes,
champions scorned
drawn and quartered by the dawn
Breathless we watched
hate consuming
Auras spiral out to pull us in,
fraying our eternal bond
Clouded vision in oblivion,
craving existence beyond
Open your eyes,
though the winds sting
and snow doth blind
Light of the north,
guide us forward:
we are your chosen
Spirit away
to the sun
on a verdant plain,
and underneath,
the fertile seeds
alive and growing
Damn the hours at dusk
In the eventide our grief is thus
Hanging heads,
stains from fallen tears
Sorrow all that we can bear
Look ahead,
wandering pioneers,
shed the burden from your backs for it is time:
take back your lives
Open your eyes,
though the winds sting
and snow doth blind
Light of the north,
guide us forward:
we are your chosen
Spirit away
to the sun
on a verdant plain,
and underneath,
the fertile seeds
alive and growing
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7. |
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Journey
toward the ruins, as they
unfold
over
paths what I tread when the winds
blow cold.
Not you,
bear not my burden on this
old road;
distant
voices insist it be mine
alone.
Mine…
Fortune
falls away from my blood’s
gold throne;
marrow
turns to ash in my dry,
old bones.
Reaping
seeds of extraction, those what
I’ve sown;
Nothing
I won’t forsake such that I atone.
I…
Where hide you, gods?
Was not my face
one that you
favored so long with the sun
and cleansed of its filth with the rain?
Now
I stand as one
screaming in vain,
searching
horizons for signs, but see none;
the mountains you’ve raised are the
irons that bind me in
chains
Old road,
companion:
bear me to to Hell,
where I belong
Nothing
I won’t forsake such that I atone.
I…
When every breath I breathe
is for the love I grieve,
it’s then,
with all my transgressions laid bare,
that I repent
repent of the fury that breeds in despair
The hands that guide me
up the ropes
that hang from the sky,
that promise redemption:
may they fold before I die…
(Before I die…)
Gods!
Where hide you now?
Was not my face
one that you
favored so long with the sun
and cleansed of its filth with the rain?
Here
I stand alone,
gaze ever skyward,
screaming;
is this the end of your reign?
the mountains you’ve raised are the
posion of all that I’ve
gained
Show me, gods…
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8. |
Unchain The Wolf
05:29
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“Bleed out!
It’s the burden of your clan,
so son, bleed out.
It’s our sorrow, and our fate,
so boy, bleed out.
It’s written in your veins, you know;
your forebears hung themselves with rope
and this here, it’s your destiny.”
So I
set foot in this sacred place again
but it’s gone,
all vestige fucking gone.
I hold your empty gaze in mine,
but must I leave our past behind?
“The spine of nature bends blind.”
Farewell; my will is thine…
This is the end,
this is my last unmaking;
unchain the wolf.
This is the end,
lineage stands unbreaking,
so unchain the wolf
What hell is this
that seethes before my eyes?
Is this what I called home?
One last nail for the god you failed…
That’s all.
That’s all I have to give.
“Stop shaking, make a noose;
this rope, it held your father; it can hold you.
The taking of our men too soon
is old,
older than you,
older than me;
it comes whether you’re ready
or not…”
Never again
slumbering embers to wake;
Only the dead
celebrants here in decay.
Withered life,
dream again…
Ahhhhh
“Give me your hand,
As a pledge of sincerity”
The twilight fades:
all fortresses sink below
the surface of the roaring waves.
Open his maw
On earth, in sky; sun and moon devoured
Between the great beast’s gaping jaws…
Go!
The mirror gaze
Is fractured, and it’s a lie,
the ashes of some distant blaze.
Swallow me whole;
leave my good eye with the wanderer:
to set aflame the bowels cold…
Go!
One more time,
Here’s to demise…
Chorus 2 (growled):
This is the end,
this is my last unmaking;
unchain the wolf.
This is the end,
heritage stands unbreaking,
Un….
Unchain the wolf.
Unchain the wolf…
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Oak, Ash & Thorn Denver, Colorado
Oak, Ash & Thorn arose along Colorado’s Rocky Mountain front range out of a collective passion for heavy metal and old-world paganism. New full length album coming early 2024 via Lost Future Records, tours to follow.
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