presence

Giving you the poisoned apple,
beauty or beast
Dancing naked in the rain
with eyes that cannot see
Calling demons that have not spoken
in a thousand years
Old sad eyes of wisdom tell of dreams
we can't reach

When the moon is so cold
When the air breathes of evil
And the black skies will burn
See her shadow is rising

The dying illusion
The loss of a friend
The dying illusion
Please come back again

The hideous smile of the devils
child will tease you t� believe
A forbidding shape witch or virgin -
over a sinister moon
Fatal grace that blinds and binds,
assaults and astounds
From the cradle of eternity
to the fears of modern man


2. Julie Laughs No More

Julie's on the run so far away from home
Mesmerized by promises and gold
Took the wrong left, turn,
it's just a one way street
Now she's all alone, out in the cold

Yes it's true we've heard it all before
But little Julie laughs no more

Julie's now on her way to grandma's house
A tiny little cottage in the woods
Hunting wolves are chasing
this delicious mouse
Where she went we never understood

Nothing really matters anymore
No Julie longer knocks on the door
A fallen princess bends her head in shame
In the end there's no one else to blame

And she's falling
Falling without reach
Julie's falling, lost in her dreams
Afraid to go, afraid to live
Into the emptiness what there's to believe

Julie's on the bean stalk way up in the clouds
Can't stop climbing, refuses to look down
The giant in his castle,
laughs gives wondrous wows
She's cast into the stew without a sound


3. Where The Runes Still Speak

Rain and thunder, fire and wind
Come with me, I leave with the tide
I wrap my cloak closer 'round my shoulders
To keep me warm from the raging storm

The spirits are here to guide my journey
Over the edge of the world
A thousand wounds cry in my soul
Love and pain, a bleeding heart

Where the runes still speak
I 'm coming home
Where the runes still speak

Alone I stand on this stony coast
Winds of spring whisper through the trees
The grey horizon gives me life again
Tee, and stone, the voices of the gods

No woman can show me where the fire burns
No preacher can tell me who I am
My blood is calling me from Asaland
I'm on my way home in the end

A homeward son will claim his heritage
walk the soil of this earth
The pen will be his mighty sword
And the truth his defence

I've travelled roads that lead to wonder
I've seen cities rise and fall
The burden, the cross of a pilgrim
I bear no more, the son is coming home

You closed the door, but I won't give
Somewhere my new life will begin
Countless treasures I shared with you
The only one left is my solitude


4. The Ebony Throne

Where's the muses cave
The isle of the dead
The sign of Eph is gone
So is the sun
Tired and confused
I sail into the night
With the devil at my shoulder
I'll be fine

I ride the straits of darkness everyday
No light will lead my way from my pain
Drowned in tideless pools
No haven for my mind
In grief I meet the storm
Eye to eye

On the ebony throne
Lies the diagonstone
My voyage to vanity
Oh, take me there
To the ebony throne
I followed the sirensong
No enlightened society
Can bring me back
in the maelstrom of minds
Like a will-o-the-wisp
I sail on...

I sail the depths of apathy alone
The world is fading
I 'm a long way from home


5. Temple Of The Dead

A hymn for the praise of the setting sun
In ancient Egypt my home
Child of Horus catch the morning star
To the Elysian fields we will go

The god at the top of the staircase
The usurper that weighs our hearts
In your court I deliver my soul
To be coming forth by day

North, south, east and west
My bones lay all around
My shadow will soon get rest
To higher ground I'll be bound

In the temple of the dead

I am the moongod
who dwelleth among the dead
I shall not perish in heaven or earth
I've cleft the horizon,
I've passed through the underworld
I have divided the heavens
and scattered the gloom of night

To sail the northern heaven
With the sacred eye of stars
The white crown I bear forever
The immortality of my soul


6. Aftermath

Black inferno, chaos reigns supreme
A cancerous growth spreading out the dark
Leaving the wounded land in ashes
A civilization in ruins and decay

Whores and scavengers violating the dead
Like a filthy flock of hungry wolves
Tortured shapes of steel against the sky
The eve of destruction, the final tragedy

Nothing left to admire
Nuclear war and the aftermath
Down in flames, a rain of fire
Time has run out


7. Black Eyes

Every night outside my window, she is there
A frozen shadow in the street
Surrounded by silence and unspoken terror
Hell on high heels

Demonic hunger, a mistress from the grave
Welcome, she smiles
The poisoned smell of her sexuality
Says love me to death

I can't resist the fear
Her deadly demands
Desires of the flesh
what she commands

I cannot move, I cannot run,
Hypnotized like a fool
Eyes of floating coal and dancing firelight
Oh, hell's own delight

She has got me engulfed by her nature
A slave under her will
In her grasp she is boiling my blood
In for the kill

Black eyes, the crystals of fire
are calling my soul
Black eyes, the burning desire
is taking control

Oh no, what can I do. Can't resist...
those black eyes


8. The End Of Pain

In the winter cold I see the blood
Clotting slowly in the snow
Unsung heroes cry in the night
May they die before dawn

Broken banners mourn fallen crowns
Grieving swords lay all around
As the swan song touches the mountainside
Unseeing eyes look at you

Can't you hear it
Hear the sorrows wail
Oh, you can't see it
The newborn day

Impaled hearts welcome the end of pain
Black blood releasing warrior souls
Vultures circle around the fields of grief
Another graveyard, another tale