[instrumental]

Morning light shines from the west
Ageless warmth awakens from its rest
Lost cold of the moon, chill of the stars
The sun spreading life, the end of a war
Once again the dark is driven away
But this day is forever to stay
Watching its face, the ending of its age
The whole world trembling in rage

Slumber, from its cradle
Wakens to begin
Lost in this world
Crying death
Start of an ending
Birth of a time of ice

I'm standing at the gates of the ending
Watching its vortices swirl
Escaping from doom's mouth, opening
Invincible, ineffable
Unconquerable
Time has no more measure
The last word I would ever form
Nevermore, nevermore

Nearing death, with life everywhere
Sunlight pierces the impenetrable dark
Without the without there is no within
No morality, no virtue without its sin
And the vision unfolds its wings
And takes flight to the end of all things
What you have melted shall freeze again soon
Night comes at the tolling of noon

See, this sleeping silence of snow
How she screams
This avalanche never-ending
Once seen in fearful dreams
And she shall rise
A phoenix in tears
Lost wisdom and justice
She shall kill

I'm standing at the gates...

Her tears, a river to cover the land in ice
That somber splendour restored in her eyes
A cradle of life, the frozen bath of Bathory
And again she is still, fairest sleeping beauty

I'm standing at the gates...

Void and blind,
I watched the frozen surface
Frozen and hollow beyond
Beyond the emptiness, a child cried
Cast the fear from my eyes
Some told tales of deception
Of poison in disguise
Words unspoken, walls lay broken
Beyond the surface I saw the sun

We will divide
We shall collide
We will defy, the lie
With wings unchained
Soaring to the sky

Silence has condemned us
Into perpetual night
Deceiving visions created
By rays of blinding light
Silence shall be broken
The drapery shall be torn
With furious truth, undaunted
I call the roar of the storm

We will divide
We shall collide
We will define, a time
The stars unfold
Calling to the blind

They can't distinguish the outlines of a future
Formed by hands that keep them in the dark
Held imprisoned within walls inexistent
To the eyes too corrupted to see

You can't deny the presence of untruthful statements
Made to bind the fear within the mind
Made to blind, to cover the eyes
From seeing the layers and layers of lies

Layers and layers of lies...

The war-torn landscapes
Open, an endless sea
A sea the stillborn man can't begin to see
Without a cry
They drown in the depths of lies
Remaining blind
Blind to the truth that never dies

Trapped in a room without walls
Forced to walk this darkened road
When I come to a crossroad
And the way divides into three separate paths
I walk the one out of my dream
And awake in tears

As a blood-red sun is rising
The icy landscape flashing by
I've never felt such feelings
Never felt so alive
I run faster than ever before
And I know my destination

I had this dream, a vision of myself
Imprisoned, tormented, screaming for help
Now awake I realise, I see what I am
I feel more free than ever
I am my own king

Fears, enemies alike to be won
A path to make the past undone
I proudly watch the rising sun
The way to freedom has begun

Fueled by my own desire
I climb higher
Fueled by my inner fire
I reach my peak

I have always been running
Thinking I'm forced to
Now I know the truth
Freedom has begun

I stop and turn around
Seeing the path that I carved

My tracks in the snow
Show my independence
I led myself where I stand
Not forced nor guided

The tracks behind me fade away
And I ask myself a question
Will this last forever
This freedom

The light is fading
But I seek no shelter
For a wish was born after sunset
And through the gathering shadows
I shall wander, in search of the light
The promise made so long ago
To find that warmth and the glow
Once seen in the dream of a pure heart
Shall lead my soul through the dark

It grips my heart...

I behold the gathering darkness
The beast that slowly stirs
Never yielding, never healing
For a flame within still burns
I know that the shadows will take me
But never brake me; for a glimpse of a star
Dying within, free from sin
The last breath still reaching for truth

Shackled in chains of humanity
Shackled in chains of weakness
Shackled in chains of unending hunger
Never torn asunder
But that star once shined
through the walls of my heart
I saw the dream that I feared
And the stormwinds blew to be born anew
To die to fight for my life
Fight for my life...

See the countless aeons turn
Bu the flame within still burns

I behold the gathering darkness...

Remember!

This place of heathen divinity
Dying and withered
Defiled, its meaning

This old sacred place
About to be forgotten
This place where our
Ancestors gathered

The wind still whispers our forefathers' chants
The ground still trampled by their dance

This place of heathen divinity
What it has given, and what is its meaning
The Markstone of our past
On the edge of oblivion

Tell our ancient tales
As long as they can be told
Before the passage of time takes its toll

The wind still whispers...

The old ways forgotten
Foreign beliefs adopted
But forever, remember
Who we are and what led us here

The wind still whispers...

Faces in flames, that haunting dream
Relentless the echo of that scream
Awakened by hope, a vision seen
Faces in flames from the anvil now gleam
Never again evil men shall descend
Upon innocence for their hate to rend
This justice, sealed in corporeal form
For faces that remain, hope is born

Soul sealed in steel
Will cast into iron
Order eternal
Revealed, now kneel
Doomed to the cycle of flame

Search, now, for your graves

Those faces in flames, guiding the path
The hand of man of righteous wrath
Never again, shall that evil walk free
This justice shall find, wherever he sees
Hears what he fears; the flames that would sear
His loved ones shedding dying tears
Never again, an oath he swore
Faces in flames, the scenes of war

As flames sear the stones
The veil of hate suddenly falls
From the flames, those burning forms
Beg for mercy before the heart stalls

Soul sealed in steel...

Pray, now, for your name

Standing midst these faces in flames
Standing midst innocence's graves
Hearing again that tormenting scream
Crying midst a ravaged dream

So the ignorant curses the iron
The blade-bearer's but a fool
Cursed be our hearts of the tyrant
And the hand that built its tool

And so your symbol shall remain as justice
But the craftsman has known sin
A means to this heart so loveless
Shall devour its master from within

Soul sealed in steel
Will cast into iron
Order eternal
Revealed, now kneel
Doomed to the cycle of flame
Search now for your grave
Order eternal
Unseen, now kneel
Lost in the cycle of flame

The lands are struck with sorrow
An overwhelming fear
The prophecy of an ending
The last day is near
The ones chosen to battle
A great quest they bear
The warriors are gathered
The wisdom of the prophet, hear!

Soldiers, brothers and allies
Hear my words
On you I trust the burden
To defend our world

Lightning strikes
The sun is blackened
The whole world shakes
And burning fragments rain

The thousands of warriors
Chosen to fight
In grief they are marching
Through the night
The ancient terror will rise
As foretold by the wise:

"Tämä ikuisesti pelätty loppu meitä lähestyy.
Taivaalta sataa verta ja susi meidän jumalamme syö.
Ei kukaan säästy kuolemalta. Ikuisen kaaoksen valta.
Tämä on viimeinen yö"

Serpent! From the endless depths, rise!
Into oblivion this world will demise
Forgotten terror unleashing its wrath
The seven seas into chaos lash
Not only by sea does evil descend
Every corner of this world fire giants will rend
Every man and god will fall

Ragnarök will crush you all!

Brandishing a sword of revenge
Surtr brings death to all manner of things
Fumes will reek and flames will burst
But the giant king destroys himself

Yggdrassil will shake from root to summit
Earth, heaven and hell will quiver
Nothing is left after destruction's work
Behold the power of mighty Ragnarök!

Rain, the gift of our forbidden god
Grants no compassion, no humility
Our souls filled with a burning wrath
And the promise of our divinity
But a silent voice now weeps within
It prays; forgiveness for our sins
For our lands left ravaged in our wake...

And so I stand
My heart filled with hate for eternity
And so I stand
My soul still denies my mortality
And so I shall fall
Alone and bound to envy all
I did not understand

And I feel pain, that solace
Of a tainted conscience
It grants a glimpse of resentful reality;
Our God, long since fallen
A lost path, a lie of divinity
And I see it die
I hear it weep
In waters deep

And last, I stand
As the final beacon of man
Through remorse, through the shame
The guilt of aeons in my name
The grief of aeons
That rends apart the heart
The art of man perfected

And pain fades away
A castaway I am to stay

In that name I became what nature abhors
In vain I now raise my fist against it all
But I see, through the eyes of a storm, afar
A father's scorn, a mother's call
And I'm filled with reverence as I fall
The temple trembled as time did stall
Its last keeper becomes one with the stars
A grave; the peace for the restless

At last, I stand
The pitch-black rain can't cleanse
My broken blood-stained hands
And last, I fall
And see it all...

Gone is the light
Dead is the sun
On these wasted plateaus
Where only wolves now run

The temples that men built
Are now naught but places of guilt
Gushing forth destruction and filth
Themselves covered in cleanest silk

Now the snow is black
The sun, painted black
Yet I travel with a torch in my hand
Wandering the length and the breadth of this land

The sun is sleeping behind the clouds
Its fire stolen by the hounds
We unleashed upon him
We were the Prometheus of our time
Unknowing the depth of our crime

The sun is sleeping behind the clouds
Its fire stolen by the hounds
We were the Prometheus of our time
Left wondering the depth our crime

A sword on my shoulder
An axe on the other
A torch in my fist
The fire in my heart

Gone is the light
Dead is the sun

Yet I travel with a torch in my hand
Climbing the highest mountains
Wander the length and breadth of this land
To carry fire to our fountains