Ihsahn - The Adversary lyrics
Tracks 01. Invocation
02. Called By The Fire 03. Citizen 04. Homecoming 05. Astera Ton Proinon 06. Panem Et Circenses 07. And He Shall Walk In Empty Places 08. Will You Love Me Now? 09. The Pain Is Still Mine 01. Invocation Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
Come suffering, Apocalypse
Release the fires of Hell I call upon destruction and despair Here the days of slumber end I beckon the night to live and overcome the fear Come sin, come shame congregation of contempt I bid you welcome to the pyre Will our objective truths withstand this affliction? I venture Let it all come down! The deafening sound of trumpets roar In celebration of impending chaos This is not terror, this is not war Beyond repentance This is the call of the abyss. As deep cuts of truth As a fire that closes the wound So is my redemption Beyond repentance This is the ordeal of fire Come suffering, Apocalypse Release the fires of Hell I call upon destruction and despair Not for vengeance Not for power Beneath the ashes I walk 02. Called By The Fire Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
The sky is clouded and grey like a mirror
Dreams of celestial bliss buried deep An invisible web of whispers Spread out over dead-end streets Silently blessing the virtue of sleep. I'm still Called by the fire My spirit Called by the fire Yes, I'm still Called by the fire Called by the fire Eternally The flickering light The heat of the flame creates and devours In my soul there is night Every day I grow more immune to social sedatives Every day the web is more transparent United in fear and the comfort of reason Illusions that we are all peers Walking the stairs I am ever more awake The black cloud is beneath me And I laugh 03. Citizen Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
Citizen!
Whence came your voice Your right to speak? Is there a purpose to your tongue And gnawing teeth? I ask thee; How deep and hollow Is your mouth? What lie is too decayed For you to stomach? With humility and obedience You pride yourself Evasive and lukewarm Until the end Citizen! The interdependent morality Of your collective Made too soft the bed In which you lie. I ask thee; Do you acknowledge Your own fragility When you sleep To server the "Great Good"? United in fear Lives "hard to bear" Illusions that "we are all peers" I preach not for understanding In you I have no faith I spit at you my truth; That you are the burden of my heritage. For herein lies the irony There is neither room Nor air For the wakeful fire In your precious world Of equality Citizen! You are truly faithful To tradition When you crucify Those whose voices burn Alas A hundred years from now You recite and corrupt Their epitaphs To crucify another. 04. Homecoming Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
I have tried so hard
To regain my faith In man Yet, I fail again To uphold this Deception His collective truths Are far too salt I return instead To the Heart and Self And say: "Unutterable and nameless Is that which maketh my sou's pain And sweetness, And which my bowels yearn upon". 05. Astera Ton Proinon Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
Were you not humble
Not submissive? Would you not bend your knee? Did you question or object To the world of the many? Had you a vision of your own? Saint of the damned Icon of the rejected Primerval insurgent Ascend O' Morning Star Ascend [Is.14.12-14] "How art thou fallen from heaven, O'day-star, Son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, That didst cast lots over the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, In the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High." Man has been reared by the four errors And never saw himself other than imperfectly. Such is then the pleasure of the common herd To quench their envious thirst in misery. 06. Panem Et Circenses Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
Awake, O' serpent of my heart
It is time The sun stands high And unfaithful crowds await Thee Redemption in their eyes And stone at hand The arena hungers for your venom Let the games begin. Bring in the lions Bring in the beasts It is time To confront the masses With their fears, A sober moment A shred of truth To gaze into an honest mirror A disturbance of their sleep. Violent teeth and claws Untamed and fierce Reaches far and cut deep Into the empty eye. It is time To let the bitter venom flow Trough this embodiment Of emptiness. And the blood shall run free Like words And the bones shall form stairs To the future Now, unfaithful spectator Are you satisfied? Did you come close enough To feel the lion's breath? On day soon Your shall be the sacrifice A nameless grave Of the past. Protagonist Your time is now. 07. And He Shall Walk In Empty Places Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
Of all rejected creatures unloved
Of all who defy the predestination That divides mankind Into the saved and damned He was the first. The lurking punishment With blood he did reveal Death And trough the ages run A river deep and red The ever present heirs For whom there is no rest. And he shall walk in empty places With a claim on destiny and self at hand An endless journey towards the rising sun. Towards the rising sun. "Remember this, you others; The fire and the fury, The strength and defiance, This you admire, this you desire, I had to win them for myself". In remembrance of the adversary I conjure up the lion will: Hungered Violent Solitary Godless. 08. Will You Love Me Now? Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
One great man was silent
Of his superiority. He was openly flattered And hated silently. Another spoke of his will to aspire To create beyond himself And the self-inflicted impotent man Felt spat at by all ambition. The solitary pierced the skin of denial And the blood would colour the sky. A futile display to those whose heads Are always turned towards the ground. Staring Into the mud Into the heart of emptiness Where they squirm Desperately Like wing-clipped flies. And the whining parasite man To whom pity and gloating are the same. This spineless parody of man Will devour even himself in secrecy. In secrecy. Will you love me now -you, whose feeling of dignity Is a matter of subtraction? Will you love me -now that I have revealed your un-nakedness? Will you love me now -you whose perception of justice Equals your will to corrupt? Will you love me -when I cut trough all the layers of your vanity? Will you love me now -you, who cling to a heart so fragile Even your gods must suffer for you? Could you love truth? Could you love truth Even in secrecy? And they gathered In their halls of justice Halls of mirrors Halls of echoes. And they gathered In their houses of worship Within the walls of the unspoken Sheltere from the rain. 09. The Pain Is Still Mine Music & lyrics by Vegard Sverre "Ihsahn" Tveitan
The word is easy
Dripping sweet and cocky from the tongue Vaguely describing the taste of blood. A distant cry arise From the fathomless well That is my soul. I can not hear the words So I throw my heart in Like a coin And wish that it would sink forever. A purpose, a sacrifice Or merely temptation? Is my solitude anything but a perversion Of my vanity? I never cared for this weak inclination This paranoid tendency To flock. And in between all the noise All the guilt A silence would carry my spirit away From diminishing obsessions. Away from fools and poisonous flies. The birth of a dreamer. Behold, an angel of vengeance A lion A sword of fire Alas, the burden of my heart Is violence undone Pain unfulfilled Silence. When I finally cut deep Into the flesh of guilt The un-naked body of shame And the veins of repentance Open wide Sending rivers of blood Into my mouth The pain is still mine. |