1. Hymn To Zeus
Zeus greatly honoured, Zeus imperishable, here to you
We experience redemptory and spreak, we declare
Ow King, that from your head all the holy came
Mother earth and mountains highest lines
And the deep sea and all everything that the sky can embrace
Ow Son of Cronos Zeus, leader, thunderer, brave-heart
All-father, root of entire world and terminus of it
Earth-shaker, Augmentor, Purgatorial, All-shaker
Lightning, thunderer, fertile Zeus
Hear me: variform and give health
And holy peace and impiccable glory of wealth
2. Braver Than Heroes Vows (The Battle Of Plataea)
The blood of heroes never dried
Nor the 300 ever died
They're here on the field of Plataca
On the tip of our poised spears
They stand amongst the hoplites stern
Braver than heroes vows
The Persian shakes palled with fear
At the sight of the phalanxes
Spartans and Arcadians
Athenians and Megarans
100000 hold the line...
The blood of heroes never dried
Nor the 300 ever died
They're here on the field of Plataca
On the tip of our poised spears
Iron clad and armed with bronze
A tide and woe upon the foe
The hoplites like a war machine
Rode down the Persian curse...
Spartans and Arcadians
Athenians and Megarans
100000 hold the line...
Zeus let your eagle fly
O'er the plain where they shall die
Ares see your sons blood-dyed
And in our deeds take grim delight...
Louder than trumpets sound
Braver than heroes vows
Brighter that glory shines
Our names shall stand in time...
3. Guardian Of The Bridge
Guardian of the bridge
Between the realms
Of gods and mortal men,
Stand your ground and scan
With thy keen eye the far
Horizon wherein only thou can see –
Look for the end of days,
Look for the coming
Of dreaded Ragnarok...
Grasp the hilt of your mighty sword,
And sound the charge on Gjallarhorm!
Guardian of the bridge,
Call the Gods out of their halls –
Bid Odin leave the golden walls
And ride ahead, leading the Aesir forth
Into one final war – for the glory
Of the eternal and everlasting
Fame of a warrior who fought
And died on the side of light
Whereon rides the day-bringing God...
Guardian of the bridge,
Between the sky and the sea –
Heimdall, son of Odin,
Thee I call! Descend from above
And guard what is most sacred for me:
My virtue and my honor
In times of death, fire and war...
4. Freedom Or Death (Kosovo 1389)
Ye blood brothers of Sava
The clarion calls
Let down lutes and psalterias
And take up your swords
Tsar Lazar the glorious
Heading the charge
His breastplate and shield shine
With the holy cross...
Voyvoda Stepan rides at his side
The mighty king Vukashin
Goiko and Uglyesha
Staring proudly into the sun
Defying the fire, scorning the foe
Freedom or death is their oath
Ye sons of the empire
The sun doth rise black
Now's the time to due hands red
But let your souls be write
Tsar Lazar has fallen
Under turkish sword
Avenge him to the last man
Freedom or death!
Voyvoda Stepan bleeds by his side
The mighty king Vukashin
Goiko and Uglyesha
Staring proudly into the sun
Defying the fire, scorning the foe
Freedom or death is their oath
Must thou go my noble Tsar?
Would that I were cold with those
That laid their lives in the holy cause
At the feet of the Serbian eagle...
Would that the blade that sealed thy fate
Be lodged ten times into my breast
Than to see our only hope fail...
Our dead call for revenge
Remember Kosovo
Left alone to brave the night
We stood for out homeland
God and the Tsar
On the fields where we fell
Now the Amaranths bloom...
5. Terror From The Sea
Hark! The great bells tolls
In a frantic tone of distress;
A menace has come forth –
Drakkars from the mist...
Bestial prows lashed by waves,
Can't you hear their silent howl?
Terror from the sea –
Flames consume the monastery...
They left their mark on Normandy,
Ruins and carnage, women that weep;
Demons berserk, on the foe they press,
The thirst of hate, the storm of swords,
God is never there when they come
In the black of night or early morn...
Terror from the sea –
Give up hope, turn and flee!
The flames shall dance high,
The vultures feast like kings;
What prayers in vain,
What tale of strife,
The messenger doth bring?
Where their swords may reign
Wolves and worms be fed!
Bestial prows lashed by waves,
Can't you hear their silent howl?
Terror from the sea –
In blood they take their fee!
Ashes rain softly down,
Like gray, scorched snow...
"This is the Devil's work!"
The Abbot will solemnly say;
"This is the doing of Beasts!"
The knight appalled declares;
"Had I warriors like those!"
The king doth exclaim...
Terror from the sea,
Drakkars emerging from the mist!
Terror from the sea,
The Vikings are sailing to the East!
6. Fatherland
Many roads we have traveled,
Many skies we have seen:
Only to the stars we have yet to be,
There, where our hearts will forever beat!
Homecoming sweet will be:
Having braved the endless seas
To see the green of Uppsala's hills,
Homeward bound I be!
Brothers let us sail to the North,
Back to the land of our Fathers,
Where the Gods of thunder and war
Await our ship to reach the shore!
Homecoming sweet will be:
Having braved the endless seas
To see the green of Uppsala's hills,
Homeward bound I be!
7. The Fall Of Atlantis
"Atlanteans... once blessed children of the light, now a corrupt, tyrannical empire.
Legends tell us of the last days of Atlantis, when the Athenian army took up their spears, shields and swords against
the yoke of repression and put an end to the hubris of the Atlanteans once and for all..."
The horns of war call keen and clear –
Hoist our standard to the sky!
The armada raises sail
The Atlantean host to brave!
Hoplites of the free world stand,
Cast your spears in tyranny's heart!
Like the Olympians long ago,
Give the blasphemers but death!
The thirst of carnage now awake:
Athena's sons are going to war!
Atlantean hubris shall be no more
When we storm their copper walls!
In cloud and flame athwart the heaven,
Their flying machines our arrows hail;
The ancient vineyards shall give forth
The sanguine wine of frothing gore...
Their numbers melting fast from their array,
Show no mercy, ours is the day!
Defenders of the ancient world,
Our triumph is steeped in laurels gold!
They who invoked the wrath of Gods
Now sink beneath an angry sea;
They who fought for a vile cause
Met with the justice of our swords!
8. The Victory Rune
Last night I had a dream
Of Odin's raven on a tree
Whose boughs were crooked
In the form of the victory rune...
War-magick binds
The links of my chain maille
My oaken shield is blessed
By symbols arcane...
Seals my fate, heals my wounds
The victory rune!
My heart is true, reunited we'll be soon
The victory rune!
Bloodlust reddens my eyes
My voice becomes raw
I'll see you where dead heroes lie
In Valhalla's gold-thatched hall!
As old mariners say
The sky is a sea as well
Wherein we are shall sail
On the ship of Njord one day...
Seals my fate, heals my wounds
The victory rune!
My heart is true, reunited we'll be soon
The victory rune!
Hundreds of years may pass
But my people still march
The victory rune 'round their neck
Once against swordsmen
Now 'gainst brigadeers
There on top of the hill
There's a lonely monolith
Whereon inscribed is the story of my life
The joys, the wars and my final victory
9. In Blessed Days
Gather round and listen close
I'll now sing you a song
Of blessed days gone by
As sung once upon a time...
Close your eyes and fly away
To blessed days
'Ere the Elves fled this world,
'Ere dwarfs turned to stone...
The world was fair,
The mountains tall, the sky clear –
The rivers run crystalline
'Ere the dryads turned to willows...
Close your eyes and fly away
To blessed days
'Ere the Elves fled this world,
'Ere dwarfs turned to stone...
Sing with me and dream
Of the beauty that once was –
Of the deep woods wherein
The Faery folk did dwell...
Can you remember at all
The blessed days
When knights roamed the land
And dragons slain lay in their caves?
Can you recall
The name of the one
The hero that put the giants to the sword
And was hailed by all in a continent afar?
Close your eyes and fly away
To blessed days
'Ere the Elves fled this world,
'Ere dwarfs turned to stone...
10. Cataphract Legion
See them squirming yonder
Their camp is rank with fear;
No breath dares blow the horn
Only a whispered word –
"The cataphracts are here!"
Belisarius rides at dawn
To greet the barbarians
With steel, fire and sword
He'll bring them to kneel
Before the Empire's golden
Double headed Eagle...
"The cataphracts are here!"
The enemy quakes in fear –
Belisarius rides at dawn:
Hellenic blood a' flowing
In the brave Thracian's veins...
Emperor Justinian has decreed
That the cataphracts doth march
To free the Eternal City anon
From the clutches of the Ostrogoth...
Belisarius rides at dawn
Proud ahead of a legion
Of cataphracts bound for war
The imperial standard
They carry forth...
11. Exiled
You were born in exile
O sweet child of mine;
Cruel Fates cast the die
Yet thy star in the sky
Promised what they defy...
When you are old enough,
A man strong in the arms,
You will take up the sword
That thy father once bore –
On thy brow place his crown...
When the day doth dawn red
You shall have thy revenge
On the curs that usurped
Thine ancestral lands
And the light of thy halls...
You were born 'neath the sign
O sweet child of mine;
Rest assured, take thy sleep –
And when thou shall awake
You will find me there...