Ihsahn [Vocal, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Keyboards]

Bring me my wine
And the head of the world
I will drink to her demise

The subtle art
Of decapitation
The perfect irony of such an end

Bring me the flesh
Of your sin and repentance
Display the worlds delights

This last meal
My righteous friend
I serve Thee cold

Now lift your cup in celebration
Indulge your lips
I do insist
Drink up drink up

Long ago
I grew deaf
To the echoes of my footsteps

Long ago
I grew blind
To the world through your eyes

I overcame
The bleak destiny
Of your lead-filled convictions

I prevailed
And now I soar relentlessly
Beyond the north

In my ascension I scorn the eye of envy
And he who flies is hated most of all

I celebrate the distance
Over which you spill your grief
By your belief you waste your tears
On a liar and a thief

"How could you ever be just towards me?
I choose your injustice as my portion"

Now for the grand finale
You will be protagonist
This tragedy you did inspire
Crucifixion with a twist

Bring me my wine
And the head of the world
I will drink to her demise

For this last meal
My righteous friend
I serve Thee cold

As the sun returns
From the shades of night
So am I reborn from my own corruption

I invoke the consuming fire
And from the ashes mould
The renaissance of my decadent self

At the dawn of my rebirth
The heart is overflowing
I indulge and dissipate

And when the cup is empty
I drink from nothingness
The venom by which I disintegrate

This is not merely pride
Or lust for eminence
This is the reoccurring cycle of my existence

As the sun returns
From the shades of night
So am I reborn from my own corruption

Behold - the god returns
Solar balls upon his back
A sacrifice

I invoke the consuming fire
And from the ashes mould
The renaissance of my decadent self

My sacrifice - my corruption - my death

Prayers
Confessions
The peaceful tools
Of a righteous man
Redemption
Forgiveness
Serenity complete

And you believe
That time will heal
Erase your wounds
Your lies conceal

Cleanse your soul
In dreams of death
Wherein you may concede
But when you wake
Remember this:
In my domain
Those scars will bleed

Your peace is not my peace
Where you redeem
I summon guilt
Your fear is not my fear
I beckon the fire
Your hell is not my hell
The life you shun
Is mine to live
Your sins are not my sins
In me you find no heir
Your lies are not my lies
Such grace
I do renounce
Your god is not my god
Where he forgiveth
I will unheal

Shameless
Ever defying
The pride and joy
Of a nemesis
Fallen
Godless
Solitude complete

Yet - I will see
Your faiths defeat
Thy will undone
My kingdom come

Wash your hands
In frozen convictions
Beyond you make your plead
But come the end
I guarantee:
In my domain
Those scars still bleed

The open air
Atop this mountain
Welcomes my hungered voice

Yet - in the echoes
Of my indulgence
I hear a calling from below

Silent cries
To my solitude profound
In too deep
There is no return
For the soul unbound
In too deep

I draw circles
Sacred boundaries
Around my desolate temple

Blood is spilt
And thorns grow
On the path to liberty

Eternally
In pain and rapture

I was summoned
And I was forced
Yet - I willed it so

Sacrilege
Profanity
Rabid convulsion
Of blasphemy
Thus appear my venomous cries
To your ears
Were they truths or were they lies

Rejection
Eternal
Tyranny
Of denial
I would surely burn myself at the stake
Were my demons the spawn
Of your lusts and perversions

Parasite
Mundane creed
Dispassionate
Betrayal
In times of moral crisis
The darkest places in hell
Are reserved for the neutral

And so you earn
My contempt
My enmity
Malediction
Though my path be that of thorns
The way of my affliction
Is the way to myself

The devil will not let me go
Though I do not mind
Through fiery lakes to where cold rivers flow
I honour the contract I signed

Sacrilege
Profanity
Rabid convulsion
Of blasphemy
Thus appear my venomous cries
To your ears
Were they truths or were they lies

Rejection
Eternal
Tyranny
Of denial
I would surely burn myself at the stake
Were my demons the spawn
Of your lusts and perversions

No - the devil will not let me go
And I never did mind
Through fiery lakes to where cold rivers flow
With pleasure I honour the contract I signed

Again I find myself in this narrow chamber
And my kettle simmers with the same old brew
Now turning sour

There must be more to this than chemistry
As my soul burns with fever

Instinctively I do repeat the simple formula
"Solve et coagula"

He stands to face his fate alone
Who will not be content with stone

Some distant glimmers used to lessen my despair
Since then this darkened cell has lost its charm
Now I seek a lightning's glare

"Grips thee, thou Superman! Where is the soul elated?
Where is the breast that in its self a world created"-M

"Why grinnest thou at me, thou hollow skull?
Save that thy brain, confused like mine, once sought bright day
And in the sombre twilight dull,
With lust for truth, went wretchedly astray?"-F

Night comes with a smell of murder
And shadows fall long on my trail
Such are the hazards of my craft

All lights disperse
And the devil takes me down

There is panic in my fascination
Like soothing wine is my despair
Gracefully I fall to pieces

Then lights disperse
And the devil takes me down

The gears keep turning
And the ropes stretch far
In this world of hopelessness

I have come a long way now
The fatal riddles
Beckon me
I have come a long way now
A leap from faith
And gravity
I have come a long way now
To find the nest
Where treasures sleep
I have come a long way now
The fairest lies
Are hidden in the deep

In the deep

There is vanity in my destruction
There is mockery in my ordeal
Indefinite is the course of my decent

When lights disperse
And the devil takes me

He lies quiet now
In the nothing
And there is no epitaph
No stone

Yet - his legacy flows
Like a river

Walker of barren paths
Seer of night
Friend of shadows
A carrier of light

And his legacy flows
Like a river from ice
The hungry heart opens
And drinks from this fountain
So cold

There are no promises
In his solitary grave
There is no salvation
Only words

But what then are these precious streams
Of coldness from the heights?
They will never reach the fields below

What is this silent grave
To those who never sought to find it?
What is greatness to the dead?

And his legacy flows
Like a river from ice
The hungry heart opens
And drinks from this fountain
So cold

It was never
The icy winds of the heights
But the coldness of the world
That hardened my foundation

Whether your approach
Is that of praise or blasphemy
The construction of my being
Will remain the same

If my soaring presence
Threatens to break your neck
Then so be it
You shall dread my name

There is a fundamental cleft
Between your world and mine
One of divine origin

Were you to witness
The nakedness of your own soul
It would still appear a tower of Babel

Is it such a crime to go apart and be alone?
Your holy simplicity turns gold into stone

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 deafeaning 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

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

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.