A cold wind is blowing Through the graves it is blowing And it bares a poisoned tongue And the foul breath of deceit
I am my fathers son And his deeds Cannot be undone... be undone
You trade in his blood Writing your history In the sacrifices of the dead
Where is the fighting man? Am I he? You would trade every truth For hollow victories
Every empire will fall Every monument crumble Forgotten men who watch the centuries
Whose silent words Rise up in betrayal We will rise up in betrayal
Where is the fighting man? Am I he? You would trade every truth For hollow victories
Every empire falls And the earth to ashes turn The lands of my birth Shall be my tomb
The are the lands, the lands of my birth Soon to be ruins, the ruins of my past And when the sky should fall The earth to ashes turn Then you know they shall be my tomb
Where is the fighting man? I am he You would trade every truth For hollow victories
2. Gallows Hymn
Sister, do not pray for me There is no forgiveness here Just the longest, darkest night And my peoples end
Brother, many a crooked day we spent Telling tales and making myths Sharpening our tongues for the final fight Yet doing little but growing old
I was never a religious man So why should I put my faith in you? You burned your bridges a long time ago I'm a heathen, searching for his soul
\"History is often dictated by faith. Putting the worlds to rights while it passes you by. Is there an honour in following your words to the bitter end despite being plagued with doubts?...\"
3. As Rome Burns
We are falling over the ends of the earth So gather your children before you And tell them that these are the final days of all And preach to the paupers
And sing to the slaves
I see you've chosen to loose your faith To burn your bridges and lose your way From mountain top to valley deep From shore to cursed shore What nation, what state, what land is this?
The wretched tribe of Nero... Tribe of Nero...
Sing, sing, sing to the slaves Sing to the slaves that Rome burns
Are our bones not dust, our blood not poison? On my knees in the black light Searching for salvation, bitter redemption
So throw your dice and cast your shadow You may look away, but your children will not...
4. Failures Burden
Days drift and I rise to the cold sun I was born an old child With no place for faith in my heart Aged in my sleep or bitter times ahead
You may say I've given up the ghost Once and for all admitted defeat And laid out my hand for all to see And made peace with the beast in me
Winter mocks me though he does not need to call my name He thinks my bones are brittle And the grip of my resolve is tired Sullen and weakened just the same
I don't remember when it happened When the clocks stopped Their hands tied And my heart stood still
I have saved the least for last Torn out all who reached for me A beggar before beauty Failures burden rests with me
Every man is evil Every man a Liar And every word he speaks Kindling to the Fire
5. Heathen Tribes
This is my church It stands so tall and proud It has done for all time
It has no walls Yet its vast halls Reach from shore to shore
To whatever shore You know as your own We stand as one, we stand alone
We are born From the same womb Hewn from the same stone
From the frozen Baltic I watched sunrise over Athena Walked the battlefields of Flanders And saw duskfall at Cintra
Beneath the spires of Sofia Fields of crosses at Arnhem Armenius stood tall in Teuteborg Senatus Populusque Romanus
To the fjords of Hordaland Shadows of ancient Albion At the shore of a 1000th lake Saint Vitus dance in Praha
Yet when to Ireland we Return I know that I am home at last And every sun that sets Takes me closer to her Earth
6. The Rising Tide
[Instrumental]
7. Traitors Gate
Borders swell like the oceans Nations swept away In the steel rain Wounds carved in the earth The silent hands of genocide Map the years Forgotten legacies of dust People remembered in nothing But fragments of language Verses of song And shards of military rust
The gallows cold hands Tighten old rope Young men hang in the fetid breeze Like rotten fruit Too ripe for harvest They have marched us Through the streets Heralded our death Proclaimed our end And brought us to our knees
A host of the willing few Is gathered at the Traitors Gates Demanding their pound of flesh And their weight in gold
The tyrant Resurrected as King Who's Midas touch an Iron Fist All the world proclaiming Yesterday's man as Traitor Yet welcome with open arms His brother as tomorrows Dictator
8. No Nation On This Earth
The sea will be as a desert When my bones are long to dust Beneath shifting dunes And the searing Unconquerable son
Pile the bodies on the pyre Warm the old heart of the earth This is no place for faith, nor for hope Just a journey through the darkest of nights To the old heart of the earth
These are wounds made by cold hands That know the bite of steel Hands that have rendered life extinct And punished the weak at heart
Tell me what Nation on this Earth Is not born of Tragedy? That has not felt such harsh weapons Wielded by cruelty's desire