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Pillaging Villagers

by Pillaging Villagers

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1.
Wretched of the Earth (free) 02:16
My calloused hands have tilled the frozen earth Beard of black, streaked with white, like a plowed field in a frost My wizened face has felt the icy wind With a chill in my heart as I ponder what I've lost My father was a swineherd, not a warrior or lord This scrap of land my kingdom, this iron spade my sword We rise at morning’s light to tend our treasured flocks and fields We’ve never sought Valhalla or The Riddle of Steel We are the wretched of the earth The underclass So raise your glass One and all Though sacrifice and strife We carry on Till all is won Standing tall We are strong Side by side We sing a song Of hope and pride Though we live poor and die without a cent to leave our heirs We are rich in bonds of friendship and the brotherhood we share So gather ‘round my lads and sing, your cherished loved ones by your side Savor every waking moment, for tomorrow you may die Wretched of the earth The underclass So raise your glass One and all Though sacrifice and strife We carry on Till all is won Standing tall
2.
We Remember 02:47
Years of famine When nothing is left The nobles take our surplus while we toil till our deaths Years of pestilence Sickened and weak Our families die for nothing, rotting bodies in the street Years of oppression Ignoring our cries They strut around their palaces and placate us with lies Years of corruption It’s time to unite Remember all your suffering and woe, we must fight We can't stand it any longer Hope is fading away The arrogance of power Grows more blatant each day All that we’ve worked for What little we’ve saved Tomorrow, could all disappear Precarious existence One step from the brink From losing all that we hold dear We remember their crimes of avarice We remember a promise betrayed For now, we still sleep But tomorrow may weep In remembrance more bitter each day The gentry feast on apricots Pheasant, hare and port With this worm-eaten rye alone can we truly be content? Their fragrance is of ambergris Their clothes the finest silk The malodorous stench of desperation is our perfume They prance and frolic at their Opulent masquerades In their mansions On the Hill Freezing in our drafty and dilapidated shacks We gaze upon their decadent display We stoke our dying fire, hoping to survive the night I clench my fist in anger as I pray Wagering fortunes in their Profligate games of chance As they squander Their excess Wealth All we have is bought with blood and selfless sacrifice Surviving is a struggle every day As I spend my final copper on a peck of rancid wheat My eyes well up with tears of righteous hate We remember corruption and villainy We remember their plain disregard For now, we may cry But tomorrow, may rise As memories burn in our hearts We remember our rising fury We remember our simmering rage In our silence, we fail Will violence prevail? By blood will our debts be repaid?
3.
The Count 02:56
This world is archaic, inefficient, obsolete Reliant on a vile peasantry But I will be its savior, a visionary mind Behold the genius of my factory At first, it will seem inhuman, turning men into machines Cogs in my glorious factory’s design Blood oils the gears of progress, suffering fuels the rise of man By history’s judgment, the glory shall be mine Idiotic rubes! They prefer to till their fields! Without a source of labor Who will turn the factry’s wheels? To meet my targets I must get production underway If they will not work willingly I’ll force them to obey Industry shall cleanse this world in fire Glorious ash and smog shall fill the skies This medieval world I'll grind to dust And from its grave a modern world shall rise I am the beacon leading mankind to the light So follow me Into the future I am the fire burning brightly in the night So follow me Into the future Through his control of the courts The Count forces debtors to work Slowly, but surely, the factory’s staffed with his slaves A sweltering, windowless nightmare The prisoners are shackled in place Where these unlucky few work the rest of their mis’rable days Ancient forests are cut While pristine rivers choke with sludge Crops fail and livestock die in droves We must resist this madman! Noncompliant serfs! Such unimportant lives! Rather than see my dream attained They’d all prefer to die The workers insufficient The plants in disarray If they will not work willingly I’ll force them to obey Industry shall cleanse this world in fire Glorious ash and smog shall fill the skies This medieval world I'll grind to dust And from its grave a modern world shall rise I am the beacon leading mankind to the light So follow me Into the future I am the fire burning brightly in the night So follow me Into the future
4.
The Bishop 03:06
Behind the walls Surrounded by darkness, torches burn In cavernous halls Those who enter it's gates never return The monastery Where the bishop reigns His twisted tendrils will ensnare us all His pallid skin And probing eyes that pierce your soul They draw you in You are under his control A sorcerer Of malice born No one escapes the bishop's ceaseless gaze His minions move among us Seeking virgin blood Gathering victims for their master’s rites In the night they take them The village mothers weep His strength grows with each sacrifice Forgotten gods of old The bishop pores over their scrolls Seeking power untold O, mighty Leshrac Devourer of worlds Grant me the power I am due! Daemons of cosmic realms Hear your servant’s call From beyond the void I call to you! His minions move among us Seeking virgin blood Gathering victims for their master’s rites In the night they take them The village mothers weep His strength grows with each sacrifice Forgotten gods of old The bishop pores over their scrolls Seeking power untold This wretched mortal plane Shall be the elder god’s domain One final ritual remains
5.
The Emperor 03:04
In a quest for glory An avaricious lord Who called himself the emperor Conceived a futile war Bards and minstrels flanking him, he marched with sword and flame With every village burned, they wrote a song to praise his name War is now upon us The emperor retreats before the mighty Northern foe No match for the barbarians He flees the field with courtiers in tow Faced with utter failure His majesty cannot allow this loss to taint his reign He’ll make our land his northern capital A base from which to launch a new campaign Surrounded by foes Their treachery I will expose The whispered plots and crimes they incite With each passing night Assassins close Mighty, am I My dominion, all land under the sky I must civilize the barbarous hordes Almighty Lord Hear my cry Woe to all who oppose me Over their mangled corpses I shall climb Until I stand triumphant An Emperor, remembered for all time Through our humble village His mercenaries stream Descending into chaos And violence unforeseen Unhindered, courtiers seize our land and soldiers seize our wives We’re forced to dine on vermin in an effort to survive Bastards! Our harvests rot upon the vine Parasites! Our livestock, cold and starving, die Monsters! Our treasured homes razed to the ground Criminals! By night, we only hear the sound Of screams Weak and haggard, we march upon his camp In protest, we demand a chance to live Traitorous serfs! They'll pay for their dissent Drive the faithless rabble from my sight! Surrounded by foes Their treachery I will expose The whispered plots and crimes they incite With each passing night Assassins close Mighty, am I My dominion, all land under the sky I must civilize the barbarous hordes Almighty Lord Hear my cry Woe to all who oppose me Over their mangled corpses I shall climb Until I stand triumphant An Emperor, remembered for all time For all time
6.
The Crisis 08:35
In darkened woods, the Northerners plot their counter strike Enemies scheme in shadows, unseen, to engineer my fall To deter my foes, I must construct a citadel Who will grind the stone and build the fortress’s walls? My liege, my factory can serve your needs But every villager must work as my slave I lack the manpower to round them up But with your legionnaires, I’ll make them obey Yes, yes! Ha ha ha! A grand idea! Together, we’ll build a marvelous estate Let it initiate your thousand year reign Strong walls, behind which pleasure beckons thence Of your magnificence, let heaven proclaim Round up the serfs Every man, woman and child My modern vision shall be realized They’ll leave pathetic homes behind as they’re Chained to the assembly line By imperial writ, I now possess their lives A pleasure palace Full of earthly delights Toil to exalt my name The factory’s smog Blocks out the sun Das großartig landgut Arbeit macht frei Torn from our homes, some of us labor as slaves To make the baubles, gauds and trinkets that the courtiers crave Still others labor in the brickyard or travail at the mill Under the whips of our oppressors is the citadel built By the light of the moon, to the barracks we’re led That’s where the rumours of our plans of opposition are spread When the guards are distracted, when we’re just out of sight Through subtle acts of sabotage we secretly strike We throw wrenches into the gears The mechanism shattered and stripped Break the exploitative tools Squelch the fires, lads, never submit The factory grinds to a halt Foiling the Count and his plans Thwarting the Emperor’s will Our liberation is at hand Something is wrong Our yields have decreased Those odious thralls have vandalized all my machines Those insolent knaves! Bring the heads of their leaders to me! The rebels will pay, they’ll be taught to obey my regime Sire, perhaps the Bishop Could be useful to us His acolytes obey his every whim To find the rebel leaders No effort must be spared Consider an alliance with him That fanatic? Could he really be persuaded? With nothing to offer, he’s likely to scoff at our plea He’ll listen to us, my liege For his rituals are not complete The souls of the brave, not of peasants or slaves, does he seek His minions will interrogate They’ll find the rebel scum My factory will flourish once again The rest he’ll likely sacrifice To some silly Sumerian god A small price to pay to root out all dissent Very well then, so be it, summon the old wizard As thunder Cracks and lightning flashes The emperor’s throne room doors admit their guest The bishop Flanked by hooded minions His majesty shrinks in fear as he’s addressed ‘How dare you disturb me My work is more important than you could ever comprehend’ With every word spoken Those within the sound of his voice are overwhelmed with dread His highness Trembling in his terror, ‘Unholy one, hear our desperate cry, We beg you Aid us in our efforts In exchange, their souls are yours to sacrifice’ ‘An intriguing proposal The final rites require a sacrifice of noble souls The gods will consume them The power that I’ve sought all these years shall finally be bestowed’ Minions go forth Seek out the traitors Show no remorse, bring their accomplices to Me, cast them down, into the monastery’s Dungeons, where all Light falls to darkness They will confess, and in their agonizing Pain, they’ll fuel my rituals Louder, and louder A serenade of pain to please the gods Louder, and louder A serenade of pain to please the gods Minions haunt the alleyways Lurking in the dark With unsuspecting victims they abscond Deep inside the monastery’s Labyrinth of doom Their suffering has only just begun Excruciating torture They inflict at his command Tormented screaming echoes through the halls The bishop at his altar Chants in long forgotten verse To ancient cosmic deities he calls Nowhere to hide now Fear grips the land Terror has stifled all remnants of defiance All but a fraction are docile and compliant The Count and the Emperor Hail their success The fact’ry, resurgent, the palace nearly done In triumph, they revel in our brief rebellion’s Defeat The bishop cackles His final ritual almost complete Those sacrificed, their fate too Terrible to describe Spiraling through the cosmic void Husbands cry for lost wives Calling to the heavens Desperate to hear their voice Loved ones lost forever Brothers, friends, companions Never to be seen again Our tears well up in hatred Rage consumes our hearts we Swear that we will have revenge
7.
Rise From your knees to slay your enemies Stand and fight Till we die Or we’ve won All as one Raise our voices to the sky Though our foes may seem invincible Kill them all Spill their blood As you laugh May our wrath Rise to drown them like a flood Numbers on our side The legionnaires fall back upon the gates As we take them by surprise Once shackled, now unleashed Too late to bar the gates, our foes retreat as We stream into the breach The citadel is ours, the fortress falls Take their swords, commence the executions Slay the legionnaires and all the courtiers you find, Their panicked shrieking signalling the turning of the tide Nobles die in droves, and to the last their greed betrays The cling to their possessions as around them fires rage Charge upon the gates Of the emperor's estate With the righteous indignation That is burning in our hearts We'll set fire to the palace With our fury and our malice As the flames are rising high We'll raise our voices to the sky Rise From your knees to slay your enemies Stand and fight Till we die Or we’ve won All as one Raise our voices to the sky Though our foes may seem invincible Kill them all Spill their blood As you laugh May our wrath Rise to drown them like a flood From his throne The emperor witnesses the onslaught In panic, he flees With his praetorian guard by his side Nothing remains His majesty’s wealth we burn to ashes Dead lie in heaps By the light of the fires we we ride Our bloodlust not assuaged We gaze upon the monastery
8.
Illuminated by moonlight The monastery looms Cyclopean walls, once their refuge, shall be their tomb Our eyes gleaming with hatred We storm the abbey’s gates Like rats, the minions scurry into holes to escape their fate Down into the labyrinth In darkened corridors they hide We pursue, through dungeons deep And, to our horror, realize Here Within This fetid oubliette Our comrades were imprisoned, broken, tormented to death Inside this maze We grasp The scale Of the Atrocities Light The fires We’ll drive them from their lair Some flee the conflagration and vacate the tunnels where We cut them down The rest Will die In flames Their screaming heard by none, their scalded skeletal remains Beneath the ruins For All Time Altars and manuscripts ablaze Symbols of persecution charred and twisted You'll live to see your temples razed And as you die you'll hear our call... Burn the monastery! High on the tower above As the flames rise into the sky The bishop recites incantations Ecstatic, he shrieks as clouds shadow the stars Slowly the heavens turn red By his will, the moon is as blood Above him a portal emerges The gates of the infinite void torn apart Weak from the heat of the blaze The tower begins to collapse Crumbling to the inferno The spell interrupted, the door disappears Drowned in the lake of fire With a final sickening scream The bishop erased from existence At once we erupt in a glorious cheer... As idols melt and flames consume All trace of your accursed faith, you realize Your zealotry invokes your doom The holocaust you've sought has come... Burn the monastery!
9.
We're gonna Smash The factory We're gonna Free Our comrades from their chains We're gonna Smash The factory Gonna take Our brothers Home! Laborers unite Cast off your chains and fight To free the working class We will fight until the last Resist with all your might At last, we shall destroy That by which they exploit All the wealth that they’ve amassed Into the fires we will cast And as they burn, we shall rejoice We're gonna Smash The factory We're gonna Free Our comrades from their chains We're gonna Smash The factory Gonna take Our brothers Home! Machinery dismantled Every cog and piston trampled Leave the factory a shamble As the Count Abandoned by his patron Begs and pleads for exculpation As the walls of his creation Tumble down We spurn your future built on An edifice of lies Injustice and desolation We reject, we refuse, we deny Your time has come suffer Your time has come to pay The winds of revolution Sweep your broken institutions away We're gonna Smash The factory We're gonna Free Our comrades from their chains We're gonna Smash The factory Gonna take Our brothers Take our brothers Take our brothers Home!
10.
Ready to Die 03:07
Across the frozen plain beside the factory's remains The emperor's substantial reinforcements are arrayed Though clad in naught but rags, armed with but pitchforks in our hands We form a battle line, prepared to make our final stand With a momentary gesture of his jewel encrusted scepter Does the emperor deploy his legionnaires A mass of mounted knights With suits of armor gleaming bright Odin, god of battle, hear our prayer We stand With rocks and sticks and stolen swords We few Against an overwhelming horde We pray For courage in the face of death Upon our foes we spit our final breath Ready to die Like warriors Though not born With sword in hand We fly, my friends, on valkyrie’s wings Until we meet again Seeing our plight They commit all their forces To charge Galloping horses And spears pointed straight at Our hearts Tears fill our eyes as we Know we are truly Condemned But we swear to each other to Fight to a glorious End Charging with reckless abandon Neglecting their Flanks Certain of victory The discipline breaks in their Ranks Closer and closer Their hoofbeats, a thundering Roar As we brace for attack A horn sounds from the woods to the North The Northerners stream from the forest Wolf skulls on the heads and horns on their shields Seeking revenge on the Emperor Their numbers sweep the knights from the field The Emperor’s forces break The battle becomes a rout The pride of his majesty’s army Retreats, defeated and cowed As we join in pursuit A pillar of light shines through the clouds We fought Like warriors The gods Have heard our call With glasses raised, they’ll sing our praise In Odin’s golden hall
11.
Crush the enemy Leave none of them alive Show no mercy, they must not survive Crush the enemy Stab and slash and hack Berzerkers, relentless, we attack Countless Northerners appear Their bodies painted, antlers on their helms Strong as oaks, with braided beards Cold expressions, piercing arctic eyes To battle they ride Bringing death to the invaders Their grim visage belies Their noble, proud, courageous nature Allies Wreaths of fir and pine Symbols of peace and friendship they bestow Mounts and weapons, they provide United, we will make the bastards pay Into the fray Side by side, we ride to glory Our foes, we slay Merciless, we hunt our quarry down On foot, Abandoned, Alone, afraid and stranded When we finally find the Emperor, he begs us for his life We flog Berate him And then decapitate him And stick his fucking head upon a pike Crush the enemy Pursue them to the end Into a spree of violence we descend Crush the enemy An avalanche of death Blood gushes as your steel cuts through their flesh Kill them all! Crush the enemy As the sun sets, all is quiet Crush the enemy We know that we’ve prevailed Crush the enemy We celebrate our foe’s destruction Crush the enemy With Northern mead and ale! We build A fire That reaches to the sky, our Victims bloated bodies burning as we drink and dance and sing Our blood- -lust sated Our alliance consecrated Through the forest do our joyous voices ring Crush the enemy Our weapons dripping blood Our foes will perish, face down in the mud Crush the enemy Sloshing through the gore A curse upon their names forevermore
12.
Darkness fades A brand new day has dawned, at last We sing, euphoric, as we watch it burn The rotting structures of the past Turned to ash Like tinder in the flame As ages pass and kingdoms rise and fall The sagas will recount our tale As we forge our lives anew The blood of heroes flowing through our veins Freedom, long denied, belongs to us They can't take it away When we rise to say Freedom is ours! Don’t give up, never relent, until at last you’re free Rise up, sword in hand, embrace your destiny Wretched of the earth The underclass So raise your glass One and all (When we rise to say freedom is ours!) Though sacrifice and strife We carry on Till all is won Standing tall (When we rise to say freedom is ours!)

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released March 11, 2022

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Pillaging Villagers Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Merging the punk-influenced aggressiveness of crossover thrash with the Celtic melodies of folk metal, the 'peasant metal' of Pillaging Villagers takes the listener on a journey to a medieval world of pitchfork-wielding rebellion where songs of victory and sorrow alike are belted out with tankards raised high.

Unite against the right, with pitchforks high and voices to the sky! #antifa
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