1. |
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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
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2. |
We Remember
02:47
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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?
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3. |
The Count
02:56
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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
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4. |
The Bishop
03:06
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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
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5. |
The Emperor
03:04
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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
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6. |
The Crisis
08:35
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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
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7. |
Voices to the Sky
02:29
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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
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8. |
Burn the Monastery
03:26
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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!
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9. |
Smash the Factory
02:51
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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!
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10. |
Ready to Die
03:07
|
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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
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11. |
Crush the Enemy
02:22
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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
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12. |
Freedom is Ours
02:24
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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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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
... more
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