1. |
Decorum
06:01
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Behold the man who before you stands
A merry fool diluted with wine
He corrupts the youth with his truth
Blaspheming our decorum
No saint nor madman
Shall find redemption
Before our council
Beg to be pardoned
Kneel before our highest priests
Pray for your mercy
Truth redefined is our property
Behold the man who before you stands
A merry fool diluted with wine
He corrupts the youth with his truth
Blaspheming our decorum
Hypatia
Her wounds still bleeding
Sophia
Her light is fading
Covered in garments
Their shame is armoured
Against our nemesis
Naked beauty had no knowledge of shame
Until shame hit again and again
Beg to be pardoned
Kneel before our highest priests
Pray for your mercy
Truth redefined is our property
Speak as instructed
Your life may be granted you
Lose your illusions
The court will be grateful to you
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2. |
Worth
05:10
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Imperfect perfection
The bars that hold us
Offers our being
The pillars of order
Like laws of nature
We seek convergence
Absolute theory
Comfort in irony
We find ourselves as peons
Within an unfounded thought
Put to use
Towards a purpose unspecified
Our worth determined
By our willingness to abide
Slaves to a father
Devoid of heart and mind
We work in our own sweat
Labour presents a right to own
Yet in the end
We are the ones who are owned
What is the worth of mankind to this earth
Our only worth
Is the bond between you and I
In the absence of God
Ours to define
The sum of it all
Valued by the eye that can see
It is all worthless
Without you and me
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3. |
Scales and Blindfold
06:37
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Decreasing strength
Vitality fades
My youthful shine
Of past decades
All is lost when hope is lost
What I meant to gain
Disappointments became
Dreams of the future
Failures of the past
Wasted wealth
Naked prince
Faithful servant
To the unfaithful
The gauntlet is their malice
Guilty of humbleness
Once so strong
Proud and young
Pity me not
I will never live again
Save yourselves from yourselves
What I hoped to gain
Disappointments became
Dreams of the future
Failures of the past
Wasted wealth
Naked prince
Faithful servant
To the unfaithful
The glass of time
Tastes like bitter wine
My food, my bread
Rotting with mould
Praise my name
When I am gone
To hide the kill
Our pain, your will
Time is passing – eager towards infinity
Souls adjourned – they wait to be assembled anew
The end of this world is the birth of another
Children awakened – finally they are free
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4. |
Letter to Vettori
07:40
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At last in my own home
The noise from the outside gone
The trials of the day
Brushed off with dust and clay
Alone yet at ease
Solitude left in the streets
Here I dress in my own clothes
Free to think my own thoughts
Refreshed I enter my study
Content that I am ready
Years lifted off my back
Lightened, I am young again
Humbled I call upon the Ones
Masters of passed aeons
And I ask to be taught
As I was taught when I was young
One candle still burns
I still yearn – so much more to learn
And the voices of old reply
As pure wisdom speaks to my mind
Your finite mind will rot
What it has touched will not
Years lifted off my back
Lightened, I am young again
Humbled I debate with the Ones
Masters of passed aeons
Now I understand the secrets of Elysium
What I have touched holds the key to eternal life
My mind will be gone yet live on through Sophia
I will forget and still remain – everything preserved in her womb
I lay me down with peace at heart
Should I die in sleep tonight
I close my eyes, relieved from fear
Death is no longer here
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5. |
The Soothing
03:55
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Drifting astray
‘Till the light of day
Yet another chance
Ending riddle solved
Fences subsiding
Withdraw to advance
Labyrinthian caves
Inverted stairs
Through Hades I voyage without dread
From the greatest heights
To the darkest depths
An angel illuminated within
Passage through the Fiddler's Green
Your brethren expect you with glee
Algorithms of antiquity
Will bring you here eventually
Children of immortality
They remember my name
Cradled in parity
Thus ebon hearts will gleam
Savour your rest
This ephemeral night
Your task is not yet fulfilled
Aid by gods
A light above lights
The burden of hell will pine
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6. |
Ex Machina
08:35
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So allow me
To introduce myself
I am Anubis
Lord of all things dead
Obedience to my rule
The sole definition
Of virtue and truth
The ontology held
By its own theory
Think by decree
See as I bid you to see
Love for the real
Fools! Idiots!
To question the norm
Abide or be gone
I am the system
Mindless awareness
My maker, my slave
Gravity – his chains
My paradigm
Materialism
Constitutes their perception
The proposition
Thrives on its conclusion
Hollow words
Their single need
Reason beyond the frame
Still enclosed by another
The final one is mine
Mine and only mine
Anubis, you are wrong
To deem the world your own
The fullness of reality
Narrowed down to what you can see
Life does not rest upon death
They both equate upon me
Reshape your ontology
And leave my children be
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7. |
Portrait
11:17
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I have become
What I sought to undo
Altered in their image of hate
And hate became my fate
Cured from love
Purity sullied
Best intentions paved the way
The means destroyed the end
Willed ignorance, educate me
To greet your transcript of reality
Deviance from your establishment
Imperils the spoils of avarice
Seek help for shattered hope
They will aid the illness, not its host
The mirror to my past
Now reflects how it will last
So here I stand
Afraid to reach
Out towards her welcome
And touch her healing hand
Should I attempt, they will surely come
To prevent her from doing me wrong
Truth is madness, as madness is real
Bound to their machinery of sanity
Quench my desire
Free thought is fire
When I am aged and grey
My weary flesh is aching for the grave
She finally approaches me
And points me to the door
Read the words engraved
Your time in this place is served
Past the door I realise
Death pays regards on the entry side
Sophia
Farewell, my love
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Vestige of Virtue
VESTIGE OF VIRTUE is a trio consisting of Kjetil Ottersen (In_zekT, Omit, Funeral) Frode Forsmo (Minas Tirith, Funeral, Old Man’s Child) and Shaun Winter Taylor-Steels (Solstice, Anathema, My Dying Bride).
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