Original Version Promo Version
1. The horror grandeur 8:50 1. The horror grandeur 8:50
2. Ragged little dolls 6:25 2. Ragged little dolls 6:25
3. The murdering mind 6:20 3. The murdering mind 6:20
4. A third face 6:52 4. A third face 6:52
5. Elegantly decayed 4:26 5. Elegantly decayed 4:26
6. Cassandra's nightmare 6:42 6. Cassandra's nightmare 6:42
7. The ghost 5:46 7. The ghost 5:46
total time 45:19 total time 45:19


The Horror Grandeur

I can think of a thousand ways to kill you
But none so cruel
As keeping you alive

Ghastly horrific grandeur
Symphonic decadence
Violent strings
Distorted tunes on crippled wings

So you og 'round and round
To this, such a frightful overture
A carusel of insanity
And the clowns of the show are us

Spread the great plague
And death reeking with splendour
Rattle your puppet links
To the orchestra's song

A masquerade ball
To which you have been summoned
A gathering of the demented

The clowns of the show are us
The mad conductors
Of the horror grandeur
You have got the resemblance of a pig, young man
And you shall have peace
The prospect of death
And the hope of hell
The comedy is over


Ragged Little Dolls

Assailed by ever returning nightmares
Silent as a moths wings
Yet cruel and violent, a dwelling place of demons
And other seemingly more tender things
But their fragile appearance deceive
They come, they come, it calls
Surely worthy of my outmost fear
Ragged little dolls

Tiny little feet, tiny little hands
Tiny little still hearts
Shiny stearing marbled eyes

Who goes here? Come forth
From the shadows, let me see
Trembling with fear but still that is my wish
Because no dream can ever hurt me
In the pale moonlight a most hideous face
Laughing hysterically, more and more
Yet underneath, a withering reflection
Of a beauty that once was there
Awakened by screams, my own it seems
And the rumbling sound
Of the rain, a thin stream of blood
From where her hand touched
I dear not fall asleep, ever again...


The Murdering Mind

I should not mind
If she were done away with
Killed or ploughed
She did not seem to serve a useful end
And certainly she was not beautiful

I have no time to tell you
How I came to be a killer
But you should know, as time will show
That I am society's pillar

To bleed doth cheer the pensive
And remove the raging fires
Bred by burning love


A Third Face

Speak... Was I morose
And braek this bitter silence... Grim and sombre
Shatter this fragile glass... I was invisible
With the resonance... Miserable
Of this voice... Undetectable
Not mine... Nothing
...Or even less
Lie
And hide this painful truth... You
Tear the cold reality... Who sit upon a throne
The reptile's tongue... In the ruin of my soul
With many voices... I make myself
Scream... Dreadful icons
You... To worship
Who steal my sight... Scream
And cloud my thoughts... To awake the demons
Allready so blurred... Of lunacy
By you I am possessed... The beast in my blood

Alas, my heart harbours
Two souls
And a thied face I wear on the outside


Elegantly Decayed

They shed their precious tears
Wept the loss of life
The absence of bright days
Unable to see the beauty of death
So elegantly decayed
In long ranks they marched
Surely towards peril and doom
And the orchestra played a desolate song
As they willingly went to their tomb
A miserable pack of wrecked souls
All danced to the ghastly graveyard bell
A funeral theatre a heavenly play
But the stage is set in hell
It is for creatures of divine origin
A story allready told
But still this horrid painful drama
Is hideous to behold
Disease, disease, disease and pain
By dementia and fever made sick


Cassandra's Nightmare

Worms
O conquering worms
Deep in the reeking dirt
The horror, the pain
The shreak of the flesh
The loneliness of the grave

The shattering sound
Of the cemetery bell
The silent mourners, and the cold rain as well
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Dead and forgotten, flesh foul and rotten
This grave has no tales to tell

O gruesome death, reaper
Eyes darker than the deepest well
Sinking deeper and deeper
Surely all the way to hell

Bells, bells, infernal bells
In a cold black grave I lay
Demons howl a crippled song,
Of my flesh and its decay


The Ghost

And one night
When the moon was full and its silver spears
Pierced her mournful heart
Gently up the creaking stairs
Allready more dead than alive

Weak and weary
Pale and cold
Blood still flowing
So it is told

At the top she dropped to the floor
Just outside my bedroom door
Silent as a dying day
With a whimper she passed away

Tis said from shadows grey
Devils came to take her away
As her sin made heaven reject her
Hell set out to resurrect her
Born of evil and all that may dwell
In the darkest, the deepest of hell
So tis told in these here parts
The devils bride she became
When hell took her heart
Centuries ago, maybe more
Still she comes to my bedroom door


Lyrics in plain text format



Line up





All music and lyrics by Jack D. Ripper
Violins performed by Maestro Pete Johansen





Artwork
















Info



Recorded at Soundsuite Studio
Produced by Terje Refsnes and Jack D. Ripper
Engineered by Terje Refsnes
All photos by Helge Eek
Make-Up by Vibeke Hansen





Review



Hmmm... I guess this is what I'd call neo-black. So many black metal nowadays that some bands from the black metal roots try something new. Morgul always was a bit different, but with this album he definitely made something different enough to stay original but still (black) metal enough to stay interesting. Lots of keyboards, acoustic guitars and clean vocals make it lean more towards doom and industial metal, but the black metal is still very much present in his sound. Very much recommended...

Rating: 7.5 out of 10


Main Page Bands Page Links Statistics Trading list Forum Email Zenial