Herfst Life's Enddesign 1. Prologue - Moira Immaculate 2. Shadow and Dust I listened to the whispering winds I felt the scorching sand For aeons now – or so it seems I still hear it in my dreams... Long enough I could only feel Desperation, anguish and solitude For my only companions were The sun and the stars – sand and dust Of this never-ending desert ‘Thirst’ – my inner self cried ‘Shadow’ – my simmered skin craved And so I thought –once more– of dying Just lying down, closing my eyes... Ah, I even tried When all hope for salvation was forlorn... But no, I cannot die! In a place like this – shadowless Far beyond my Desperation, despair and solitude I have a dream I have a quest I have a mission Yet to accomplish So I crawled… Until I reached my destination: Shadow and water Another rebirth of life… for me 3. Path of Persistence Absentminded I stride forth Heading towards the north The haunting beautiful scenery of my lands The castle designed by my own hands The bog I crossed and defeated Drifting further Dwelling through my realm. Lakes frozen and black as the cosmos Stars that died years ago Still shimmer through their stuttering waves, and Deep below the surface grim dimensions lie, (where) Monstrous abominations reign over the seas Now at the portals I've arrived The ancient hallways of which I've been deprived Stained glass windows shriek like crystalline razors And the wind plays the chant of the dead... Yet in these grey chambers The alluring smell of my scriptorium Books fermenting upon the shelves Awaiting my scrutinous gaze Awaiting the call of their master Dank are the pathways to exaltation And dark is the road to relief... 4. Death's Design From the womb – a first scream To the grave – the decomposition of a dream Brief moments of joy I have known Ever focused on my destination My one mission, my malicious completion For I am my life’s architect Ever searching for a purpose A most special design An aesthetic dream A cathedral of flesh Piercing the clouds In a forest, vast and old Bewitched I am This mystical place exists! I knew it right from the start My own past (lies in) The very first pulse of my heart Drawn I am This mystical place exists! It awaits my arrival Amidst the moon and stars and mist Now my search is over – I have arrived My one mission, my malicious completion Inescapably in reach! I hear it clearly now... Voices seducing me in the dark... “O, come here and die!” The dire melody of my life “O, come here and die!” 5. Perfume of the Flesh Visions have haunted me Cries in my subconscious Salty tears on my pillow Blood marks on my aging body Every morning again Henceforth, tranquil dreams be my share My glorious masterwork, finished! My own Tower of Babylon Reaching high, standing strong! Hundreds of lives have melted Into one heavenward spire Seas of naked flesh, carefully selected and defiled Reaped for one sole pure purpose The completion of true perfection The citadel in my head My magnum opus will open its gates (for me) Subdued to my will it is For I am the one, the only one To address this hell as his! At last, my dreams and I will sleep in harmony My decadent lifelong vision became reality 6. Crimson Cathedral This dawn, this loathsome dawn What horrid night it was! I have bleeding scars and my wounds are fresh No consolation will do A conviction it is that this wicked desire will last. My lifework isn't finished yet – I apprehend The final element is missing – I now understand A last piece must be placed on top Of this cathedral born in dreams This torment of desire shall end (with the completion of my scheme) With me on top I shall be one In the shadows of the night And the light at the bitter end My pulse will collide With the crimson life stream What higher purpose there is But the completion of a dream? Thousands of lives united in death In my cathedral of might My ark of apocalypse My life ends as I sacrifice My flesh, my blood: the final part A collision with fate engulfed in flames A new time is at hand as this tower lords these lands Moira immaculate... 7. Vanity... 8. In Vain In my never-ending quest To reach absolute perfection I climb up the decrepit walls of my keep My empire is crumbling... And I am falling down A I reach for culmination The shadows of my vanity are deepening A life's work cast in concrete and skeletal remains... Reaching the crest of my fort Struggling upon walls of never-ending sleep Closed eyelids covering burning passion My desire and hatred collide Into an intense repulsion... All their hearts, all their blood Their divine nectar I have consumed Under the cynical glimpse of the vulture's song Perished they are Their beauty didn't last (long)... I am the Judas of fate Becoming the artefact of my hate I am well aware that it's too late Devilry and sloth, my companionship, well... I, the architect of my own hell... 9. The Wanderer (live) Night's veil had banished the sun a deathlike breeze enshrouded the earth when the eerie echo on his footsteps emerged... Slowly and silent he drifted alone no shore to head to in this cemetery of stone Burdened by grief he feared life's deceits he craves for the night from daylight he hides In those nocturnal hours he scribbles and laments looking for answers to never let this memory end Yet as the seasons pass another year's been squandered devoted to the arcane apostacy devours his being He repudiates his muse and sinister schemes start to bloom he maims her sacred image her bliss turns into venom