DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED "Witch-Hunts" 1999 Spinefarm Records 1. Without Ceremony And Bell Toll 2. Inside The Circle Of Stones 3. The Crow And The Warrior 4. Dying To Meet You 5. The Witch-Hunts Trilogy - The Preacher Came To Town - Burn, Witches, Burn - Witch Hunters Without Ceremony And Bell Toll ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Summer 1657 A tailor's daughter in pain - bewitched A healer had told that the witch will be revealed Before sundown a woman known as evil appeard "That bitch must have done it. She must be the offspring of satan himself" Despite the accusitions she offered to help And poured a potion all over her All of a sudden she started to shake The birth of four frog-like creatures was seen "She threatened me that inside I would melt 'cos I didn't give her butter" - the poor girl yelled So the witch was bound in heavy chains. And taken to the court as a servant of hell "I met a mysterious black man. He kissed me and taught how to do harm" As interrogation and torture went on. Heard the good people of the court horrible things Thirteen years as servant of satan. A whore and a right hand to the dark prince Sabbaths, or devotions to the devil Were held on a small nearby hill At the peak of the torment She turned in a few who had been there "I met a mysterious black man. He kissed me and taught how to do harm" 343 days she spent in prison. While the court sentenced her to death A morning when the summer was at its warmest. She was taken out and beheaded with another witch Burned to ashes, spat on, despised Buried into a hole outside of the holy ground Shamefully she was laid to rest Without ceremony and bell toll Inside The Circle Of Stones ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Along time ago was this stone circle built The reason behind it remains a mystery Why was it built at end of all paths? On a tiny glade where no one could find I wondered what was the purpose of this strange cult To quench the thirst of my curiosity I decided to step in The very moment I put my feet inside I lost my consciousness, my sense of reality It was another world I ended up in Somewhere far from ours I flew through a tunnel where voices Were calling my name enchantingly Flashes of nightmareous visions A man of god would say I was in hell Suddenly I found myself in a void Empty of matter empty of noise A while I didn't know if I still was flying Until it began again It was as sudden when I got back to my reality Supposedly after rolling out of the circle in the dream I immediately knew that my knowledge wasn't enough To research and possess this secret When I walked away I stopped on a little hill I saw it again, now also its shape... a five-pointed star The Crow And The Warrior ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once in the silence of the woods In the shadows of a crescent moon The eyes scan the beautiful nocturne The ears enjoy silent songs "I have seen things and heard talks Thy eyes are blind and ears deaf to Words carried in the nightly breeze Images in the autumnal grass" Once in the silence of the woods Under the spiral of oaken branches Breathing slowly, heart pounding weakly Shadows floating towards his eyes "I have heard thee come since the moon was full The owls knew what thou knew not Oh thee children, thee almighty creatures Ignorant are thee of thy width of knowledge Under question should thou place thy concepts Of & Uuml; bermensch and Untermensch For man has never, and will never even be positioned Hath the words of the crow Vanished with the echo into the night Descended dark shadows And covered the eyes No sorrow felt the old crow The secrets he revealed would remain as such Dying To Meet You ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the eyes of the moon I see you The face that brought my soul joy In the reflections of the sun I feel you The cross that brought me hate and pain To the other side of the river my soul yearns I am dying to meet you again To the ruins of what once was a church my soul yearns I am dying to meet you face to face I remember the swwetness of the nights Only me and you and the starlit sky Now I have swallowed too many goblets Of the bitter wine of anger you made me to drink On that night rain fell not On that night winds blew not In the thick hot air One dozen... two dozen Torches appeared out of the chanting darkness Simple minds certain of their ways being the best I recall the last time I saw you Screaming for me on that torchlit hill And I sure will never forget you Not before my sword cuts off your crow The Preacher Came To Town ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A peaceful town down by the lake A cradle of goodness and righteousness it was said Quite prosperous one might add Rye fields, cattle, and the riches of the lake Fallacious was their dormancy of shelter Blindfolded had they themselves with the shadow of the cross This dormancy lasted until a dusk in August A preacher came, handsome enough to wet any lady He was greeted with warmth and friendliness Though a bit of jealousy showed on the looks of the men Nobody wondered why he spoke no words of god And his eyes were glued to women's bodies Nobody simply paid any attention to it Especially the women enchanted by his attractiveness Until one day the paint on the church walls began to crumble The crop festered and the cattle began to die The wives disappeared just before midnight Only return before the first rays of sunrise It began to show at the end of the month The crop and the cattle dead, ground frozen, famine awaited Vanished was the atmosphere of honesty and good will People became wary of each other for anybody could have Evoked this curse upon them Burn, Witches, Burn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "He must be the root of all this misery The ladies, whores, a Satan's tool to send us to eternity Ring, brothers, ring the bells and bring the torches Let us tie them up to the stake - burn, witches, burn" Finally the men of the town could point the guilt to someone Of course it had to be the stranger Following their wives at night they had found the orgies Rituals to bring forth the powers of Hell "How could you our beloved wives Grant your bodies to be used to do evil On him we know no mercy, nor can we give you any Follow us to the hills - burn, witches, burn" First they surrounded the guest house where the preacher Was sleeping off the exertions of the night A cross-shaped pole they drove through his black heart Sending him to join his master in the pits of Hell The few women still considered faithful Were told to stay at home While the others were being marched to the hills These women gathered... The guilty women of the town were taken to the hills Where huge bonfires were standing Tied up to the stakes they were - naked to face the god In tears they cried: "We were possessed!" "In the name of the holy trinity Be purified by these flames We pray for your souls on your way to damnation For all the evil you have done - burn, witches, burn" Witch Hunters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twenty years had passed, happiness fad come back Only the painful memories were acting as reminders There was a new phenomenon that made rumours spread Something was going on in the deep dark woods A cult curtained in secrecy... or evil spirits of the night? The nature of these mysterious creatures... and their origin were unknown A cult of witch hunters The offspring of the preacher and his whores In the jet-black night of Samhain The peace and happiness were broken The demonic hordes from the woods Stormed through the town setting it ablaze "We have come to avenge the death of our mothers Now you can also get a taste of the Inferno" The witch hunters marched into every house Impaling the burners and their kin The church was burned by their infernal hatred Womens raped by their infernal lust The men who judged the mothers to be burned Were treated like the mothers had been treated After the horrifying hours of torture They were tied and burned at the stake After the task was completed the earth started to shake The remains of the houses collapsed to the ground The jaws of Hell opened right where peace once prevailed Victorious had the witch-hunt been where the hunter became the hunted