Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle (2013)

From the dust, assembling form
Lashing out with flint and bone
Matted furs, rotting hides
Withered skin, black pits for eyes
In ancient days we stopped the ice
We crushed the Jhag at gruesome price
Now we must heed the first sword’s call
His wrath is kindled, a doom must fall

Severed from death
We march, we march
Bound to the throne
We march, we march
Cursed by Tellann
We march, we march
Warriors of bone
We march

We cry to the blood-red sun in a voice born of stone and dust

A ritual to bind our race
In vast undeath, our severed fates
The sorcery of shamans old
To ever hunt the lords of cold
We drift within the sands of wrath
The wielders of the fire’s path
An ancient magic
Elderbound, bloodbound, earthbound

Severed from death
We march, we march
Bound to the throne
We march, we march
Cursed by Tellann
We march, we march
Warriors of bone
We march

We cry to the blood-red sun in a voice born of stone and dust

Spell of sorrow
Spell of might
Breath of fire
Endless ice

We cry to the blood-red sun in a voice born of stone and dust

Still we ride, fight, and die
Wayward path far beyond the pale
We are lost, marching on
Heavy hearts longing for those lands we once called home

Emerald hills, sparking seas
Fade to distant memory
Horizons blaze in foreign land
Ochre seas of scorching sand

The fires of Y’Ghatan burn in the night
The shadows of a fallen god
Chains against light

For weeks on end we journey on
Weary and worn, the glory is gone
All that’s left are tired souls
Aching limbs and dreams of home

The fires of Y’Ghatan burn in the night
The shadows of a fallen god
Chains against light

Marching on as one as the ghosts of brothers sing
Deep in the night where their faces haunt our dreams
Halfway through the veil we are summoned to Hood’s gate
Lands rimed in frost, they will damn us to our fate

Push on through the din of the slaughter
Flight through this perilous land
To where our blades spring forth
Soldiers of Empire Malazan
We fight for the seat of the highborn
Our fates were never our own
Weathered skin is battered and broken
Bloodstained dawn in a land unknown

Stars reign in the sky of the desert
Lost in the blistering sands
A host now long forgotten
Soldiers of Empire Malazan
Far away from the hearths of our fathers
We’re never returning home
Weathered swords are a warrior’s burden
Battles fought but our deeds will go untold

Still we ride, fight, and die
Wayward path far beyond the pale
We are lost, marching on
Heavy hearts longing for those lands we once called home

Dawn has brought its cleansing light
So we behold a mournful sight
The fading sounds of clashing steel
Bodies strewn across the field

The fires of Y’Ghatan burn in the night
The shadows of a fallen god
Chains against light

Buried seeds, scattered bones
Blazing hearts by steel sent home
Mortal screams, names unknown
Shattered dreams by steel sent home

Strap on your shields and raise your banners
Hear the call of raging battle
Beneath a hail of burning arrows
Push ever forward, never surrender
Siege weapons tolling out like thunder
Ripping the city walls asunder
Columns of flame reach ever skyward
Horizons filled with burning pyres

The pale blue fire of glittering spires ablaze
The sojourner’s beacon, a wondrous shimmering place
Through ages forgotten, in many a traveler’s dream
Through winding cobblestone pathways
Where dwell demons, mages, and thieves

In temples and taverns where secrets are whispered
Arcane knowledge hides in their halls
Shadows gather in midnight processions
As wraiths and ghosts sing laments in the walls

Written in blood and sealed in death
Bound by the ages, the tome of regret
Fates will be sealed and swords will be met
With the cold embrace of steel and flesh
Eldritch beasts converge on the streets
Of this ancient city, so beautiful and wild
Veils of night, the tolling of bells
Funeral march to the sound of the knell

The pale blue fire of glittering spires ablaze
The sojourner’s beacon, a wondrous shimmering place

Far beyond moon and sun
Long is the path to the end
Azure flames light the way

There is a deep pathos here
A monumental sorrow
Blood has stained this ground
The very land itself a barrow

The echoes of battle ring cold through the ages
The moon shines on old dunes, awakening ancient hatreds

Swords held high to the desert sky at such great a cost
Standards fly above funeral pyres
Victory and loss
We are strong, but when the day is done we are left bereaved
Marching on to the battle drum
Triumph and defeat

Behold the storming flood of iron
Destruction wrought there upon the field
A host of warriors fall, never to return
Their epitaph a song of steel

Empires built upon the bones of those who stood beside us
The sun has set eternally into the dark
And we have seen the fields of war steal the lives of sons and brothers
The iron heart of glory beats a hollow dirge
The gods of battle rise and fall but the thirst for blood lives on
The wolves of winter rise and howl for honour’s debt
The sands forever greedily consume the blood of friends and fathers
The gates of Hood will open wide with dreams of death

There is a deep pathos here
A monumental sorrow
Blood has stained this ground
The very land itself a barrow

The burning fires fill the sky as a golden light enfilades the night
Shattered mountains crumble away, their smouldering heaps upon the plains
Ashes of gods, a cinereous rain
A torrent of death covers the slain
Blood has stained the silent stone where armies have fallen before the throne

The burning fires fill the sky as a golden light enfilades the night
Shattered mountains crumble away, their smouldering heaps upon the plains
The mortal cries of perishing thralls
Ancient towers topple and fall
Beleaguered spirit, dying pride
Dawn of sorrow, lamenter’s shrine

Such a slaughter, this battle of gods
What a deluge, these rivers of blood
The call of T'iam beckons me
I have awoken to the rage
Lost in thought, lost in space, lost in time
Lost within this storm we drive
Unleashing chaos inside
The endless night sky dims my eyes

The burning fires now subside as a golden dawn dethrones the night
The aftermath of battle’s toll, mighty silence they behold
Landscapes bathed in colours pale, dressed in blood and broken maille
Splintered spears, shattered swords, unmarked graves
The cost of war

Son of shadows betrays the night, father walks away from light
Mother darkness leaves us to die
Kharkanas sounds its final hour, resplendent halls are empty and pallid
Brothers forced another way
A breach was sealed but a host was torn, raised this wall only to fall
Bones ground into sands of the shore
A voice reborn and a voice was shorn, the vice of centuries of life
Must we make this sacrifice?

Empty halls sing a hollow fall
Dust-strewn cobblestones lead them home
Ships now dreaming in their quiet ports
Raise your glass to the ones returning
Icy barrows and forgotten swords
Snow-capped mountains hold forgotten words
Deeds heroic and deeds unknown
Carved upon the empty throne

Across the plains come drifts of sand
From graves of water and tombs of man
The hollow weight of history
Desiccated and blowing free

In the wake, all is dust

The bones of beasts and the bones of kings
Become dust in the wake of the hymn
Mighty kingdoms rise, but they all will fall
No more than a breath on the wind

Spectres and gods adrift in the wild, mournful wind
Vast cycles unfold across the span of æons
Colossal keeps consumed and left as burial mounds
And even stars will fade into empyrean shrouds

In ashen vaults, on parchment scrolls
The echoed verses state soft the toll

In the wake, all is dust

Vast desolation
Silent grave of æons

Revenants watch from cold cosmic towers
Glimmering eyes of jade bear final witness

Temples crumble as the great wheel turns
Ground to dust
Monuments and megaliths unnamed
Fall the same
Earth and sky enrobed in deathless void
Endless night
Worm of autumn claims its final throne

The bones of beasts and the bones of kings
Become dust in the wake of the hymn
Mighty kingdoms rise, but they all will fall
No more than a breath on the wind