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Empires Vanquished And Dismantled

by Mystras

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1.
Based on a 14th century composition of byzantine composer Xenos of Koroni,
2.
In a time before nations and capital There was only Judgement and Salvation And the glory of mighty Kings sent by God Which by Grace turned their kingdoms into vast empires That illuminated the minds of the barbarians In Europe piousness and domination competed (as higher values) So the Pope thought: "what if they are combined?" A theology of war created, roman duty and Saint Augustine Carolingian warriors cannot stay idle for long Kings, nobles and villagers from the west answered the call And Christians united to point the sword at Others March to the Holy Land! God will guide us through! Some decided to start the Crusade at home Bands of roving murderers slaughtered Jews at many cities Christ's mouth tasted first blood, that of his own people Victorious they marched in Nicea, Dorylaeum and Armenia Yet in Antioch the Christian horde was stranded Eight months of waiting agitated them enough To slay every Muslim in the city In the city's ground, the Holy Lance that pierced Christ Was found and it pointed to the throat of Jerusalem Ganoese engines struck the gates and walls With ferociousness the Fatimid defended the first waves Godfrey, Tancred, Robert and Raymond attacked all five gates Until Ludorf finally stood victorious atop the wall Then the teachings of mercy, love and piety Αgain fled from the Christian hearts Such is the Glory of the Kingdom of God The blood of the unfaithful Flooded the temple of Solomon up into the knees Pyramids of bodies, no women or children spared And the slaves of old cried for the masters of tomorrow For their names were uttered in vain And their stories carved on the edge of the sword Spoke on ears which only listened to the promises of Angels
3.
Ah Ya Zein 02:12
Traditional arabic song.
4.
Europe's children have descended into Jerusalem Through fire and blood they've opened the gates of Heaven Yet a glory based on atrocity cannot put away the doubts of salvation Is God not listening to the screams of the innocent? What better way for conquerors to wash away their sins then By assuming the role of the Defender To speak as if they arrived to the sound of trumpets To protect from the wrath of wretched infidels Thus noble knights came together throughout the Outremer To form brotherhoods in servitude to the Kingdom To care for the poor and sick and to protect the pilgrims, they said And swear eternal vows to Christendom's dominion Gold from Europe flooded the banks of monasteries Of hospitals and of castles high and mighty For it seems that paradise also lies within earthly grasp The years passed and generations changed And the memories faded away Immerse us in a basin of cold water Crop our hair as that of holy men Let my feet touch this hallowed ground Until they're bloodied up and the dirt solidifies For Saladin is coming Thus the two great armies assembled All that could bear arms in the Kingdom and the Counties Templars, Hospitalers, soldiers and mercenaries On the opposite side, the man that united the Muslims By appealing to their pride he took the westerners Out of their fortresses into the open fields of Hattin And there would they see their enemies face to face To witness their own arrogance translated into total utter ruin A defeat so loud and thundering That mere words about it killed the Pope The dream of the Holy Lands, now destined to fall And the memories of 1099 began to return The hushed tones and the guilty frowns of the elders Of how Jerusalem was taken Immerse us in a basin of cold water Crop our hair as that of holy men Let my feet touch this hallowed ground Until they're bloodied up and the dirt solidifies Yet, this time Can there be a greater irony and insult that After the clanging of swords and firing of catapults Those we thought for decades as barbaric creatures From the hands of whose we needed to wrest the holy lands Have let us walk away alive From the walls of Jerusalem
5.
چراغ ظلم ظالم تا دم محشر نمی‌ سوزد اگر سوزد شبی سوزد شبی دیگر نمی‌ سوزد Oppression's fire won't burn 'till judgement day It may burn a night They it'll burn away
6.
Among the sturdy gates of Baghdad, the ruins of Notre Dame The arches of Alhambra, the mosaics of Hagia Sophia A breath arises through the cold stone, like a ghost The stories of all who built them up into the sky Some vain enough to be driven by quests of glory Fueled by the deceit of tribalism And the great narrations of the men of power That argue why the common man must always succumb Some strong enough to resist The darkness of caste and the allure of the empire Those that saw beyond the lies, the hate and the fanaticism To carry incredible feats of bravery and self-sacrifice Hordes of hapless ones, submissive to the tyrant's whip Forced to avert their eyes from cruelty for the price of survival Next to those who willingly threw themselves at the mouths of lions To become the sword of justice and live true freedom for a brief moment Conmen, heroes, cowards, saints and all that lie inbetween All of them are heard through these walls Built with the blood of their slave labor Their hopes and sorrows echo through the chambers Their brightest moments, their worst sins, their inspired divine art To no nation or religion do these stones belong To no leader or tyrant do these stories belong Even if by gold and whip they directed their hands They are forever owned by everyone that's toiled and sweat And now that our turn has come Think about what will our story be and what we'll leave behind Is it just words and shattered dreams, or is it towers high and mighty If we'll build ours with our choice, plan and desire Or with gold and whip the masters again will guide our toil
7.
Wie schändlich es ist, den Nachbarn Unterschlupf und Schutz zu geben In den dunkelsten Zeiten Sie wie Diebe meiden und behandeln Wie ein dunkel gerüsteter Eroberer Wie schändlich es ist, deinen Gast Der zu einem Fliehenden wurde Auszupressen und auszunützen Und als Sklaven zur Arbeit zu zwingen So soll Unehrlichkeit dich zeichnen An der Donau sammeln wir uns Um den Imperator zu erinnern Willst du uns weiter so behandeln So werden in den Feuern der Rebellion Wir unsere Schwerter darin baden Und in hundert Jahren Wenn die Mauern von Rom gefallen So wird zum ersten und letzten Mal Der letzte Imperator sich erinnern Wie du die Geflüchteten jenseits der Donau behandeltest What a shame it is, your neighbours To take them under your refuge In the most dire of times And treat them like a thief Like an shadow clad invader What a shame it is, your guest Who has turned into a refugee To take advantage of them To make them work like slaves And let dishonesty define you Across the Danube we gather So to remind the Emperor That if you treat us like this To the fire of rebellion Then we shall bathe our swords And in a hundred years When the walls of Rome will fall For the first and final time The last emperor shall remember How you've treated the refugees across the Danube. Music based on the german medieval folk song Ach meiden du vil sende pein. Οriginal lyrics based on the battle of Adrianople in 378 between the Roman Empire and an army of Gothic rebels that had settled in Thrace after being displaced by the Huns. The Empire suffered a catastrophic defeat and emperor Valens was killed, the first important event in a series that eventually led to its dissolution a hundred years later.
8.
Ten centuries after the coming of Christ The ruins of Rome are still hanging upon europe For the Greeks of Byzantium uphold its legacy Which was built upon their subservience And although Jove has given his throne to Christ Roman emperors be still how they always were And so Isaac II demanded gold for his marriage From the proud people of the Haemus Mountains Peter and Asen therefore went to the emperor in Thrace They asked for land and service to earn the gold that he desired Yet they were ridiculed as if the mountains and the lakes And the rivers sprang not water but metallic streams If Jove himself kneeled to the almighty God, how cοuld The spirits of the forest make a mighty stand So the people wondered and fell into despair Upon hearing Peter and Asen's rebellious calls Hágios Dēmḗtrios! You who have endured the countless spears of tyrants You who saved Thessaloniki with your wondrous miracles We claim you as our own, for you are the true protector Hágios Dēmḗtrios! We raise this mighty church as a memorial For justice cannot ever be bound to a city or a king And truth pierces the body of empires like that of a dragon Thus Peter and Asen built the saint's church in Tarnevo And stole his favor away from Thessaloniki The axe of war was raised and Parision was stormed And Isaac's anger would be crushed upon the fortress of Lovech So let it be known then to tyrants That should you lay your hopes to inequity Your own Gods and Saints will abandon you And the great empire of Rome, whomever it might worship Will crumble for the final time soon upon its feet
9.
To those that put their hope on the mercy of the conqueror Who believe that light is conveyed with might To those that think that civilization should trample the cultures That for every union to be made, a vassal is required I assure you, we won't accept your peace We are the anguish of Alexander's feverish nightmares The knife in Caesar's bloody corpse The tear that falls on Constantine's cheek Empires will break into nations Nations into tribes Tribes into Communities We will be there Until all notions and borders created by men To divide between themselves Until the excuses of all that desire to rule Over other men All rendered useless

credits

released November 5, 2021

To be released by Stellar Auditorium Productions on cd and I, Voidhanger Records on vinyl.

All music written by Ayloss except tracks 1, 3, 7 (traditional/folk pieces)
Recorded, mixed and mastered at the Stellar Auditorium by Ayloss during 2021

With the contributions of

Stamatis Zafeiropoulos: Turkish Ney on tracks 1, 3, 5
Matthew Dakoutros: Violins on track 1, 5
Dimitris Corax Avgustinos: Percussion on tracks 1, 5
Nina Saeidi: Vocals on track 5
Carling Chiu: Vocals on track 7
Crasse from Toul en Ihuern: Santoor on track 5

Album cover and Mystras logo by Loukas Kalliantasis
www.instagram.com/garden.thief/
Mystras coat of arms by Hagiophobic
Cd Layout by Gavin Brooks

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Spectral Lore Αθήνα, Greece

This page hosts most of the music I've released through Spectral Lore and other projects. Atmospheric black metal, ambient, dungeon synth and more. I'm antifascist so NSBM fans stay away.

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