PAGAN ALTAR LYRICS

1. Rising Of The Dead

An eerie silence descends upon,
every graveyard and burial ground
A distant church striking midnight,
Is the only living sound
The stillness of the nighttime air,
slowly fills with impending doom
As a mask of cloud rolls across the sky,
to blot out the blood red moon.

A cloak of mist creeps through crumbling walls,
to carpet the graveyard floor
To encircle the disused chapels,
and block up their rotting doors
It swirls around forgotten tombs,
with obliterated names
While night shadows flit and dance between,
the unattended graves

Cold chill of death is all around,
carried on the wings of hate
As an unseen hand forces open
the rusty cemetery gates
Burning resentment of the living,
that's aimed at all mankind
Feeds the anguish of the long dead souls,
lying in the ground

The time has come, the time is here,
the entire world will see
The gates of hell have opened,
Satan now walks free
The forgotten army lie beneath the earth,
Await his siren call
The voice from within the deepest realm,
heard by one and all

Gravestones tilt and shudder,
And slip below the ground
Marble pillars that have stood for years,
topple and come crashing down
Sealed tombs gape wide open,
to lay bare the corpse inside
At the order of their master,
they open their sightless eyes

The time has come, the time is here,
the entire world will see
The gates of hell have opened,
Satan now walks free
Forgotten army lie beneath the earth,
have answered the Clarion call
The being from within the deepest realm,
he leads them one and all.

As one they strive to move dead limbs,
to walk the earth once more
Soldiers of the past are called to arms,
awakens them as before
Driven on by fake memory,
of injustice and the pain
A rotting hand breaks through the earth,
To clutch the sky again

2. The Portrait Of Dorian Gray

If you would sit within a darkened room
With a candle to one side
Look hard into the mirror
And just focus on your eyes
As you sink deeper into your soul
Your outline will slowly fade
To be replaced by a devils mask
Or the portrait of Dorian Gray

As you stare into the parallel world
What do you really see?
The reflection looking back at you
Is not the face that used to be?
The years have passed so swiftly
Like a flash across the skies
The countenance of youth has gone
Or perhaps the mirror lies?

What demon lurks within its depths?
Or just a face you wish to hide
Maybe you've passed beyond the glass
To view from the other side

Don't wait till the clock strikes midnight
Or you will open up a door
And loose the demons that what lies within
That could touch your very soul
Don't wait until the witching hour
Marks the end of another day
Or you will unleash the dark forces
And the curse of Dorian Gray

Are you seeing what lies in store?
When time has had its way
Or are you seeing what really is
Like the portrait of Dorian Gray

3. Danse Macabre

From the depths of the vaults, the shadows
slowly rise, and peer at the world,
with unseeing eyes
They crouch; they crawl, on bleach-white
bones, glistening through their ragged clothes

Figures with grotesque limbs distorted,
that reach out and touch each passing soul
The orchestra of death playing for the reaper,
To herald in his clarion call
They're the living dead summoned by the dying
to lead them to the Danse Macabre.

Who has awakened them, from eternal rest,
and who are they calling, to the dance of death
Who will follow, the Danse Macabre,
rich or poor, wife or child

The cloaked figure of death with his scythe has
chosen, for only the dying can join the dance
Only the dying can follow the dancers,
only they can join the funeral march
In the dark streets they gather,
the dying together, and then they'll dance
the Danse Macabre
Follow us, follow the dancers,
leave this world of pain and strife
Follow us and end the suffering,
we'll take you to a better life
Leave the living, follow the dancers,
and join us in this one last dance
Leave the living, follow the music,
and we'll all dance the Danse Macabre

Open cemetery gates beckon, the dancing dead,
and swirling mist welcomes, the funeral cortege
The vaults gape wide open, as the figures draw
near, the pathway to hell, has led them here

Escorting dancers spin and stagger, grotesque
figures in Death's stage show
Their movements quicken as the tempo increases
as faster and faster the rhythm grows
Music composed in the depths of hell, by the
players of the Danse Macabre

Follow us and end the suffering,
we'll take you to a better life
Leave the living, follow the dancers,
and join us in this one last dance
Leave the living, follow the music,
and we'll all dance the Danse Macabre

No crowd to cheer the dead and the dying,
no one to hear their mournful crying
One by one they dance out of the night,
out of life and out of sight

Dancers usher the dying forward,
ever onward and all in line
Echoes of the past surround them,
as they fade back into the mistas of time
As the vaults doors slowly close behind
them to the final strains of
The Danse Macabre

4. Dance Of The Vampires

Lengthening shadows, mark the end of another day
And then enters into a twilight world,
where the Vampire hold sway
Dusk falls like a curtain, to welcome in the night
And the rising moon beckons them again
To join in the dance of death

Awakening figures, in answer to the call
Resplendent in all their finery,
as they file into the hall
The mirror holds no reflection,
of this entourage of dead
And the dust lays undisturbed, on the floor
To bear no witness to the dance of death

Crinoline dresses and brocade coats of gold
Minuet in the candle light, as the grandeur unfolds
Down through many centuries,
they've learned their steps so well
To move and sway so gracefully,
to the orchestra from hell
To the strains of the dance of death

To feed upon the living,
is their object and desire
And they care not
for the material things of life
The dance is just a prelude,
a matinee before the morn
As they scatter to the four winds,
to return before the dawn

They don't see the cobweb portals,
where time has passed them by
Or the rat-infested catacombs,
of the vaults where they lie
The dance is just a prelude,
a matinee before the morn
As they scatter to the four winds,
to return before the dawn

5. The Room Of Shadows

The child's laughter ceased
As he tiptoed by
That dreaded open door
With a cursory glance into its depths,
as if to reassure
He never really understood,
what first made him hate that room
But childish intuition knew,
something lurked within its gloom
He knew the room held many things,
that came from long ago
But why they were kept within that room,
a child of eight wouldn't know

He sensed a dark force that dwelt within,
that watched his every move
Hidden deep within the shadowy bowels,
of that accursed room
It took every bit of courage,
to retrieve that bouncing ball
That always rolled into that room,
when he was playing in the hall
Sheer terror would grip the child's heart,
if he found himself alone
And a glimpse of a fleeting figure,
would turn his legs to stone

He would lay a salt trail all around the room,
for why he never knew
But a voice from deep within him,
told him exactly what to do
Adults seem quite unaware,
of the demon that waits inside
And laugh at his reluctance,
to cross that threshold line

The adults lost their perception of,
the truth only a child can see
The price we pay for material gain,
the price for material greed

The years have passed and the memories dim
The child is now full grown
Still living in the family house
With young children of his own
His sights are now firmly set upon
The furthering of his life
Aided and abetted, by a materialistic wife
But his eldest son, has a morbid fear
Of the antiques room off the hall
And eh keeps leaving a trail of salt along
The room's permeter wall

6. The Ripper

Through fog-filled streets and alleys,
where fantails walk the night
A cloaked figure waits and watches,
from beyond the dim gas light
What dark reason lies behind the veil,
and drives him on to kill
These petticoats have no valuables,
there's nothing for him to steal
So why the senseless slaughter,
of the ones they deem so low
It's certainly not for monetary gain,
so perhaps it's what they know

Dank air glistens on blackened tenement walls,
the hovels of the poor
Where poverty is a way of life,
behind every bolted door
From such homes these wretches came,
and are forced to walk the streets
To eke a living in its most basic form,
with every stranger that they meet
So why the needles slaughter,
Of the ones they deem so low
It can't be for any other reason,
it must be what they know.
The need to exist will drive them out,
from behind their own locked doors
To venture forth into the night,
to work the streets as whores
For them there is no future,
no reason for them to be
And the momentary glimpse of a flashing blade,
is the lat thing they will see
In death there needs to be some pride,
even for those deemed so low
Not lie disembowelled in a filthy street,
just for what they know
So who will be the scapegoat,
who will take the blame
When the compass and the setsquare,
rears its head again.

Who will they use to hide the truth,
and avert the public's gaze
From the intrigue that in reality,
Lies behind the political maze

Albert Victor's name is whispered,
from behind the crumbling walls
That the princes bastard offspring,
will be the next to rule
A Catholic heir in waiting,
first in line to the throne
A situation that could not exist,
and couldn't be condoned
Was this the knowledge shared by the ones,
who people deemed so low
Perhaps this is what the secret is,
perhaps this is what they know

Does the ripper still exist today,
but in a different form

To carry out the subversive acts,
to protect these royal born
Who is it that hides behind the cloak,
this friend without a face
And how many of his victims,
will disappear without a trace
How many more will meet the fate,
of the ones they deem so low
And how many more will have to die,
because of what they know

So who will be the scapegoat,
who will take the blame
When the compass and the setsquare,
rears its head again.

7. After Forever

Cascading leaves of gold and russet brown
Like my life's descending spiral floating down
The sylvan setting mirror in my soul
Passion only for the silver and gold

It seems like a thousand years
Since I let you go
In a world so full of greed I didn't know
But now I'm on death's door we'll e together
And I'll be with you then and after forever





PAGAN ALTAR LYRICS