Atlantis Ascendant - Bal-Sagoth

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Atlantis Ascendant Lyrics

From the journal of Professor Caleb Blackthorne III, continued...


10 October: 1893
The inscriptions on the tablet I discovered seem to be a fragmentary piece of some mysterious, perhaps apocryphal, larger work; evidently a lexicon of some description, undoubtedly of antediluvian origin. The first section, as far as I can discern, tells of an era thousands of years past when countless great and advanced civilisations, apparently with the legendary Atlantis foremost amongst them, spanned the circumference of the globe. The initial passage, seemingly a celebration of Atlantis Ascendant carved by a renowned chronicler of the day, speaks thusly:

The Chronicler of Antediluvia:
Long ago, before the Third Great Cataclysm reshaped the face of creation, one nation rose above all others in the antediluvian world... Atlantis.
This jewel in the azure sea, Atlantis Ascendant!
Pax-antediluvia, Atlantis Ascendant!
Kingdoms rise and empires fall, Atlantis Ascendant!
Pax-antediluvia, Atlantis Ascendant!
The prophecy... the prophecy! What price may the gods demand?!
(Ancient) prophecy carved in stone, (countless) aeons past by hands unknown,
Winged fiends scream forth attack, carnage as the sun burns black!


The Sage Counsel: Doomed... doomed! The end is nigh!
The Host of Z'xulth: Your realm is lost... it shall be devoured by the sea!
The Sage Counsel: The worm comes, riding the ravening oceans... the Outer Darkness disgorges its horrors!
It is foretold... Atlantis shall be destroyed!
The Atlantean Quorum:
Hear the call Atlanteans, proud we stand forever,
Mightiest of warriors, we sail across the sea.
Conquering the ancient world, a legacy eternal,
Raise the arcane sigil high, steel and sorcery!
Blessed with immortality, dreaming spires of majesty, glory crowns our destiny!
The Host of Z'xulth:
Your realm is lost... it shall be devoured by the sea!

The Chronicler of Antediluvia:
And so it was written in the stars, astride the world would stand the children of Atlantis!
And yet disturbingly, another voice, a wholly darker and more malevolent presence, can be perceived lurking within the ancient body of the inscriptions, an ominous tone which prophesizes doom and ruination for the Atlantean realm, speaking of a disastrous cataclysm foretold in the stars when the sun would burn black and the agents of some unfathomable evil would besiege Atlantis, ultimately compelling the seas to rise and devour the continent, leaving no trace of the glory which once was. These passages seem to have been deliberately obscured, and this fact combined with the passage of countless aeons and the embrace of the eternally shifting sands lamentably prevents me from translating the inscriptions on the fragment any further.

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Bal-Sagoth are an extreme metal band from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, combining elements of black metal, symphonic, and classical music. Vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts, who came up with the idea for the band around 1989, took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from a Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth". Their first demo was released in 1993; they have since released three albums on Cacophonous and three on Nuclear Blast.

The band incorporates black metal influences and symphonic elements into an overall grandiose canvas, with the elaborate lyrics of Byron Roberts painting a picture of battles in an antediluvian age where Atlantis had not yet been destroyed and the continents were still joined in a Pangaean mass. A predominant feature is the use of epic keyboards played by Jonny Maudling who composes and arranges the music. The guitar, drums and keyboards work together as an integral entity rather like a symphonic work. The vocals of Byron Roberts are a mixture of spoken word and black metal screams making the songs more like stories set to music than anything else. The stories are told like a play, with many characters (or groups of characters, speaking in unison) exchanging dialogue. Byron uses different vocalizations and effects to set them apart. The songs frequently have very long titles. Byron intends to release some short stories and novellas based on his lyrics and also some graphic novels created in collaboration with the artist Martin Hanford.

They currently have six albums out. The music for the latest one, "The Chthonic Chronicles" was recorded and produced at Jonny Maudling's studio "Waylands Forge", while the vocals were recorded at Academy Music Studio, the same studio where the band's previous five albums were recorded. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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Bal-Sagoth