[Intro] [Tolling cracked heavy bronze church bell, creaking wooden cart on cobblestones] [Dark chorus arpeggio, clean guitar] [Theatrical spoken male baritone] "The year thirteen-fifty... Martin is sick with fever... but the plague must go on." [Massive gated snare explosion, twin-guitar lead harmonizes] [Verse 1] Thirteen-fifty on the Baltic coast Ships are docking carrying a ghost Rats are crawling up the rotting hemp Pestilence upon the winter camp Leather mask and glass upon the eye Watching half the continent die Doors are painted with a yellow cross No one calculates the human loss! [Pre-Chorus] [Snare rolls building, heavy floor toms, rising guitars] Burn the linen! Seal the wooden gate! No escape from the infected fate! Funeral bells tolling night and day! Sweeping every living soul away! [Chorus] [Massive stadium rock explosion, layered gang vocals, wall of guitars] The Black Death! Thirteen-fifty! Crushing down the medieval city! Doctor's mask and burning coal! Paying out the iron toll! Rats upon the galley floor! Pounding at the sealed door! [Post-Chorus] [Twin-guitar fill] [Spoken dramatic whisper] "Total quarantine... the street is dead..." [Verse 2] Fields are barren, no one reaps the grain Monasteries silent in the rain Feudal order broken by the plague Boundaries are turning cold and vague Wooden carts are piling in the street Dragging victims from the church's feet Cold isolation, quarantine decree Nothing escapes the black mortality! [Pre-Chorus] Burn the linen! Seal the wooden gate! No escape from the infected fate! Funeral bells tolling night and day! Sweeping every living soul away! [Chorus] [Massive stadium rock explosion, full vocal wall] The Black Death! Thirteen-fifty! Crushing down the medieval city! Doctor's mask and burning coal! Paying out the iron toll! Rats upon the galley floor! Pounding at the sealed door! [Guitar Solo] [Dual-guitar harmony solo, soaring bends, fast melodic run] [Bridge] [Quiet floor-tom pulse, atmospheric clean picking, distant bell] The bell tolls once... The gates are locked... Burn the linen, burn the bed! [High-pitched stadium rock scream] SEAL THE GATES! [Chorus] [Maximum arena power, thunderous gated snare, layered gang vocals] The Black Death! Thirteen-fifty! Crushing down the medieval city! Doctor's mask and burning coal! Paying out the iron toll! Rats upon the galley floor! Pounding at the sealed door! [Outro] [Echoing twin guitar leads, church bell tolling into fog] Corpses in the lime... Eternal silence... Thirteen-fifty... [Final crashing power chord, cymbal swell decay] [End]
