Intro (distant choir, war drums, tremolo guitars building into a slam) From shadow— From ruin— From ash and severed light— He rises. Verse 1 Born where the sun refused to shine, A silhouette against the burning sky, No crown of gold, no sacred name, Just a scar in the dark and a world in flames. They begged the heavens, but the gates stayed sealed, So he forged his faith from the blood on the field, A blackened banner in a dying wind, The last pure hope wrapped in original sin. The meek all knelt, the tyrants ran, He became more symbol than man, A living mark on the face of time, Humanity’s answer to the great divine. Pre-Chorus If mercy won’t descend— Then terror will ascend. If heaven calls us filth— We’ll build our throne from guilt. Chorus Raise the standard of the damned! Let the sky know who we are! I am the shadow they made with their judgment, The wound, the fire, the scar! For every soul abandoned, For every prayer that never reached the stars, I’ll be the symbol for humanity— And the enemy of heaven’s heart! Verse 2 So sound the horns in the underworld deep, Wake every nightmare ancient gods still keep, Drag them snarling from legend and bone, No saint survives when monsters come home. Bring forth Fenrir with famine in his teeth, Typhon to poison the air beneath, Tiamat crowned in the blackest tide, And the red-eyed hordes that the deadlands hide. Loose Leviathan up from the trench, Let Behemoth rise with an iron stench, Call the draugr kings, call the rakshasa spawn, Call every beast that was cursed at dawn. Gather the chimeras, the gorgons, the fiends, The things with wings torn out of dreams, March them all under one command— The hero becomes what heaven can’t withstand. Pre-Chorus No halos, no surrender. No pardon for the slander. If they would call us vile— Then let them face denial. Chorus Raise the standard of the damned! Let the sky know who we are! I am the shadow they made with their judgment, The wound, the fire, the scar! For every soul abandoned, For every prayer that never reached the stars, I’ll be the symbol for humanity— And the enemy of heaven’s heart! Breakdown (half-time, crushing, gang vocals on caps) BUILD THE LEGION. SHARPEN THE FANGS. NAIL UP THE BANNERS WITH ANGEL BONES AND CHAINS. FENRIR! TYPHON! TIAMAT! RISE! LEVIATHAN— SPLIT THE SEAS! BEHEMOTH— BREAK THEIR KNEES! WE WERE DENIED—NOW WE DEVOUR! WE WERE FORSAKEN—NOW WE TAKE POWER! SEND YOUR SERAPHS, SEND YOUR THRONES— WE’LL MAKE A GRAVE OF CELESTIAL BONES! Bridge (ambient guitars, toms, low spoken voice building into scream) I did not ask for war. I asked for a reason. I asked for a sign. But heaven answered with silence— So I answered with fire. Now all the lost stand behind me. Now all the cursed chant my name. If I must damn myself to save them— Then let damnation remember my face! Final Chorus Raise the standard of the damned! Let the sky split open in fear! I am the shadow of all you rejected, The voice that you never would hear! For every child of the wasteland, For every age that was drowned in the dark, I’ll be the symbol for humanity— The blade in the gates of God! Raise the standard of the damned! Raise it high above the war! If heaven made an enemy from our salvation— Then heaven will know what for! For every soul abandoned, For every prayer torn down apart, I’ll be the symbol for humanity— And the enemy of heaven’s heart! Outro (slower, massive ending) When the last star falls— And the trumpets choke in flame— They will remember Who made the heavens Say our name.
