Blood Upon the Rowan
(Whispered, almost spoken) The tide is turning red… The shields are locked… The gods are watching… Now. [Verse 1 – Marching gang vocals, stomping boots, tagelharpa weaving through] Row, brothers, row! Let the oars bite deep Fifty blades of ash, fifty hearts that never sleep Black sails kiss the thunder, the sky splits wide with scorn Tonight the world remembers the day that we were born Steel sings its greeting, iron kisses bone Across the broken water their trembling prayers are thrown We are the reaper’s shadow, we are the frost that crawls We are the last thing living inside their chapel walls [Pre-Chorus – Throat-sung drone rising] Hear the Norns laughing Hear the Valkyrjur scream Tonight every corpse will learn what the runes truly mean [Chorus – Full death metal, crushing groove + mass roar] BLOOD UPON THE ROWAN! WE ARE BECOME THE STORM! SPEARS LIKE WINTER LIGHTNING! DEATH IN HUMAN FORM! RAISE THE RAVEN BANNER! LET THE WEAK BE TORN! WE ARE BECOME THE STORM! WE ARE BECOME THE STORM! [Verse 2] Shields crash like glaciers, the wall roars as one Berserkr foam and fury beneath the dying sun Axes drink the daylight, mail splits like the sea Every step we thunder is another destiny No king commands us, no chain will ever bind We are the wolves of winter unleashed upon mankind Their castles fall to splinters, their rulers learn to bleed There is no word for mercy in the tongue of our creed [Bridge – Slow, ritualistic, layered low growls and soaring clean chant] Odin… take the cowards Freyja… take the brave We keep the rest And give them early graves [Final Chorus – Total war, blast beats return, entire band screaming] BLOOD UPON THE ROWAN! WE ARE BECOME THE STORM! HEAR THE SKYLINE SHATTER! BENEATH THE IRON SWARM! RAISE THE RAVEN HIGHER! LET THE OLD WORLD BURN! WE ARE BECOME THE STORM! WE ARE BECOME THE STORM! [Breakdown – Crushing half-time, war horns blaring] (One guttural roar that shakes the earth) FOR THE FALLEN! FOR THE CHOSEN! FOR THE ONES WHO NEVER YIELDED! [Outro – Tagelharpa returns alone, drenched in reverb, fading under rolling thunder] The field is silent now Only ravens remain They feast like kings And they speak our name.
