The Bell Below

[INTRO – Lonely Tin Whistle, Distant Wind and Waves] [Low Uilleann Pipe Drone] [Spoken, Barely Above a Whisper] Keep your fire low, lads. And listen close to me. For there's a bell no living hand has rung... Beyond the western sea. [VERSE 1 – Soft, Unsettling Irish Folk] The moon went dark beyond the shoal, The wind forgot to blow. A ship came drifting through the fog, With lanterns burning low. Her sails were sewn from burial cloth, Her hull was black with brine. I called to ask her captain's name... She answered back with mine. [PRE-CHORUS – Fiddle Tremolo, Bodhrán Builds] One bell rang out beneath the keel, Though none was hung aboard. The waters stilled, the stars went blind, And dead hands gripped the boards. [CHORUS – Haunting, Heavy, Melodic] DON'T ANSWER THE BELL! DON'T FOLLOW THE FLAME! The waters have learned The sound of your name! Keep your eyes down, Let the dead sail on! Pray to whatever gods Aren't already gone! For the deep takes more Than blood and bone! It calls you back In a voice you've known! DON'T ANSWER THE BELL! DON'T FOLLOW THE LIGHT! The sea has a mouth... AND IT'S OPEN TONIGHT! [INSTRUMENTAL – Mournful Fiddle Melody Over Slow Electric Guitar Riffs] [VERSE 2 – Dark Storytelling, Growing Dread] They came aboard without a sound, With seaweed in their hair. Their eyes were pits of candle smoke, Their boots left puddles there. One wore the coat of a man I'd buried, Three winters lost at sea. He put his lips against my ear... "There's room below for thee." [PRE-CHORUS – Deep Drums, Rising Dissonance] The second bell began to toll, The timbers cracked like bone. And every corpse upon the deck Began to sing as one. [CHORUS – Heavier, Frightened Delivery] DON'T ANSWER THE BELL! DON'T FOLLOW THE FLAME! The waters have learned The sound of your name! Keep your eyes down, Let the dead sail on! Pray to whatever gods Aren't already gone! For the deep takes more Than blood and bone! It calls you back In a voice you've known! DON'T ANSWER THE BELL! DON'T FOLLOW THE LIGHT! The sea has a mouth... AND IT'S OPEN TONIGHT! [INSTRUMENTAL – Distorted Electric Guitar Solo and Wild Irish Fiddle] [VERSE 3 – Terrified, Accelerating Rhythm] Then something stirred beneath the waves, And dragged the ocean wide. A thousand fathoms rose as one, With thunder in the tide. The Kraken rose in coils of night, Its eyes like drowned-out suns. It dragged the lifeboats under first, Then tore apart our guns. The tentacles embraced the hull, The sea began to foam. And far below those writhing limbs... I SAW ANOTHER HOME. [BREAKDOWN – Slow, Crushing Doom Metal] [Deep Bass, Dissonant Guitar, Distant Bells] No kingdom built by mortal hands, No city made for men. Black towers rose through boiling seas, And vanished down again. The angles bent the wrong damn way, The stones began to bleed. And something in that sunken place... BEGAN. TO. BREATHE. [BRIDGE] [Soft, Trembling Male Vocal] No shouted name could drive it back, No prayer could stop the tide. Beyond the drowned cathedral gates, A sleeping mountain sighed. The sea rose up to meet the sky, The stars fell out of view. I saw the face beneath the world... [Whispered, Terrified] And heard them call... Cthulhu. [EXTENDED INSTRUMENTAL – Uilleann Pipes and Electric Guitar] [Slow, Unnatural Guitar Bends] [Haunting Fiddle Harmony] [Crushing Doom Metal Riff] [Distant Submerged Bells] [OUTRO – Solo Fiddle, Quiet Wind]