[Intro] / ambient roll of muffled snare drums, distant angry Parisian mob, slow heavy creak of an iron blade being winched up a wooden frame / rigid synthetic 16th-note bassline cutting in, dead dry / female French whisper, heavy tape delay Dix-sept cent quatre-vingt-treize... la guillotine s'élève... le rasoir national... (1793... the guillotine rises... the national razor...) #drum roll #wood creak Silence! [Verse 1] / harsh male baritone, dry and deadpan delivery Seventeen-ninety-three upon the square A wooden scaffold in the winter air The cart is rumbling on the cobblestone Leaving the ancien régime alone Tribunal signatures in black and red Demanding every noble crown and head Robespierre is counting in the hall Watching all the greedy factions fall The wooden collar locks upon the neck Turning the empire to a smoking wreck Beveled steel is hanging in the height Gleaming in the cold Parisian light No crown, no scepter, no divine decree Equality in total gravity [Pre-Chorus] #heavy metal kick slam #hammer strike Release the rope! The gravity of law! The sharpest blade that Paris ever saw! #metal stomp #crescendo Drums are rolling to a deafening sound! Another severed head upon the ground! [Chorus] / aggressive male shout, full EBM sequence Place de la Révolution! The heavy blade! Executing the promises they made! #metal stomp #hammer strike The National Razor! Dropping from the sky! Watching every tyrant bleed and die! Seventeen-ninety-three! The final blow! Watch the blood across the pavement flow! [Post-Chorus] / cold female vocal, distant reverb, minimal beat La lame tombe... la république ne pardonne pas... (The blade falls... the republic does not forgive...) #industrial strike #sharp blade whoosh Tête coupée. [Verse 2] / harsh male baritone, tight sequence Terror marches through the city street Marching to the rhythmic EBM beat The Jacobins are sharpening the steel Crushing down the old world under heel Paper currency and bread in line Marching soldiers to the border Rhine Clean efficiency, mechanized and cold The darkest story that the century told Until the master falls beneath the knife Robespierre pays out his own brief life The square goes quiet in the bloody mud Drowning all the slogans in the blood [Bridge] / beat strips back to solitary 16th bassline and distant metal clang / harsh male baritone, low spoken tone The drum roll stops. The collar locks. Track one hundred and seventy. The blade is released. / female French whisper Le grand œuvre est accompli... coupez le cordon... (The great work is accomplished... cut the cord...) #massive metal slam DROP THE BLADE! [Chorus] / aggressive male shout, maximum drive and hammer strikes Place de la Révolution! The heavy blade! Executing the promises they made! #metal stomp #hammer strike The National Razor! Dropping from the sky! Watching every tyrant bleed and die! Seventeen-ninety-three! The final blow! Watch the blood across the pavement flow! [Outro] / beat slows down drastically, heavy 16th bassline decays into solitary ticking pendulum, sudden heavy mechanical SLAM of the blade dropping, followed by total absolute dead silence / harsh male baritone, cold deadpan whisper Katalog komplett. Spår ett-sju-noll. Fabriken stänger. / female French whisper Fin de l'ère industrielle... silence complet... (End of the industrial era... complete silence...) #distant echoing iron latch click Shift 170 completed.
