Ishjärta lyrics

Ishjärta – Heart of Ice
Seventh song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.

This song depicts a disastrous expedition to the submerged ruins of the city Krau-Ki. A band of monks are looking for an ancient blade that they think will be useful against the undead Crurer. The ruins are located in a giant ice cave under the glacier Kmorda. To make things even worse, a lake has formed on the glacier above the city.

Swedish lyrics

Bortom berg, bortom snö

finns en stad under sjö

Markens märg hör jag dö

Hjärtat slår, håller rytmen än

Ur en tid, av ett band

utan frid, vinterns hand

letar strid, klyver land

genom köld ännu vandrar hän

Vad än vi söker så finner oss ödet

Vi blir allt färre, vi faller i vår grav

Där isen kröker att leda oss till möte

ren vinterns herre det kalla rummet gav

Allt ska vakna

Allt ska dö

Den oss hemsöker drar ner oss i flödet

är inte kräsen. Konfluxen blir vårt nav

Regnbågen fångad under frusna himlavalv

i stumma speglar hennes skri

Miljoner tårar regnar ner med isens skalv

Vi delar bittert hennes sorgestund

aldrig mer bli fri

Kom ät med mig

känn giftet fylla ben och blod

Bli ett med allt

låt dela syskonspillrans bord

Hör natten gå till ton från isens tusendropp

Med gryningsljus 

ska vattnet tvaga fallen kropp

Vart än vi strävat vi aldrig funnit något

Under vår väntan förbannelsen låg kvar

Vi ständigt bävat 

men alltid plikten vågat

Förfädrens längtan  

vårt hopp i tiden bar

English lyrics

Beyond mountains, beyond snow

there’s a town under a lake

I hear the earth’s marrow die

while the heart beats, still keeping it’s rythm

Out of time, of a bond

without rest, winter’s hand

seeks battle, cleaving land

roaming still through the cold

Whatever we seek, destiny finds us

We’re getting fewer, falling in our graves

Where the ice curves leading us to meet him

the lord of winter opening his cold abode

All shall awaken

All shall die

He who haunts us pulls us down into the flow

He devours. The Conflux be our grave

The rainbow trapped beneath the frozen heavens

silent mirrors showing her fear

A million tears fall from shuddering ice

We share her bitter sorrow

never again to be free

Come eat with me

feel the poison flow through bone and blood

Become one with all

share the table of our shrinking group

Hear the night pass, resounding dripping ice

With the morning light

water shall cleanse our fallen bodies

Wherever we strived, nothing was found

Throughout our wait the curse remained

Incessantly we trembled 

but still honoured our duties

The ancestors’ longing 

bore our hope through ages

# # #

The Conflux is a central concept in the novels. It is a needle's eye in the flow of destiny, a time and a place towards which all narratives converge. What happens there will decide the future. Many for this reason seek to dominate The fifth Conflux that is approaching, among them the wizard Shagul from Death's End.

Den gudomliga väven lyrics

Den gudomliga väven – The Divine Tapestry
Sixth song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.

The story in the four novels revolves around a lost and messed up divine tapestry – a blueprint of the world as it was meant to be. The eccentric rooster Koklai of divine origin is sent to the world to fix things, working with some of the main characters. He wields The High Language, which has the power to change reality.

Swedish lyrics

Tuppen står mot solens uppgång

stolt han gal de gyllne toner

Orden sjunger Höga språket

Låga tungan löper under

Varpens plogfåra

dess skyttel en fågelnäbb

Jag väver världen

Vet ni det nu eller ej

Väven vindlar, varp och inslag

Tråden, skör som ålderhåret

faller i sitt eget alldjup

Bythos kallar kött till bilden

Mäktigt ljuder runosång

ger dälden, skaldar träden

täljer tingen, mäler tiden

Tar flöde och form

Trälavind, din trägna gång

låt klösa gråhavstäcket

Ro med kraft till ön Marjura

Nu skåda en strand

Havets sten på solstrand smälter

Blommor vissnar, bladen vittrar

Gudabann till ände gånget

mörker föder forna makter

Aldrun, sångerskan ur vågen

Silvia Miranda, häxan

Ammisadu, sydlandsprästen

alla bidar tidens allvar

Masternas frukter

med seglens gula bladverk

alla löven nu

faller i havet

Stammen klyver vattnets yta

Ödets ässja hörs i fjärran

Norden kallar, nordan kyler

karga nunors vakt om natten

fjärran arten, skalets folk

bekryper djupen under ytan

bidar tiden, väntar lägen

klamrar ren vid bark och grenar

Hanen höjer halsen lång

ur hinnor halar djuren

klöser marken, hackar lösen

ger värme och blod

Fågelns tjut med gudatvång

drar vinden, sliter varpen

lyfter livet ur dess drömmar

Han väver ett land

En strand

En hand

Ett band

English lyrics

The rooster in the dawning sun

proudly calls his golden notes

Words are sung in godly language

The lower tongue chants below

The warp a furrow

The shuttle a bird’s beak

I weave the world

Do you know it now or not

The weave winds, warp and weft

The thread, brittle as aged hair

dives in it’s own deep

Bythos calling flesh to image

Mightily sounds the runesong

turns the valley, sings the trees

telling things, declaring time

flowing and forming

Slave wind, sedulous worker

claw the grey coat of the sea

Row forcefully to the island of Marjura

Behold its shores

Stones of the sea melt on sunny shores

Flowers fade, leaves wither

The curse of the gods has come to an end

darkness yielding ancient powers

Aldrun, singer of the waves

Silvia Miranda, the wind witch

Ammisadu, the southern priest

all await a time serene

Fruit of the masts

and the yellow foliage of our sails

all leaves now

fall into the ocean

The tree trunk cleaves the water surface

The forge of destiny is heard from afar

North is calling, north wind paling

barren faces watching in the night

A distant species, people of the shell

crawling in water under the surface

expecting times, awaiting events

clinging to bark and branches

The rooster raises his neck

hauls animals from fetal membranes

claws the ground, hacks the watchwords

summons warmth and blood

The bird’s godly howling

rends the wind, tears the warp

lifts life out of it’s dreams

He weaves a world

A hand

A link

A land

# # #

Lines in red are Japanes haikus with an extra line. 

The extra line in the first haiku is from Völvans spådom, a prophecy in the ancient viking text The Poetic Edda.

Lines in green loosely follow (in Swedish) the viking meter of fornyrdislag with two pairs of alliterated sounds in each line.

Bythos is a world beyond the world in the novels, where the rooster Koklai arrives from. The greek word Bythos means deep (abyss comes from this) and is a concept in gnosticism.

Aldrun, Silvia Miranda and Ammisadu are all main characters from the novels.

Shum Shaula lyrics

Shum Shaula
Fifth song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.

Shum Shaula means Svavelvinter (Winter of Sulphur) in Ithilgrom's tongue, the ancient language of the undead people of Cruri that you see waking up on the album's cover. The Cruri have been sleeping in the mires on Marjura for eight hundred years, waiting out a curse. The song depicts their somewhat optimistic dream of a new, bright future.

Swedish lyrics
Rämna lera

Strömma myr ur huvudhåla

flöda brun som öl ur mun

Tandarad, låt sila rot som slam från tunga

Tömma, torka, orka glömma

klistrad lunga 

sliter bröstets kalla djup

Andan sargar svalg

och strupens karga stup

Frusen kättja

gyttjan fjättrat folk som fränder

Pansarisen låst och lastat

lagda låg vi under isens täta täcke

Bida hat att rida snart

Vintern river land

Vi väntar Cruri vår

Varvet vänder, stjärnor

väcker man från bår

Shum Shaula

Regum laaba

Kvur Kaarot bas Shum shaula

Regum ailee!

Vakna, vandra

fria andra

finna randen

Landakennings lagoband

Blodets trolldom dövar smärtan

prövar hjärtan

Segra, lägra Cruri land

Kapa, brista rygg och lem

för koppareggen

Rikta, ränna skäktans ramm

mot hjärteväggen

Mitt folk är tidens hjältar nu

Jagannath drar vårt ödes plog

Se fälten vita i morgonens ljus

Bergen stiger bortom berg

När våra blickar höjs är månen röd

Låt knivar falla till en köttets vard

er död vårt liv till vård

Mitt folk är tidens hjältar nu

Jagannath drar vårt ödes plog

Se fälten vita i morgonens ljus

se bergens rötter väts där lemmar blöds

English lyrics
Clay cracking

mire pouring from skull
flowing brown as ale from mouth
Teeth sifting root and sludge from tongue
Emptying, drying, working to forget
glued lungs 

tearing the cold depths of my chest
Breath rending throat
my windpipe’s barren chasm

Frozen lust

mud fettering folk and family

Icy armour trapping and weighting down

deep under heavy ice we slept

Bide hate, soon to ride again

Winter tears the land

We await the spring of Cruri

Circle turning, stars

awaking man from bier

Shum shaula

Regum laaba

Kvur Kaarot bas Shum shaula

Regum ailee!

Awaken, go

free others

finding the edge

Landakenning’s law-bond

Blood magic dulls the pain

tries our hearts

Prevail, mount the lands of Cruri

Cut, break back and limb

under the copper edge

Aim and ram the bolt

towards the crumbling heart

My people are the heroes of our times

Jagganath pulls the plow of our destiny

Behold the fields, white in morning light

and mountains rising beyond mountains

Raising our gaze to a red moon

Let knives strike down to feast on meat

to make your deaths our life

My people are the heroes of our day.

Jagganath pulls the plow of our destiny

Behold the fields, white in the morning light

Behold the mountain roots

wet where limbs are bled

# # #

Red text is in Ithilgrom's dead tongue and translates to:
Winter of sulphur

the king has risen

Cruri under the winter of sulphur

Make way for the king!

Green text is a pastiche on the initial chorus of John Adams opera ”Nixon in China”, act 1, scene 1.

Jagannath is a giant being in the magma under the island Marjura. You can see him in the video Vanderland. The name is from Hindu mythology – same as in ”juggernaut”.

Landakennings lagoband / Landakenning's law-bond is the magical force that keeps the Cruri alive.

De åldriga ödlornas ed lyrics

De åldriga ödlorna ed –
Oath of the Ancient Wyrms
Third song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.

De åldriga ödlornas ed is sung by the dragon Blatifagus who is featured in the novels. He sweeps through the night over the dark sea, carrying the prince Arn Dunkelbrink on his back, cursing and raging over the fact that he's forced to serve this puny human for as long as it lives, dreaming of the days when he'll be free again, savouring the havoc he'll wreak among 'the wet ones' then.


Swedish lyrics

Stormarna tystnar 

under vredens vridna vingslag

Länderna sargas 

under vassa klornas blodbad

Händer ska krama 

vad de våta funnit döden värt

rinna mellan fingrar 

allt det ni har hållit mödan kärt

Gisslar min rygg 

med rapp från herremannens piska

Nesan – ur släktled 

hör jag förfäderna viska

”Varför bland ormar

miste ätaren sitt höga namn?”

Varför bland drakar

lever jag med denna svarta skam

Allting ska brinna

en ny värld att vinna

Ingen ska hinna

i elden försvinna

Vansinnet bär jag

Flamman ska snärja

och natten förhärja

till den brinnande dag

Ingen kan värja

Blodet ska färga

de kroppar jag bärgar

Förgörelsen är jag

Jag flyger under månen in i gryningen

Min led är lagd 

mot mänskoland längs dyningen

Mitt ögas stål 

ska nagla fast din våta kropp

Du krälar, klagar, vädjar

sedan slukar jag ditt sista hopp

Min mörka skugga sveper över sjö och land

Snart vänder morgonfriden 

till en dag i gyllne brand

Förtära ska jag allt ni rest 

med trägen hand

Det gamla går i grav 

när lågan väller över tand

Markerna gungar

Käftar ska sjunga

Jag slukar era unga

de kokar på min tunga

Illväder hopas över

folkens trygga nästen

Ätaren av de egna sliter

murar från fästen

Strupar ska skria

”Blatifagus! Nu är döden här!”

Klornas vassa liar

till benpipan genom köttet skär

English lyrics

Storms fade 

under wingbeats of wrath

Lands are rent

in the bloodbath of tearing claws

Hands will cling to 

what the wet ones would die for

running through fingers 

all that you held dear

The whip of my master 

scourging my back

Oh shame! Out of my past 

I hear the ancestors whisper

”Why among wyrms

did The Eater loose his name?”

Why among dragons

do I live with this black shame

All shall burn

A new world to win

No one will escape

in the fire they’ll perish

I carry the madness

My flames will ensnare

blazing the night

into burning day

No one will escape

Blood will spatter

the bodies I claim

I am destruction

Under the moon I fly into the morning

My route is laid 

towards men’s lands along the swell

The steel of my eye 

will impale your wet bodies

Wailing you’ll pray for mercy 

until I devour your hope

My dark shadow sweeps over sea and land

Soon the sweet morning 

will turn into golden fire

I’ll eat what you have built 

with diligent hands

All that is old dies 

when flames escape my teeth

The grounds will shake

jaws will sing

I devour your young

they boil on my tongue

The storms will gather

over the homes of humans

The Eater of his own

tears walls from their roots

Throats will scream

”Blatifagus! Doom is here!”

The scythes of my claws

cut through flesh to the bone

# # #

I think I actually was inspired by the Swedish version of 1985 music TV-show Night Flight when I wrote this song ;-).

Mörkrets tid lyrics

Mörkrets tid – Time of Darkness
Last song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.
Link to video (soon)

Mörkrets tid is a memento mori – a reminder that we all are mortal. It is is sung by a victorious mercenary standing in the carnage after battle. He triumphantly sings to his dead enemies, but also knows that he may be among the fallen next time.


Swedish lyrics

Till jorden vi kommit, mot hädan vi går

den ene i sjukdom, den andre med sår

Rinner i grälla strömmar 

från kullens hjässa till jordefoten

det ska brinna i mina drömmar 

från svärdets vässade egg mot roten

det kryper längs lädren 

i skorna som jag har burit

det dryper i klädren 

på offren som jag har skurit

Blodet som levde

nu levrar det sig i kroppar

på krakar som fruktade döden 

och fruktade mig.

Döden vi skänkte

snart skänkts den åt oss

Jägarn blir jagad

då slocknar i natten hans irrande bloss

Sprättar med vässat stål 

alla era kuddar och era sömmar

Jag avrättar, tar nu kål på din häst

din hund liksom dina drömmar

Silver jag söker att vandla till vackert vin

Vi ska supa som svin 

för att glömma bort alla tömda

Vi gångar åt jorden

Vi svävar åt sky

Snart dricker vi dammet 

och äter den dy

på vilken vi vandrat

vår saga är all

när döden oss kallar

vår drottning – o Ereshkigál

De rosor som stod i blom 

ligger alla brutna av vapenslakten

Vi har krossat med krigets dom 

och med våra spjut hägnat hela trakten

Ni dog för er tro

inga böner ni längre hinner

Vi tog era bon 

all er lön, alla era kvinnor

English lyrics

To the earth we came to the yonder we go

some in sickness, others by wounds

Pouring in glaring rivulets 

from head to earthly foot

it will burn in my dreams 

from sword’s edge to the root

it crawls in the leathers 

of shoes that I’ve worn

it flows in the clothes 

of victims I’ve torn

The blood that lived

now clots in bodies

of weaklings that feared death 

and feared me

The death we gave them 

soon will be given to us

The hunter turns to pray 

as the flame of his soul perishes

My sharp steel 

will gut all your pillows and seams

I butcher your horse 

your dog, and your dreams

Your silver I gladly transform into wine

We seek sweet oblivion 

by drinking as swine

We walk towards earth

We soar towards sky

Soon we drink the dust 

and eat the mud

on which we walked

our story comes to an end

when death calls us

our queen – oh Ereshkigál

The roses that blossomed 

all lie broken by our weapons

We crushed with decree of war 

and fenced off the lands with our spears

You died for your faith

no time for prayers

We took your dwellings 

your pay, and your women

# # #

Ereshkigál is the death goddess in Sumerian mythology. The pantheon in the Trachorian fantasy setting is mostly borrowed from Mesopotamia.

This song is actually mentioned in the novels as the masterpiece of undead bard Shopachinka. It originally had the title ”Gúttura från ett rykande slagfält” – ”Gúttura from a smoking carnage”, which was considered too wierd.

I'm pretty satisfied with the lyrics of this song since there's a lot of nordic-style allitteration and also four-syllable-rhymes between (Swedish) lines.

Reviews of Mörkrets Tid

Reviews of Mörkrets Tid
Please post your personal reviews of Svavelvinter's Mörkrets Tid as answers to this blog post. We'd appreciate if you refrain from discussions here and keep those on the Svavelvinter FaceBook forum.

Professional reviews
* Jimmy Barendt, 4/5 at Rocknytt web site, june 2018
* Mårten Cederberg, 5/6 in Gaffa Magazine, june 2018
* Peter Bernhardsson, 9/10 in Sweden Rock Magazine, may 2018 (link when available)

Glasmannen lyrics

Glasmannen – The Glass Man
Fourth song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.
Link to video

The Glass Man is about a wandering, seemingly immortal wizard with semi-transparent skin. He's been travelling the world under many names since ancient times, founding nations in his ambition to create the beautiful and everlasting, but everything he does inevitably leads to disaster. Shagul from the song Death's End was an apprentice of the Glass Man.

Swedish lyrics
Du steg ur dimmigt hav

när boken blev till kött

Ditt ord oss branden gav

ett hopp ur bilden fött

Vi levde av ditt namn

Vi brann med ordens makt

Vår färd stod utan hamn

Vår lust blev all vår jakt

Er aska nu ur min hand

Var boning mald till sand

Jag driver från land till land

förvittrar varje band

Ur varje stad och by

min låga sveder skyn

Volterra stal en evig vår

Astrumal, drömmen om ett land

Omegon, varje slag han slår

Golabag fann sin grav i sand

Allt jag är

allting som jag var

aldrig mer en vandring utan kval

Det jag såg

det jag måste se

allt för den mörka drift jag bär 

som aldrig gör mig lycklig mer igen

Kom led oss i vårt krig

Låt egg bli fjäderns fall

Ditt liv till svärdet vig

Låt döden bli vårt kall

Sug skönhet ur var träl

Töm ådror på all kraft

Till Laabnes höga väl

drick evighetens saft

Längs väg från världens rand 

vart fotspår står i brand

Ur varje stad och by 

min låga sveder skyn

Må ditt minne äta sina skuggor

Du ska till slutet 

alltid vara ensam med din smärta

English lyrics

You rose from misty sea

when the book turned into flesh

Your word gave us fire

the hope born from an image

We lived by your name

We burned from the power of words

Our journey had no port

Our lust was all we craved

Your ash pours from my hand

Each house is ground to sand

I drift, land to land

withering each bond

Out of every city and village 

my flame scorches the sky

Volterra stole eternal spring

Astrumal, the dream of a land

Omegon, each blow he strikes

Golabag found his grave in sand

All I am

everything I was

never more a painless walk

What I saw

what I had to see

due to my dark yearning 

that never again leaves me satisfied

Come lead us to our war

Let steel cut the feather

Wed your life to the sword

Let death be our calling

Suck beauty from each slave

Drain all power from veins

To the heights of Laabne

drink the sap of eternity

On roads from the worlds rim 

each footstep is on fire

Out of every city and village 

my flame scorches the sky

May your memory eat its shadows

Until the end 

you’ll travel alone with your pain

# # #

The spoken words at the end of the song is a curse laid by the Glass Man on one of the main characters in the novels.