tisdag 26 juni 2018

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.

fredag 22 juni 2018

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.

torsdag 21 juni 2018

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 ;-).

onsdag 20 juni 2018

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.

onsdag 13 juni 2018

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)

måndag 4 juni 2018

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.