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Beyond
The North Winds
Commentary
King Of The World
"The essential function of the universe is a machine for making gods."
-- Henri Bergson, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932)I first became acquianted with the legend of the "King of the World" via the famous occult book "The Morning of the Magicians" (1960) by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier. As the legend goes, 30 to 40 centuries ago, a cataclysm in ancient Asia in the current Gobi desert region broke apart an ancient, advanced civilization, and their descendents fled to the Arctic North, the Caucauses, and deep into the subterranean underground of the Himalayan mountains.
I began to investigate these myths further, with their references to the King of the World, and the mystical lands of Agharta and Shamballah in books such as "Le Roi du Monde" by Rene Guenon, "The Spear of Destiny" by Trevor Ravenscroft, "The Secret Doctrine" by Helena Blavatsky, and "Arktos: The Polar Myth" by Joscelyn Godwin.
It is the latter book which sheds the most light on this subject, tracing the origins of the myth to the French writer Louis Jacolliet (1837-1890), who wrote about a mystical city of the sun, 'Asgharta'. It is interesting to note that a another French writer Ernest Renan wrote in 1876 of improving mankind via a 'factory of Ases' (the Scandinavian gods) in a place called "Asgaard" in central Asia. Whether there is any link at all between the Scandinavian abode of the Gods Asgard, and the many names of this legendary subterranean homeland (Asgaard, Agharta, Argharti, Asgharta, etc..), we will have to leave that to the imaginative world of French occult writers..
In another strange book, "Beasts, Men, and Gods" (1922) by Ferdinand Ossendowski, the protagonist tells his tale of fleeing the Bolshevik Russian Revolution through the East. In his travels in southern Russia and northern Asia (China, Mongolia, Tibet), he hears of a strange tale about the land of Agharti, and the mysterious King of the World.
"The subterranean people have reached the highest knowledge. Now it is a large kingdom, millions of men with the King of the World as their ruler. He knows all the forces of the world and reads all the souls of humankind and the great book of their destiny. Invisibly he rules eight hundred million men on the surface of the earth and they will accomplish his every order."
One of the most strangest books I own is a little-known travelogue by a German mystical writer Theodore Illion (most likely a pseudonym), called "Darkness over Tibet" (1938). The book is advertised as a non-fiction travel book, but in reality, seems a largely fictional spiritual allegory. In his travels in secretive Tibet (back when it was illegal for Western foreigners to visit there), he hears tales of a hidden underground city, a world of highly initiated beings led by the "Prince of Light". Illion finds a guide to take him there, and in the city he meets a fraternity of monks and their mysterious leader. Although he initially feels that he is in a place of great spiritual power, it slowly dawns on him that these people are really sorcerers that practice black magic, and had become soulless over time as the darkness spiritually consumed them. Illion makes his escape so that he can warn the world of the powers of darkness that lie within the secretive mountains of the Himalayas.
"Let me say, then, in this connection, that real understanding in spiritual matters is the result of much bitter fighting, of suffering, spiritual agony and soul passion. Life itself would have no meaning if there was no fighting on all planes, if all was smooth and monotonous. Everything fights in nature. Every plant fights to get more sunlight. Every animal fights for food; the angels themselves fight. Constant struggle on all planes to which it has access is the birthright of the creature. Woe to him who wants to put himself on a level with the Creator and escape fighting! On my travels I have met some of the highest spiritual entities incarnated in the flesh, and not only those working for the Creator but also those working against him. Even the fires of hell have their mission. They destroy man if he is weak, but if he is strong they purify by burning the dross away."
Like most ancient myths, these stories may be born from a grain of truth that meld over time to the cultural lens of different peoples throughout the epochs. Although I can't say I really believe in some subterranean kingdom of evil beings, I find Illion's allegorical stories to be very near to the truth: that there are two spiritual ways, light and dark, that struggle in the realms of matter. I don't necessarily see them as morally good or evil, but only in terms of two different spiritual paths of understanding and living in our existence, the path of the Golden Sun and the Path of the Black Sun. These are often called in eastern ways the Right Hand Path and the Left Hand Path. While the Right Hand Path (way of the Golden Sun) seems concerned with becoming 'one with the Universe', to create a static balance in one's self so that it may be in balance with the creator (a belief most entrenched in Buddhism), the Left Hand Path (way of the Black Sun), is concerned with personal dynamic power, the ways of creation and destruction, of becoming your own god. Is this the "factory of Ases" that Ernest Renan spoke of?
In the distant North, beyond the Eastern Sands
From the winds of the South, far from Western lands
A shadowed throne He wrought, and the nine He taught
Of a future kingdom, of a distant timeI wanted to convey the notion that the King of the World is not necessarily located or emanates influence from a specific geographical point. He is not of east or west, or north or south, but his influence comes from all directions, for it is inherently cthonic and subterranean, and emanates from within, the dark of the soul. The "nine" refers to the legend of the Nine Unknown Men, founded by Indian Emperor Asoka (c. 270 BCE) to preserve and protect scientific knowledge that was considered dangerous to humanity.
The wise have sought Him, and the brave have fought Him
The false have worshipped Him, the true have revered Him
He whose fate, the spinning world lies
Within the mountains, far from ancient skiesThe mysterious King of the World is a source of wisdom for the true searchers, who value knowledge above all, both of the spirit and the material world. This knowledge is hidden from those who would use it for coarse and malevolent aims. Only those who seek salvation outside of themselves (which is generally those of the of the "Southern" traditions) would ever seek out and worship the King of the World as some distant god. The "true" learn from him, revere him, and want to emulate his path.
And the dreams of an ancient sign, of a shadow far from time
And the priest whose next in line, bloodied hand on poisoned vineThe priests of the Middle East religions are fed by a 'poisoned vine', thousands of years of lies upon lies. The transmission of their 'knowledge' is the dissemination of these lies and fables.
In the light of the pure green ray, of the elder ones that stayed
And a world that's far away, in a night where there is no dayThe green ray is the mysterious light emanating from the Black Sun, the central source of dark mysterious power for those of the polar races. It emanates from within, and cannot be ascribed to a single physical phenomenon or geographical location. It is not related to the sun of our galaxy, or any similar logos star of the golden light, as it is internally created and emanated from initiated advanced souls.
There is nothing more mysterious than blood. Paracelsus considered it a condensation of light... but not the light of the Golden Sun, not of a galactic sun, but of the light of the Black Sun, of the Green Ray.
-- Miguel SerranoFew have seen His dreams, or heard the silent screams
Chained to this world, Rex Mundi...
Lord of creation, child of the black sunThe King Of The World remains hidden, deep within the Earth in his subterranean kingdom, never to leave, the logos of the Earth, the emanation of the black sun within the deepest realms so that mankind may receive its dark flame of knowledge. He is chained to this world, because it is his task to remain a pathway for those of mankind who yearn for higher knowledge and the powers for self-mastery, so that they themselves can become their own sun.
"Beyond The North Winds" continues the 'eastern' theme from "King Of The World", and one song flows into the other. I am sure there are some who wonder why a song about the northern winds, Viking warriors, and valkyries contains musically 'eastern' tones.
The Vikings traveled as far north as Iceland and Greenland, as far east as Constantinople and along the Volga river in Russia, as far south as North Africa and the Middle East, and as far West as Labrador in Canada. During these travels, it was their contact and trading with Arabs that brought to us many recorded descriptions of their appearance and customs from Islamic chroniclers, who were much less biased against the "Rus" as they were called, as compared to medieval Europe's descriptions of their foes. One such writer was Ahmed ibn Fadlan. His writings about the Viking traders inspired author Michael Crichton's book "Eaters of the Dead", which in turn was the inspiration for the film "The 13th Warrior".
He described the Vikings as follows:
"I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blond and ruddy... Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife and keeps each by him at all times." The men, he observed, were tattooed with dark green figures "from fingernails to neck."
Here is an excellent article about the Vikings adventures in the East.
It is incredible to think of these brave travellers and merchantmen, navigating their way along the Volga river and its various tributaries, right down to the Black Sea and lands beyond, so far from their home in the lands of the North.
This is a very straight-forward song, lyrically, about a warrior who dies in battle, far away, in some other nation, some other geographical location that might as well be an alien world to him, especially if it was in the warm climates of the Middle East. But still, he awaits the call of the North: the call of the Valkyrie, from far away across the sea, to take him back to the golden hall, Valhalla, where he may feast and train for the final battle when Odin will call upon him one more time to take part in the final clash at Ragnarok. Although he lost his life in such a far away place, his soul still returns to the North, as all those souls of the North will do when the time comes.
I heard her call, I felt her breath
I heard her song, the call of death
Far from home, and far from life
In fields of glory, my bloody tombShe came to me... across the sea
From Valhöll she rode, from halls of gold
To bear my soul, to His abode
To guide my path, whose fate it weaves
Through long-dead forests, and their graves of leavesShe came to me... across the sea
This song is the first instrumental on the album. It is less a song and more of an interlude between the beginning of the album that is a one-two punch of long, epic, and heavy songs:
"King of the World" and "Beyond the North Winds", before launching into another: "Under The Mountain".I pace albums very deliberately. In the old days, bands used to line up all the best singles on side "A", and then when you flipped the LP over, you got the mediocre, forgettable songs on side "B". I've always tried to make an album as a 'package', meaning you can listen to it from start to finish and get some sense of continuity from one song to another, from beginning to end, just as one reads a book. You have an introduction, a jolt of wild action, some time to catch your breath, some more action, times for reflection, a few more action scenes and breathers, then a finale to send you on your way.
Musically I wanted to keep this song very simple, with only a couple of acoustic guitars, a single pounding drum, and some ambient keyboards. In early versions of the song I had added some other instrument parts, including flutes/pipes, but found that it distracted from the simple, pounding rhythm I wanted to convey.
"Pale Autumnal Moon" is based on a poem I wrote many, many years ago, although I updated some of the language to use more Norse concepts rather than just vague, natural pagan imagery. Coincidentally, as I am writing this (the night of Sept. 15, 2008), it is the night of the Harvest moon, the closest full moon to the autumnal equinox. The moon is low in the sky, a looming gigantic face on the horizon, and is an eerie orange colour.
Silver twilight, a shining lake
Silent whispers through dying leaves
Heathen sounds in rings of fire
Drifting smoke through midnight treesI envisioned a small enclave of people in a forest clearing, with the stars and moon glinting off the nearby lake shore. They sit in a circle, pounding away an ancient rhythm on primitive drums, while the wild bonfire in their centre sends smoke billowing into the trees, its tendrils writhing between the branches and leaves.
Mighty Ygg-ash, standing tall
Outstretched limbs to those on high
Starry brothers laugh together
Piercing through a blackened skyThe celebration takes place near the mighty ash tree, Yggdrasil, the world tree, the axis between the lower and higher worlds. The heathen celebration has found the ear of the gods, and they laugh together with mankind.
Leaves dance circles, wind and rain
Casting shadows never-ending
Pale autumnal moon is weeping
Eclipsed by darkness fast descendingIn the time of Ragnarok, the moon is swallowed by the wolf Managarm (also called Hati) just as the sun is swallowed by the wolf Skoll. The moon is weeping as it sees darkness descending on those happy times between men and gods, and then men will turn against themselves, and the gods proceed toward their doom.
"Under The Mountain" continues the 'cthonic' theme of "King Of The World", and while that song deals with a specific mythical archetype, "Under The Mountain" deals with the same theme at a personal level.
When one truly looks deep into their own soul, the true inner core of their Self, what kind of place are they in and what do they see? When the universe around you disappears, and there is nothing but your "I", and no other reference point, what is there that truly exists? It is often a frightening proposition that outside of the universe, you are your own light, and when it comes down to it, only you are responsible for what happens in your material life when incarnated here. You are master of your destiny, and neither gods, men, or fate, can interfere with your will.
Deep in the darkness, where stars cannot see
Where rivers flow inward, where souls cannot beWhen you close yourself off from the outside world, and have isolated yourself in your mountain, 'where the stars cannot see', the knowledge of simply existing becomes terrifying; the knowledge that you are a lone star in an dark, infinite cosmos, able to see the other stars (souls) in the Universe, and yet you coexist with them and pass by them on separate paths.
Beyond the horizon, of fallen stars dreaming
The dark sun burns brighter, than sky brothers gleamingBut it also becomes a moment of supreme power, as you realize you are indeed a star, a center of creation and destruction. Just as a solar system has a central sun, you too have that Logos within you, the central core being that is You. In opposite to the bright, golden, warm stars around you, it the internal Black Sun, whose rays emanate the single, isolate intelligence that make up your being.
From star-born creation, to far end of time
To dwell deep within us, to wait for the sign
Under the mountain, and under the sea
Our spirits lie sleeping, dreaming to beFor those with no knowledge of our past beyond the immediate material world, they forget our star-born origins, in another place and time. For those people, they live a life of ignorance of their ancestors, their heritage, and their past, and as a result they have no future. They are asleep, and flit about the world as if in a dream. They have no knowledge of the self, and therefore have no control over it, and do not have any say in their fate. But they can be awakened, and although their bodies and minds may be like the living dead, their spirit continues to dream, to dream of simply Being. And if a certain sign appears which is recognized by their subconscious, this spirit can be awakened and regenerated again.
The light that will fear us, and flees from our sight
The strength of the ancients, the sacred birthright
Far from the mountain, and far from the sea
Awaiting the coming, the true Northern kingWhen the spirit of man is awakened from his slumber 'under the mountain', then the Black Sun within him erupts, and the souls of the light flee before him. A surge is felt as the history of a thousand aeons rushes through him and activates his genetic and spiritual legacy, his sacred birthright. It is these new activated beings, the guiding light of the North, that become leaders and kings, the axis of a people to lead them from out of the mountain, to take them far beyond the sea, to start building new kingdoms and new nations, aligned with the eternal principles of the polar traditions.
"The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle... You must learn its discipline. For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts. This [the sword] you can trust..."
-- Conan The BarbarianThe sword has always been a noble weapon, representative of a man's virility and his ability to defend himself. Since the advent of guns, the use of the sword has all but been relegated to a ceremonial accessory. The sword's noble values come from its requisite to be used at close quarters, when one can man can look another man in the eye when he is locked with him in combat, testing their mettle and their strength, where only their skills and natural abilities can save them.
It is the true test of a man and his respect for life, to able to put his own life in equal danger before attempting to take the life of another. As Clint Eastwood remarks in "Unforgiven" about the act of killing: "You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have." The act comes with grave responsibility. This philosophy was also expounded by Harry Harrison's famous futuristic spy, The Stainless Steel Rat:
"Cold-blooded killing is just not my thing. I've killed in self-defence, I'll not deny that, but I still maintain an exaggerated respect for life in all forms. Now that we know that the only thing on the other side of the sky is more sky, the idea of an afterlife has finally been slid into the history books alongside the rest of the quaint and forgotten religions. With heaven and hell gone we are faced with the necessity of making a heaven or hell right here. What with societies and metatechnology and allied disciplines we have come a long way and life on the civilised worlds is better than it was during the black days of superstition. But with the improving of here and now comes the stark realisation that here and now is all we have. Each of us has only this one brief experience with the bright light of consciousness in that endless dark night of eternity and must make the most of it. Doing this means we must respect the existence of everyone else and the most criminal act imaginable is the terminating of one of these conscious existences."
The sword is not like the gun, the weapon of the coward, where one can hide far away from their target and shoot at them from afar, or when they are not even aware of its presence. This results in a detachment from the killing, both physically and mentally, with no personal involvement in the act of causing death. One must be willing to be on equal ground, to put their own life on the line to feel they have the right to take life away from someone else. Death should be something that is not easily dealt.
In Lord of The Rings, when Frodo feels that Gollum should be killed, Gandalf warns him:
Deserves it! I dare say he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
The idea behind "Sword From An Unknown Hand" is the passing down of single sword throughout time, from its original creator, to its eventual final resting place, and how it is used in the hands of each person who held it.
Were you forged by the Smith, of sturdy metal, and terrible blood oaths were you made...
Were you held by the Farmer, to ward the home and hearth, the land and soil...
Were you held by the Widow, husband lost in battle, she clutched thee in her empty bed...
Were you held by the Son, kin lost to march of hoofs, dreaming of revenge in later days when strong and steely
Were you held by the Warrior, to die an honourable death, to fly with the valkyries to the Golden Hall...
Were you held by the King, the axis of the people, guided by ancient blood, a fine and true ruler...
What wyrd shall pass upon you now, as you are now held by me, in my nameless sepulcher of stone
The Runes are the pre-Latin Germanic alphabet, and were used primarily in the years between the 1st/2nd centuries and the end of the Viking age around 1100 AD when Christianization and the Latin alphabet were fully entrenched. The use of the runes stilll continued for centuries in rural Scandinavia in areas untouched by the Christian encroachment. There are several different runic alphabets (called Futhark's, after the first several letters of the alphabet), each created and modified according to changes in regional dialect, although they seem to spring from a common source, which is a reconstructed 24-rune alphabet called the "Elder Futhark".
Although much has been written in the 20th century about the magical aspects of runes (mostly from the dreaded new-age movement), most of the runic inscriptions that have come down to use, primarily in stone, metal, and bone (inscriptions on organic materials have of course disappeared over time) have fairly mundane purposes, in many cases almost like an ancient form of graffiti. It is not uncommon to find many inscriptions to be simply something along the likes of "Halvdan was here, and cut these runes". There are, however, many beautifully crafted memorial stones to fallen kin, and great kings and leaders. There are some examples of magical rune use in the Eddas and Sagas, and a few rare incantations inscribed onto the hilts of weapons unearthed by archeologists, but they tend to be few and far between.
Although I originally came to the runes from a magical standpoint, I have since thought less of them in this regard (in terms of little spells and divinatory charms) to concentrate on the archetypal forces of the Indo-European worldview that they represent. It is of course no wonder that the ancient Germans and Scandinavians utilized the runes as a magic script, for it was the only written language they knew! This is not any different from magical incantations found throughout the centuries in medieval English, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Egyptian, and so on.
The real strength of the runes lies in their ability to transmit a 'meta-language', a series of symbols with deep, intertwined meanings that reflect on the great archetypes that apply across the entire Indo-European cultural spectrum. They are the mysteries of our peoples: mysteries that are hard won, and seldom revealed.
In the woods of the fallen
Dead leaves lie upon the snow
Elder oaths are long forgotten
And their meaning etched in stoneIt is when we leave our soulless, concrete cities and journey into the forests when we feel the awakening begin. Endless, towering trees peer over us, the insignificant creatures we often are, yet give us a sense of ancient, cyclical time, when the whispers of long dead men surround us like the dead leaves at the end of Autumn. Their bold and bloody oaths, those of protecting their family, their tribe, their nation, from all who dare to meddle with their life and liberty, fall on deaf modern ears, but as we journey further into the darkness of the forest, the whispers become roaring cries, the echoes of a distant, forgotten time. And then we come to the ancient stone, the source of the echoes, its rim lined with runic letters, the mysterious script glowing red with the blood of our ancient kin.
What is forgot shall be remembered
What is honour shall rise again
The fires forged ancestral spirit
Eternal flame within our kinThe sacred runes are able to speak to us across centuries; their stark, angular forms are imprinted deep into our consciousness and our genetic history, an organic, meta-language that rises above basic meanings to offer deep, complex insights into the worldview of the North European peoples. When we see the runes, we are struck by their mystery, as if the past is speaking directly to us, not just to our eyes and ears, but directly to our deepest soul. They call to us, and pull us into their mysteries, to take our thoughts beyond the mere, linear world of man to the cyclical abode of the gods. The 'eternal flame' of our ancient kin, is the deep knowledge and experience of this cyclical worldview.
Scribed in circles sealed forever
Runic signs of ancient ken
For those in the distant future
In whose life-blood flows the sameThe runes, etched and sealed forever in stone, are the symbols of our generational knowledge. This knowledge never dies because it lives on in our blood throughout the ages, and while we forget things in the memory of the mind, they are never forgot in the memory of the blood. When we view the runes, they act as a genetic trigger that suddenly forces us to remember our true origins in a world that does its best to obscure and erase the path backwards in time. And then it will be at that time in the distant future when those souls unravel the mysteries of the runes and their ancestors, and complete the circle of time.
This, the final instrumental of the album, is a diatribe against modern society, and yet holds out hope for the dawning of a better world. The title is taken from the name of a book by the Italian Traditionalist philosopher, Julius Evola, called "Men Among The Ruins". The book itself is a collection of post-Second World War reflections and criticisms of the modern world, of the rise of liberalism and its related anti-Traditional apparatus, and the yearning to return to a time of the true Indo-European traditions of the past.
The title and the book's themes gave me a vision of several men, standing on the edge of civilization, watching it carefully from a distance as it is smoldering in ruins. They stand with their heads low, in quiet, sad contemplation, yet knowing this event had to happen for there to be a new beginning.
Here we stand, at the shattered remains
of a beautiful, ordered world that once was
For when severed from the well-spring that breathes
life into a people... a nation...
And they whose thirst is slaked by the mirage of the modern world
cause the well itself to run dryThe modern world, and its corrupt, liberal democratic "values" of materialism, consumerism, globalism, enforced egalitarianism, and multiculturism, seeks to extinguish and dam the "well", which is representative of the true spirit and inspiration of a people, their history, values, laws, and traditions. When mankind is severed from its source, their spirit withers away, which is the ultimate goal of any controlling force. Man's thirst is "slaked" equally by the consumerist capitalist society that can please him with technological toys, mindless entertainments, the Internet, music videos, and movies, and the socialist nanny-state which attempts to take care of his life and family, by "educating" his children, feeding his family from mega-shopping stores, while removing the need for the traditional family structure and his ties to his community, land, and nation. What can a man stand for when he ultimately stands for nothing in this type of society?
But only then will those with a true thirst,
a hunger for knowledge of a higher kind
Whose arms outstretch to the sky above,
and do not claw the earth below
Those who seek mysteries in higher realms will
breathe life into the well that once lay dormantPast the halfway point of the song, the mood becomes more hopeful, as a light suddenly emerges, the new sun dawns on the horizon, a glimmer of hope in the darkness. There still exists men with imaginations and dreams, and the creative will to fight to make them come into reality. They, whose minds are drifting in higher realms above the rest, with thoughts of the spirit and of a higher purpose, and think little of the material world beneath their feet, who do not "claw at the earth below", and are not trapped in the miasma of the modern world. They begin to build and create, to take from what is above, and let it inspire them to greater works below, until the "well" of inspiration begins to murmur and ripple again. For the well never truly runs dry, it only lays dormant, waiting for the right time and the right spiritually-algined souls to drink from it again and by their actions, feed its source.
And rivers will gush forth, a spiritual wave,
whose ripples will be felt forward and backward in time
And its waves will lap against new shores,
and a people will once again gather,
to create new horizons, build new kingdoms,
forge new nations, from among the ruins of a lost worldThe reactivated well creates a wave, an explosion of inspiration, of a people's vitatilty and collective spirit grows, expands, and gushes forth, and the fog of the modern world fades away so that a people can see their true origins that were shrouded for aeons. A people once again come together, in new families, new communities, and new nations, to build great civilizations on the ruins of the old, with their world built on traditional higher values, of the yearnings of a higher type of man, where beauty and creation are encouraged, and there is not a breath of the anti-human ideologies that destroyed the old world.
"The Way" is probably the most straight-forward metal song I have done. It also gave me a chance to try out some true clear singing which was not terribly fun to do when your singing isn't that great. But I could find no other way of expressing this song without the clean vocals, although I did manage to sneak in some black metal rasps in the counter to the chorus.
This song is not only about discovering your own true "way" in the world, but aligning it with the "way of the North", of which I have written about elsewhere:
"The rediscovery and renewed appreciation of my culture and heritage was a critical moment in my life where true paths were revealed and I took the path less chosen. After years of comparative study and practice of different religions, myths, magic, and other occult subjects, I came to the conclusion that the spiritual path inwards is also a journey back in time, not in a physical sense, but as a paradigm shift in my spirituality to a time when the traditions for my own people were forged. To reconnect to that tradition is to rejoin the path from which we have strayed. Our traditions can be forgotten in the memory of the mind, but never in the memory of the blood. This is why it is vital to connect to the traditions of your _own_ ancestry, whatever it may be, and seek not salvation in foreign, invented myths and and religions."
I originally had called this song "The Way (The Path Less Chosen)", but decided in a last minute decision to get rid of the brackets. I figured you should be able to summarize the song into its title without using bracketed words. As I had released an early version of the tracklist many months before release, this version of the song title still shows up on the Internet here and there. But the path of the North, the path of your ancestors, whoever they may be, is most definitely the path less chosen, considering the workings of the modern, consumerist, globalist society that seeks to destroy your roots, your heritage, to attempt to poison the deep well of history and struggle from which your people have arisen.
Silently I wait in answer, searching for the key
Elder souls of time forgotten, searching to be free
Spinning forth my soul child further, far beyond this world
Unleash the lost sun, burning brighter, let it light my way!I wanted to convey the feeling of being lost in the modern world, and calling out to my ancestors for guidance. My soul "child" being the genetic history bestowed upon me by my forefathers, an unbroken chain drifting backward infinitely into the past. I "spin" it back in time, by unraveling my DNA, a genetic secret, to unravel its mysteries and unleash the "lost sun" at its end.
To guide me on my way
Let it light my way
To guide me on my wayDrifting far beyond the sea
Shadows dark and soulless be
Falling through the sky forever
Spinning sign of now and everThe "spinning sign" is the north star, and the constellations that stand transfixed in the northern sky, spinning on the axis of the Earth, but not quite at the center, and due to the act of precession (the fact that the Earth actual wobbles on its axis and the location of stars and constellations change during a 26,000 cycle), the stars carve out a spinning circle over the northern peoples throughout the ages.
Oaths are broken, bonds forgotten, the blood has run its course
The line of Men now long forgotten, severed from its sourceThis line was inspired by the speech of Elrond in Lord of The Rings when at the council and discussing who would enter the Fellowship:
"The race of Men is failing. The blood of Numenor is all but spent, its pride and dignity forgotten."This continues the theme of how modern man has lost sight of his history and heritage, and dishonours himself with lies and oath-breaking in a consumerist society that is completely at odds with the honourable values of the past.
A new breed dawns, the Northern child, is born on watchful eyes
The nine kings raise their scepters high, let it light his way!The song ends with hope that as new children of the "North" are born and brought into the world, they are carefully guided and taught about their ancient origins, traditions, and values. and a sense of appreciation for the knowledge of what has come before them, to ensure this knowledge is nurtured and protected in the future world. In this way, a people flourish and do not decay.
To guide him on his way
Let it light his way
To guide him on his way
I felt a lot of trepidation about this song, primarily because of its light-hearted nature, and how it would fit into the typical dark, mystical, epic atmosphere of SIG:AR:TYR. However, as discussed in the commentary for "Among The Ruins", the album begins to take a lighter, more hopeful tone with that instrumental, continuing the mood with the upbeat "The Way", and "Far Away" completes the feeling. As one reviewer stated, "Far Away" is the perfect way to say goodbye to the listener, and that's basically how I felt as well in deciding to close the album with it.
Some fans may balk at the idea of a light-hearted ballad, with such straight-forward lyrics, but one cannot be grim and serious all the time, and there must be some light at the end of the tunnel lest we all suffer from endless, grim and dreary nihilism.
Middling-wise, every man should be:
Beware of being too wise;
for wise man's heart is seldom happy
if too great the wisdom he won
Middling-wise, every man should be:
Beware of being too wise;
his fate let no one beforehand know
who would keep his heart from care.
-- HavamalLyrically, this song was inspired by a phrase from an old Scorpion's song "Holiday". The words "Let me take you far away" kept going through my head as I wrote this song, and it felt to me to say, "What is the purpose of a story-teller?", and to me, musically, it is the act of the taking the listener on a journey, to take them "far away" from all their cares and troubles in the world, and after the album is over, ensuring that they return to their world having brought back something with them from their journey--something that may inspire them in turn. This is something I strive to do with every release, to give the listener something to think about when the album ends and they return to their own world. Hopefully something from the SIG:AR:TYR world continues to linger with them.
Let me take you far away
Where the ravens fly
and the Valkyries cryIt occurred to me that some listeners may take "cry" as "weep", but I actually meant in terms of the famous Valkyrie "battlecry".
Let me take you far away
Where the gold halls gleam
and Allfather dreamsIn Valhalla. the "Hall of the Slain", the roof consists of golden shields, held up by glittering spears as rafters.
Let me take you far away
where the high ones meet
at the One-eye's seatOdin's high seat was called Hlidskjalf, ('Gate-Seat'?), where Odin could look out over the whole world and watch over all the deeds of men and gods.
Let me take you far away
Where Baldur sleeps
and all creation weepsIn the story of the death of Baldur, Hel said she would let Baldur be released from the underworld if all things living or dead wept for him. Unfortunately, there was a giantess in the forest named Thokk (thought to be Loki in disguise) who refused to weep, and so Baldur was doomed to remain with Hel. See my commentary on the song "Tears for Baldur" from "The Stranger".
Let me take you far away
to the mountains high
that reach the sky
Let me take you far away
to the stars that shine
at the end of time