1. |
Katabasis
05:09
|
|||
|
Farewell, gracious land of undying hope and lust,
Farewell, joyous nation of life’s caring embrace,
Farewell, most depraved and yet most delightful place,
Farewell, man’s glorious reign of opulence and rust…
I shall return only once, O life my dearest,
Yet there awaiteth knowledge beyond all disgrace
And beyond all torment whither I firmly pace,
There below our dwelling, surrounded by cold dust.
The morrow cometh thrice, I shall now greet the first,
For every descent is followed by an ascent,
Succeeded by downfall as an adamant spell…
Merriest ascent and loathsome downfall accursed,
Your time shall come, in defiance or in content,
But for now I must merely bid you all farewell…
|
||||
2. |
Okeanos
03:53
|
|||
|
Fairest creating force, father of the blue sea,
Titan artifex, regulator of the skies,
Begetter of wells, springs, clouds, dainty nymphs so wise
And all which evenly flows, I humbly ask thee:
Granteth passage to this foul wretch in his journey,
For in exchange I shall serve thee, these are no lies.
I shall offer many goods and man’s blood as prize
If I may return amongst thy waves of fury…
Encircler of the world, frontier between life
And that which dwelleth beyond thy azure expanse,
Bestoweth on me a safe route to the nether.
Alas, beyond thy vastness awaiteth my strife,
Whither many go, few to return find a chance
And countless suffer forever without honour…
|
||||
3. |
Styx
05:36
|
|||
|
River of abhorrence, gloomy waters of hate,
Mother of victory, force, might and rivalry,
O thou who boundest the gods in oath sacredly,
My beloved acrimony, bane of the prostrate.
Sevenfold and primeval border of my fate,
Mistress of truth, punisher of lies and folly,
Alas, thy vows bring demise and doom so grimly,
None has yet risen to soothly prevaricate…
O most rightful judge, smother the dead in loathing,
For in thy land they shall dwell in pain henceforward,
Yet fair end thou also steadily enclosest.
Ally of the highest king, thou earned thy praising,
For thou art loyal, safeguard of all that’s augured.
Athwart thy waves my cries shall wander the saddest…
|
||||
4. |
Pyriphlegethon
04:30
|
|||
|
River of conflagration, waters of struggle,
Brother of the seas, son of the wrathful ocean,
Source of scorching torment, pugneous aversion,
My beloved penitence, quench my lust disdainful.
Unto thy riverbed I shall stride unheedful,
For regret is now overcome by negation
And none but thy flames may serve as an ablution
To the harrowing guilt, to the soul so harmful.
Sear in thy murky flames the solace of the wretched,
Drown in thy fiery streams any hope and yearning
And deluge us in thy blazing depths of foulness.
Flaming stream of malaise, thou thrivest on hatred,
But thy fierce bids won’t subdue our hope with burning
In this thy eternity ablaze and heinous...
|
||||
5. |
Lethe
04:57
|
|||
|
River of concealment, waters of oblivion,
Sister of starvation, sweet daughter of discord,
Source of reincarnation, by those alive abhorred,
My beloved bereavement, quench my transmutation.
Unto thee I crawl, seeking thy restoration,
For, alas, by wit and ferity I have warred.
I forfend my expiry as stars unexplored,
Yet thou amendest maul, quarrels and starvation.
Strip the foul from their acts, the valiant from their deeds,
The guilty from their guilt, the vain from their conceit,
And divest me from my wrongdoing and my awe.
Great and deathless stream, goddess who copiously bleeds
In our corpseless souls billows of blissful defeat,
Still thou, foulest of all, art to sooth but a gnaw...
|
||||
6. |
Kokytos
06:51
|
|||
|
River of lamentation, waters of tears,
Father of doomed love, abode of wretched traitors,
Source of wailing, frost in the hearts of deserters,
My beloved ordeal, solace disappeareth.
The screech-owls sing gruesome omens like spears
Piercing the soul, they dole their lusterless augurs
In thy sluggish streams and in thy languished futures,
And yet their song is deafened by wailing sinners.
O sulphurous creek, bearer of woe and disgrace,
Scorn of bliss, bring forth to the foul their perdition
O somber, excruciating dirge of the damned.
I can bide no longer in thy grievous embrace,
For thou, lowermost and most glacial damnation,
Art a torment too great for anyone who lived…
|
||||
7. |
Akheron
06:34
|
|||
|
River of woe and pain, waters of renewal,
Father of ill-omens, passage to the nether,
Source of all other streams, obscure in thy nature,
My beloved thoroughfare, harbinger of my trial.
Unlenient end to all tales loathsome or rightful,
Fierce brightness ushereth me through thou so bitter,
But the cold vastness whither thou lead is darker.
Weilawey! Thy termini are soothly dismal...
Yet no better denouements than these are descried,
For dismal tenet is fitter than the unsure
And thy harbour is certain as a fulgent star.
Caliginous gates, grim passage for those who died,
I shall wander not in death at thy awry shore,
For I shall stride unyielding to the court afar...
|
||||
8. |
Anabasis
03:30
|
|||
|
Lo and behold, the morrow’s sad dream hath wound down,
Its vivid foreknowledge hath evoken unrest,
My soul weepeth at the sight of a looming pest,
For it cannot avert the flood where it shall drown…
Yet opulence lieth upon life and her crown,
Life’s lustrous scepter still detereth any guest
Who would seize from sumptuous halls any who she blessed
Before they may reach in her realm their full renown.
Dear life, I return from a land most distant,
Whither thy tender caresses do not arrive,
In which thy endeared warmth doth not heal my scars!
But afar from thou, therein the jail most ancient
Of which I acutely dreamt, they shall not deprive
My heart of thy thought when I may gaze at the stars…
|
||||
If you like Elven Sorrow, you may also like:
Post-rock musician and World Within Worlds label head Lachlan R. Dale returns with his debut full-length, a suite of ambient explorations.
go to album
The Cloud Machine
by Andrew Heath
Inspired by the simple innocence of his own childhood, Andrew Heath composes soothing drones, rich in texture.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 9, 2024
go to album
Composer, artist, and 12k label founder Taylor Deupree collaborates with Joseph Branciforte to reimagine his own seminal album.
go to album
Everyday Exotic
by Slow Reels (Ian Hawgood and James Murray)
The experimental ambient duo of Ian Hawgood and James Murray complement downtempo beats with meditative electro-acoustic textures.
go to album
Ocean Garden
by Turn On The Sunlight
featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 26, 2024
go to album
The gorgeously minimalist “boat” blends long, sustained major chords with the sound of lapping waves.
go to album
