Cedric, who has seen many a warrior fall, laments the passing of Thane with the assembled villagers. He takes an ash sapling, slices a long slip from its bark, upon which he cuts an 'X'. Each villager gives what they can - bread, corn, or just some spittle - each imbued with a thought-poem from each of them. He wraps these offerings into a leather pouch belonging to Thane, and burns it in the remnants of the pyre. He then begins his lament, from darkness into light - first with bitterness, then with sorrow, and then ending with resolve, as the magic begins to unfold.
lyrics
When grief is frozen in spirit-chest
how cruel is sorrow as a friend
whispers cut into ashen flesh
will forge bonds in heathen hearts
Knowing darkness he rode the ways
striding air-roads with raven cries
Our world needs men of worth like Thane
men with honour, light and truth
People will ask of the reasons why?
The rune of gyfu, the sacrifice
No one wants it to be this way
It's so easy, when it's not you
Take solace in raven cries
riding air-roads of those who died
Our world needs men of worth like Thane
men with honour, light and truth
Furthering the cause of gods
Trampling the weak and liars
Scorning at the bitter witch
Marching on with hearts of fire!
(Walking away from the village, Cedric hopes that his words have comforted them in their loss. In times to come, he and those like him will write many poems about heroic times such as these )
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This has been staple listening for me since I first got the CD in 2006. Raw but not to the extent that it is unlistenable, the riffs are heavy and memorable, with each song having it's own identity.
Wartooth's vocals are certainly a highlight of Bretwaldas' sound. Rough and gritty, in the best way, as he snarls out lyrics about Dark Ages warriors, heathenism and nature. If you can imagine if Lemmy was a Brummie and sang on an early Black Sabbath album then you're getting somewhere near the sound of this Midlands duo.
This album is class from beginning to end but if I was to have to choose highlights I'd go for album opener The Haunted Ride, Iron Skies (a song of two gloriously different halves) and Beneath the Eaves. The latter appeared on a CD with Zero Tolerance magazine way back and was the undisputed stand out track on there. Grimslath