1.　The Prophecy 05:01

Some gray-haired traveler
Comes from the depths of time
Says he is an explorer
Of the forgotten past
And challenges young scholars
To solve an ancient puzzle

Under the mountains
Lies a treasure entombed
Within a sacred hall
The elders hid their lore

The old man's gift
Were mystic scrolls
You, brave men of science
Must find the place
Beware — the air is bitter
And the forest frozen —
Deep in Siberia

While the fear grows
Scorching our hearts
This hunt for Gnosis
(the Truth!) Sharpens our minds

Drowning under a flow of ciphers
Lost in the ancient symbols’ maze
We pull through like warriors
The light from our eyes shows us the way

Driven by manic passion
For the Old World’s mysteries
They learn the sacral chants
Encircled by shadows
Forsaking all doubts

Sigils and drawings
Turn into a map
To a far-off secret cave
The quest is set
Anticipation burns
But eerie dreams haunt
Beware — the fate is bitter
For most who roam wild
In Siberia!

While the fear grows
Scorching our hearts
This hunt for Gnosis
(the Truth!) Sharpens our minds

Drowning under a flow of ciphers
Lost in the ancient symbols’ maze
We pull through like warriors
The light from our eyes shows us the way

You humans are locked inside self-made frames
Opposed to Gnosis, numb in your daydream
You can’t be helped, can’t be cured — you’re cold
Not knowing your hearts are stopped
Moving like the blind, falling like the dead

While the fear grows
Scorching our hearts
This hunt for Gnosis
(the Truth!) Sharpens our minds

The fear grows
Like a hungry fire
Like warriors we wrestle fear
Leaving ashes in our wake

Choking with meaningless ciphers
Feeling drowned in a senseless haze
We stray among the ignorant, the wrong
The light from our eyes casts the path

We must reach for the Truth
Tear down the maze
And grab hold of the Key
Of Knowledge

2.　The Seekers 06:04

Through dense forests and swamps
They work their way to the cave
Under the mountain they find
A maze of waste marshes and dead ends

Across the torchlit stone walls
Grisly shadows start to crawl
The seekers begin to hear
Whispers in their heads

The secret key to the wisdom hidden from mortals
The seekers follow signs that lead into the dark past
Beyond the world of those unaware of portals
That take us somewhere darker than death

After many hours wandering inside the cave
They come to a great stone gate
The marble stele stands by the gate
Adorned with crypted engravings

Within an aumbry in the stele
They find a mysterious sealed vessel
That holds a liquid inside — now the finest minds
Are to decipher the writings in the stone

The secret key to the wisdom hidden from mortals
The seekers follow signs that lead into the dark past
Beyond the world of those unaware of portals
Of something darker than death

The writing on the stone now decrypted
To enter the gate they have to trust what it says
It says to drink the elixir from the vessel
The collective big sleep will follow
It may be fatal
Or prophetic

They drain the vessel and soon
All the shadows and whispers become real
The walls start to close on them
Leaving no air to breathe

The secret key to the wisdom hidden from mortals
The seekers follow signs that lead into the dark past
Beyond the world of those unaware of pathways
Much darker than death

Their minds are dissolving while walls melt, all of reality fades
There is no more past, no one will stay the same
No more fear, no lies, no memories, no regrets to retain
There are no more selves, only the radiating dark

We need to trust
The dark in us
The trial is just
The dark and us

3. Into The Nightmare 04:44

The Seekers drift into a collective dream
Where they have to explore
A dark tunnel inside a rock
That splits into different path for each of them

One sees a vision of home long forgotten
Another one hears his dead parents calling him
The girl dreams of fame the world over
And all of them follow their reveries, oh the enchanted and doomed ones

Each beat of your heart takes you further from your past
Can you ever escape it? Sprinting away from it, betraying it
Will never excuse mistakes, your nightmares will never stop and
There’s no choice but to fight them

All their dreams turned to nightmares, the one
Who saw his home is now endlessly falling off the roof
The one who had heard his parents’ voices is being pulled
Into their grave, and the girl — she gets the worst of all
Alone in the dark she faces her greatest fear

All of their deepest fears now confront them
All the wrongs they’ve ever done rise out of the oblivion
Face to face with their own worst enemies — themselves
They have to fight to be reborn — or die, oh the desperate ones

It was hard, those minutes felt like the end of the world
Bloodless faces, exhausted bodies, no one will be left to survive
But the fight ends abruptly, and they see
The way out — into a strange room filled with a transcendent light

Only the girl couldn’t make it out of the dark and in her dream
A vile, wicked old man snatched her by the hand
The foulest fiend from her childhood nightmares, he took her
Away from her friends and her lover

He sees his true love being dragged into nothingness
Without a second thought he gives chase to the two shadows
Into a kaleidoscope of psychotic visions he follows them
Until he finds himself in a strangely familiar dimension

He finds himself in a crowded city center
And he sees her walking in a crowd
And she turns away like a stranger when he reaches out to her
And he stays there forever, a stranger needed by no one

 

4. Storms Of Sorrow 04:42
He roams
He roams
Where his illusions lead him
Whatever pit his twisted mind descends into
Fighting a losing battle
Taking a deadly stance
And pushing through
These catacombs

We all collapse
Under the storms
Storms of sorrow
Storms of sorrow

When they descend upon us
Scorching hearts
In the raw

Every turn of the world
Destroys the mind
People treat each other like there is no justice
Like the Gods are blind
But when she said “There is just us”... the memory of it
Makes him forgive this world

We all collapse
Under the storms
Storms of sorrow
Storms of sorrow

When they descend upon us
Scorching hearts
In the raw

Let’s make believe
There is just us
Don’t think about what is to come
Amidst this chaos

When at tens
Of thousands of miles per hour
The engine fails
And betrays us

Make believe
Gods live here
In the raw
It’s the law

Death approaches
Can you hear?
Deaf are those, deaf are those
Who fear

On nights like this
We mate for life
And no one’s desire can make us break
Our sacred oath…

We all collapse
Under the storms
Storms of sorrow
Storms of sorrow

When they descend upon us
Scorching hearts
In the raw

We all collapse
Under the storms
Storms of sorrow
Storms of sorrow

When they descend upon us
Scorching hearts
In the raw

5.　The Aerial Gateway 04:51

Having passed through a tunnel of blinding light
The Seekers find themselves in an ancient city
That once was the glorious and beautiful capitol
Of a powerful civilization that was lost to the ages

They are met by the living spirits of the four high priests
They guide the Seekers through the ruins of the fallen city
As they tell the story of its’ Golden Age of peace
And of its’ glorious people who lived in harmony with the world

Spring to your feet
Run to greet the sun
In bright white heat
You will become
One of the few
Whose hearts are awoken
Your aim is true
Your fate’s bespoken

Passed into nothingness
Silent and forgotten
The Age of Reason
The era of progress
How did it happen
It all collapsed
It all corrupted into
This savagery

There were no social inequalities, no classes
No state control, no gods, no slaves, no masters
The only rules were integrity and justice
Spiritual growth was at heart of the Empire

The surrounding land was bountiful and lush
There were no greed, no envy, no gold rush
There was no need to toil or keep servants
They spent their lives loving and learning

The phantom Priests tell the young Seekers:
All our hope is in you
Find the key to enter the secret hall
You must succeed — or perish with the rest of the world!

“Now we will show you
What happened to our rule
And this will happen again
Should you fail in your quest”

Blurred visions take shape
And in the ruins awake
The lost legend of
The First Apocalypse

6.　Lethargy 04:41

The scent-laden garden
This city once was
Is buried in ruins for ages
Below the ocean
But even drowned
The sacred fire burns

The spirit of the high priest speaks
Tells the story of the rise and fall
Of the Empire’s unearthly Fathers
The Keepers they were called

“The Keepers gave us knowledge and skills
Order and peace were kept
But like rats inside the City’s landfills
The agents of Chaos crept”

Before the last thread
Is finally snapped
Our world’s not dead yet
But it’s too late to adapt

“Hooked on euphoric poisons
That transform bodies and minds
Those of us who were hooked
Slowly started to turn into fiends”

And those who stood against
Gathered to fight the Chaos back
But to keep the rest of the world fenced
They had to plan a suicide attack

The only way to make the invaders stop
Was to cleanse the planet of the plague
Until no life was left atop
And so everything went black

To restore life after all have died
The priest have led the chosen four
Into that Siberian cave
To put them in lethargy

When they’ve managed to disrupt
The balance of the terrestrial poles
Then the catastrophe started
The Empire, like all life, was lost

We’re ruled by inhuman savages — again
Racing into the void with the blind at the helm
Led by those who are driven by greed
Into the void at a murderous speed

Hanging on a thread
Ready to fall into void
But we’re not dead yet
Not yet destroyed

Now head to the North of Siberia
Where Chaos is unleashed
Through the gates of Inferno
We’re all doomed if you’re late

7.　The Warden Of Grief 05:00

Deeper into the endless forest they press and press
Making their way past deadfalls and swamps
After days of struggle and nights of fear
The Seekers come to a desolate settlement

They are greeted by the wretched villagers
With eyes full of dread they tell
The story of the powerful Shaman
And the irrevocable damage he had done

Long ago under a troubled night sky
Having given birth to a girl, his wife died
The child was marked by Evil
A bizarre creature she was
But the Shaman loved her
More than anything on this Earth

The elders were certain she had no soul but the void
Inhabited by demons — the death knell for everyone
The stubborn Shaman was sure he would save her
The mighty ritual he was to perform but it took too long

One fateful day leading up to the rite
He took his leave and went hunting in the forest
The villagers swarmed into his spectral abode
They killed the girl and burned his home to ash

Evil comes from evil
Leading corrupted souls
To the darkest depths
Evil breeds evil

When Shaman returned he saw what they’d done
His hatred burned like a raging inferno
His ritualistic faith was dead and gone
He aligned himself with the darkness and demons

His vengeance was brutal, his hands were stained
With the blood of the elders, the young, women and children
They had all taken part, so they were doomed to fall
Evil breeds evil, one tragedy fits all

Evil comes from evil
Leading corrupted souls
To the darkest depths
Evil breeds evil

Then a portal to the darkest depths opened wide
The eternal void where the soulless creatures roam
And a gateway for them to our world.

Many years later the portal was guarded
By a solitary monk who built a shrine sealed from the inside

But the fear still lurks…

8.　No Forgiveness 04:19

Passing through the crumbled ruins
They are struck by a dark vibe
Striking them with harrowing visions
Of the atrocities committed in the past

Upon entering the church
They’re greeted by the caretaker
She says “He has been waiting for you in the vault — with a blessing...
For ages!” — and guides them below

There’s nowhere to run
From this tarnation
From this abyss where
The unforgiven weep

There’s no forgiveness
Inside the pit of damnation
Where our worst fears
Are rising from the deep

Through all these years the old monk
Has been a living shield between
The Evil and the living
Now he’s hanging on by a thread

The darkness is immanent, the demons are breaking through
And dimensions are about to collide
The seekers enter the shaman’s vault
To find his daughter and rescue his restless soul

There’s nowhere to run
From this tarnation
From this abyss where
The unforgiven weep

There’s no forgiveness
Inside the pit of damnation
Where our worst fears
Are rising from the deep

The seekers make their way
To the darkest pits of the underworld
So horrid, so deadly, so overrun
With abominations

But they succeed in reuniting
The two divided souls
The shaman shows them the way out
Then seals the doorway to ghastly worlds

You got to run
From this tarnation
From this abyss where
The unforgiven weep

There’s no forgiveness
Inside the pit of damnation
Where our worst fears
Are now buried in the deep

9.　The Suicide Hollow 04:33

The most sinister death trap on Earth, the forsaken
Suicide Hollow lays deep in wild Siberian forests
A century ago a giant stone fell from the sky
Causing a terrible blast, killing all life within hundreds of miles

Every man who drew close to the cosmic artifact
Would be consumed by psychotic visions before they took their own life
It was whispered that only the purest of heart
Could touch the rock and make it through alive

So the spy starts to tie himself up in knots
As the Seekers approach the Suicide Hollow

It grinds your mind down
Causing deadly nightmares
You’re in a trap now
Prey caught unawares

You are to be swallowed
It’s after your blood
In the Suicide Hollow
Hides an evil god

The traitor feels the breath of Death soon-to-come
He lays traps for the Seekers on their way
To the cave, but they keep pushing through to their target
Now they pass through piles of human bones, who were they?

Only skeletons remain of those who tried
To obtain hold of the meteorite and the power it contains
The closer the Seekers get, the scarier things become
All the trees around are twisted and it gets harder to breathe

The Seekers see creatures so morbid
Crawling out of every crack in the soil, spawning, swarming
Strange insects dig into their skin and crawl underneath
Causing unfathomable pain and crippling fear

Another gut check that was, another test of their integrity passed
It took everything they had but all those ravings have subsided
Only the spy failed to fight off the infernal delusions
The Seekers hold him down as he tries to slit his veins open

By the giant crater they now stand staring at the glowing rock…

10.　The Foreshadow 02:10

Trudging at their last gasp
On their way to the cave
Bleeding and soaring
One last leap, one last dash

Seconds, hours, years, ages
Invertible change
Ages, years, hours, seconds
Rage of time, time of rage!
Yesterday's tragedies
Are just pale shadows
Of what's to happen
Impending doom!

Now since we know how it all ends
Will we be able to carry the weight
Of the world that’s about to descend
Into the abyss… Can we change our fate?

Seconds, hours, years, ages
Invertible change
Ages, years, hours, seconds
Rage of time, time of rage!
Yesterday's tragedies
Are just pale shadows
Of what's to happen
Impending doom!

The final legacy
What died — will never be
What will be — we’ll never see
That’s the curse of harmony

11.　The Clash 07:10

The expedition’s all set by the secret order
To get ahold of the holy stone
The young Seekers did all the hard work
For the masters to obtain it

It’s been a rocky road
Just one more step to go
Time’s pace is slowed
On the edge of the unknown

At the bottom of the sacred mountain
Descending into its’ heart
Our own hearts were pounding
Our minds were torn apart

By fear! And the closer we got
Shadows pursued us
And when the stone was set
Atop the pedestal — they attacked

When your heart is shrunk with horror
Will you break your vow?
Will the world see tomorrow?
Or will it end now?

Such a fragile world
Is about to meet its demise
Eaten by human mould

Out of the darkness
He suddenly came forth
The Catalyst
From the ancient prophecy

He said “All your deeds and fates
Were foretold ages ago
You’ve done your part
Now it’s my turn”

“All this time you’ve been deceived
By a traitor in your midst
Now come forward, servant
And hand over the relic”

When your heart is shrunk with horror
Will you break your vow?
Will the world see tomorrow?
Or will it end now?

Such a fragile world
Is about to meet its demise
Eaten by human mould

But the agent’s answer was “No!
I’m not a traitor anymore
The time has come
For me to choose the right side”

What caused his change of heart
And run from the All-Seeing Eye?
The very artifact they’ve found
For whatever it touches — dies

A shot in the dark, one man down
Doors are shut and the killer’s escaped
The Seekers are locked inside
The end times come for the living

Blinded with power
Blinded with greed
The blackest plague —
This world’s elites!

The one who had betrayed them
Died died with dignity
Forgiven by them all at last
On the greatest drama’s final stage

Doomed to disappear
They’re desperate
The last Crusaders
Have lost the deadly Grail

When your heart is shrunk with horror
Will you break your vow?
Will the world see tomorrow?
Or will it end now?

Such a fragile world
Is about to meet its demise
Eaten by human mould

The catastrophe
Is imminent
With the strike of the clock
All hope is extinguished

This is the end
See Earth despair
Two eyes of the storm
Start to slowly depolarise

This is the end
The bloodbath we deserve
For killing our lands
In the name of the shadow lords

Accept your fate
And meet your death
No second chance
Only pain then oblivion

How did it come to this
How mad were we all
The flywheel’s speeding up
Out of control

Volcanic blasts
Magmatic bursts
After the fire
Comest the eternal frost

No way back
Nothing will spare
Us from this fate
Just as the prophecy foretold

12.　The Elixir Of Doom 05:29

Here it comes, here comes the final process
Now it ends — the irreversible progress
The bitter truth comes crushing
Let the streams of blood come gushing

Suddenly the Seekers realise they
Are not alone trapped inside the cave
The archaeologist comes forth from the darkness
And tells them of their fate

He reveals the Keepers’ master plan
And the Seekers role in the grand finale
They must put an end to the old world
To give rise to the new

Cut from the same cosmic fabric
But turned into sworn enemies
How could our history end so tragic
After all these centuries

This coup de grace
Will end all life
Dark clouds amass
Time to purify
To shine a burning light
The Right of Might

We’ve defiled our beautiful home
The Archaeologist laments
We will rebuild what we’ve destroyed
After eternity

Then he passes them a vial
They drink the mysterious elixir
And slip into a coma across the ages
To keep the last of humanity alive

Come, senseless fate
For all was set backdate
Innumerable cells burn
Invisible wires break

The Seekers
Will rise
After the fire
After the ice age

They will wake
And start the Age of Sanity
It will start over
The new humanity

Sunless Rise Page