Under the fullmoon, in candle lit darkness they gather
In secrecy, those of them who boldly conspire
To extinguish the yoke of tyranny upon the lands.

Cloaks and ornate masks they wear, made of molten gold
From the faces of old Kings defeated.

A complex choreography, cryptography
Sigils and signs
Openness is fraught, identity is subsumed
A small price to pay
To become wolves in sheep's clothing

The grip of the tyrants rests on shadows
Buried deep into the ground
Mirages of shame and regret


At the same time
The mausoleum of the Lords
Contains holocausts hidden in plain sight

To them, they are all cards to be dealt
They strike and plant meticulously the seeds of dissent.

Words as weapons kill for years to come
The foundations of yokedom will be eaten away.

How dangerous, yet admirable
To walk in the shoes of the enemy
To wield the weapons of the enemy...

Hark, Wielder of Secrets.
Remember, those who fight (in the open)
Can't recede into the shadows (like you)
I hope you haven't grown too fond of the attire?

Ill-intentioned you may not be.
Dark you are yet, too.
Walk with caution in the night.
Embrace it deeply, yet do not become one.

Await patiently... for the time of reckoning will come.
No stone will be left unturned.

Αnd here comes the time, oh wonder maker
That you have to communicate your spell without garnish
Cause once the fun ends, something is inevitably left
In the remains to ponder and take home with

Long have been past the eras where the crowd knows not of magic
Not only can they tell trickery from thauma
But they can utter a bit of wizardy themselves
They dissect the meaning of the words, assess the magnitude of the experience

No longer the quotation of secrets that you are privy to impresses
These formulas and ancient books have been long unearthed and read
They are instantly available upon demand
In all well-respected black markets

What is left then, dreamer, when wonder is imbued with such mundanities
To speak with plainness and pity? ! Nay! The white priests are dead for good!
We will never accept the death of thauma!

But to travel back into the azure lands of the dissonant and the crooked
Where bewitchment is birthed from pain and obscene, unfettered desire

The dark power that we both seek
Is merciless upon the soul
It feeds on your half-finished workings
Your pitiful cowardice and your sharp-edged grandiosity alike

You can try as hard as you like, but it won't change a thing
If you don't measure up deep inside, it'll eat you up alive.

It takes a heart of stone
To hear a song of violence in the wind
The thrashing of shields and armor
Muffled by the gentle breeze
Yet always there...

Watch.. the world is slowly ending in sighs and sorrows
Your moments are lost in time one by one
Your legacy forever stays in the potential
In the cynicism of inaction and withdrawal

Are you going to let the puny thoughts of men
Tuck you in your bed of misery
For another night?

Are you going to hold your eyes down
While your oppressors roam free?

Dragonlike shadows slither from mountainous heights
Shaped by the profane branch of alchemy
Held in leash by the sweaty hands of kings
Their scream will someday plunge the world in blood

No more will proclamations and intentions fix anything...
Not even action, except for action of great power!

See your frailty and understand that
There is no such thing as weakness in this world
Other than in those that never saw themselves
As the ones who shall fight

Are you going to give yourself another excuse
For drowning the fires of defiance in the sands
Of oblivion for another night?

See yourself as huge atop a mountain high and proud
Hold thunder in your hands and storm in your mouth
Rejoice and do not shame yourself
And now act the vision, day by day, year by year

Imbue in your blood the passion of mastery
Move by move, endless repetition
Be your own worst judge and jury
Revel in your magnitude and short-comings

Learn to live well in times of strife
Strive for perfection among tremor, blood and ash
Art and war, death and beauty
Stand next to each other in a world that's not paradise

Album artwork for Ardor For Black Mastery
Ardor For Black Mastery
1. Wielders of Secrets

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1.
Wielders of Secrets 02:1209:39
LYRICS
Under the fullmoon, in candle lit darkness they gather
In secrecy, those of them who boldly conspire
To extinguish the yoke of tyranny upon the lands.

Cloaks and ornate masks they wear, made of molten gold
From the faces of old Kings defeated.

A complex choreography, cryptography
Sigils and signs
Openness is fraught, identity is subsumed
A small price to pay
To become wolves in sheep's clothing

The grip of the tyrants rests on shadows
Buried deep into the ground
Mirages of shame and regret


At the same time
The mausoleum of the Lords
Contains holocausts hidden in plain sight

To them, they are all cards to be dealt
They strike and plant meticulously the seeds of dissent.

Words as weapons kill for years to come
The foundations of yokedom will be eaten away.

How dangerous, yet admirable
To walk in the shoes of the enemy
To wield the weapons of the enemy...

Hark, Wielder of Secrets.
Remember, those who fight (in the open)
Can't recede into the shadows (like you)
I hope you haven't grown too fond of the attire?

Ill-intentioned you may not be.
Dark you are yet, too.
Walk with caution in the night.
Embrace it deeply, yet do not become one.

Await patiently... for the time of reckoning will come.
No stone will be left unturned.

close
2.
Thaumaturgical Irresolutions 09:58
LYRICS
Αnd here comes the time, oh wonder maker
That you have to communicate your spell without garnish
Cause once the fun ends, something is inevitably left
In the remains to ponder and take home with

Long have been past the eras where the crowd knows not of magic
Not only can they tell trickery from thauma
But they can utter a bit of wizardy themselves
They dissect the meaning of the words, assess the magnitude of the experience

No longer the quotation of secrets that you are privy to impresses
These formulas and ancient books have been long unearthed and read
They are instantly available upon demand
In all well-respected black markets

What is left then, dreamer, when wonder is imbued with such mundanities
To speak with plainness and pity? ! Nay! The white priests are dead for good!
We will never accept the death of thauma!

But to travel back into the azure lands of the dissonant and the crooked
Where bewitchment is birthed from pain and obscene, unfettered desire

The dark power that we both seek
Is merciless upon the soul
It feeds on your half-finished workings
Your pitiful cowardice and your sharp-edged grandiosity alike

You can try as hard as you like, but it won't change a thing
If you don't measure up deep inside, it'll eat you up alive.

close
3.
Behind The Gentle Breeze 03:53
LYRICS
It takes a heart of stone
To hear a song of violence in the wind
The thrashing of shields and armor
Muffled by the gentle breeze
Yet always there...

close
4.
Ardor for Black Mastery 08:09
LYRICS
Watch.. the world is slowly ending in sighs and sorrows
Your moments are lost in time one by one
Your legacy forever stays in the potential
In the cynicism of inaction and withdrawal

Are you going to let the puny thoughts of men
Tuck you in your bed of misery
For another night?

Are you going to hold your eyes down
While your oppressors roam free?

Dragonlike shadows slither from mountainous heights
Shaped by the profane branch of alchemy
Held in leash by the sweaty hands of kings
Their scream will someday plunge the world in blood

No more will proclamations and intentions fix anything...
Not even action, except for action of great power!

See your frailty and understand that
There is no such thing as weakness in this world
Other than in those that never saw themselves
As the ones who shall fight

Are you going to give yourself another excuse
For drowning the fires of defiance in the sands
Of oblivion for another night?

See yourself as huge atop a mountain high and proud
Hold thunder in your hands and storm in your mouth
Rejoice and do not shame yourself
And now act the vision, day by day, year by year

Imbue in your blood the passion of mastery
Move by move, endless repetition
Be your own worst judge and jury
Revel in your magnitude and short-comings

Learn to live well in times of strife
Strive for perfection among tremor, blood and ash
Art and war, death and beauty
Stand next to each other in a world that's not paradise

close
5.
Beyond Light, Beyond Reason 07:04
LYRICS
Focus... Meditate... Clench your fist
You are a convergence of a million fates
On a short trip of illumination before rejoining the void
Why don't you make the best of it?

We proclaim to be men of justice who practice restraint
Sacrifice our comfort, embrace the fray as we must
To enlighten those that are in ignorance
To see the world as it is, outside of false symmetry and binaries,

And choose right over wrong

Alluring isn't it then to hide the id?
To be seen as a pure being or light and reason, already transcended
For it can mean your downfall
To be seen imperfect, to be seen as flesh

Speak, askete! Have you not ever wanted with power?
If carnal thirst is not your thing, something you must deeply crave
Still with a passion that burns and destroys
That goes beyond justice, beyond right, beyond the light.

Instead, you'll let it fester in the dark
It'll grow to grotesque proportions, obscured and yet still fed
Like a mistress shunned, put aside with expensive gifts

Don't you wish to be recognized? Admired, or even worshiped?
Isn't wielding a little power intoxicating?
Ah, best to portray yourself as powerless and weak...
How could the man that does not desire anything, take any burden.
Do not ask for any responsibility, accountability.
They did it all for you!

Deep in the catacombs, they lie, chained and desperate
An army of demons for an army of saints
A new oppression brought forth
By the purest of intentions (not quite)
They'll release themselves and sink their fangs into your hearts.

Oh sinner, old laws don't protect your soul from the dark
Where does this fear of yourself come from?
Have you only learned to dominate, to hurt, to take without giving?
How dare you preach about love while running away?

Oh, lover
Begone with the pretensions
Shine with infernal light
Dance to the rhythm of togetherness
Aim towards lofty heights and withstand steep falls
Embrace destruction and remaking anew

Share your most precious secrets, hidden within walls of shame
To those that are worth it

Hark! The true antinomian does not solely break the plates
But follow their own decree by forever meditating
Between the everchanging desires of theirs and others!

What if there are truths so great, hidden deep into the mundane crust,
To awaken in you a spark of divinity?

Consider: What if your volition has been but a sham
A miniature forged into submission (by the outside powers)

What if the sorrows and the failings of others
Were projected onto you to crush your wings from birth

What if the controlling rhetoric of the ruling powers
Has put you in place so small and so enclosed?
Imagine a mole who fancies itself a hawk...

Shatter your bonds! Imagine the unimagined and desire the undesired
Voyage into the vastness of cosmos and philosophical depths
Conjure images of alien beauty, sublime transformation or terrible strength

Do you feel the tingling sensation in your spine, were you to state it?
As much as we need each other to produce meaning and will
So much we hammer them and ourselves into submission and misery

These shells and husks from the thrashing is the dark you must attune in
The true forbidden knowledge, repressed, shunned and ridiculed
Hidden from enemies and your luminous ego alike
What will you see when you open yourself?
To the art of experience beyond logic and language?

Dissolve. Wash away. Mature. Integrate.
Feel it and weight it in your hands. Judge it.
Let Hermes Trismegistus come to you in the night.
And the time will someday come to speak.
Even without uttering a single word.

These are the men of Gold...
Metal deep in the heart shining forth
With limitless truth, desire and action.