Lyrics - Summoning The Guardians Of The Astral Gate by Bal Sagoth

It is written in the ancient legends... that high amidst the moon-swathed peaks of the great
Mountain of
Shadows, hides the aeon-weary threshold of the
Astral
Gate... the portal fromour world, to beyond...
It is said that one who holds the key and knows the empyreal incantation may stand withinthe ancient ring of stones atop the mountain when the stars are correctly aligned, andunlock the mystic gate, summoning its sidereal sentinels, thereby attaining ultimateenlightenment and wisdom unparalleled...
Part 1:
THE
INVOKING(
The
Aspirant
Reaches
The
Summit)
Keepers of the cosmic threshold, my ascent has been fraught with terror, deathsteeped,storm-hammered.(
These grim mountains are strewn with the bones of the ill-fortuned dead.)
O'
Guardians of the
Astral
Gate, the spheres blaze at last in trine...
I hold the
Key!(
The trinity of stars shall touch the circle of stones once more...)
The incantation of
Xuk'ul is known to me, the
Orb of
Summoning earned with bloodshed!(
The crystalline key to the
Outer
Realms and the arcane rite to empower it are at lastmine,
Seized at swordpoint from the citadel of the
Black
Templars.
Enlightenment awaits!)
Many years ago, the mystic
Orb of
Summoning was seized by the mysterious
Black
Templars,a band of sombre, plunder seeking knights from the kingdoms to the east of the
Great
Sea.
They wrested the sorcerous gem from the ancient shrine of
Azaimedes, whereit had lain hidden for countless centuries, its true power and purpose known only to thedour shamans who tended to the elder place of worship.
It is said that the tapestry ofslaughter woven that day was unparalleled in its ferocity, and that the marble walls of theancient shrine were, and still remain, stained vivid crimson with the spilled blood of the
Orb's keepers.
Ka-kur-ra,
I summon thee,
Zul'tekh
Azor
Vol-thoth.
Mighty
Xuk'ul arise,
Kur'oc
Gul-
Kor, come forth.
I hold aloft the pulsing orb, astral spheres, empower the mystic key.
Ring of elder stones entwined in prophecy, the
Rite of
Invocation enthralls thine power.
Replete from drinking deep of darkness, black shapes dancing 'twixt the stones,
Lucent beams lancing forth from the gleaming, cepheid stars, a creeping mist ensorcellsmy tongue...
A great stillness binds the moon-cloaked mountaintop in glooming shackles...(
High above, the myriad stars gleam bright against the night sky, three more resplendentlybedazzling than the others, their sidereal auras engulfing the stones...)
And the central stone of the ancient ebon ring begins to pulsate with a darksome energy...
A thunderous maelstrom ablaze with writhing celestially spawned power then rends thestygian night...(
A vast shimmering aperture, a vortex of heliacal fire... the pathway to beyond beckons!)
The
Astral
Gate is open...
The
Guardians have awakened...
XUK'
UL:
Impudent mortal!
You dare summon us?
If 'tis elucidation you seek, you shallhave it!
Such searingly terrible stellar majesty... my sanity is lashed like a vessel on a storm-wracked sea.
What price this invocation?
Shall the singing stars claim my very mind?
To countless worlds we travel, riding the endless black seas 'twixt the stars... the ebonoceans of infinity... flying through a thousand suns, then watching their light fade, as if itwere but a flickering candleflame snuffed by the wind.
As beings of pure energy webecome one with the vastness, transcending the ethereal walls of time, spanning at oncethis celestial eternity, and yet existing as no more than a mote of dust within the vista of itsendlessness...
Journeying beyond...
The threshold looms, (the star-way between dimensions stretches before me...)
The
Gate
To
That
Which
Lies
Beyond yawns wide...
Unspeakable forces gibber and pulsate in the
Outer
Darkness...
Elder horrors dwell here,things which were ancient and revelled in sublime galactic malevolence when even
Xuk'ulwas naught but a bloated cosmic maggot, writhing and suckling at the breast of itsamorphous mother...
They-
Who-
Lurk-
And-
Breed-
In-
Limbo... the squamous sovereigns ofthe elder void!
Primal terror drags my essence screaming back from the threshold.
The ichor of pestilent tongues clings to me, tendrils probing, the ire of fiends!
The ravening black worms of madness are devouring the shredded remnants of sanity as
Ireturn to my slumbering steel-clad body... but as the dream-veil lifts,
I feel my limbstransform, flesh becoming cold stone... enshrouded by a dark mantle of obsidian.
And thelaughter of the
Guardians echoes, carries upon the winds of this spectral eve.
Such is theprice of enlightenment.
And so, a new brooding sentinel of stone joins the others on thenighted mountain top...
Standing silently in the ancient circle of truth, standing... waiting,
Beneath the stars.
Lyrics:
Byron
Music:
Jonny
Maudling

Return to songs by Bal Sagoth.