Jasper v.d. Veen - vocals, acoustics
Lindsay A. Kerr - guitars
Cam Saunders - guitars
Nick Engwer - bass
Jason Robertson - synths, acoustics
Craig Stewart - drums
Label: Bleak Art Records
Recorded April-May 2008 in Victoria, British Columbia by Adam Sutherland, Jason Robertson & David Parfit.
Mixed and Mastered August 2008 in Zutphen, the Netherlands by Pascal Altena.
Artwork & layout by Lindsay A. Kerr.
2. Signatura Rerum
With the rise of Orion in the skies
The great planet comes forth
Fastening through the ages
To reach us and throw us in the dark
The night of Nibiru lasts long
And stars shrivelled behind its shadow
With the flame inside us burning
We shed wine and fruit on our
way to Emmeshara
With the rise of Orion in the skies
The great planet comes forth
Fastening through the ages
To reach us and throw us in the dark
There dwells our queen Ereshkigal
Who had welcomed us in an enduring renewal
For a swim in the ocean of the netherworlds
Understanding comes upon our bright souls
For a swim in the ocean of the netherworlds
Understanding comes upon our bright souls
With the flame inside us burning
We shed wine and fruit on our way to Emmeshara
3. Statues in Auburn
Upon the earth descends a dwindling crown
A line of deciduous kings throned in ancient groves
The winds of October bear their royalty
A solemn veil of splendour before the winter’s wrath
Standing tall on mountains
As light of autumn fades
Nature’s sprawling statues
In fiery auburn shades
Sentries of the seasons
Betrothed to earth and sky
Raise their blazoned armour
Towards the heavens high
Unchallenged in their majesty
But by the strike of heaven’s fire
The rage of the axe blade’s swing
And the grinding of many ages passing
Morning brings chills from northern skies
Crystalline lies dew like stars on root and leaf
Signs that beckon life into retreat
Gliding down the road to slumber
Fir and ash and willow bow their heads
To stand through winter’s judgement
Lifeless are the skies on autumn’s waning days
Diffused in muted grey moves an endless sea along the woodlands
Cast no shadows under mighty kings
Suppress the reign of colour till the green dawn that brings us spring
Sentries of the seasons
Betrothed to earth and sky
Raise their blazoned armour
Towards the heavens high
Standing tall on mountains
As light of autumn fades
Nature’s sprawling statues
In fiery auburn shades
Borne on October’s winds
4. Of Pathless Woods
The sun sinks its way through the evening sky
In a crescendo of colour
Painting a dying blaze on a canvas green
Stretched as far as the eagle’s flight
Time has no meaning here
Far removed from the dealings of men
In this untrodden old growth domain
Where the paths are none and the ways are of yore
Nature’s bliss untamed
By foreign species’ greed
There is no need for laws
Where mankind does not dwell
A maze of root and moss
To trap the essence of life
What withers will be reborn
Rising from the forest floor
The winds that came from shores
On North-West peaceful waters
Bear every spore and seed
To fruition beyond the trees
Perpetuance of pathless woods
Of pathless woods
5. Terra Hiberna
Above her kind face
Like landscapes of milk and dew
Sits a crown of glass
On waves of burnt umber
Held firmly aloft
A sceptre of crystal
Made by her ruling hands
At the dawn of her reign
We bow to a distant glow –
Terra Hiberna
As we pass into winter’s hold –
Terra Hiberna
In a white gown she’s clad
Gone is her emerald green
Her seas now are grey
And turbulent silver
The wealth of her fields
Grew under a golden July
And shrank on the stalks
In the rain of November
A storm sweeps across
Her highlands and valley slopes
And shifts the snows
Like the sands of her deserts
Away from the sun
Her cosmic eternal love
She draws an ellipse
To the warmth of his heart
We bow to a distant glow –
Terra Hiberna
As we pass into winter’s hold -
Terra Hiberna
Formations of wings approach the horizon
In search of the sun traversing the southern sky
She gazes upon the snow-covered feeding grounds
Where her fauna did thrive before the claws of frost came to lay waste
In their moonlit lairs, their tunnels and burrows
She invokes vivid dreams of warmth
And food abound with the promise of spring
A haggard figure emerges from the barren fields
Taking in the serenity of the great white silence
Which he breaks with a mighty breath from under a frozen beard
The midwinter horn vanquishes darkness in the weeks after Yule
Sunless blend the days and nights
Through shades of white and blue
Till the threads of the green dawn
Do clothe her in the youth of spring
6. Wreath of the Triumphant Sun
A golden voice from the blue
Speaking on four winds
Calling for sapling to grow
For seed and pod to sprout
Those who took upon the wing
Returned to raise their brood
Their calling echoes through the trees
Dispersed across the green
Sylvan awake
Sylvan breathe
O radiant heart in the skies
How your light plays on the leaves
Whispering on summer mornings
How it shatters on the ponds and streams
Stirred up by the play of the nesting waterfowl
Come enter your spirit
Into our orchards and fields
And bestow upon us
At the tides around Lammas
A yield like none ever seen
A raven throned on the mountainside
Black lord of a valley in bloom
Since the spring in his youth came from southern hills
And winter crawled back to the north
The winds that drift up his golden slopes
Bear the fragrance of flower and fruit
Through the proud infinity of summer skies
The wreath of the triumphant sun
7. Awaken the Season of Old
When the orchard’s bloom
Is sent aloft en masse
On the breezes of April
With its beckoning call
I scatter the embers
Of Ostara’s blaze
Which died with the winter
But roars in my spirit still
Deities awoken in the circle of spring
By a phallic triumph at the womb of Beltane
Commence a grand feasting
To an era of warmth
With the birth of the sun
And the bountiful season
At the shrinking of shadows
At the lengthening of days
With the green on the boughs reappearing
By the silvery dew
A call resounds from the horizon
Heralding in an upward arc
A decree towards the west
For all of man to hear
“Begone, frost and gloom!
I bring growth and light
Rich and plentiful
May your harvests be.”
Commence a grand feasting
To an era of warmth
With the birth of the sun
And the bountiful season
Deities awoken in the circle of spring
By a phallic triumph at the womb of Beltane
8. The Fallow Earth
On the harvest awakened
A true-blooded arrow
A merging of polars
From the sea to the earth
By the bright golden egg
Hatched of the southern lands
Look to the north
Planted seeds shall grow
On battered cliff sides
By churning seas of fate
A sword will lead
And turn the fallow earth
The essence of man
Is to be grasped by the hilt
From the east to the west
Winds howl endless
A signpost of oak
Weathers the seasons
The call of a sparrow
Pierces the silence
Midwinter sun stands
Forever illuminated
Where regents ponder their mortality
In somber gilded halls
A sword will teach
With the meads of knowledge
To intoxicate the wise
In the night-time of awakening
We shovelled the earth
And by daybreak
The sapling had prospered
A well of desires
Unleashed to the streams
A kindling of branches
Shall evolve to flame
Within a circle of ancient yew
A titan oak of Borean blood
Root of the northern world
From where to descend the beard of time
Plunge a horn in the cosmic spring
And sow the fallow earth
With eternity's astral seed
With the rise of Orion in the skies
The great planet comes forth
Fastening through the ages
To reach us and throw us in the dark
There dwells our queen Ereshkigal
Who had welcomed us in an enduring renewal
For a swim in the ocean of the netherworlds
Understanding comes upon our bright souls
For a swim in the ocean of the netherworlds
Understanding comes upon our bright souls
With the flame inside us burning
We shed wine and fruit on our way to Emmeshara
3. Statues in Auburn
Upon the earth descends a dwindling crown
A line of deciduous kings throned in ancient groves
The winds of October bear their royalty
A solemn veil of splendour before the winter’s wrath
Standing tall on mountains
As light of autumn fades
Nature’s sprawling statues
In fiery auburn shades
Sentries of the seasons
Betrothed to earth and sky
Raise their blazoned armour
Towards the heavens high
Unchallenged in their majesty
But by the strike of heaven’s fire
The rage of the axe blade’s swing
And the grinding of many ages passing
Morning brings chills from northern skies
Crystalline lies dew like stars on root and leaf
Signs that beckon life into retreat
Gliding down the road to slumber
Fir and ash and willow bow their heads
To stand through winter’s judgement
Lifeless are the skies on autumn’s waning days
Diffused in muted grey moves an endless sea along the woodlands
Cast no shadows under mighty kings
Suppress the reign of colour till the green dawn that brings us spring
Sentries of the seasons
Betrothed to earth and sky
Raise their blazoned armour
Towards the heavens high
Standing tall on mountains
As light of autumn fades
Nature’s sprawling statues
In fiery auburn shades
Borne on October’s winds
4. Of Pathless Woods
The sun sinks its way through the evening sky
In a crescendo of colour
Painting a dying blaze on a canvas green
Stretched as far as the eagle’s flight
Time has no meaning here
Far removed from the dealings of men
In this untrodden old growth domain
Where the paths are none and the ways are of yore
Nature’s bliss untamed
By foreign species’ greed
There is no need for laws
Where mankind does not dwell
A maze of root and moss
To trap the essence of life
What withers will be reborn
Rising from the forest floor
The winds that came from shores
On North-West peaceful waters
Bear every spore and seed
To fruition beyond the trees
Perpetuance of pathless woods
Of pathless woods
5. Terra Hiberna
Above her kind face
Like landscapes of milk and dew
Sits a crown of glass
On waves of burnt umber
Held firmly aloft
A sceptre of crystal
Made by her ruling hands
At the dawn of her reign
We bow to a distant glow –
Terra Hiberna
As we pass into winter’s hold –
Terra Hiberna
In a white gown she’s clad
Gone is her emerald green
Her seas now are grey
And turbulent silver
The wealth of her fields
Grew under a golden July
And shrank on the stalks
In the rain of November
A storm sweeps across
Her highlands and valley slopes
And shifts the snows
Like the sands of her deserts
Away from the sun
Her cosmic eternal love
She draws an ellipse
To the warmth of his heart
We bow to a distant glow –
Terra Hiberna
As we pass into winter’s hold -
Terra Hiberna
Formations of wings approach the horizon
In search of the sun traversing the southern sky
She gazes upon the snow-covered feeding grounds
Where her fauna did thrive before the claws of frost came to lay waste
In their moonlit lairs, their tunnels and burrows
She invokes vivid dreams of warmth
And food abound with the promise of spring
A haggard figure emerges from the barren fields
Taking in the serenity of the great white silence
Which he breaks with a mighty breath from under a frozen beard
The midwinter horn vanquishes darkness in the weeks after Yule
Sunless blend the days and nights
Through shades of white and blue
Till the threads of the green dawn
Do clothe her in the youth of spring
6. Wreath of the Triumphant Sun
A golden voice from the blue
Speaking on four winds
Calling for sapling to grow
For seed and pod to sprout
Those who took upon the wing
Returned to raise their brood
Their calling echoes through the trees
Dispersed across the green
Sylvan awake
Sylvan breathe
O radiant heart in the skies
How your light plays on the leaves
Whispering on summer mornings
How it shatters on the ponds and streams
Stirred up by the play of the nesting waterfowl
Come enter your spirit
Into our orchards and fields
And bestow upon us
At the tides around Lammas
A yield like none ever seen
A raven throned on the mountainside
Black lord of a valley in bloom
Since the spring in his youth came from southern hills
And winter crawled back to the north
The winds that drift up his golden slopes
Bear the fragrance of flower and fruit
Through the proud infinity of summer skies
The wreath of the triumphant sun
7. Awaken the Season of Old
When the orchard’s bloom
Is sent aloft en masse
On the breezes of April
With its beckoning call
I scatter the embers
Of Ostara’s blaze
Which died with the winter
But roars in my spirit still
Deities awoken in the circle of spring
By a phallic triumph at the womb of Beltane
Commence a grand feasting
To an era of warmth
With the birth of the sun
And the bountiful season
At the shrinking of shadows
At the lengthening of days
With the green on the boughs reappearing
By the silvery dew
A call resounds from the horizon
Heralding in an upward arc
A decree towards the west
For all of man to hear
“Begone, frost and gloom!
I bring growth and light
Rich and plentiful
May your harvests be.”
Commence a grand feasting
To an era of warmth
With the birth of the sun
And the bountiful season
Deities awoken in the circle of spring
By a phallic triumph at the womb of Beltane
8. The Fallow Earth
On the harvest awakened
A true-blooded arrow
A merging of polars
From the sea to the earth
By the bright golden egg
Hatched of the southern lands
Look to the north
Planted seeds shall grow
On battered cliff sides
By churning seas of fate
A sword will lead
And turn the fallow earth
The essence of man
Is to be grasped by the hilt
From the east to the west
Winds howl endless
A signpost of oak
Weathers the seasons
The call of a sparrow
Pierces the silence
Midwinter sun stands
Forever illuminated
Where regents ponder their mortality
In somber gilded halls
A sword will teach
With the meads of knowledge
To intoxicate the wise
In the night-time of awakening
We shovelled the earth
And by daybreak
The sapling had prospered
A well of desires
Unleashed to the streams
A kindling of branches
Shall evolve to flame
Within a circle of ancient yew
A titan oak of Borean blood
Root of the northern world
From where to descend the beard of time
Plunge a horn in the cosmic spring
And sow the fallow earth
With eternity's astral seed