1. Overture

instrumental – music by Zénon
This intro was also used as live intro at the first two ever COUNTESS gigs.

2. Highland Victory

Black Duncan recovered himself for a moment
Then he took his Lochaber-axe
He swayed his arm in the air
Dashed forward, and with a last fierce blow
He split in two the thick skull of Rannoch.
The fight had ended
The storm took full possession of the inn again
The slain Rannoch was dragged away
The Duncan taken care of
And the game continued.
Few days later Black Duncan rode forth again
The fierce gale had passed over
As always, there was still a fresh Nordic wind
But the skies were clear and blue
with only a few white clouds
There was still a long way to go.

music by Zénon - lyrics by Vercingetorix
The lyrics to this song start somewhere in the middle of the tale because this song is a sequel to "A Fine Night To Fight" from the "Permafrost" demo. The tale's hero, Black Duncan the Mischievous, a rather evil character who spent his entire life raping and plundering, seems to have been based on a real historical character (the sixteenth-century Scottish knight Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy). The tale itself was entirely thought up by Vercingetorix though, to whom this Duncan had been kind of an idol since he visited ruins of his castles.
This song was played live by the MkIII line-up and occasionally as well by later line-ups. Though disliked by most people who ever played it (Othalaz once simply went to piss while Zagan was doing an excessively long guitar lead when the MkV line-up was rehearsing this song) it has become sort of a cult favourite among some fans.

3. Doomed To Die

Hear the reap of Armageddon, see the fire scorch the sky
Watch the sorcerer awaken, millennium of evil dreams
Altars red of evil rites, faithful feel their glory near
Possessed warriors go berserk, blood reddens the moon
Ancient lords return to earth, now evil finally prevails
Mortals run but cannot hide, pray to god to no avail
Total destruction delights demons, satisfies the Antichrist
Witches sing, evil chorus, mankind surely is now . . .

. . . DOOMED TO DIE, christ did lie
. . . DOOMED TO DIE, the heavens cry

Hear the bells of evil chime, undead legions march from Hell
Heed the call of hate & war, feel the winds of mayhem blow
Blasphemy & victory, the Master hath returned
Take His hand with no fear now, enter his eternal realm
Sound the charge, into battle, fiery chariots ride the sky
Holding high the banner black, hailed by strong ones & the wise
Side by side into the war, at last the prophecy fulfilled

Witches sing, evil chorus, the universe forever now . . .

. . . DOOMED TO DIE, god did lie
. . . DOOMED TO DIE, the angels cry

music by Zénon - lyrics by Vercingetorix & Zénon
This song was played live by the MkIII line-up and initially by the MkIV line-up as well but deleted from the set after 1995. The MkIV line-up enjoyed playing this song as fast as possible, which usually ended in utter chaos.

4. Full Moon Baptism

The moor lies black . . . unholy clock strikes twelve
Trumpets break the silence . . . the wind is howling
Bloodred torches blaze . . . tearing the night apart
Hideous people appear . . . sick laughter is heard
Forming a circle . . . around a vacant throne
Suddenly they kneel . . . the Master arrived
Sits on the throne . . . the Sabbatic Goat
Time to worship . . . osculum obscenum

All over the moor . . . strong stench of blood
Sacrifices commenced . . . twelve hanged men
Little dead children . . . with golden daggers cut
Drink the blood . . . unholy communion
Witches and demons . . . rejoice in sin
Unbelievable orgy . . . ritual debasement
Demons play music . . . the faithful dance
New converts step forth . . . Full Moon Baptism

music by Zénon - lyrics by Zénon and Ariesse
This song was only played live by the MkIII line-up. A new version was included as a bonus track on the first 100 copies of "The Wolves Awake".

5. Crossing The Fires Of Darkness

Seven blazing gates to cross
Before I reach my goal
Seven purifying porches
For my parting soul
After life my soul takes flight
Into the eternal night
Heading down the blazing lane
To Satan's promising domain

Seven blazing gates......

Crossing the fires of darkness
Raise the excluding spell
Passing the thresholds of timeless
Leaping right into Hell
Treelike flames surround my spirit
On its way so darkly lit
A road untrodden, all floating round.
Underneath no solid ground

Seven blazing gates......
Crossing the fires......

Soon I will behold the highest
Lowest prince in all His might
I will join His ranks infernal
And worship Him in this inferno

music by Zénon - lyrics by Ariesse
The Ariesse who wrote these lyrics was Zénon's girlfriend. This song was only played live by the MkIII line-up.

6. Under The Sign Of The Celtic Cross

The druid slept under the oak
A lone raven whispered evil words
Called to Lugh lord of battle
Followed the spear to hail & kill

Hordes of Gog & Magog in the sky
Under the sign into war we marched
Filled the forests with blood of priests
Defended our race with honour & pride

Slaughtering disciples of holy lies
Pain we never felt only hate
Protecting our secret country in fury
But too many liars came to our lands

Facing defeat with unbowed heads
For centuries the light of day they ruled
But in the dark night Celtic rites prevailed

Now the druid has awakened
Lost sword found the raven flies again
Sons of coldness & woods return
Our ancestors will be avenged at last

Again we march under the sign
Once more soil will mix with blood
Deny the preachers of love & peace
Join the proud legions to hail & kill

Days of darkness & evil await us
In storms and rain we fight again
Showing no mercy to cowards and traitors
Out of chaos new order to arise

Pure tribes will ride into glory again
The millennium of light soon to fall
The Celtic rites will now prevail forever

music & lyrics by Zénon
This song was only played live by the MkIII line-up.

7. Kneel Before The Master's Throne

I sold my soul in a cold & dark past
Infernal contract signed with evil blood
Gave 1000 years of earthly pleasures
Now I hear my Master calling me His child
I see the bridge glowing in the dark
Across the bridge of death I must walk
A godforsaken path to the eternal fire
Final part of the evil road I walked
Before long I will enter Hell and......
......KNEEL BEFORE THE MASTER'S THRONE

Dark desires of lust & evil in mind & soul
At last in Hell I will meet the Countess
Reward for lives of total darkness
Unholy 13 lives I lived on earth
Faithfully spreading the Honrned One's gospel
Crossed the bridge I enter His kingdom
Halls of Hell full of fire & brimstone
Sword of thunder & steel still by my side
Before long I will see my Master and......
......KNEEL BEFORE THE MASTER'S THRONE

music & lyrics by Zénon
This is the only song from this album that continued to be a part of the band's live set through the years and in fact became the traditional closing song. It also was the only song from this album included on the unreleased live CD.

8. March Of The Clans

Instrumental – music by Zénon
Though really only an outtro this song was initially played live by the MkIII line-up, mainly because when this line-up started rehearsing, this album was all the material they had other than covers.

Recording this album was pure Hell. We had never played together before and I only knew the songs from a tape Zénon had sent me with all the riffs along with a few sheets of tablature and song structures. The circumstances were bad, too, since we were playing in a barn with no heating at all so it was fucking cold – it was late December after all – so we kept warm by drinking vodka...

I had only brought my bass along, my Aria Pro II IGB-50 I always used on recordings at the time, but the amps and other equipment Zénon and Vercingetorix had arranged for the recording – mostly borrowed stuff – were not exactly the best. The bass amp looked like an unidentifiable home-made thing if it was a bass amp at all and Zénon was using a Marshall guitar amp that looked incredibly old though I don't remember the exact type. His guitar was a quite reasonable Charvel though and he used a quite modern electronic Boss effects processor as well. The drum kit was equally old and small, with just one bass, but that hardly mattered since Vercingetorix' drumming skills would never have allowed him to make any use of two, and then there was a quite decent Roland keyboard, though I don't remember the exact type.

The recording equipment consisted of several of worn-out mikes, an ancient 8-channel mixing desk and a 4-tracker that looked so primitive it should have been donated to a museum. After playing all the songs a couple of times, which went surprisingly well – at least that was what I thought at the time – we set up the recording shit, that is, we put two mikes on either side of the drum kit and one in front of both the guitar and bass amps, and started playing.

Without bothering to check the sound we played all the songs, most of them two or three times until we had a more or less acceptable version on tape – all this had been sent through the mixing channel to the first track of the recorder. Next Zénon put down all the rhythm guitar parts again on the second track after which he did them yet another time on the third track while Vercingetorix simultaneously put down the keyboard parts, which were more or less improvised. This left us only track four on which Zénon put down the guitar leads after which I did the vocals on the same track.

Mixing was not easy of course with only four tracks and the basic parts all on the same track and we were pretty worn out when we were finally done. We were pretty satisfied with the result – probably because we were all pretty drunk by then – but of course about half a year after the recordings Zénon remixed them for the release of the CD because he thought he could improve them. I didn't think that would help much but I have to admit that when Vercingetorix dropped by with the master tape a while later I was surprised by what it sounded like: there was much more guitar than on the original mix, which was indeed an improvement.

Looking back on the recording of this album I can say that in spite of all the problems, it was really cool. The atmosphere was great (thanks to the Smirnoff) and there was no pressure on us to play as tight as possible and shit like that, you know the usual stress involved in recording, because we just wanted to make a lot of noise and have a good time doing it. Most people missed the point we wanted to make with The Gospel: we wanted to record a horrible album, if possible the worst album of all times. Remember this was 1992, when Black Metal was becoming far too popular and these new bands were all getting good reviews in big magazines. We longed for the old days, when Black Metal was hated – as we felt it should be – by the big magazines. We certainly succeeding in getting bad reviews but, more importantly, I think we succeeded in creating a truly unique album.

I still listen to this record every now and then – though admittedly not frequently – and I think the atmosphere of "The Gospel..." is still unequalled by any later COUNTESS recording (with the possible exception of Shining Swords, no matter how much better these may be musically and sound wise.