1. Children Of The North Star

Sons of rain and winter cold
Returning home like once foretold
Waging war to cleanse their land
Once sold dirt cheap by traitor´s hold
Whilst they call on the one-eyed god
Once more soil is mixed with blood

music & lyrics by Orlok

2. Total War

The moon is full the mirror cracks
Smiling from the depths He reigns
See the red eyes in the dark
Tonight the chosen break their chains
Evil dwells, eternal, unstoppable
The warriors of darkness ride
Our souls rejoice in cries of pain
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
We are wolves and we are proud
Blood drips from our unholy jaws
Tonight we claim our victory
The priest torn apart by evil claws

We drink the virgin´s blood
The High One speaks to us
We hunt on Diana´s trail
We cry in ecstacy
We know no more fear
The eternal fire we feel
Our fate we embrace
To no mortal man we kneel

Ages old warriors atop a mountain cold
The shining swords of hate by their sides
To an eternal life of blood and honour called
By the One who rides disguised through the night

One with darkness in wind and rain
They feel the Fourth Storm drawing near
For centuries for The Sign they waited
At last the eternal winter is here
They have returned to wipe out their shame
The sheep will drown in blood and pain
Revenge is sweet as a virgin´s flesh
All your fuckin´ prayers said in vain
At last the reign of the king of slaves
And his worshippers will be done
The cross nothing but a memory
When the final war is won
For two centuries the slaves of Christ
Spat on mankind´s true Father
But now clouds of darkness and hate
Above Jehovah´s throne gather

music & lyrics by Orlok

3. Hate From Hell

Hate from Hell burns in my soul
Total destruction my evil goal
Hate from Hell will always previal
Darkness and evil forever I hail
Hate from Hell will consume the earth
To no avail was the Christ´s birth
Hate from Hell is the ultimate thrill
It truly inspires me to hail and kill

Hate from Hell burns in my soul
Hate from Hell will always prevail
Hate from Hell will consume the earth
Hate from Hell is the ultimate thrill

music & lyrics by Orlok

4. Te Vuur En Te Zwaard

Rivieren van bloed en wouden van ijzer
Zeeën van vuur en bergen van staal
Het volk der krijgers werd hier gesmeed
Een ras vol moed, eer en loyaliteit
De draken werden door hen verslagen
De dwergen maakten zij tot slaven
Andere rassen konden hen niet stoppen
Waar zij ook kwamen rolden koppen

bridge:
Geboren uit staal, gedoopt in bloed
Harten vol van een vurige gloed

Te vuur en te zwaard

De elven met hun wit-magische krachten
Kon het volk zonder moeite afslachten
Zelfs de machtige tovenaars vielen
Machteloos tegen ´t volk met stalen zielen

bridge

Te vuur en te zwaard
Onverschrokken en onvervaard
Te vuur en te zwaard
Onze heilige eer is alles waard
Te vuur en te zwaard

Dit volk waren wij – maar de magie is voorbij . . .

bridge

Te vuur en te zwaard

music & lyrics by Orlok

5. Totenkopf (Satan´s Soldaten)

Die Blüte der Völker Europas
Verschworen auf Führer und Tod
Schwarz und Silber marschierten sie
Die Fahne hoch für den Sieg

Wächter und Sturmbahn Schulter an Schulter
Ein Orden geschmiedet zu streiten für Haß
Ehre heisst Treue so standen sie stolz
Ihr Name war Schrecken in Ost und West

An allen Fronten zerfetzten sie
Jeden Widerstand ohne Gnad'
Geboren in Zorn und getauft in Blut
In Flammen und Asche regiert der Tod

Brust und Faust fassten glühenden Stahl
Eicke fiel und ritt nach Valhall
Keine Gefangenen ihm zu Ehre wochenlang
Ein blutiges Meer als Todesritual

Scharfes Schwert nutzlos in lahmer Faust
Getreu in Pflicht, gefallen durch Verrat
Geschmäht durch Geschichte, geachtet vom Feind
Doch in Niederlage erzwangen sie Sieg

Wenn Abendsonne verblutet in Nacht
Erinnerung lodert in Herzen
Sieg und Ruhm, Vernichtung und Tod
Des Satan´s Soldaten Legende

music by Orlok – lyrics by Opyros

6. When The Raven Flies

When summers are forgotten
And brothers slay each other
When the legions of Surt rise
And Muspell´s horde fils the skies
When the Norns annihilate all peace
And Naglfar sails the seas
The dawn of the final war is here
When gods wage war the end is near

When the horn of Heimdall blows
And holy blood in thick rivers flows
When the son of Loki breaks his chains
And Midgard is consumed by flames
When forces of darkness and light collide
For puny mortals there´ll be nowhere to hide
The dawn of the final war is here
When gods wage war the end is near

When the raven flies
We must heed the call
When the raven flies
We will stand or fall
When the raven flies
We must heed the call
When the raven flies
We will stand or fall

When the sky turns black as night
And nothing is left but the will to fight
When the Einherjar are to fulfill their destiny
There´s no more use for All-Father's necromancy
When giants and trolls united ride
And even Wodan and Donar fall side by side
The dawn of the final war is near
When gods wage war the end is here

music & lyrics by Orlok

7. The Return Of The Darkness And Evil

music & lyrics by Quorthon

In September and October '98 we had recorded the Revenge albums, but we didn't do much after that. We rehearsed a couple of times in early '99, but we didn't really have anything to work towards, not to mention the fact that we were all busy with other things as well, so for the remainder of the year COUNTESS didn't do anything, with the exception of the album From The Wells Of Chaos that I recorded on my own in the summer, but quickly discarded as not good enough to be put out.

In October '99, I came up with the idea to record another new album, even though both Revenge albums had not been released yet. I wanted to record something really filthy and sick, something even worse then The Gospel, something that would be only about atmosphere and nothing else. Something in the vein of the Permafrost demo, which had been the reason I'd joined COUNTESS in the first place back in '92.

I didn't really write the songs for this album; I just programmed some rhythm parts (as sloppy as possible) and started playing, improvising as I went along. Recording again in my own Black Lust Studio, I laid down the bass tracks using my Ibanez SB 900 LK, plugged straight into the mixing desk through my Boss ODB-3, and then did the guitar parts on my Ibanez RX 350 BK, also plugged straight into the mixing desk through my Boss HM-3 and Zoom 1202. I did the rhythm guitar parts three times to get a really thick sound. While I was playing the first rhythm guitar on Total War, I broke a string. Instead of playing that part over, I just left the breaking of the string on the album. That's the kind of album this was supposed to be.

When time came to do the vocals, I decided to experiment a little. I feared my usual screams would not suit this kind of music very well, so I used different techniques. I think this worked quite well, even though I realize some people don't like the vocals on this album.

This album also features a song with lyrics in German. Up to this recording, COUNTESS lyrics had usually been in English, sometimes in Dutch and once in Latin. I'd always wanted to do a song in German though and asked Opyros to write some lyrics. He almost instantly came up with the brilliant Totenkopf lyrics. A few years earlier, he'd already translated Fire & Blood, but so far we haven't had a chance to use that excellent translation yet (I did record a new version of the song with the German lyrics, but that version has never been released). Nevertheless, perhaps if we ever play in Germany again, we'll play Feuer Und Blut instead of Fire & Blood.

Even though it took me just two weeks to write and record this album (it was recorded between October 16th and 29th), I still think it's a really good album. Like The Gospel, this album is a statement: Black Metal should be filthy and sick and unclean and have no commercial appeal whatsoever. I'm confident the point came across. Together with The Gospel and DAWNFALL‘s Dominance Of Darkness, this album has to be one of the top three contenders for ‘worst album ever.'