Facts
Released: 23rd September 2016
Label: Bret Hard Records
Recorded: Vocals/Drums at Wing Studios (Stockholm), Guitars are self-recorded, Mix/Master at Grotesque Studios (Munich)
Members: Daniel (Guitar, Vocals, Samples), Bastian (Guitar), Hanse (Bass), Jakob (Drums)
Artwork: Roberto Toderico (Roberto Toderico Art)
Layout: Fabian Zarse (Oculorum Festum)
Photo: Michel Winterer (EmotionalPhotoArt)
Tracklist
1. Call to Repentance
2. Paragon
3. Celestial Wrath
4. The Operation
5. Desolation Paradise (feat. Sverker Widgren)
6. The Shore
7. Bulletstorm
8. Insidious Depravity
9. Paved in Blood
10. Epitome of Failure
11. In Death Engraved
Lyrics
1. Call to Repentance (Intro)
...and in those days man shall seek death and shall not find it... and they shall desire to die and death shall flee off them...
2. Paragon
Obstructed by supremacy, they linger for your fear
Pushing onwards to succeed a loss for you to bear
They’re feeding on your conscience, dictators of dismay
Depleted of significance, worthless and mundane
Claim your place and bask yourself with pride
Oblige to them or suffer through their vice
Paragon
Becoming your Paragon
Perfunctory embodiment
Bitterness will wither with confidence derived
Paragon
By vanity deprived
Contagious, demanding
Your shapeless thoughts aligned
Adapted, considered
Entities enforced to subside
Singular existence denied
Conformity repulsive and malign
It is a bitter pill to take
Pariah, blissful and refined
Wallowing in worthlessness, pathetic urge to shine
Nothing is more honest than outer clout denied
Hypocrisy is treading down on self-inflicted shame
Submit yourself to stranger force then there’s only you to blame
Claim your place and bask yourself with pride
Oblige to them or suffer through their vice
Paragon
3. Celestial Wrath
This world is drowning in death and fear
Compelled to survive we cut all ties
Our bonds defiled
Haunted by the ghosts of the past
Bloodlines severed at last
As worlds collapse
Existence of a vengeance reborn
As the fires of war burn higher
I rule over the lives of men
This era is mine to claim
[Pre-Chorus]
And as the weak ones subside
Behold this power divine
Spilling this blood of mine
[Chorus]
Now watch your kingdoms fall
Come forth my servants
Answer my call
I am the will to kill and refute
Beyond the flesh I am absolute
The heavens engulfed in flames
As the ancients roar my name
Their world is burning, the weak shall die
An era passes and a new empire will rise
This path we chose to victory
Is littered with the slaughter of all our enemies
Existence of a vengeance reborn
To bury this world in fire
I pledged to kill my brethren
Celestial wrath is mine to claim
|Pre-Chorus|Chorus|
My kingdom engulfed in flames
As I find that I’m to blame
The conquest has devoured all bonds that tied with me
And yet I cannot overcome my bloodsworn enemy
Blood runs deep inside my veins, imposing new ideals
Death is certain if I fail, discord is what I feel
Frozen in the past I stand, I flee from this defeat
Back towards my land of birth, where death will set me free
And as the weak ones subside
Behold this power divine
Staining this blood of mine
|Chorus|
And now my kingdom falls
The heaven’s roar
Drowning my call
Forsaking the will
To live this excuse
My path to death is absolute
4. The Operation
Set ablaze the lies they spread
And make them bastards pay
Concussed by fear rotting inside its shell
Our deaths in sight
But we refuse to die
The kill is on
We shall descend upon your reign
No longer we obey
Our fear deteriorates
No compromise to your bequest
Tearing down this fragile shell
We rise against a death dealing force
But your entrenched dominion shall collapse and fall
[Pre-Chorus]
Incessantly we’re slain
Our fervor will prevail
[Chorus]
To their deaths, to our fate, to their war
Onwards to fatality, repaying blood with blood
…to victory
A never-ceasing strife
Beaten, defeated
Extermination drove on our plight
Nowhere to retreat but target is perceived
Aligned against your treacherous ways
Overcoming all our fear
Your life we’ll claim
The kill is on
We obliterate your reign
No longer we comply
Your devious claim denied
Obstruction
|Pre-Chorus|Chorus|
With sacrifice we grow
Pathetic sham disowned
Annihilate your reign
Defy and violate
Wreck them down
Operation set
Mutual elimination, abolish all restraint
Lain to obstruction, frenzy is obtained
Perpetuated killing, an everlasting bane
5. Desolation Paradise
(feat. Sverker Widgren)
Come with me and see
A place where only nightmares feast
Where death is comforting
And life is misery
Reality engulfs me
It tears me apart
Confronted by truth
Which breaks this weakened heart
This sick sensation
Brings alteration
[Chorus]
Caught inside, but you can’t escape this life
Your desolated paradise
A living death entrapped yourself in hell, your hell
Killing off this mortal shell
Push the limit of self-affliction
Helpless, abandoned
Reach out for the dead
There is no escape
From this fate awaiting in the end
Touch the silence born from the skies
And bear the burden straining your life
Lost, forsaken and left here to blame
Repentance be my name
|Chorus|
You won’t die because you’re caught alive to strive in hell
6. The Shore
Deep in the shadows of your soul
Rests a fragile truth so small
It’s pathetic, distressing but out of your control
Desire surrounds you like an everflowing shore
And you seek your chance to fail once more
Not knowing if it will ever change
But certain that it could change
Just to fail once more
Lost upon the shores of life
The sleepless thoughts abide
Surrender to silence
and the scars time’s left inside
And no one hears my screams
No one shares my time of need
And we always die alone
No shelter for our souls
Countless times confronted by uncertain choices you could have made
But still you chose to suffer on your own until today
And when someone heard your screams
You did not share your time of need
Since we always die alone
No shelter for our souls
My honest affection denied
Yet so meaningless on the cruel shores of life
And no one hears my screams
No one shares my time of need
And we always die alone
No shelter for our souls
7. Bulletstorm
Ripping through bodies the battlefield spawns
The rivers are dyed red with blood
The killing repeats as the hours go on
But we both are headed for hell
Don’t look back, no retreat
Progress by taking lives
One for one we kill
As long as people die
[Pre-Chorus]
Kill for me, I kill for you
They take your life, I take theirs too
[Chorus]
Onwards into the bulletstorm
The flesh of men is torn
But we keep marching on
Into the bulletstorm
Shot down to the ground
As death is raining down
My body is heavy, I’m gasping for air
Coughing up nothing but blood
I find my own body stuck to the ground
The bullets have my blown me apart
Don’t look back or retreat
Move on, leave me behind
You shall kill one more
Just before you die
|Pre-Chorus|Chorus|
As Death is coming down
The death we spend
For lives of men
And as we die
We choose that there will be no end
|Pre-Chorus|Chorus|
Onwards into the bulletstorm
We are forlorn
8. Insidious Depravity
The litany of failure is feasting on your soul
Behold your contrived idol, steering from above
Remorse is no exemption for your blemished self
When mortal men will falter in this forsaken hell
I am the face of their plight
Deceived and left to die
[Pre-Chorus]
Becoming the antagonist
The reaper of your lies
[Chorus]
Relentless, voracious
They prey on my defeat
Shallow redemption
Insidious Depravity
Shatter the pillars you thought beyond control
Slaughter the demons they are trying to uphold
Affliction delivered by the remnants of your past
Shifting the weight of the blame at last
Buried deep within
A mortal god drenched in sin
|Pre-Chorus|Chorus|
I am the face of their plight
Forsaken sacrifice
Abandoned and left to die
9. Paved in Blood
God of war we call thy name, accept this this sacrifice
We will send a thousand souls beyond the gates of life
Centuries of slaughter have passed into this world
Seven warring kingdoms, carnage rules our earth
[Chorus]
Raise up the banners and fight for our cause
The weak will be devoured on this path of blood
Hatred is born from the fires of war
Stoking this path of blood once more
Enemies face to face, as far as eyes can reach
We share blood and history, but killing is our creed
Fallen warriors, immortal souls pass on
The winter’s nights are cold with spring and autumn gone
Emperor of all, I will end this era of war
So our people shall know peace once more
|Chorus|
This world as we know it will cease
When mankind shall find peace
Emperor of everything beneath the stars and skies
My name is cursed as the tyrant who devoured lives
And yet I shall face my destiny that war is bound to me eternally
I will unite this kingdom through war
My fate is paved in blood once more
|Chorus|
Bear all the hatred from the remnants of war
And I shall walk this path of blood forevermore
10. Epitome of Failure
Fire be my guiding light upon the path to death
Lost inside this form of life, this epitome was set
Far beyond the darkness, oblivious I strayed
Fire be my blazing light upon my final way
[Post-Verse]
And then the fear is gone
of everything I have become
And I shall know that
Death waits for none
Fire be my burning torch and set ablaze the night
Carry me to darker places together with your light
Far beyond repulsion, baptize me in sin
Fire be my freedom and hell to live within
[|Chorus]
The call to salvation is nigh
Beyond this life where we will complete
The failure we breed
And when the flames are gone
This fire lives on
I shall become fireborn
Chaos be my final form and cast this shell aside
To release our souls from this realm
In death we shall unite
Downwards to oblivion, my mortal self redeemed
Final liberation of this epitome
|Post-Verse|Chorus|
The fire welcomes me
Epitome
Lost inside this world
Fire be my guide
and cleanse this life
As skies turn black
By death entwined
I will become
Fireborn
Become fireborn
I shall become a memory
Wipe the ashes away
11. In Death Engraved
Silence will greet the one who tries to embrace
The more you long, the more it’s bound to fade
And as I fall deeper from the surface of life
I feel this silent rage burning rampant inside
But I have learned to accept the never changing
Ways of the tides in life
Anguish decomposes me
Bitter end protagonist
Regret is everything I see
Cursed for my eternity
The face of remorse became my mask
A hollow spectre watching your epitaph
And now I stand before the dreams that I swore to protect
But I was weak and too human to harbor the strength
Defeated by the passing of time
Yet I believe that fault was none but mine
[Pre-Chorus]
A missing link belonging to none
A lifeless dream I have become
[Chorus]
I will face the pain and sorrow you brought
Denying its embrace
In Death Engraved
I will bury the pain and sorrow you fought
Finding your embrace
In Death Engraved
Detached reality
Another life deserted and left in agony
Pathetic defeat
For our dreams are born in deceit
|Pre-Chorus|Chorus|
I will suffer the pain and sorrow you sought
Engulfed in its embrace
In Death Engraved
I have become the pain and sorrow you fought
Denied by your embrace
In Death Engraved
All lyrics written by Daniel
The lyrical concept of Epitome revolves around inner conflicts and self-antagonism. For the record, placing the lyrical protagonist into some surreal enviroment was mandatory. The lyrics' purpose is to capture a certain scene, bring it to life in the imagination of the listener and always underline the meaning and feeling of the song itself. Epitome chooses different approaches, angles and the songs differ a lot (in terms of Death Metal style of course). This is why the lyrics also choose different perspectives and switch in styles.
Two of the songs are referring to certain period of ancient history, but not one which has yet been subject to Metal so far. But the story itself is (heavy) metal as fuck, so have fun identifying them.