Battle Staffs In The Mushroom Woods

No time for grief’s lamenting chorus Bodies of men scythed down like wheat As javelins slam into the hillside Black pounding hearts keep up their murderous beat In winter’s broad dominion The fetters burst, the haunted ride A warning for the living Unending rage of those who died No faltering, no hesitation The raven banner leads our force A restless day among the living A restless night beneath the gorse

Submitted by NecroLord — Apr 26, 2025

All, save the stirring words for darkest hour of night When spectres scream upon the wind And all who bar the gate lie riven in the dust To no more avail, the ancient gifts of kings may rust I do not fear death I know the lots were carved and have been thrown Acknowledge destiny It takes the path of river, root and stone The thrones of kings are smashed and heirlooms cast aside …fools have scrabbled for our gold The air is fouled and all that gushes forth a bitter broth Destruction of supernature in a storm of wrath The winter sun is blotted out the sky turns black And howls of shamen fill the air Odinnic brotherhood, the army of the slain Shape-shifting madmen calling down an iron rain. ( Wartooth / Acwealde December 2003 )

Submitted by Sexy Gargoyle — Apr 26, 2025

They will come on the chaos winds To raise the fallen when the killing begins Hear their horns, hear the armour clash See their eyes in the lightning flash Know their purpose if they come for you To swell the ranks of great Odin’s few When the winter does not end These are the emissaries he will send This is the gathering of the Einherjar Brought together in Valhalla Led by the wolf and the carrion crow Torrents of blood will be running below. There will be fighting in the days before An age of weapons and an age of war The skies will echo to spear and sword Axe and shield before the Battle-Lord You will be paid in the halls of Asgard Before the horn of the Watcher is heard Will you live up to your mead-fuelled boasts? Or will you flee before the demon hosts?..

Submitted by Warbringer — Apr 26, 2025

As a shard of failing memory sought shadows in the mist Hooded figures standing silent Men who no longer exist Heed the beacons’ warning, Murmurs on the winds and waves As the figures sinking slowly Back into their ancient graves A thousand blackened whispers Creeping from the marsh and mire In a language now archaic From a time of blood and fire Realities of ice and darkness Moulding every mortal span As a cold wind stirs the ashes Ground down from the bones of man.

Submitted by NecroGod — Apr 26, 2025

Beneath the iron skies of war Before called to the Valgrind door A world of worms no more no less Whose numbers increase as times progress In forest fastness and hollow dale Gather strength for others to prevail Within the marshlands and woods forgot Where many falter but some do not Wisdom sought from those who read the signs Interpret omens, by runes divine Observe the heavens or cast the bones See dark portents, hear forests’ moans As the cold stone absorbs sun’s heat See the waker withdraw from sleep The golden promise of the Northern dawn Foreshadows thunder as our blades are drawn

Submitted by Corpse Defiler — Apr 26, 2025

Beneath the spreading boughs of ages In defence of time Remnants stand, of battered armies Sprung from Woden’s line For the words of the serpent’s tongue We paid a bitter price Now behold the dawn’s first rays On fields of broken ice Within old walls, and wild woods Where the fallen leaves lie deep The icy grip, of deepest winter Shakes off a thousand years of sleep And when it falls, the blood of ancients To lie in pools upon the soil It’s strength will be our victory Through wisdom Through war Through toil.

Submitted by Infernal Flame — Apr 26, 2025

I pledge my sword to those now gone An oath of flame to burn them on Dark fire to cleanse your mortal wounds Dark ice to score my blackened runes Before men stir beneath the eaves And laughing voices turn to screams When sun is set and lights grow dim When sword blows smash on shields rim I pledge my sword to those unborn For in this future of this I'm sure A coming struggle, a future war The rise of chaos, the fall of law Before men stir beneath the eaves And laughing voices turn to screams When sun is set and lights grow dim When sword blows smash on shields rim A thunderbolt will scorch the land To stand or fall is in your hands The wolves of Midgard are baying loud It's time to ride them down

Submitted by Corpse Grinder — Apr 26, 2025

In my many winters upon this wet & windswept coast I’ve seen kinsmen live and die So to those left I raise a toast As we drink by torchlight In high-gabled hallowed halls The boasts of fallen men still echo round these oaken walls Though our tribes diminish Though our numbers fade Our helms still dark, our mail bright, our fists alive with blades Follow the path of eagles As they fly to worlds on high So the souls of fallen men will travel when they die The oaths of Northern folk are borne upon the gale They do not die away but rise by fellows’ hail! A pathway between the realms So the web is spun Time, place, mortality and deeds that have been done In the glare of sunset As my time draws near A will of graven stone remains Though earthly forms may disappear Grim-faced men in iron helms Through their gritted teeth deny When strength is drawn from other realms Their creed could ever die Embers burn within our souls Standards hefted to the sky Elements no-one controls… The darkest bird is yet to fly (Wartooth / Acwealde October 2003)

Submitted by Warbringer — Apr 26, 2025

After the earth is sated By the blood of gods and men Demon howls no longer rend the air When the roar of distant battle Dies away on gusting winds Let the wolves and ravens take their share When the best of Odin' hearth troops Gathered from the northern lands Warrior kinsmen those who never yield All beserks and saga heroes Once within the golden hall Now lie in crimson heaps upon the field Soon the rain will wash the corpses Bitter winds will scour the field And the leaves will bleach in summer's rule Mankind best again have fallen From the ashes none shall rise For the final blaze consumes us all From the ashes none shall rise From the ashes none shall rise From the ashes none shall rise From the ashes none shall rise

Submitted by Celtic Frost — Apr 26, 2025