Chris says: This song is one of our oldest, with both music and lyrics written by Elliot well before Northern Oak was even conceived; nevertheless, it's still a staple of our live sets. We've even taken to messing around with the guitar + flute/keyboard trade-off section and the clean guitar break about 2/3rds of the way into the song, as anyone who's seen us live a few times may know. At the point where the guitar plays a melody on its own, we have occasionally substituted that melody with the melody of 'Gay Bar' by Electric Six and then raced through a swift (30 second) cover of the song before going straight back into the end of Maiden. Needless to say, the audience generally goes mental whenever we do it, but it's probably not something we'll do again, at the risk of becoming typecast. :P
Structurally, this is a pretty complicated song- Wib picked up all the changes and switches remarkably quickly after some prompts from Rich, nodding significantly at him whenever he was to stop playing. I could try and spout musical theory stuff about this song, but I honestly don't know how it works, so... figure it out for yourselves! :P
lyrics
Beneath the twilight sun
A young maiden stood,
At her conjugal altar,
Ardently awaiting her swain.
Through labyrinths of hedges, she at last him did spy.
In all his gleaming armour, how long she had yearned for this day.
Instrumental
Him she did follow,
Away from the altar,
And through worlds of mist so thick,
Whence the helpless sun does but shudder and flee.
Alas his tracks soon were lost,
As ghostly snow descended,
She wept amongst the banshees,
In the cold forsaken woodland.
But there remained a flicker of hope,
As torchlight she did spy,
And this, she followed...
Her legs grew weak though,
And ghostly clouds concealed her,
As she lay paralysed,
By Morpheus' kiss.
Then from her slumber,
A cold embrace did awake her,
Such glee reborn as her eyes met her knight's,
Forever safe in his arms.
Instrumental
But such merry fate would not meet her face,
For behind a countess lay,
Who with passion did taste,
Her knight's betraying lips.
Closer they drew to the girl,
With a smile that made her lips tremble,
'til her bridal veil swiftly turned,
To shrouded attire.
Instrumental
How she cried
As twin daggers bled from their mouths
And gnawed
Into her virgin flesh.
But her helpless cries
Were but a siren's song
To the ears of the knight
And Countess
"Hush, sleep deep Endymion... and taste sweet immortality.
As I pour my potion into your cauldron
Behold this beauty... that only death could inspire!"
credits
from Tales From Rivelin,
released March 1, 2008
Lyrics: Elliot Sinclair
Music: Elliot Sinclair/Chris Mole
Founded in early 2006 during a wintry excursion to the Peak District, Northern Oak have been spreading their unique brand of
flute-heavy progressive folk metal across Sheffield and the rest of the UK ever since.
Our music sounds like Jethro Tull played by extreme metal fans with an appreciation for everything from Pink Floyd to Emperor....more
Atmospheric black/folk metal which creates a fantastic aural soundscape- the windswept highlands of Scotland, populated only by nature and the sky. Highly recommended! Northern Oak
Easily one of the best metal albums of the 2010s, which says something.
Musically, it's like you've taken black metal, doom, and good old NWOBHM and thrown it into a blender for a while.
More impressively, the lyrics to these songs are some of the most hauntingly beautiful and devastating I've ever heard.
Case in point, Junta. Just listen to it. grungiernine0
Australian band Aquilus smashes genre boundaries to smithereens, combining classical orchestration with black metal on this riveting LP. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 13, 2021