Rubicon

Tristania | Music

 

RUBICON (2010) Buy now

01. Year of the Rat Lyrics
02. Protection Lyrics
03. Patriot Games Lyrics
04. The Passing Lyrics
05. Exile Lyrics
06. Sirens Lyrics
07. The Emerald Piper
(bonus track)
Lyrics
08. Vulture Lyrics
09. Amnesia Lyrics
10. Magical Fix Lyrics
11. Illumination Lyrics

 

Rubicon | Additional

Additional vocals by Østen Bergøy
Violins by Pete Johansen
Additional vocals on Vulture by Sigmund Olgart Vegge

Drums recorded in Tanken Studio, Oslo by Fredrik Wallumrød, January 2010
Guitars, bass and violin recorded in K-Lab Studio, Stavanger by Anders Høyvik Hidle & Ole Vistnes, February 2010
Vocals recorded in Amadeus Studio, Oslo by Sigmund Vegge & Waldemar Sorychta, February & March 2010
Mixed by Waldemar Sorychta and Dennis Koehne in Flying Pigs Studio, April 2010
Mastered by Svante Forsbäck @ Chartmakers (www.chartmakers.fi), May 2010

Produced by Anders Høyvik Hidle & Ole Vistnes
Co-produced by Waldemar Sorychta
All songs arranged by Waldemar Sorychta and Tristania

Published by SONY ATV Publishing © 2010

Photos and front cover artwork by angst-im-wald (www.angst-im-wald.com)
Booklet design by Tinko Georgiev

 

Rubicon | Lyrics

Year of the Rat
Music: Anders Høyvik Hidle, Ole Vistnes & Mariangela Demurtas
Lyrics: Østen Bergøy

There’s a way just walk the line
Keep your direction
And read the signs
Just play the game or fade away
Make your confessions and book a ride

Now that your sparkling smile is outworn
Now that your famous blue raincoat is torn
Spin me a lie and we’ll slip through the haze
Just like Louise we’ll get lost in the shades

Change your name and change your face
For your protection and the new day
Believe in me you can be free
Escape the aggression and book that ride

Now you’re a rat and you can’t sleep at night
Under the spell of the following eye
This is the game there’s no getting out
I’ve seen the end and it looks like a nine
You feel the chill that just crept down your spine
This time, the last surrender
The axe won’t be buried, not ever, not sorry
It is too late to worry

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Protection
Music: Anders Høyvik Hidle, Ole Vistnes & Mariangela Demurtas
Lyrics: Østen Bergøy & Mariangela Demurtas

There’s a maze
Of nights and days
You don’t fear the time
Stars and sky define the road
And they clear our sight
I will be your eyes and ears
Walk with me tonight
Somewhere ahead the gate is open
And the woods alive

Shadows soon rise
I will move on
Leave you behind
Your flame is burning
Kiss me goodbye
It’s getting late
I’m still your shield
The world keeps turning

Wounds need time to heal

Hush my child
Now do not weep
Put your hand in mine
I’ve got promises to keep
I will stand you by
I have given life to you
Find your strength my child
There is a magic world awaiting
Made of light and smiles

Words spoken from the other side
No more pain, no worrying
Walk on my child

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Patriot Games
Music: Anders Høyvik Hidle & Ole Vistnes
Lyrics: Østen Bergøy

I go where I’m sent
Twisted and bent
These facts I relate to now
I live by the sword, serving my time
Bloodstained and deadly now

Now there are things yet to be done
To shoot the monkey off your back
I’ll let you die like this
And kill you one more time
And as my target’s blown away
Another’s lurking in the shades
I can’t believe this shit
I’ll kill it one more time

I’m armed but I’m dead
You’re broken she said
It’s all I recall for now
Hospital bed, faces go by
And eyes closed forever now

Wondering what’s fake and what is real
The day still breaks
It’s grey and dim outside
Searching for a kick that takes me high
And throws the sparks around the fire

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The Passing
Music: Anders Høyvik Hidle, Ole Vistnes & Mariangela Demurtas
Lyrics: Tarald Lie Jr., Fredrik Sele & Mariangela Demurtas

Feel, my hands are turning cold
Time will fill this endless void
As the fires light the sky
At safe distance
I see fear

Chasing my deliverance
I cross the burning
Borderline
I close my eyes
But still I dare not sleep tonight

This rhythm I pass on
See the land it’s carved upon
See my fate for what it is
In your eyes it’s a loss
Or victory

Facing my deliverance
Across the border
Fleeing my
Affliction and
My treason
My sweet misery

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Exile
Music: Anders Høyvik Hidle, Ole Vistnes & Mariangela Demurtas
Lyrics: Østen Bergøy

I’m light years away
You can’t change me
I’m passive and cold
Just waiting
I’ve seen the future’s threatening sky through dreams at night
I’ve seen the dogs of war let loose I’ve seen the blood-red sky

Night
A promise of rain
Divided we stand
A distance I can’t take anymore

In the cage in the corner
I’m safe from the beast
Once you wanted me, the image of me
I’ve played that game a million times and see the signs
I’ve played that game from A to Z I’ve lost a million times

Wounds are open again
Divided we fall
I’m bleeding from the dark of my soul

Burning in water
Drowning in fire

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Sirens
Music: Anders Høyvik Hidle, Ole Vistnes & Mariangela Demurtas
Lyrics: Østen Bergøy

He couldn’t get out of bed in the morning
He thought it was just a drag
So into his hollow mind he was calling, into his hollow mind
March on you fools and keep the line
March on you fools don’t fall behind

From the distance through the silence
If you listen you hear sirens

Outside my window they walk in a line
Asking no questions and reading no signs

Where there is smoke there might be fire
No kiss goodnight
From the distance through the silence
If you listen you hear sirens

Outside my window they walk in a line
Asking no questions and reading no signs
They built a wall for me
What will life ever be but blue light from the screen
What will life ever be but fake

Wall of silence
Silent is the night

March on you fools and keep the line
March on you fools don’t fall behind

I see the Columbine clouds on the sky
Passing above me they drift through the night
They built this world you see and made me enemies
Beside the dull routines what will life ever be but waste

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The Emerald Piper (Bonus Track)
Music: Anders Høyvik Hidle & Ole Vistnes
Lyrics: Østen Bergøy

From the backroom of my head I hear you shout
Through my animated state and sheets of late
I do my best to stay alive but from the backroom
of my head
I hear you shout
Through my animated state

Now the emerald piper plays
Inside the bar in which you stay
It’s closing time
A blow to your frail ambitions
You act just like a dumdum boy
A child deprived of all its toys
Notorious
A man with no mission

In the sawdust from the past there is still room
For significant mistakes and muted hate
I hear a signal from the wire but from the backroom
of my head
I hear you shout
Through my animated state

Like a king without a crown
You rode high
Were turned around
Without a crown
Beyond recognition
You need protection from yourself
You have been slipping
Cry for help or let it bleed
In your private prison

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Vulture
Music: Ole Vistnes, Waldemar Sorychta, Sigmund Vegge & Kjetil Nordhus
Lyrics: Anders Høyvik Hidle & Tarald Lie Jr.

Birds of prey are soaring higher
Baiting their hooks
The more they fade
Dangling their lines
The grimmer it looks

Transparent creatures
Pollute the blue sky
Slowly falling
Towards the cold ground
Desperation has turned the eagles
Into vultures

We’re all betrayed
You preen your ruffled feathers
At the end of the day
You chose to stray
Allured by gold and silver
We will end it our way

Stumbling giants
Crave existence
They’ll never make it through
Their desperate swarming
In restless blindness
Turns old words into new

You’ve had your fill
And emptied every chalice
From the brim to the dregs
Stay ill, you will
You’ll plummet from your mountain
You’ll descend, you will fail

So you thought you could break my back
Did you think you could make me crack
Try harder
Dig deeper
You’re facing a steep hill that cannot be climbed

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Amnesia
Music: Ole Vistnes & Mariangela Demurtas
Lyrics: Ole Vistnes & Tarald Lie Jr.

Were words too vague
Disarmed and desperate
But after all your call
Was inflammable

So you slip into the fire
I am watching it transpire

Wholehearted help
Distressed and desolate
So changed and frail
It’s all unmistakable

Words passing through
The unforgivable
Eyes cannot hide the pain
And she still yearns
Let go

Breaking out and breaking down
The last thing I remember
Soak the embers with your fuel
Your fright is your defender

Faking your tomorrow
Life is good for the pretender
Our precious memories
Are shattered and dismembered

We will wear the lies we share
Forfeit future, truth or dare

So you slipped into the fire
I was watching it transpire

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Magical Fix
Music: Ole Vistnes, Anders Høyvik Hidle, Tarald Lie Jr. & Waldemar Sorychta
Lyrics: Tarald Lie Jr.

I’ve been marooned in the mesh of the mind andthe flesh
Misguided by bliss and seduced by the blessed
The more I taste their chaste embrace
I’m dying to leave

I’ve been bruised by the Beast, kept opponentsappeased
By keeping up the flame, now my soul is released
It’s all arranged, my body stays
And I’m in for a ride

When I close my eyes for the last time
Where the circle starts, when the bells chime
Please don’t shed a tear for me
I’ll be around

Now I’m reversing the curse, I’m disclosing the cure
Keep humming in my hearse and I know it for sure
It’s time to cross the great divide
So why access denied

I’ve been framed by the fume of penultimate doom
In a tomb with a view beneath flowers in bloom
The less I think of how it stinks
The more I’m alive

The cure sublime
Blew many minds to pieces
First distant, moving closer, into universal recess
The war supreme tore souls to shreds
Among the living, dying, dead
With a fiery fix you’ll live as before
With a magical fix you’ll be begging for more

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Illumination
Music: Einar Moen
Lyrics: Østen Bergøy

What if you vote to change the world
It is time to let your voice be heard
Make a difference
Watch and you will learn

Don’t you trust me
Say, don’t you feel the way that I feel
A new direction is what we need
Don’t you want justice
God bless the strong and brave and free
The wheels are moving
Be strong and believe

Man the noblest beast of all
Our fate is to lead
Some might say we’ve been misled
I’m dressed to make change
And Phil is always there
To tell you what went wrong
I’ll feed you little pills
And you won’t go astray
They’ll help you on the way

Don’t you hate it
We’ll get the snake back under the heel
We’ll bring back justice
Go spread the word
God bless this nation
God bless the strong and brave and free
We’ll use the power and burst through the streets

The more they mock our way of life
The more the conflict escalates
Now they strike into our faith
We will sure retaliate

Master! Tell us what to do
Our minds are pure
Our hearts are true
Master! Speak to us of war
Will we be victorious

Children kneel with me and pray
You were blind but you will see
You must break the web of lies
And illuminate the sky

Words are wasted
I know you feel the way that I feel
God loves the faithful and hates the beast
We’ve brought back justice
God bless the strong and brave and free
We’ll use the power and burst through the streets

Master! Tell us what to do
Master!

Alt tar slutt
Alt vil bli flammars rov
Love fornying når klokkå slår
Løfte du blikket
Alt som er dødt forgår
Alt som har skjedd vil skje igjen

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16 Responses to Rubicon

  1. Well, I just got my Rubicon and heard it three times, and I just don’t know how to express myself in words, I’m just speechless.
    This album is a complete masterpiece. Like I said on the Ashes reply, I knew that Rubicon would be a great and wonderful job, and I was right!
    I must congratulate every and each single person who worked for this musical gift to be done. The whole band really ‘crossed the rubicon’ on this album, a magnifical musical transition.
    All of the songs are very very great, but I have to say that the last track, Illumination, just made me pour down several tears (don’t ask me why, I just felt it!), Einar have done another miracle for my ears to hear, like he have done before!
    Mariangela just gave a new life to the band, her strong and powerfull voice gave it a plus magic besides the wonderful melodies.

    Well, I just can say now…
    Thank you, thank you, thank you…
    Thank you for keeping this dream alive, thank you for not allowing the flame that burns in my eyes when I listen to a Tristania’s song to die, thank you for making a fan happy just for keep on living to hear your wonderful music!
    Thanks, all of you guys!

  2. Wow! The lyrics are great!

    Someone knows what means the nowergian verses?

  3. Ray says:

    By the gods, the Rubicon is Awesome. The Lyrics are fantastic. and I can not stop listening.

  4. Anach says:

    I Like this, I like the new Tristania, I like Mary… she sing very very good… Tristania never stop to play this music… you are the master.

  5. Antonio says:

    Great album…. Awesome….
    I can’t wait to have it…

  6. Kostej Nesmrtelny says:

    I can’t but chime in with Eddie here… Illumination is clearly the best song from the whole album, both musically and lyrics-wise. By far.
    Well done, Einar & Østen.

  7. Marcello says:

    What can we talk about Rubicon, this work was just simply the gods. My favorite song where wake and fall asleep listening to it and “The Passing” the music has a strong melody that marks our soul. Rubicon and the CD that every fan should have at home. Congratulations Mary, Anders, Ole, Tarald and every band.
    I hope the band soon to appear here in Brazil, where all the fans are dying to hear you guys playing here and doing a show that marked the history of Gothic Metal. Congratulations Tristania. Band number one of my top list.

  8. Rocio says:

    La verdad….., temi un poco al entenrarme que habria una nueva voz en la banda, escuche el album una vez…dije: Que bueno!..lo escuche la segunda vez y… que buenoo!! lo escuche la tercera vez..y realmente me fascinooooooo!!!!!..siempre me pasa,en general,que cuanto mas escucho un album una y otra vez..voy degustando cada vez mas y mas el trabajo, Rubicon, me ha deslumbrado!!!,ese es el termino mas adecuado.Buena eleccion chicos,muy buenos toooodos los temas, y la voz de Marianela, increiblee!!! Felicitaciones!! Saludos desde Argentina!

  9. Andrea says:

    to be honest I didnt dig Tristania so much before until now…I love Rubicon! is so far one of my favorites albums ever, my favorite songs are Protection, which sounds like a beautiful lullaby thanksful to the marvellous voice of Mary, Sirens gotta love that catchy chorus, Amnesia, well it is a really deep song which you can feel related to if you have been broken hearted and Illumination the lyrics are pretty raw or direct which is something i love from this song… And I am really excited to see the future of Tristania :) ! come soon to Venezuela

  10. Graziano Arc. says:

    great album when you guys will perform here in Brazil? love the songs that you compose one day would love to see a presentation of you here in Brazil !!!!!!

  11. Eder says:

    I can’t wait to hear the Rubicon songs live, please, come to Brazil!!!!
    We love you!!!

  12. car repos says:

    I liked the way you write..it is not too drawn out and also not too short at the same time. It is interesting all the way.

  13. Douglas says:

    I’m a fan of Tristania since the first CD, but I fell for you from the same CD (Beyond the Veil) and not stop to listen to you even for a day! My favorite song is”Exile”..
    The lyrics of you are inspirations to me, the songs are divine, you are the best!
    We eagerly await the Brazil of you coming to our country .. Hugs to all!

  14. Quinby says:

    Very nice vocal layering!