Scenery - The Drowning Shadow of Mankind

INTRO
AFTER LIFE / BEFORE LIFE
BETRAYER OF LIFE - DESTRUCTOR OF PEOPLE
WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?
THE DROWNING SHADOW OF MANKIND
MY GOD IS DEAD
SLAVE TO DREAMS / CHAINS OF DEPENDENCE
CROWN OF THORNS

SCENERY:
Lerry - Vocal and guitars
Mik - Bass
Martin - Drums

All lyrics by Fera
Music by Lerry

Produced by Scenery

Lerry thanks to:        Parents, sister Daniela, Petr Stejskal, Josef Kovář, Poliš and Scenery.
Mik thanks to:          My family, collective DŽ and Scenery.
Martin thanks:          Parents, Jan Čislák, Marcel Matuška and Scenery

Scenery thanks to:    Mores and Keki for help with recording material at this CD, FERA, Thimoti                                  Alchin U.K., Pavel Janeček, Elen Ludvíková, Petr Nejezchleba, Pavel Hlavica,                                  Mik, Miroslav Zacpálek, Jan Neubauer and Daniel Suchý.

Recorded in studio SHAARK Bzenec 19.9. - 28.9.1997

All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited. © Scenery

AFTER LIFE / BEFORE LIFE

The fire's ablaze
to consume my remains
to shower the sky
only to die by my tears

My eyes are ablaze
in these red hot ashes
my soul is the vault
above your heads

The light permeates my structure
devoid of flesh and blood
reflecting my message
on the surfaces of oceans

The waters have accepted the dust
dispersed throughout the seas
of my physical form
washing away all vestiges of my presence

There is no end to my flight
there is no sorrow in what I' say

The distant memory of my presence
faded to nothing by quiet tears
a calm and peace settles in my soul
my freedom's been redeemed

In the old books from the past
from parchments yellow sulphur pages
a silence is draping, draping a shadow
over the memory of my life

The fires are ablaze
to split the soul from my body

BETRAYER OF LIFE - DESTRUCTOR OF PEOPLE

All that you believed in
is scattering beyond recall
only hatred and evil remains
in a life without meaning

You're screaming your fear of the future
in a time which only makes for betrayal
through possessions, power and the drug
you survive, crippled and stooped

Easy victim so manipulable
by the prey of the human beast
bit by bit, they're cutting you
drop by drop, they're enslaving you

You're screaming your fear of the future
in a time which only makes for betrayal
in this unbearable hopelessness
you still can't resist

Your feelings have changed into their lies
No possibility of resistance
no way to set yourself free
no way out from this curse

At the gates of oblivion
you saw the world, in whose
existence you never believed
"now you know the value of life"

WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?

Night has come, the trench is dark
tired of it all, I wait for orders
our hatred put in motion
the huge colossus of destruction

A dust is covering my moist eyes
already unable to take in this reality
on my knees I beaseech God
to stop this hell on earth

"Why don't you listen to me?"

No man's soul has escaped
the atrocious stamp of violence
with a weapon in my hand
I'm a danger to myself... to myself

"My friends are dying
cut down by the enemy's fire
I've stayed here alone... Alone
among the millions dead
on my knees, I beseech you
o God! Stop this hell on earth
is there any sense to life?
Tell me... tell me why don't you listen to me?"

I'm beseeching God on my knees!

Under the burden of unbearable experiences
I can't dream no more nor thing about my life
I can't feel the pain of imagination
I'm a machine for liquidation

Towns to battlefields
what once was is no more
it's the funeral of man's culture
the decline of life and the end of history

THE DROWNING SHADOW OF MANKIND

The wind is coming from the mountains to the north
to sow hatred and anger
the clouds are covering the sky
and so begins a rule of darkness

The footprints in the sand are disappearing with the night
the ghosts of those fallen are rising from blood

A frosty wind is bringing a pain
singing its song to a death like silence
singing about a death which will swallow up life

The shores are flooded by cosmic seas
flowers wither and shrivel, return to their graves
trees uprooted from beneath
beseech the sky with outstretched hands

Drowning in its own despair

Rivers have passed over mountain ranges
striving to swallow up the shadow of mankind

In the servitude of evil
darkness is turning a sanguine red
deep down in my soul
I feel that I'm dying

Before my eyes is merging
an ashen sun with darkness
beauty and blemish were one and the same

The footprints in the sand have vanished from the earth

MY GOD IS DEAD

When the day is dying
and the darkness gains on a bloody sky
the dull light of candles
shines upon scripture's writings

The chill of ages gone
breathes from walls of incense smell
a testimony to cruel history
"can't you feel the tension"?

Coming in, I hear the singing
striving to disposses me of my soul
it permeates my entire being
a veil of darkness masks the cryptic ritual

Heaven and hell - what do they mean?
Just two poles of human creation?

Do you believe in their truth?
But I'm free!
without chains, because
my God is dead

Blinded by your prejudice
did you ever want to be free?
I ask, "who are you"?
a future of another's ideology?
Another fanaticized victim

Can't you feel the moon
shining down her silver beams?

About to the born ...
a beautiful day has begun ...
for a funeral ...
my God is dead ...

SLAVE TO DREAMS / CHAINS OF DEPENDENCE

Mind devoid
personal breakdown
only one sense of existence
internal struggle - chaos

Have to get through it get
away from it all
a life free from affliction
alone to myself - inside within

At last in heaven
what more what more
to stop the fear and the trembling
sfraid of the pain death will bring?

"Slave to dreams chains of dependence"

Hallucinations
the recess of my mind
white crystals
tick - tock - thieves of time

In the abyss of my "aloneness"
the sun no longer shines
the final rays of life
criss - cross the melancholy sky

My world - now in dreams
beyond the boundaries
then wanting to live
I'm betrayed lost desperate
chained to a vicious circle ...

"Slave to dreams chains of dependence"

CROWN OF THORNS

Drops of rain in tree's crown
thunder noise in the dusk
and people are going, irons on hands
along burning temple walls

With sadness look up to a winter sun
going through a drift - ice notions
and the moon - friend of crazy mind
telling message to distant stars

Voice of hell remind me my time to go
it sounds so real
nails go through a fragile tissue
of the body on a cross

Indifference going out from faces
that's are above me
and people are going, irons on hands
carrying crown of thorns

With sadness look up to a winter sun
going through a drift - ice notions
and the moon - friend of crazy mind
telling message to distant stars