Flame-Bringer

Intro

(Flame-bringer! Flame-bringer!)

Before the frost formed I was already burning...

(Hu-ha!) No Yggdrasil yet — no root — no turning —

Just Múspellsheim bright and the void was churning —

(Flame-bringer!) Surtr been waiting — the worlds are learning...

Verse 1

Ginnungagap — north full of venom and freezing,

South full of my fire — the pressure increasing.

Where the two met — that's where the forming was seizing —

Ymir made from the meeting — the gods got to leasing.

I watched them carve the giant into sky-vault and ocean,

Watched them breathe the ash-trees into upright motion.

Watched the golden age — the mead-hall and devotion —

Already knew the cost beneath the gods' promotion.

My sword was bright before the sun had a daughter,

Before Rán spread her net across the salt-water.

Before the dwarves struck steel in the cave-quarter —

I held the flame that lit the forge that taught her.

Múspellsheim border — that's my station and commission —

No god crossed south without my blade's permission.

I don't scheme like Loki — don't need the precision —

I just wait — that's the oldest disposition.

Pre-Chorus

Odin built his city on a borrowed plot of time (plot of time)

Thought the gold-roof hall was permanent — that's the crime.

Everything the gods constructed stands in line —

Behind my fire-sword — everything burns fine. (uh!)

Chorus

I was here before the gods drew their first breath (first breath!)

Múspellsheim burning since before the first death (first death!)

Sword brighter than the sun — I light the last step (the last step!)

Surtr walks out last — and there's nothing left! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2

They made their Bifröst — red and gold and gleaming,

Thought the bridge of fire and ice was worth the dreaming.

Heimdallr at the gate — his golden teeth gleaming —

I'll cross it with the sons of Múspell — bridge start screaming.

Freyr meets me first — no sword — he traded clever —

Gave the self-fighting blade away to find his lover.

I respect the choice — I'll kill him nonetheless however —

The debt to fate is something no love can sever.

Then the field of Vígríðr — hundred leagues of burning —

Every einherjar Odin spent his ages turning —

Four hundred thirty-two thousand — fully earning —

Their deaths again — the mead-hall ledger churning.

I don't hate the gods — don't misread the nature —

I'm the fire that the void placed as the waiter.

Every age needs clearing for the one that comes later —

Surtr's not the villain — I'm the renovator.

Pre-Chorus

Odin built his city on a borrowed plot of time (plot of time)

Thought the gold-roof hall was permanent — that's the crime.

Everything the gods constructed stands in line —

Behind my fire-sword — everything burns fine. (uh!)

Chorus

I was here before the gods drew their first breath (first breath!)

Múspellsheim burning since before the first death (first death!)

Sword brighter than the sun — I light the last step (the last step!)

Surtr walks out last — and there's nothing left! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge

You want to know what it feels like holding fire

(holding fire...)

Since before the first world needed a supplier?

(since before...)

Watching everything get built — the hall, the spire —

(everything built...)

Knowing every timber feeds your funeral pyre.

It's not impatience — I don't pace the border seething —

(not impatience...)

It's the certainty of function — deep and even-breathing.

(even breathing...)

The Norns wrote the end before the start was teething —

(before the start...)

I'm just the mechanism underneath the weaving.

When the earth rises green from the flood after my burning —

(rises green...)

Baldr walks from Hel — the new sun starts returning —

(new sun...)

The fields unsowed fill themselves with the earning —

That new world grows from the ash of my discerning.

I don't burn the worlds from hatred — hear the reason:

(hear the reason...)

The oldest forests need the fire-season.

(fire-season...)

(Skál to the flame! Skál — it burns so green grows!)

(Surtr clears the nine worlds — that's the debt the void owes!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus

I was here before the gods drew their first breath (first breath!)

Múspellsheim burning since before the first death (first death!)

Sword brighter than the sun — I light the last step (the last step!)

Surtr walks out last — and there's nothing left! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Flame-bringer! Flame-bringer!)

The sword is already drawn...

(Hu-ha!)

Múspellsheim waited.

Nine worlds burn clean.

The green comes after.

(It was always the plan.)