Einherjar

Intro

(Einherjar! Einherjar!)

Already dead — still sharpening the blade...

(Hu-ha!) Five hundred forty doors — already made —

Valhöll roof of shields — already paid —

(Einherjar!) We train every morning — unafraid...

Verse 1

Valkyrie found me face-down in the gore-field,

Skögul pulled me upright through the war-yield.

Said: you died well — come and hold the sword-shield —

Odin needs the finest for the last battle-more-sealed.

Woke in Valhöll — rafters built of spear-shafts,

Shield-tile roof above and mead already in the ear-drafts.

Four hundred thirty-two thousand in the near-blast —

Every one of us died clean — every one holding fast.

Dawn comes — we arm up — pour onto the practice-ground,

Eight hundred through each door — that's the fractal-sound.

We kill each other properly — no half-measure's found —

Full death every morning — full resurrection by sundown.

Sæhrímnir cooking — boar resurrected nightly,

Heiðrún the goat pouring mead — rafters lit up brightly.

Odin walks the hall and eats nothing — that's the sightly —

Gives his meat to Geri and Freki — just drinks wine politely.

Pre-Chorus

We know what's coming — count was done before the feast (done before)

Surtr's fire-army and the wolf and the beast.

Jörmungandr rising from the flooding in the east —

We're outnumbered — trained anyway — that's deceased. (uh!)

Chorus

Already died once — won't stop us at the gate (stop us at the gate!)

432,000 training for the final date (the final date!)

Gjallarhorn sounds — 540 doors — we wait (doors we wait!)

Einherjar marching — Ragnarök — we're great! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2

You think we mourn the life we had before the choosing?

Sat in the corpse-hall analyzing what we're losing?

Brother — we were picked from every battlefield's bruising —

The Valkyrie doesn't choose the hesitant or confused-ing.

I died with my name clean and my shield-arm extended —

The way a warrior goes is how the saga gets amended.

Every morning here I die again — fully splendid —

Every wound I took in life gets practiced and defended.

Huginn leaves at dawn and Muninn follows after —

Both return by evening through the rafter-laughter.

They bring the news of every world's disaster —

We listen over mead-cups — train a little faster.

Odin walks among us — one eye — counting faces —

Measuring the ready against the empty spaces.

He doesn't speak of odds — we've all done the calculation:

We march because that's what you do in this situation.

Pre-Chorus

We know what's coming — count was done before the feast (done before)

Surtr's fire-army and the wolf and the beast.

Jörmungandr rising from the flooding in the east —

We're outnumbered — trained anyway — that's deceased. (uh!)

Chorus

Already died once — won't stop us at the gate (stop us at the gate!)

432,000 training for the final date (the final date!)

Gjallarhorn sounds — 540 doors — we wait (doors we wait!)

Einherjar marching — Ragnarök — we're great! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge

You want to know what it feels like being chosen?

(what's it feel like?)

Not the mead — the mead is just the token.

(not the mead...)

Not the hall — the hall is just the housing.

(not the hall...)

It's the morning when you rise without the doubting.

No wife worrying — no crop to bring the harvest —

(no harvest...)

No king to serve except the one who's largest.

(one king...)

Nothing left to guard except the purpose —

(the purpose...)

Die each morning — come back to the surface.

We are what a warrior becomes

(what he becomes...)

When every other thing that he was — just numbs.

(just numbs...)

Pure edge. Pure mission. Pure battalion.

(Skál to the fallen! Skál — we're the medallion!)

(432,000 blades — Ragnarök's the stallion!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus

Already died once — won't stop us at the gate (stop us at the gate!)

432,000 training for the final date (the final date!)

Gjallarhorn sounds — 540 doors — we wait (doors we wait!)

Einherjar marching — Ragnarök — we're great! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Einherjar! Einherjar!)

Gjallarhorn hasn't sounded yet...

(Hu-ha!)

But when it does —

540 doors open.

We've been ready

since we died.

(Skál.)