Nine Steps Into Hel

Intro

(Mjölnir! Mjölnir!)

The serpent released — the ocean is rising...

(Hu-ha!) He knew since the cradle, no point in disguising —

Nine steps, then the venom, then silence —

(Mjölnir!) The Thunderer walked into it smiling...

Verse 1

Red beard in the storm-front, knuckles iron-white,

Járngreipr laced tight for a century of fights.

I split Hrungnir's skull with the flint still mid-flight,

Left Útgarða-Loki pale and shaking all night.

Megingjörð cinched double — strength on top of strength,

Bilskirnir at my back for the breadth of its length.

Five hundred forty rooms full of the men that I've kept —

Every farmer's prayer from Midgard — I answered each breath.

I ain't Odin with the plotting or the one-eye wisdom cold,

I don't need a high-seat throne or a prophecy told.

I'm the thunder over cropland, hammer-sworn to the hold —

Tuesday named after nothing but the stories I've rolled.

Pre-Chorus

Feel the seal-road split from the equator to the pole (to the pole)

Jörmungandr loose — the tidal surge swallows the shoal.

The serpent circled Midgard for a thousand years whole —

Now the coils unwind and the world floods the bowl. (uh!)

Chorus

Nine steps is all I get — I spend 'em well (spend 'em well!)

Mjölnir meets the serpent in the thunder-swell (thunder-swell!)

Poison in my bloodstream — I can't stop to tell (can't stop to tell!)

The Thunderer walks forward — nine steps into Hel! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2

First throw cracks the jaw — hear the ocean-walls scream,

Second throw mid-coil — split the dark at the seam.

Third blow through the skull where the venom glands gleam,

Fourth — the whole whale-road rises up in a steam.

But the death-breath comes fast — eitr black in the lung,

Taste the poison thick on the back of the tongue.

Every giant in Jötunheimr hearing Mjölnir rung —

Even dying gods finish what they've already sung.

Mother Jörð beneath me — feel her shudder and crack,

The serpent coiling loose means the world won't come back.

I was never built for the long play or the trap —

Just the short brutal answer and the thunder's crack.

Pre-Chorus

Feel the seal-road split from the equator to the pole (to the pole)

Jörmungandr loose — the tidal surge swallows the shoal.

The serpent circled Midgard for a thousand years whole —

Now the coils unwind and the world floods the bowl. (uh!)

Chorus

Nine steps is all I get — I spend 'em well (spend 'em well!)

Mjölnir meets the serpent in the thunder-swell (thunder-swell!)

Poison in my bloodstream — I can't stop to tell (can't stop to tell!)

The Thunderer walks forward — nine steps into Hel! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge

Step one — lungs already black with the brine

(keep walking)

Step two — Mjölnir pulling forward in line

(keep walking)

Step three — Jörð trembling under the spine

(keep walking)

Step four — the farmers in their fields one last time

(keep walking)

Step five — Ásgarðr burning behind

(keep walking)

Step six — the storm goes permanently blind

(keep walking)

Step seven — Odin falling to the wolf

(keep walking)

Step eight — the stars going cold in the gulf

(keep walking)

Step nine —

(silence.)

(Skál to the Thunderer! Skál — he made it count!)

(Nine steps between the lightning and the final drought!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus

Nine steps is all I get — I spend 'em well (spend 'em well!)

Mjölnir meets the serpent in the thunder-swell (thunder-swell!)

Poison in my bloodstream — I can't stop to tell (can't stop to tell!)

The Thunderer walks forward — nine steps into Hel! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Mjölnir! Mjölnir!)

The thunder went quiet...

(Hu-ha!)

But the hammer still rings.

Nine steps.

That's all anything needs.

(Skál.)