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Perilous (24​​​​​/​​​​​96 hi​​​​​-​​​​​res version)

by Glass Hammer

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1.
Pt 1 The Sunset Gate Unlocked and beckoning The gate was opened wide Yet there we stood The air, electric And in angry hues, the painted sky We lingered, gazing And then the trees began to toss Time to head beyond The frightening gate before us loomed With rocking motions prayers were uttered, flung As lighting flashed, a laboring sky Gave birth to a squall No darker fear had we felt But then it passed us by All grew quiet Except a distant thundering, and blundering Toward light we’re creeping I hear the sound of blood in my heart Rushing life red, singing life to me Is this only a tired refrain An echo of a song The sound of a dying heart Haggard, wayworn, it struggles on It’s beating life to me A pity, yet I try to help where I can A tested traveler, it seems to know This time-worn path by which we go Ever seeks, strains to see, far ahead, desperate paths Before the gate I stood with you in doubt I reached out for your hand Then, the battle that raged within You saw me strive with evil, nearly give in to it Lowly creature, bereft of honor Conquered fear but not alone Took strength from that blue-eyed girl who stood with me From storm to storm, you ran with me 'til at last we stood there by that gate Cruel iron, wide it flung, opened wide Rusty thing, wide it swung A shadow in the mist ahead will rise Beyond the starlight gleams
2.
Part 2 Beyond They Dwell Shadows come and shadows Flicker, flit then vanish Quiet, for they can hear you They’re just a memory, and as such These are real, be wary Hold no power for they Waver and are fleeting We’re going in, and never more to look behind Say no more of shadows They glide on past yet gleaming eyes and clutching claws are Grasping to hinder me What is that they whisper? Because of selfish pride I’ve stumbled into error These things, they look inside And loot the soul of all it sought to hide there We stood before the gate, then took one step beyond it The hindering, hooded ones; they crowded round To block our passing on There is a will more strong, a heart more hale, a spirit worthy! Grounded, we must, we must wait here, and yet I can See it ahead just beyond that dark land that stretches Onward. Don’t go! Please don’t leave me alone For I’m frozen, and we, we must stick together Or we’ll both be lost There is something I dare not name before us Yet it must be faced, though in darkness it seems monstrous We need, need not fear him; for fear only feeds him. Gathers doubtful shadows to cloak his shape Life is fleeting, why delay this Lets plunge ahead and though the darkness Seems full of shapes and though I dread them I see the lights ahead and homeward We should race as if it’s all that matters Onward...
3.
Pt. 3 The Restless Ones Life’s Sunset Gate behind Sunrise Unknown before Dare we tread the path through Death to Life I can see a way ahead Past stones that bear the names Of those who went before us They were left in darkness long ago We dare not dwell among them The grass is growing green O’er each and every head They cry out in their sleep These restless ones, they ever long for life They’ll soon have ours if we but linger Each saddened shade, they rise up with A will; defying our intentions, Memories of deeds we need to leave here They flee but never far We run but they pursue With fell intent they race We turn, but they recede The grass is growing green O’er each and every head They cry out in their sleep These restless ones, they ever long We dare not join their number Through this graveyard old Past its mounds of sorrow She and I must go And ever seeking home My love, my love? Somewhere up ahead?
4.
Pt. 4 They Cast Their Spell A spectral mist begins to creep Oh to lay here, then to sleep! There’s something in this fog, a spell? That bids us here to rest, to dwell Resist its pull, we must be gone Flee the darkness, then on 'til dawn For we would rid ourselves of these Who to and fro upon the breeze Flit wraith-like, and are but memories Of deeds we’d sooner put behind A serpent slithers through the stones And digging deep he stirs the bones He weaves a mist and up they rise While down we fall
5.
Pt. 5 We Slept, We Dreamed So long ago it was ‘Neath fragrant bowers we met Like pillars, oak and elm rose Towering over our heads And spring was nigh In youth we were heedless, Reckless and in love Throwing care to the wind Never noticing Time Menaced all and all we held dear So we danced in moonlight ‘Neath starry skies As gentle winds were stirred Time could not catch us We dancers in twilight For as swift as deer We ran from him For being young We saw not that he would win The Truth! We could not see the Truth! Straight as an arrow we flew to him He ran not behind but before us Years, how they fled And we were left, two wanderers Roaming, lost ‘mid the trees And the shadows that we’d made Were following, ever following Weary of dancing now, the race was over For youth was spent and we could not change All that was done. Time can seem such a bitter thing For this is the song he sang to us “Curses you wrought and death pursued In countless ways a doom you wooed And it’s left you here at last alone, all alone.” Wake now! Rise now! There remains a light and ahead and I See it! It leads homeward Where Time can’t follow Time can’t touch us Sleep, he bid us sleep Amid the stones we lay He left us here Sorrow heaped on sorrow Yet beneath this Crushing weight we’ll struggle through It matters not what horrors he May thrust on us to weigh us down He must not be given the final say We’ll loose the chains he’s placed on us And head for home His comrades gather close, they are the shadows of regret; they loom, we fall. Ex sepulchro atro gemimus
Pallidi trementes per frigus
Corda immota tamen errant
Curis anxa perpetuo
Inexpleta nam ardant
6.
(Instrumental)
7.
Pt. 7 Our Foe Revealed Singing, we go singing Past the tombstones undaunted Shadows, only memories Our hearts they but haunted They flee the moment we decide We’ve had enough and they’re denied Access to stir our fear. Drifting wraiths have no power. Parting, they make way Straight ahead the pathway Lovers, shall we not Run straight toward the rising sun? They flee the moment we decide We’ve had enough and they’re denied They recede. They’re undone. Memories, they but vanish. They flee the moment we decide To look ahead regardless of the taunts they fling As we race by. The frightening, fearful journey Is the final test; and his unmasking is nigh. Our dreaded enemy revealed; Gaunt watcher o’er the weary world. ‘Ware this treacherous road, I like it not What dark design has led us past these evil things Only to find the way is choked and far too hard to follow There’s a serpent coiled and he may strike if we dare pass him by He’ll flee the moment we decide To name at last that hidden thing We buried deep inside of us Always there, locked within guiding us toward home!
8.
Pt. 8 Toward Home We Fled Sunlight will flood the twilight dales Through which we race, the twisting trails Are lit at last as morning breaks. We two have passed the nighted vales ‘Twixt Time and light wherein the wails Of misty foes are heard no more. They hold no sway here May sunlight ever shine upon our way Time wounded me, wounded you Sorrows heaped upon our heads Haunter of our hearts Murdered every joy Left his taint upon us Grim and unrelenting, Time We knew, the hunter ever in pursuit Without a word he turns away Back to his world of stony mounds The graves of shattered dreams He goes, weeping. Past the sunlit meadows up ahead There’s yet one hurdle that we dread Yet once beyond it we’ll be free And free we’ll face the mystery And free we’ve rid ourselves of doubt A home that calls out to me Lies beyond that final step Time wounded me, wounded you Horrors heaped upon our heads When life got hard you stood with me The road of sorrow wound ahead And hope seemed lost Our heads hung low And hand in hand we’d not let go There is a higher place I see it up ahead Familiar it beckons me There is the home we ever sought A place for us Our dreams once shattered Have gathered to welcome us They’ve sheltered there and wait for me They wait for thee For this, we fought Through Hell and back And now at last just up ahead A friendly fire, a table laid A place to lay our weary heads To rest, then wake to sing To play to dance It’s waiting just ahead We race toward the rising sun Farther, sometimes it seems farther Distant, it fades from our view There’s Death between us And the place we’re seeking For a curse has fallen and We never know the final gasp That will finalize Our doom harbors Death He will have his say Our doom, that we will face; each one of us Yet weary travelers of the mortal plane have hope of Heaven’s realm I saw it once, I felt it there and all that it implied I can see the way ahead Past stones that bear the names Of those who went before us They were left in darkness long ago We dare not dwell among them We are called beyond to Heaven!
9.
10.
11.
12.
Pt 12 In That Lonely Place There is a song the cold wind sings It seems to breathe a thousand things We turn to go Before the world grew sad and grey Ever we sang, yet led astray And now we know For we have heard it whisper fell A voice, a phantom flung from Hell As we turn to go Hopeless now but not undone Hope is that to which we run Hope calls from another place Hope is found in your embrace I lay here now beneath a stone I lay here cold, yet not alone A wolfish shape has come He is the song the cold wind sings As unto paupers so to kings And thus he sings to me I rise, but helpless as a child He bears his fangs and lunges wild For he is fearless A torn and ragged man am I Worn out and weary, left to die I’ve come so far to fail Hopeless now but not undone Hope is that to which we run Hope calls from another place Hope is found in your embrace I feared the trail had reached an end I feared what waited round the bend And though the dark ones crowded near They were but shrouding something dear Time had his cruel laugh and then A curse, a wolf, the bane of men Laid me low at last And now the cold wind sings no more In mist we sense the great unknown Yet we can’t avoid the Truth, the doom we face Where have you fled, my soul, my love? I hear you call from up above And are you waiting? Before I closed my eyes to rest I heard your call and I was blessed There is a home, I heard you say Where Time and Death will hold no sway Hopeless now but not undone Hope is that to which we run Hope calls from another place Hope is found in your embrace
13.
Pt 13 Where Sorrows Died And Came No More All fear was fled In the dead of night you came Shining light on the pathway ahead The stones that had weighed me down Were but crumbling all around From the shadows we were swiftly sped I could see the Truth, and at once We raced from the darkness to light Leaving a weary world far behind I could see the truth, and at once I saw those who waited for me And free from the perilous realm I could find peace at last The storms of life they came As we made our way toward home And foes, they rose to strike us down These are not the Truth, though they threaten They are soon swallowed by Time And matter not when the end is come Oh love of mine, the trial is past We may dance once more beneath the gaze of Him we sought For the gate has closed behind us And we’re gathered home at last!

about

Featuring audiophile mastering by Bob Katz of Digital Domain.
From Wikipedia: Perilous is the thirteenth studio album by American progressive rock band Glass Hammer, released on October 23, 2012 by Arion Records/Sound Resources.

This is the last album with Jon Davison acting as sole lead vocalist, with former vocalists Susie Bogdanowicz and Carl Groves returning on the following album.[2] It is also noteworthy to note that the song titles, when read in sequence, form a kind of poem. It is the first album featuring Davison in which he was not actively involved into the songwriting process, as he joined Yes previously in the year and was not available for the songwriting sessions.[3]

As some previous albums like Journey of the Dunadan or Chronometree, Perilous is a concept album. However band member Steve Babb stated "we have never done a concept album like Perilous. It is essentially one unified vision; one musical idea in thirteen parts or movements. The emotions and ideas expressed in the lyrics ebb and flow with the music; but they have a definite story to tell with a beginning, middle and climactic end."

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released October 23, 2012

Babb, Davison, Schendel, Shikoh and Willams.

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Glass Hammer Chattanooga, Tennessee

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