Berserker Heart

Lyrics

[Intro]
(single heartbeat drum. low breathing strings, frost-air. whispered male war-chants circle in the dark)
Male (whisper): One… pulse… two… pulse…
Wind holds its knife to my throat.
Iron in my mouth. Smoke in my chest.
No melody—only the drum that decides what lives.

[Verse 1]
Male (low, trembling): I feel it rise, a second heart beneath my ribs,
cold as the moon, hot as a forge in the pit.
Snow tastes of iron. My gloves smell of ash.
My name is a scar carved deep in the mast.
Tracks in the white—mine alone—no turning.
Breath like steam from a winter engine burning.
Silence folds tight, but the drum won’t drown—
it’s a wolf in the blood, it’s the underground.

[Pre-Chorus]
Male (tightening): Fear counts the steps. Fury takes the lead.
I steady my hands on the edge of need.
There’s a calm inside the storm I’ve learned to hold,
where the blade in my hand feels almost like home.
(whispered chant under breath)
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum…
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum…

[Chorus]
Male (full, forward): When the line breaks, I won’t.
When the snow stains, I won’t.
This iron in my teeth tastes like oath and sun.
I step into the roar, and I do not run.
Female (low harmony): Calm in the storm I’ve spun.
Male: Blood in the snow writes my name in iron.
I breathe the fire; I become the one.
Crowd Chant (low male, pounding): Berserker heart — beat like a war drum.
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum.
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum.

[Build]
Male: Count it—one, two, one, two—no turning back.
The bowstrings sing; the black sky cracks.
Female (under): Hold to the center, hold to the thread.
Male: I choose the fire; I choose the red.

[Drop]
Instrumental Break: Violin carves a searing Nordic melody over growling dubstep bass and halftime rock weight; war drums and low brass strike like hammer blows on the downbeats.
Crowd Chant (around the fire, stomps): Berserker heart — beat like a war drum! Hey!
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum! Hey!
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum! Hey!

[Verse 2]
(bare solo violin; room of breath)
Female (smoky, close): My hands are rivers under leather and bone.
I count the names we buried in the snow.
There’s a letter in my coat I’ll never send—
words for a life that broke and wouldn’t bend.
Male (enters, steady): I drink that ache and it hardens my aim.
Your voice at my back is the wire in the flame.
What’s left of me stands, whatever it costs—
a man is a bridge built over his loss.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Male (rising): Fear tried to warn me. Fury took the crown.
The calm holds fast while the heavens come down.
Female (under, human thread): I breathe for you; I breathe you home.
Male: I’m not the storm—I am the stone.
Both (low, tight): Berserker heart — beat like a war drum…
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum…

[Chorus 2]
Male (roaring): When the gates scream, I won’t.
When the steel sings, I won’t.
I set my pulse like a flint on the tongue—
spark to the dark, then the night comes undone.
Female (low harmony): Calm in the storm I’ve won.
Male: Blood in the snow draws circles of fire.
Stand, or be swallowed—I stand and rise higher.
Crowd Chant (bigger, harder): Berserker heart — beat like a war drum.
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum.
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum.

[Breakdown]
(near-silence: heartbeat + cello ache)
Female (bare): After the roar, I’m only breath and bone,
a lantern shaking, a quiet unknown.
If I fall, let it be where I chose to stand.
If I rise, stitch me back with your hand.
Male (hushed): In the calm, I hear the miles I bled—
the drum is the truth, and it’s all that’s left.

[Violin Solo]
Instrumental Break: Solo violin cries and fights in raw Nordic modes, bow hair spitting like sparks; under it, a single heartbeat and distant snow-wind.

[Build 2]
Male (measured, flint-edged): One more step. Count it in the scars.
Low brass breathes like awakening stars.
War drums gather; the earth pulls tight.
I draw the line. I choose the fight.
Female (woven, steady): Hold to the center; I am your thread.
Both (rising): Beat upon beat till the fear is dead.

[Final Drop]
Instrumental Break: The violin leads the anthem melody doubled an octave, taikos thunder, full low male chant choir surges, doubled guitars strike with brass; the bass roars but bows beneath the bow’s cry.
Crowd Chant (massive): Berserker heart — beat like a war drum! Hey!
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum! Hey!
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum! Hey!
Male (over the chant, ad-lib shouts): No turning back. Blood in the snow. I stand. I stand.
Female (low harmony calls): Hold to the calm. Come home. Come home.

[Outro]
(heartbeat slows; snow-hush returns; solo violin sings a last ember)
Male (soft): The storm moves on, but the drum remains.
Female (soft): We walk the line we drew in flame.
Both (bare): When fear returns, we answer as one—
Berserker heart — beat like a war drum.