Iron & Ash

Lyrics

[Intro]
Cold wind, north-born, combs the bones of the hill.
A single fiddle breathes—thin smoke over steel.
Ash on the tongue, iron under heel,
The night holds its drum in a clenched, quiet fist.

[Verse 1]
Warrior: I taste iron rain as the sky turns black, and the ravens forget my name.
Seer: I saw you in the smoke, a shadowed torch, and the river would not say what it carried away.
Warrior: My shield is a scar I learned to lift; I keep moving when the ground wants blood.
Seer: In the ash of a home, I count the chairs unfilled; I hear the small warm voices that the north wind took.
Warrior: I plant my boots where the frost has bitten bone; I scream into the gale till it swallows my breath.
Seer: I pull you back by the thread of what we were; I keep one ember lit in the bowl of my chest.

[Pre-Chorus]
Warrior: Tie the leather tight; let the hammer find the heart.
Seer: Hush—hear the strings bend like branches in a storm.
Warrior: If the cliff wants me, it will earn each step.
Seer: If the past wants you, it must cross this fire.

[Chorus]
Warrior: Cold wind, make witness when I lean into your knives.
Seer: Ash falls, but I guard the spark that will not die.
Warrior: Iron mouth of night, bite down—I will not break.
Seer: In ruins I root you—stand where the earth still shakes.
Warrior: I fell, I bled, I learned the language of the stone.
Seer: I pull, I hold, I say your true name through the smoke—
Both (not fully merged): Keep standing. Keep standing.

[Drop]
[Instrumental Break — Solo violin erupts in a raw Nordic melody over halftime war drums and growling D-minor bass; electric guitars surge beneath, chants distant like thunder]

[Verse 2]
Warrior: The helms bloom dented flowers; the ground drinks what it’s owed.
Seer: The doorway without hinges still remembers when it closed.
Warrior: I carve our vow in a cracked shield rim; every stroke a spark in snow.
Seer: I cup those sparks with both my hands; I breathe them until they glow.
Warrior: Let the cold rearrange my bones—I will wear the night like mail.
Seer: Let sorrow try to drown your step—I will draw the path like rails.
Warrior: If fear comes hungry, I’ll feed it iron and chase it home.
Seer: If grief ties knots, I’ll uncoil them with a violin’s low moan.

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Warrior: Drums begin beneath the ribs—an avalanche held back.
Seer: Strings gather like a stormfront—dark green, almost black.
Warrior: I aim my breath; I aim my weight; I answer with the blade.
Seer: I anchor light beneath the ash so morning has a place.

[Chorus 2]
Warrior: Cold wind, write my oath on the face of the ravine.
Seer: Ash rain, crown the coal that I’ve kept sleeping clean.
Warrior: Iron storm, you can roar—I have learned your name.
Seer: From the quiet of the ruins, I return a flame.
Warrior: I fell, I knelt, I rose in the mouth of the night.
Seer: I called, I held, I kept the ember alive—
Both (not fully merged): Keep standing. Keep standing.

[Drop 2]
[Instrumental Break — Violin leads again, harsher and higher, carving modal phrases; dubstep bass growls like distant stone shifting; taiko and live drums hit in staggered blows, guitars grind]

[Bridge]
(near silence; one lonely fiddle line threads the air)
Seer (whisper): Beneath the snow, a red coal waits.
Warrior (whisper): Beneath the roar, a steady gate.
Seer: If you forget, I’ll be the sound of the bow on the string.
Warrior: If I forget, remind me how the fallen teach us to sing.
Both (hushed): After the break comes breath. After the fall—stand.

[Chant Break]
[Low male war-chant with taiko and stomps, no melody lead]
Chant: We rise from iron and ash—hey!
Chant: We rise from iron and ash—hey!
Chant: We rise from iron and ash—hey! Hey!
Chant: We rise from iron and ash—hey!

[Final Chorus]
Both, unified: Cold wind, be my witness—see me lean into your knives.
Both, unified: Ash rain, crown these embers—they refuse to close their eyes.
Both, unified: Iron night, hold my heartbeat—I am heavier than fear.
Both, unified: From the ruin to the ridgeline, every step says I am here.
Both, unified: I fell, I knelt, I bled, I learned the thunder’s tongue.
Both, unified: I rose, I roared, I stand—the battle in my lungs.
Both, unified: Keep standing. Keep standing. I keep standing.
[Low male chant underhook, stacked beneath the melody]:
— we rise from iron and ash —
— we rise from iron and ash —
— we rise from iron and ash —
— we rise from iron and ash —

[Outro]
The fiddle sings the smoke back into sky.
Boots lift slow from blackened ground.
Cold wind softens to a patient hand.
One coal stays red. We stand.