Race Against The Sun: Part Two

by Dethonator

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lovelymaidenliz One of the best albums I've picked up in ages. They aren't afraid to get creative in the songwriting and the album is something you can listen to over and over and find new bits to enjoy. Awesome. Favorite track: Beautiful In Death.

Paul Schwarz Not actually my fave cut per se, "A New Kind of Maniac" nonetheless encapsulates what makes the 'Nator's latest so special. Like "Fiddle About" on _Tommy_ this short segment reeks of nursery rhymes and childrens songs. Taking craft seriously without being overly pretentious is something English rock has a fine tradition in. Like one of their influences - Cradle of Filth - Dethonator are a 21st century force for keeping fine traditions alive. Favorite track: A New Kind Of Maniac.

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1.	For The Dead Travel Fast 07:51	lyrics
My friend, welcome to The Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. At The Borgo Pass my carriage will await you and bring you to me. I trust you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. Your friend, Dracula. Die, Victoria’s century Zenith of Empire Smog envelops London Shrouds the gas lamp’s fire Irving in the theatre Ripper in the throng Dreams in the Lyceum Weave this gothic song Enter the East, Man of the West London solicitor, new business to address A count obscure and unreknowned Upon the map his ancient castle isn’t found The Danube crossed, the mountains rise; Enter the land beyond the forest Night, woke from disquieting dreams Howls, the cries disturb my sleep Brace, forget these childish thoughts This appointment I must keep Onwards, for advancement’s sake Onwards, through this land of beauty Onwards, for your Mina’s sake Onwards, with a sense of duty Through regions wild the train rolls on Among the Magyar and the Szekely and the Hun A fear, abstract – Walpurgisnacht? These locals, wrought in superstition Why do they withhold advice? Cross themselves, avert their eyes? The barkeep’s wife, with fear transfixed Thrust on me her crucifix Wear this for your mother’s sake Wear this on the road you’re taking Wear this for your mother’s sake Go now, for your coach is waiting Trees pour down the hillside Beauty in the bleak Rise, the seat of Isten Dusk on mountain peak Shepherding the darkness Twilight growing cold Strangers growing fearful Nigh, the mountain road The coachman halts, all stare around As snowflakes fall without a sound The horses plunge, now screams of fright A carriage, black, out of the night With strength and skill prodigious, the carriage driver On through the darkling forest, into the mist Strange fires guide the carriage, a pale rider Races the Borgo Pass Strange words, gesticulations, remarks remembered Their garbled pagan nonsense, I once dismissed Their wards and incantations, terrors engendered For the dead travel fast Denn die toten reiten schnell Denn die toten reiten schnell Feeling the fear and the wonder Am I still in the land of the living? Yet, before I can venture a question, We are moving, and the castle awaits For the dead travel fast, now I know this: There is meaning in folk superstition Though now fearful I question this venture, It is over and the castle awaits.
2.	Transylvanian Ways 06:48	lyrics
Welcome, I bid you welcome Enter, for the night is chill Come freely, I am Dracula Enter of your own free will Ancient, the old man before me Standing alone in the hall Frozen, like marble, his bearing But shadows dance macabre on the wall A table set and waiting Carafe of vintage wine Though he declines to join me He watches as I dine Listen! The children of the night! Listen! What music they make! Stirring the soul of the hunter Rest now, for the hour is late I roam his halls in daylight Again, my reason rocked No sign of host, nor servant His chambers, barred and locked Shaving alone in my mirror Shattered, the glass cast to the floor England (cut of the razor) Is not Transylvania (Now, in his eyes, a crimson gaze) Forgive me (there was no reflection) Our ways are not yours (what are these Transylvanian ways?) Again, we spoke till dawn He bade me letters write That I should stay on for a month To guide him to his London life His table strewn with books Red circles on a map His properties in London town The ancient abbey shell Carfax Now, from my tower room Once more, the lupine call Behold the crawling bat The Count upon the wall! His sanctum I shall find A room I haven’t tried Beckons this doubtful guest A bed for one to rest Slumber for time unknown No longer I’m alone Fresh footprints stir the must Three shapes of moonlit dust White flesh and wanton curves Cold smiles and eyes that burn Sharp mouths and scarlet lips Paralysed, I await their kiss Hot fury blasts the room Behold The Count; visage of doom How dare you? This man is mine! I tell you, until I am done, this man is mine! This man is mine! Flee in failure from the crypt Salvation, through my hands, has slipped Born on wheels of gypsy slaves Soon The Count will cross the waves Wolf will howl and wind will moan Through his halls I walk alone Left to rot, insane with fright Until the brides come out at night…
3.	Wreck In Whitby 05:03	lyrics
There’s something in the wind Something in the wind Can you feel it growing cold? There’s something in the wind Some say it smells like death Some say it feels like sin Make me ready when it comes There’s something in the wind There’s something on the tide Something on the tide Watchers gather on the cliffs There’s something on the tide As fog devours the pier As lightening cracks the sky Do you see her coming fast? There’s something on the tide Out from the sea, she makes for the town Her mast with full sails, the ship bearing down The harbour she gains and breaks on the sand The wheel of the ship in a dead man’s hand As soon as she touches the shoreline As soon as she runs aground The moment she hits the sand bank Catch sight of the barghest hound Bounds horribly over corpses Leaps powerfully from the deck Pitch black and a size so monstrous Strange immigrant from the wreck Where the Abbey looms from overhead Where the waves crash in beneath Did you hear of the wreck in Whitby? Did you hear of the wreck in Whitby? Sad ruin upon the seafront Torn sails and crates of earth Odd records inside her logbook Tall tales of the schooner's curse Where the East Cliff grins with empty graves Weathered stones like rotten teeth Did you hear of the wreck in Whitby? Did you hear of the wreck in Whitby? There’s something haunts the night Something haunts the night Do you feel it in the dark? There’s something haunts the night Some say it feels like death Some say it shuns the light Lock your doors and say a prayer Something haunts the night Mina! Wake knowing something's wrong Oh where has Lucy gone? Drifts through the silent town Now spectral in her gown Cold moonlight on her shift Sleepwalker on the cliff A hundred and ninety nine steps A hundred and ninety nine A hundred and ninety nine steps A hundred and ninety nine Beyond the churchyard gate Her figure and the shape Red eyes in pallid face Somnambulant embrace
4.	A New Kind Of Maniac 02:14	lyrics
Lovesick in lassitude (Dr. Jack!) In the asylum, the wretched insane Raving against the walls (Dr. Jack!) Sanguine among them, a new kind of maniac Doctors, they study me Treatments, they bloody me Here, with the laughter and strife Bedsores and bleeding And thin hair receding He told me the blood is the life Unique pathology (Dr. Jack!) Method in madness, a purpose profane Heightening zoophagia (Dr. Jack!) Hell-bent, I study this new kind of maniac Restrain and pacify Bludgeon and beat as I Feast on the spiders and flies Feeding and feeding Till death is receding The master, he promised me lives Master, he promised me lives Master, he promised me
5.	Beautiful In Death 05:31	lyrics
Our dear one lies with wreathes around And four brave hearts of pain The garlic flowers and sleepless hours; All suffering in vain All suffering in vain… By our love, our given blood She’s beautiful in death By confusion or illusion Beautiful in death And when we feared the end was near All gathered at her side We thought her dying when she slept And sleeping when she died And sleeping when she died… By devotion and emotion Beautiful in death By our grief, our disbelief She’s beautiful in death Beautiful in death Beautiful in death During the past three days several cases have occurred of young children neglecting to return home from their playing on Hampstead Heath. In all reports, the consensus of their excuses is that they had been with ‘a bloofer lady'. We have just received intelligence that another child, missed last night, was discovered late this morning wandering on Shooter's Hill. Though weak and emaciated, the child again told the common story of being lured away by 'The Bloofer Lady'. The police of the division, have been instructed to keep a sharp lookout on Hampstead Heath over the coming evenings, for many of the children, and indeed all those who have been missed at night, have been slightly torn or wounded in the throat. Never did the bough creak Never have the yew trees Here embodied such funereal gloom Something like a white streak Flashing through the yew trees Flits in the direction of her tomb Now compelled; Helsing's bid Wrenching off her coffin lid Lucy walks, now undead Beauty stalks in contempt of God Hungry arms, wanton smile Come to me, stay a while Eyes unclean, crimson lips Spattered shroud, teeth that drip with blood By his hand, by something damned She’s beautiful in death By the stake, reconsecrate the Beautiful in death Hammer falling, rising Bloody horror writhing Only when it's done shall we depart Still, she lies in beauty Exorcised by duty From the bottom of my broken heart
6.	Blood Of My Blood 05:03	lyrics
The powers of the undead come with the curse of immortality. The vampire does not die but goes on age after age, multiplying the evils of the world. He flourishes when he can fatten on the blood of the living. He casts no shadow, no reflection. He has the strength of many in his hand. He commands the elements, the storm the thunder, the fog. He commands the lesser beasts; the bat, the rat, the wolf. This is the terrible foe we must face; the terrible task we undertake. How then are we to begin our strife to destroy him? In certain matters, still, nature holds sway His power ceases at coming of day Now keep the crucifix close to your chest Know when we're done he'll have no place to rest For, due to Harker, we possess the facts This very night we'll break into Carfax Into his chapel, miasma corrupt We'll sanctify all his boxes of dirt Dare enter my halls? We'll sterilise with the host and the cross Rats, rats in the walls! Share our resources and summon the dogs In manus tuas, Domine! Now, to avenge our beloved We cannot pity the hunted As Mina dreams of mist inside The gas fires seem to wink as eyes… Wild yell heard from the cell (Dr. Jack!) Face down we found him, trauma of the brain Terrible injuries (Dr. Jack…) Hang on his last words, unfortunate maniac Kindness she spoke to me Now he has broken me Crushed like the spiders and flies Bleeding & bleeding All life is receeding Master, you promised me lies Master, you promised me lies Master, you promised me lies At Mina's chamber we shoulder the door Enter the room to a sight we abhor Behold The Count and the one we love best Mouth dripping red from the wound in his chest In rage, he vanishes in the air So leaving Mina in Bloody despair Woman of virtue, her soul now unclean She realises the truth in her dream O'er land, over sea The reeking breath and the lips on my throat So, you'll come to me Him speaking only to mocking gloat In manus tuas, Domine! Blood of my blood, their beloved Blood of my blood, my beloved Blood of my blood, their beloved Blood of my blood, my beloved
7.	Race Against The Sun 07:49	lyrics
How to take so great a curse? Beloved, of her Lord bereft A baptism of blood, perverse We cannot die or think of death Mark of the host upon her face No time we have to waste Renew our oaths through blood and tears The Count still has his boxes near A Picadilly street A grim and silent home Still, a single box is missed Our wild work isn't done You think to thwart my will But time is on my side My revenge has just begun The girls you love are mine Cast in shadow, Crew of Light God preserve The Crew of Light From Mina's words, our hope reborn Out of hypnotic dreams at dawn So dark like death and locked inside The water sounding close outside Time now is for us to dread And the signs in Mina's face On board the Czarina Catherine The Count seeks to make escape He'll sleep another century Then return from whence he came Make haste to the port of Varna So begins our deadly game There's something in the wind Something speeds him on Can you feel him in the dark Just a step beyond There's something in her mind Mina seems to change Can you see her growing cold Beloved growing strange Sally forth, The Crew of Light God preserve The Crew of Light For love we ride And we race against the sun Oh Lord, abide As we race against the sun Land or water, so go we Winchesters to wolf country Gurkha knife and western gun Wild work waiting to be done Mina sleeps like death all day Night falls then she's wide awake Growing cold and growing fear Feeling that an end is near Flying the flag of Romania Feeling the life of adventure Over and through The Carpathians Riding onward and the castle awaits For we must travel fast and we ride thus In a world of the dark and the dreadful Voices of night all around us They surround us and the castle awaits As the fire begins to die Freezing sweeps of snow do fly Women laughing in the dusk Sister, sister, come with us! Through the flurries hear them sing Bless the circle, stay within Horror etched on Mina's face Not yet, sisters, God be praised Lying inert in their vampire sleep So full of life that my soul could weep 'Ere I delay till the sunlight's gone Master the purpose for which I've come Terrible task that I now begin Fastening onto my work of butchery Horrible shrieks as the stakes drive in Blood mingling in the dust of centuries Greater than the rest, a lordly tomb Noble in its grandeur in the gloom Carven for a king in his domain On the dais lies a single name… Do you see them driving? They bear down on the gate Born upon the gypsy cart The Count within the crate Do you see the riders? The strident silhouette In headlong bridle-tearing flight They ride to catch him yet Heroes? God knows As we race against the sun Twilight In flight As we race against the sun Through the biting ring of death, we drive On the earth box of The Count, we dive Take the hateful triumph from his eyes Final death is flashing in our knives Lo! Upon his face, a look of peace Dust on wind, he flies, at last, release Silence o'er his broken battlements Emptily, we mourn our fallen friends So, we made this end…

about

In 2019, Dethonator released their most diverse and colourful album to date, ‘Race Against The Sun: Part One’. This acclaimed album features current live favourites ‘Nightmare City’, ‘Pyroclastic’ and ‘When Lucifer Fell’. Having earned a formidable reputation for their hi-octane, exhilarating live performances and their immediate, anthemic songs, Dethonator’s fan base has been steadily growing in the U.K. and Europe.

Now, in 2020, Dethonator are set to unveil their most ambitious project to date.

The upcoming album ‘Race Against The Sun: Part Two’ is to be released on 27th November 2020

Bassist Adz explains how the album came together:
“Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a story that loomed large for me in childhood. I always felt that one day Dethonator would do a song based on this story; after all, Dethonator are a story telling band. During the 2015 writing sessions for the Race Against The Sun albums, I received the sad news of Sir Christopher Lee’s passing. In the spirit of tribute, it seemed to be the right time to make a start on our Dracula song. From the beginning I felt strongly that it was going to be an epic; a narrative concept piece retelling the novel with music.
The writing sessions that followed were a surreal purple patch. I was writing daily, often from the early morning to past lunchtime. Sometimes I woke up having dreamed about riffs. Evenings were spent rereading the book. A weekend in Whitby was spent following in Bram’s footsteps. Evenings were spent absorbing cinematic adaptations of the story.
Recording for the albums that would become Race Against The Sun: Parts 1 and 2 took place in 2017. It soon became apparent that Part One was much closer to completion than Part Two, so the decision was taken to split the two sides of an intended double album into two individual releases. The Dracula concept song would have to stand on its own. To ensure the coherency and quality of the piece, I returned to the novel once more to write the vocal and lyrics in 2019. Many hours spent sitting in a chair with a note pad and a battered book full of underlinings and annotations.
It had always felt important that our musical retelling of Dracula should be as faithful to the original novel as possible. Almost all prominent adaptations and even some significant pieces of Dracula scholarship have built a labyrinth of changes, insertions and confusion around the story. Our version would give Bram Stoker his due respect. In accordance with this fidelity, the original words and tone of Stoker’s novel are well represented in the album’s lyrics.”

In a year when the metal community has faced unforeseen challenges, Dethonator have, by the grace of the Metal Gods, found themselves able to enjoy the privilege of having an album in the wings.

Dethonator conclude: “We hope that Race Against The Sun: Part Two should bring our “Race...” cycle to an end in fittingly ambitious fashion.”

credits

released November 27, 2020

Tris Lineker - Lead Vocals and Guitars
Henry Brooks - Guitars and Keyboards
Adz Lineker - Bass Guitar, Dethvox and Cello
John Armstrong - Drums

All music written by Adam Lineker.

‘Race Against The Sun: Part Two’ was recorded by Tris Lineker, drums & bass at Aspect Studios and everything else at the band’s home studio. The album has been mixed and mastered by Chris Brookes. The cover artwork was created by www.all4band.com