Prologue: “The Red Death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal or so hideous. Blood was its avatar and its seal – the redness and the horror of blood.” (E. A. Poe)
Oh, Prince Prospero, he got a great idea
The bolts of iron welded, he slammed the door to Hell
The party can begin now, who cares of death or doom?
The tripods at the windows alight the coloured rooms.
– Chorus: –
The pest cannot reach us
So put on your mask
of madness and beauty
From the hall of Velvet, a clock of ebony
brings momentary endings to all the melodies
The chiming in the silence will freeze the merry dreams
but as the echo’s dying the music swells again
– Chorus: –
The black hall is calling
The clock striking twelve:
The hour of midnight…
Narrator: “A new guest seems to have appeared. He’s dressed in a blood-stained shroud, and before his face he bears the mask of The Red Death. Solemnly he proceeds, and a nameless, chilling fear strikes the dancers where he passes by.”
(Guitar-solo)
Prospero: “Who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him – that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlement!” (E. A. Poe)
He’s walking through the chambers, from blue to green to black
And no-one dares to follow when Prince Prospero attacks.
A scream! – At last they enter, the prince is lying dead
They tear the mask of paper revealing emptiness.
– Chorus: –
And now they are falling
In death and decay
Dominion of darkness