The Masque of the Red Death Lyrics

Album: Gefion

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