Elend is a neoclassical darkwave band from France formed in 1993 by compose… Read Full Bio ↴Elend is a neoclassical darkwave band from France formed in 1993 by composers and multi-instrumentalists Iskandar Hasnawi and Renaud Tschirner. The band's name is German for "misery", however "im Elende sein" is also an Old German expression for "to be far away". The music can be described as gothic and orchestral music with post-romanticism undertones, or simply violent neoclassical. They are often classed as a metal act due to the fact that in their earlier days, they were signed to a label that released metal music almost exclusively. In actuality, though their sound has sometimes been very violent, they have never been metal of any form.

In an interview with a French magazine posted in June 2007 on their website, Iskander Hasnawi indicated that the costs and difficulties of recording the orchestral music associated with Elend have made it impossible to continue with the Elend project. Both composers will be continuing with personal projects, including L'Ensemble Orphique.

Official website: www.elend-music.org

The Wake of The Angel
Elend Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I am the eyes of the Basilisk.

And as you enter the forest of my sleep,
Drawing aside the bushes of glimmering light,
You will remember the prayer of Orion.

Drifted in me, you are alone.

The hour approaches and the Moon, dim as clay,
Pours a sea of tears into our swollen eyes.
Kill the dying in my soul, my love,
For Death once dead bears no more dying then,
And you'll be dead to strike the dead.

I have written your name so often
On the chiselled vault.
But my writing hands are the roots of my misery.

Now everything stands still in the wake of the Angel...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "The Wake of The Angel" by Elend are infused with surreal imagery and metaphors. The first line, "I am the eyes of the Basilisk", establishes the singer's identity as a powerful, mythological creature. As the song progresses, the listener enters the "forest of my sleep", a dreamlike space where the boundaries between reality and imagination are blurred. The allusion to the "prayer of Orion" signifies a call for guidance or salvation. The singer then declares that the listener is "drifted in me, you are alone", a paradoxical statement that suggests a union and a separation at once.

The second stanza shifts the focus to the moon and its effect on the singer's emotions. The moon's tears are mirrored in the singer's "swollen eyes", evoking a sense of grief or loss. The singer then addresses a beloved, urging them to "kill the dying in my soul", a plea for release from suffering. The line "for death once dead bears no more dying then" echoes the famous line in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "to be or not to be", encapsulating the existential dilemma of life and death. The song concludes with a poignant image of stasis, as "everything stands still in the wake of the Angel", a symbol of transcendence and transformation.

Line by Line Meaning

I am the eyes of the Basilisk.
I possess a fierce and deadly power, capable of destroying my enemies with my gaze.

And as you enter the forest of my sleep,
When you venture into the depths of my subconscious mind, where my true self is revealed.

Drawing aside the bushes of glimmering light,
Pushing aside the distractions and illusions that cloud your perception of reality.

You will remember the prayer of Orion.
You will recall the ancient wisdom and guidance of the stars.

Drifted in me, you are alone.
Lost in the depths of my mind, you are isolated and alone, cut off from the outside world.

The hour approaches and the Moon, dim as clay,
As the time of reckoning draws near, the pale and sickly Moon reminds us of the fragility and transience of life.

Pours a sea of tears into our swollen eyes.
Overwhelmed with sorrow and despair, our tears flow like an endless, inexorable tide.

Kill the dying in my soul, my love,
Eradicate the weakness and decay in my spirit, so that I may rise up strong and vital once again.

For Death once dead bears no more dying then,
Once we conquer Death, we become free from its grip and need not fear it any longer.

And you'll be dead to strike the dead.
If you have already conquered Death, you cannot be harmed or killed by those who are already dead.

I have written your name so often
I have engraved your memory so deeply into my mind and heart, that I cannot forget you.

On the chiselled vault.
On the cold, unyielding surface of my subconscious, where your memory is preserved forever.

But my writing hands are the roots of my misery.
My ability to remember and document my pain and suffering is also the source of my ongoing pain and suffering.

Now everything stands still in the wake of the Angel...
In the presence of the Angel of Death, everything comes to a standstill, and we are forced to confront our mortality and the impermanence of all things.

Contributed by Camilla A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS