Behind the Mountains
The Great Old Ones Lyrics
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We can now see it
With fascination and horror
The city of the ancient spirit
An infamous architecture
A Cyclopean monument
A non-Euclidean structure
We are cursed
We are cursed
Study each sculpture on these cold walls
We understand your past existence
Your prosperity between these icefalls
Your greatness and quintessence
You created slaves, the shoggoths, powerful and abject
But slaves wanted to become masters, and of your fall they were the architect
Shapeless beings, screaming like birds of Poe
Now only masters of the snow
Resistant to the freezing cold of Antarctica
They haunt the dark Babylonia
L'horreur liée à nos découvertes ne nous arrêta pas dans notre quête de savoir. Pourtant nous avions compris que ces connaissances pouvaient amener l'Homme à sa perte, à sa chute. Nous avançons encore et encore au sein de cette innommable cité cyclopéenne. Les choses très anciennes avaient succombées au froid du désert blanc, mais pas leur création. Abomination informe mais polymorphe, nous entendons son cri aigu et détestable se rapprocher, comme un avertissement, présageant notre rencontre imminente et inévitable.
The creature is in front of me, oozing and spongy, countless eyes searching in the dark
Filthy ancestral horror
Dragging his vile body, like in a slow agony, it comes to us, leaving behind its sticky mark
Of our souls the infamous killer
Traversant ce dédale de couloirs impies, nous fuyons cette ineffable vision. Nous arrivons enfin à échapper à la détestable créature, nos corps saufs, mais nos âmes meurtries
From our plane, we can see one last time the cursed city
Danforth's crazy howls surround me, one last vision forever taking his sanity
Today I ask the world not to come back to this place of melancholia
For our salvation, no expedition should return to Antarctica
Never!
The Great Old Ones's song 'Behind the Mountains' describes the discovery of an ancient city hidden beneath the ice in Antarctica. The lyrics convey a sense of awe and horror as the explorers come face to face with the remnants of a civilization that existed long before humanity. The "city of the ancient spirit" is described as having an "infamous architecture" and a "Cyclopean monument," which looks like an "unspeakable giant" to the human observers. The non-Euclidean structure challenges their understanding of geometric forms and seems to distort reality itself.
As the explorers study the sculptures on the walls, they begin to understand the history of the ancient civilization that created this city. They learn that the beings who built the city also created powerful but abject slaves called shoggoths. Eventually, these slaves rose up against their masters, and the civilization fell. Now, the shoggoths are the "masters of the snow," resistant to the freezing cold of Antarctica and haunting the dark corners of the city.
The lyrics convey a sense of dread and foreboding as the explorers encounter an "abomination informe mais polymorphe" (an unformed but polymorphic abomination), and are forced to flee from its "cri aigu et détestable" (high-pitched and detestable screech). The experience leaves them scarred, both physically and mentally, and they vow never to return to this place of "melancholia." The song suggests that there are some things that humanity is better off not knowing.
Line by Line Meaning
Nothing will be as before
Our discovery of the ancient city has forever changed our perspective on the world.
We can now see it
We have finally uncovered the hidden city of the ancient spirit.
With fascination and horror
The discovery of the city has evoked both wonder and terror within us.
The city of the ancient spirit
The long-lost civilization has been unearthed before our very eyes.
An infamous architecture
The city's design and construction are notorious and infamous.
A Cyclopean monument
The structures in the city are immense and beyond human comprehension.
A non-Euclidean structure
The geometry and design of the city is beyond the laws of Euclidean geometry.
Looks to us like an unspeakable giant
The scale and enormity of the structures is beyond human understanding or description.
We are cursed
We know that our discovery of the city will bring ruin and devastation to mankind.
We are cursed
Our fate is sealed by the discovery of the ancient city.
Study each sculpture on these cold walls
We carefully examine the sculptures on the walls to understand the city's history.
We understand your past existence
We have uncovered the civilization's history and the reasons for its demise.
Your prosperity between these icefalls
The city once thrived in the midst of the frozen wasteland.
Your greatness and quintessence
The civilization was once great and powerful, a testament to human ingenuity and achievement.
You created slaves, the shoggoths, powerful and abject
The civilization created powerful but subservient beings to serve their needs.
But slaves wanted to become masters, and of your fall they were the architect
The shoggoths rebelled against their creators and caused the civilization's downfall.
Shapeless beings, screaming like birds of Poe
The shoggoths are formless and make eerily haunting sounds.
Now only masters of the snow
The shoggoths now rule over the frozen wasteland where the civilization once thrived.
Resistant to the freezing cold of Antarctica
The shoggoths have adapted to the harsh environment of the Antarctic landscape.
They haunt the dark Babylonia
The shoggoths have become terrifying and malevolent entities that haunt the ruins of the once-great civilization.
Traversant ce dédale de couloirs impies, nous fuyons cette ineffable vision.
As we flee from the unspeakable giant, our ordeal takes us through a labyrinthine maze of impious corridors.
Nous arrivons enfin à échapper à la détestable créature, nos corps saufs, mais nos âmes meurtries
We finally manage to escape the creature's clutches, but our souls are left scarred by the experience.
From our plane, we can see one last time the cursed city
As we depart the area by plane, we take one final look at the cursed city on the horizon.
Danforth's crazy howls surround me, one last vision forever taking his sanity
Danforth, one of our group, is driven insane by the experience of witnessing the ancient city.
Today I ask the world not to come back to this place of melancholia
The singer urges humanity not to return to the site of the ancient city, as it will only bring destruction and ruin.
For our salvation, no expedition should return to Antarctica
In order to preserve humanity, we must avoid any further exploration of the hostile Antarctic wilderness.
Never!
The singer emphasizes the importance of never returning to the cursed city or the surrounding area.
Contributed by Molly B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.