Better to reign in hell Better to reign in hell Heart in hand pa**ed clasp of pain In dark lowland that set bad blood in veins Burning, like penal fires roused to strain The jagged-toothed skyline braced with crosses The golden dawn Lay lost to mist where Emboldened thorns Made their bed with toppled stones He closed His eyes Sunken to dream there Of crow-black skies And a great white empty throne Horror stalked the bilious fogs That balked his visions He licked the spittle from the cheeks of the wry And drifted back to when His stung its target The sneer of Michael on a glorious high Of angel dust and Virtue by his side Drowning in the past That downfall seemed like yesterday Though blurred moons pa**ed As enemies in high places laughed Moved to mirrors cracked with heavy lines He rose snowblind, through shifting sands of time Erased the trace and taste of bitter wines The grapes of wrath grew fat on the vine She came to Him A little whip of tantrums Thrashed on velvet skins That lines Her wishbone Henge Her name was Sin A warming spurt of mantras Splashed on occult tongues That whispered sweet revenge For the shame of their crawl from grace Cold and hollow as the grave And for a rape and ruinous scourge Spared for souls that shared God's worship For now their throats coated notes with dirge That poured from parapets to the pits below Drowning in the past A wretched scream like yesterday Died at last With the rising of the revenant dark All sharpened claws and blunt discharge "I shall bow no more to the dogs of the Lord Tearing at my carca** heart I shall fall to my knees only at the keyholes Of Virtue slipping into bondage masks... Freewill made me better to reign in hell" And with new wings Unfurled and spoken He took to things That would desecrate the world The seduction of both woman and man For a ba*tard masterplan Drowning out the past Fool Fates unwound cruel yesterdays beneath the stars That staggered from the blast