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Varyag and The Shrike

from Kindred: Act II by Red Cain

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"Varyag and the Shrike" is our own Red Cain fable - a fable about accepting your own mortality and acknowledging your place in the memory of future generations, from the point of view of a dying Slavic warrior. The track is a doomy amalgamation of a Draconian-like dirge topped with a massive, call-to-arms power metal chorus. In many ways, “Varyag” is a spiritual successor to our EP track “Dead Aeon Requiem” and has one of the best solos on the album, Tyler Corbett pulling out his jazz chops to deliver another interesting, beautiful, melancholic angle to the song.

The track art is reinterpreting the visual motif of the warrior’s head in a field from Alexander Pushkin’s epic poem “Ruslan & Ludmila”, infested here by a malevolent Lovecraftian force, and decorated with the shrike and their victims.

Conceptually, the track represents humanity’s continuity through millennia via retellings of glorious deeds and sacrifices in the name of its survival. For even if one falls, many will step forward to take his place.

lyrics

Every winter
Every sunlit spring
We meet at the edge of the world
To share our joys and sorrows

Every winter
My brothers grow fewer
And you raise your spire to the sky
And soon, I know
That time will soon be mine

Tell my story
Write my name in fire (on your altar)
Where’s the glory I dreamt of as a child?

Look around
Do you see
The blackened wings of destiny
Enfold you
And lift you up

Look around
Savour this
It’s a fight you won’t miss
Your faith - gone
So draw your weapon

For the Sun!
We step up to the tributary stream
Of life eternal
We die young!
And every day we die, we resurrect
To win this war!

Into the fire!
We are the tide
Form up, heroes!
Now we ride!

We are the demons out of the night
Form up, varyags!
Now we ride!

Shards of embers
Raining from the sky
I feel them, descending...
Amending life

Distant now...
Echoes of laughter past
In every tale, the end must
Come at last

And who will hold the vigil
At the dusk of man
This precipice
Is this our end? No!

And what of glory
And what of promised glory!
Come at last...

No fear
No lies
No rest
Reaching for the Sun

No fear
No lies
No rest
Reaching for the Sun

Fall, fall from the stars
Hungry like wolves
Riding the storm to sea

Call, call from afar
Herald of life
Drawn by your poetry

Systems, coming alive
We tear at the Sun
Fight for supremacy

You and I, we'll break the hold
We’ll break the line
Just wait and see

Into the fire
We are the tide
Form up, heroes!
Now we ride!

We are the demons
Out of the night
Form up, varyags!
Now we ride!

credits

from Kindred: Act II, released January 22, 2021

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Red Cain Calgary, Alberta

Red Cain is a powerful, melodic metal project with European roots, known for intricate storytelling and ambient elements paired with heavy, technical guitarwork and a rich, epic musical presence.

Red Cain is proud to be influenced by acts such as Kamelot, Symphony X, Marilyn Manson, Tesseract, and Alter Bridge. ... more

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