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Saturn Return

by Silence & Strength

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Includes a hidden bonus track.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 12 Silence & Strength releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Leviathan - Remixed by IM, The House of Death, The Lord of the Garden, Saturnian Transmissions: Soundtracks for Ritual and Meditation, Star Sapphire: A Collection of Rare and Unreleased Tracks, Saturn Return, Das Haus Zur Letzten Latern, Jupiter, and 4 more. , and , .

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1.
The Stone 06:56
2.
In The Night 05:42
In the night the time sets still Soaked in blood, it stops to kill In the night the soul runs dry Waiting for the time to die Don't ask how, don't ask why Each hello is a goodbye Sighs the witch, cries the crow We're all heading down below, way down below In the night the killer waits Sharpened knives, laid out baits In the night the reaper creeps Blackened bones, satin lips Don't ask how, don't ask when Time's not going back again Trust the witch, chase the crow We're all headed down below, way down below
3.
Shabbathai 11:18
"The Eyes of Pharaoh" by Aleister Crowley Dead Pharaoh's eyes from out the tomb Burned like twin planets ruby-red. Enswathed, enthroned, the halls of gloom Echo the agony of the dead. Silent and stark the Pharaoh sate: No breath went whispering, hushed or scared. Only that red incarnate hate Through pylon after pylon flared. As in the blood of murdered things The affrighted augur shaking skries Earthquake and ruinous fate of kings, Famine and desperate destinies, So in the eyes of Pharaoh shone The hate and loathing that compel In death each damned minion Of Set, the accursed lord of Hell. Yea! in those globes of fire there sate Some cruel knowledge closely curled Like serpents in those halls of hate, Palaces of the Underworld. But in the hell-glow of those eyes The ashen skull of Pharaoh shone White as the moonrays that surprise The invoking Druse on Lebanon. Moreover pylon shouldered round To pylon an unearthly tune, Like phantom priests that strike and sound Sinister sistrons at the moon. And death's insufferable perfume Beat the black air with golden fans As Turkis rip a Nubian's womb With damascened yataghans. Also the taste of dust long dead Of ancient queens corrupt and fair Struck through the temple, subtly sped By demons dominant of the air. Last, on the flesh there came a touch Like sucking mouths and stroking hands That laid their foul alluring smutch Even to the blood's mad sarabands. So did the neophyte that would gaze Into dead Pharaoh's awful eyes Start from incalculable amaze To clutch the initiate's place and prize. He bore the blistering thought aloft: It blazed in battle on his plume: With sage and warrior enfeoffed, He rushed alone through tower and tomb. The myriad men, the cohorts armed, Are shred like husks: the ensanguine brand Leaps like a flame, a flame encharmed To fire the pyramid heaven-spanned Wherein dead Pharaoh sits and stares, Swathed in the wrappings of the tomb, With eyes whose horror flits and flares Like corpse-lights glimmering in the gloom Till all's a blaze, one roar of flame, Death universal, locked and linked: — Aha! one names the awful Name — The twin red planets are extinct. Copyright © Ordo Templi Orientis
4.
GOTOS 07:12
5.
Time 07:17
Time erases every thing, Pain and memories that sting, Monuments return to sand, Time brings all things to their end. Slowly weary Time will pass With his scythe and hourglass, Drawing closer, striking true, One day Time will erase you. This, unless you change the scheme, Turn the pointer widdershins, Climb the world-ash wonder-tree Like the agile Mercury, Turn Time's lead obscure and old Into bright and pure Gold, Drink the Elixir of Life, Arouse the splendour coiled inside, Shoot enraptured ecstasy Into starred Infinity. Thus, Old Time must stand defeated When the Great Work is completed, Thou hast proven once again, That there is no god but Man.
6.
7.
"One Star In Sight" by Aleister Crowley Thy feet in mire, thine head in murk, O man, how piteous thy plight, The doubts that daunt, the ills that irk, Thou hast nor wit nor will to fight— How hope in heart, or worth in work? No star in sight! Thy gods proved puppets of the priest. “Truth? All’s relation!” science sighed. In bondage with thy brother beast, Love tortured thee, as Love’s hope died And Lover’s faith rotted. Life no least Dim star descried. Thy cringing carrion cowered and crawled To find itself a chance-cast clod Whose Pain was purposeless; appalled That aimless accident thus trod Its agony, that void skies sprawled On the vain sod! All souls eternally exist, Each individual, ultimate, Perfect—each makes itself a mist Of mind and flesh to celebrate With some twin mask their tender tryst Insatiate. Some drunkards, doting on the dream, Despair that it should die, mistake Themselves for their own shadow-scheme. One star can summon them to wake To self; star-souls serene that gleam On life’s calm lake. That shall end never that began. All things endure because they are. Do what thou wilt, for every man And every woman is a star. Pan is not dead; he liveth, Pan! Break down the bar! To man I come, the number of A man my number, Lion of Light; I am The Beast whose Law is Love. Love under will, his royal right— Behold within, and not above, One star in sight! Copyright © Ordo Templi Orientis

about

After a six-year break, Silence & Strength is back with a new album! "Saturn Return" is a poetic reflection on Saturn Gnosis and the Saturnian path. Featuring original lyrics by Stephan Friedman and poems by Aleister Crowley, dark ambient soundscapes and experimental industrial tunes, the seven-track (plus one hidden track) album is a journey into the realm of the Demiurge Saturn, the Guardian of the Threshold, towards the Higher Self.


"Saturn, therefore, is masculine; he is the old god, (the god of fertility) the sun in the south; but equally the Great Sea, the great Mother; and the letter Tau upon the Tree of Life appears as an emanation from the moon of Yesod, the foundation of the Tree and representative of the reproductive process and of the equilibrium between change and stability, or rather their identification.

Note that Shabbathai, the “sphere of Saturn”, is the Sabbath. Historically, the animus against witches pertains to the fear of the Jews; whose rites, supplanted by the Christian forms of Magic, had become mysterious and terrible. Panic suggested that Christian children were stolen, sacrificed, and eaten. The belief persists to this day."

"The Book of Thoth"
Aleister Crowley


"In the Saturn-Gnosis the planet and archetype of Saturnus is the focal point for the manifestation of the Demiurge. This Demiurge is identified with Lucifer— the Bearer of Light—as the higher octave of Saturn. In this capacity it is the "Guardian of the Threshold" to higher initiation and being.

According to secret FS teachings, Saturnus is the Great Judge that manifests justice; he also brings reason and intelligence, and governs all standards of weights, measurements, and number. He is the Lord of the Seven Dwellings (= planetary genii of the outer realm), and governor of the revealed world and lord over life and death, and over the light and darkness. Saturnus is seen as the breaker of cosmic order and unity—thus he instituted death, causing regeneration and change to come into being. One of the ways in which he broke the cosmic order was in the revelation of divine secrets to mankind. For this he was punished. Thus in many ways Saturnus is identical with Prometheus of Greek tradition, and is certainly to be identified as well with the Serpent of Paradise.

This Demiurge Saturnus is identified with the number 666. He is the Beast 666, manifest in the Man (or Men) 666, and in the Living Center of the Sun—Sorath 666."

"Fire And Ice - The Brotherhood Of Saturn"
Stephen E. Flowers

credits

released May 25, 2015

All music by Silence & Strength

All lyrics by Stephan Friedman, except Track 3 - "The Eyes of Pharaoh" by Aleister Crowley, Track 7 - "One Star in Sight" by Aleister Crowley, Copyright © Ordo Templi Orientis

The sample used on Track 3 is a quote from Jean Racine's play "Athalie" (1691), as it appears in "Les Diaboliques" film by Henri-Georges Clouzot (1955)

Stephan Friedman - synthesizers, e-bow, banjo, tin whistle, drum programming, samples, effects, vocals

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Stephan Friedman at Valkoinen Pöllö Studios
Design by SF
Released by Valkoinen Pöllö Studios - VPS 003
Released on cassette by Occult Whispers Records

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about

Silence & Strength Tel Aviv Yafo, Israel

In 2004, driven by a fascination with the occult, Israeli musician Stephan Friedman embarked on a quest to channel mysticism's essence through music. Mixing dark folk, ambient, industrial and electronica within conceptual albums, he aimed to transport listeners to realms beyond the ordinary, birthing Silence & Strength—the name inspired by Liber AL vel Legis. ... more

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