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Seasons

by Ruff Majik

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1.
Harpy 04:49
The trees will be grey as long as you'll stay. I prayed yesterday, could you hear me anyway? You trace your fingers right down my spine. Cold breath reminds me that you are mine. Lick off your dagger, tighten your talons. Pick me up high by the skin of my back. Don't you feel sorry for bones when you drop me, lay me down softly in oceans of black. Blue air caress me, cold ground please kiss me. I fell in the snow and punched through a hole. Lick of your dagger, tighten your talons, leave me there flat on my back. My ribs must be showing I'm falling apart. Am I the same as I was at the start? I'll be a martyr, I'll starve for my art. Are we the same as we were at the start? Lick off your dagger, tighten your talons. Pick me up high by the skin of my back. Don't you feel sorry for bones when you drop me, lay me down softly in oceans of black. Blue air caress me, cold ground please kiss me. I fell in the snow and punched through a hole. Lick of your dagger, tighten your talons, leave me there.
2.
Funeral procession moving slow through the undergrowth. Pick my casket up to shoulder height. Bow your heads low. Clutch your black skirt as the wind blows, howling through the stones. Cover me with leaves, make us a home, before winter steals my bones. Crush a flower with your heavy boot. Trample it under foot. Lungs of chimneys explode with smoke, bathing us all in soot. Have you seen the Mourning Cloak laying there by the roots? Hiding from the cold, never awoke, until it found you. Sing the songs of days long ago. Sing the familiar hymns. Sing of your woes.
3.
I saw you bathing by the hot springs. The sun looked pale against your skin. I stood fixed against a tree. The snow was beating down on me. You put your cloak around me, wipe my mouth when I bleed. If you ever leave you'll leave a hole. I bet you won't believe that I'd go first? I'll leave the hole and catch a hearse. Make a fire and wait for spring, but still the cold keeps creeping in. I guess I'd better swallow the blue. Guess I'd better spew out the truth: 'I ain't too worried about my wealth - 'cause I've got holes in my coat and I ain't doing much better myself.
4.
I've heard about men like you, your flower petals and cauldron's brew. How you wake folks from the dead, while I can't even lift my head. "Oh yes, sanctify me. Canonize me." Found you with a bag in hand, wandering across the land. (I) claimed lizard tales and eyes of newt. Boy it's to the rack with you! "Oh yes, crucify me. Crucify me." "Baptize me two times. A third for all my sins. Make sure I drown, make sure I stay down. I always knew I wouldn't make it to spring."
5.
Swing around violently! There's someone behind me! Run away quickly, Lord, they're coming to get me. They've been waiting since winter, clawing at me wildly. And I've been knocking back liquor. I guess that's putting it mildly. My demons move at night. They've got an appetite. They coil around my head. My eyes are cherry red. And every year they grow, just like the seasons go. Sprout up from the snow. This is the season of my resurrection. It's the age of reason, so string me up for high treason. I've survived you once, I'll survive you again! Now the blossoms are swelling just like my jugular vein. My demons move at night. They've got an appetite. They coil around my head. My eyes are cherry red. And every year they grow, just like the seasons go. Rise up from the snow.
6.
I've been coming 'round here since the trees started to bloom. I've been sitting by the river. I've been waiting for you. Every year I bring the blade a little bit closer. Every year I hold you a little bit tighter. We've been coming 'round here since the blossoms started to bleed. We've been sitting by the river, talking about your greed. Every year you get a little, a little bit deeper under my skin. Every year you plunge a little bit deeper in. I've been trying to leave since I got here. I've been spilling my guts down by the river. And you won't care. You came to stare. I started to grieve when I got here. I spilled my guts down by the river.
7.
When summer comes I'll sail again. I'll fight the waves and breathe the air. I'll conquer the land with my sword. I live and die by it, you know good lord. And I won't bleed for god or country. But I'd be more than happy to bleed for a woman who loves me. I just need someone who grieves me. Someone who knows that I'm leaving. I'm an empty coffin. I've got room for you. Won't you lay down inside me? And we'll sink into the blue. Blue devils been gettin' me down, 'cause I've been adrift in the ocean, I've been floatin' around. Sunburned skin 'cause the sun whips. I guess the captain's got to go down with his ship. The mountains don"t even look real from here. Guess I'll drift back to shore by next year. Maybe I'll find myself a woman then, one that might keep me from sailing again. I'm an empty coffin. I've got room for you. Won't you lay down inside me? And we'll sink into the blue.
8.
Woke up with the sun burning my eyes, crushing me down. Got one swollen tongue, one blackened lung since last sundown. Got blood on my chin, sweat on my brow and dirt on my crown. I'll drink til I fall, cruse all the gods, I'll bury them all. I hoisted myself up to half-mast. My mind is so overcast. Hammers keep raining down on my head. I must look just like the living dead. I'll walk into the sea again. Let the waves wash over me. I'll walk into the ocean, wash myself clean of these sins. Woke up with the sun burning my eyes, crushing me down. Got one swollen tongue, one blackened lung since last sundown. Got blood on my chin, sweat on my brow and dirt on my crown. I'll drink til I fall, curse all the gods, I'll drink from their skulls.
9.
This sun never sets. The gods never forget. They sent their hounds down and stole my floral crown. Don't know where my woman went. They took her to the worlds end. They drove their hammers down with cacophonous sound. Only the vultures know where you'll go. They'll pick you clean my friend. And they'll carry you home to Valhalla where you belong, Valhalla where you belong. I can't hold my sword to fight the coming horde. 'Cause I left my woman behind to drift off with the tide. In summer I'll find my grave somewhere beneath the waves. She'll be waiting when Valkyries welcome me. Only the vultures know where you'll go. They'll pick you clean my friend. And they'll carry you home to Valhalla or where you belong, Valhalla where you belong.
10.
I hit my head on my way down. Blood on my shirt, the baddest man in town. Gun on my hip, yeah I ain't foolin' around. Drink in my hand that I ain't putting down. Run. You better run. Run. You better run. I got back up, now someone's got to pay. The leaves start to change and they number your days. What would you like your gravestone to say? I'll put this whole goddamned town in their graves. Run. You better run. Run. You better run.
11.
Orange shades of day. Reddish yellow decay. The leaves move like flood The ground screams for blood. I was baptized in the river. I offered my gold and my silver. But when the sheep start to gather, then in slither the adders. The witches will rejoice when they hear my name. 'Cause I am the autumn voice. I'm always the same. Ask me, I know, where the good men go. They go down in the hole. By the roots lay their souls. Orange shades of day. Reddish yellow decay. This is where you lay. I've nothing left to say. You better pray when days fade to grey. This is where you lay. Our autumn beds are graves
12.
So when did you start digging graves in your head? When did you decide everything had been said? When did you notice the red in the trees creeping in slowly? When were you gonna tell me? I know this will pass someway. I knew the shadow would come for you one day. I remember your eyes as brilliant blue. Now they're tired and grey, just like you. Still you strap on your boots and you go on your way - and you march bravely on, where leaves cover your trail. I know this will pass someway. I knew the shadow would come for you some day. I know this would pass someway. I know the shadow will come for me some day.

about

A labor of love. A story told in many pieces. This is the story of "Seasons":

Seasons encapsulates Ruff Majik's travels through a year filled with love, hate, terror, ecstasy, let downs, build ups, borderline poverty and some new found acclaim.

The band members went through the turmoils of ailing family members, sudden retrenchments, relocation to new houses, the loss of old friends, the announcement of their first European tour and the gaining of new accomplices.

Yet still, as three brothers would, Ruff Majik stood together in the face of adversity, weathered the storm and came out spitting venom and ready to destroy all who stood in their way.

Each season, the band wrote three tracks that were a genuine reflection of their mental and physical state at that point in time. They would record the tracks along with their collaborators and friends Evert Snyman and Louise Eksteen (from the bands Pollinator, Bombaby and Gay Thing) in one take, as they have always done. With each recording session, Evert experimented with different mic placing techniques, different room setups and different gear - which in turn gave every one of the four parts of seasons their very unique sounds. The album moves between doom, blues, psychedelic, stoner and sludge landscapes, more often than not including blast beats and high paced shredding, as well as loads of bottom end mammoth churning bass.

The lyrics, as always written by Johni Holiday, are in reference to each band members story, told through the eyes of travelers in a mystical landscape. Far removed from reality, yet very close to home.

Ruff Majik would like to thank their families, friends, fans and companions for standing with them through thick and thin - through every season, whether they be bleak or grim.

credits

released April 20, 2018

All music written by: Ruff Majik
All lyrics written by: Johni Holiday

Recorded and mixed by: Evert Snyman
Mastered by: Louise Eksteen
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Backline Studios, Auckland Park, Johannesburg.

All artwork for each release made by the ever amazing Anni Buchner.

Ruff Majik:
Johni Holiday - Guitar, vocals
Jimi Glass - Bass guitar
Benni Manchino - Drums

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Ruff Majik Cottbus, Germany

Ruff Majik is a time traveling rock 'n roll band from South Africa.

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