Music written and performed by John Baker
Guitar leads written by and performed by Mathis
All Lyrics written and performed by Dark Number Nine

Part 5- Vlad III's Demise....

Matthias Corvinus ordered the Transylvanian Saxons to support Báthory's planned invasion of Wallachia on 6 September 1476, also informing them that Stephen of Moldavia would also invade Wallachia. Vlad stayed in Brașov and confirmed the commercial privileges of the local burghers in Wallachia on 7 October 1476. Báthory's forces captured Târgoviște on 8 November. Stephen of Moldavia and Vlad ceremoniously confirmed their alliance, and they occupied Bucharest, forcing Basarab Laiotă to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire on 16 November. Vlad informed the merchants of Brașov about his victory, urging them to come to Wallachia. He was crowned before 26 November. 

Basarab Laiotă returned to Wallachia with Ottoman support, and Vlad died fighting against them in late December 1476 or early January 1477. In a letter written on 10 January 1477, Stephen III of Moldavia related that Vlad's Moldavian advisers had also been massacred. According to the "most reliable sources", Vlad's army of about 2,000 was cornered and destroyed by a Turkish-Basarab force of 4,000 near Snagov. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. The Austrian chronicler Jacob Unrest stated that a disguised Turkish assassin murdered Vlad in his camp. In contrast, Russian statesman Fyodor Kuritsyn –who interviewed Vlad's family after his demise– reported that the voivode was mistaken for a Turk by his own troops during battle, causing them to attack and kill him. We chose the version of the assassin for our tale. 


Glorious thunder
Hooves, thousands
The horses of war

Pope Sixtus IV has called all forces
To defend again Christendom

A new coat of arms
Blackbird

A rarity of unity

Stephen the Great, Stephen Bathory
Dracula come together to
Overthrow the reigning prince of Wallachia

Basarab Laiota is siding with the Turks
He will be overthrown
Dracula will reign once more
This will not be for long

Stephen the Great attacks by East, 15,000
Dracula, Bathory attack by the south 35,000

The mistake was not killing Basarab
He rallied the troops and commanders
For a counterattack.

Dracula’s allies left him with an unsupported kingdom
This is what we, the enemies, have been waiting for
I am the hired assassin
There will be a ritual

My orders
Disguise as a servant
Attack him from behind
For all our tortured and impaled soldiers
Seven or more blows
For years he reigned in terror
And he will be quartered

Devils and Angels
Working by my side
As I see his dark, wavy hair
Red princely robes
At last I watch the blade penetrate his back

In the clearing in the forest
Near Bucharest
Left was the headless body
Found by the Monks
Blessed be the monks
They bury him in a monastery

I proudly ride back
With Dracula’s severed head
It will be displayed
On a high stake
At the gates of Constantinople
For the Sultan, myself,
And all my fellowmen

5. December 1476... The Final Battle

All Music written and performed by: John Baker
Main guitar lead written and performed by: AL'Z
All Lyrics written and performed by: Dark Number Nine
Mixed and Mastered by: John Baker

This is our final track of our Vlad series... Couldn't do a Vlad story without a little touch of the supernatural, so we created our own little story. 

My Ancestor’s Brutal Heart

We’d gather ‘round the spirit fire
Hypnotized by tales of old
Relatives would story tell for hours
Full moons, silver, blood, lust and the madness

I watch my younger self
Amidst Transylvanian countrysides
It’s so instinctive to shun the light
Darkness is where I’m drawn and
Will stay because I know I just belong

And at last when night falls
Before I go about the nocturnal life
I kneel down to
Honor our dead who sacrificed
For this country I can roam forever
Home because of my
Ancestor’s brutal heart.

Early on I discovered
I can shift into this creature
That hovers above castles
That still hold
Forbidden secrets

I can’t help but spin around
I call it my vampyric happiness
I’ll always relish when that
Otherworldly being bit me
And this is where the myth really ends
And the truth of my immortal life begins

CHORUS

Time is slow but Days
Still go by and by and
I notice when I pass, well, any mirror
I keep fading,
But I’m thrilled to report
Now I have no image
Has it been five years?
Another like me laughs
“Like five hundred”

I can’t help but spin around
I call it my vampyric happiness
I’ll always relish when
That otherworldly being bit me
This is where the myth really ends
And the truth of my immortal life begins

CHORUS

(c) 2022 Dark Number Nine

6. My Ancestor's Brutal Heart

Your Body

Internal Melodies

Lyrics:
Maybe, just maybe, we can go too far
says he, with no conscience, he's on a par,
I see you, you see me, we've gone too far
Maybe, youre lazy, maybe you're mad
ow
Cruising on by, with a beautiful life, it don't get much more
wishing you wont, bring back all your songs, it kills you to be wrong
Saying it's so, doesn't mean you're right, it's better to be wrong
sad it's so bad, when we're going mad, it helps if you're fun

Stay there, with your ego, it wont take, too long
Running, for po-sition, in a world gone dark
They see you, you see nothing, they've gone too far
Maybe, they're lazy, and wont see far
ow
Cruising on by, with a beautiful life, it don't get much more
wishing you wont, bring back all your songs, it kills you to be wrong
Saying it's so, doesn't mean you're right, it's better to be wrong
sad it's so bad, when we're going mad, it helps if you're fun

Moonlight Cruising

This has been years in the making. We started this in 2018 and finished it today. Hope you enjoy it.
Song written and composed by The Old School & features Jason of Alone I Stand on lead guitar and TTM on vocals

Lyrics:
When you saw the life forced from me
When you saw the greed sucked through me
It was hard to stand in that near perfect storm
Chilled bones ran right through me
As you found life in my marrow too
I've lived my life just for you

Broken dreams I cling to
Hollow words are made to me
Thought this was going to be mutual
Found a way to take it all
Now I'm short changed and in a fall
Looks like you're going to take it all

Sorrow overwhelms me
as I contemplate being stripped clean
By the greedy system that purges me
Time can heal these wounds
Crime wont fix this tune
Need a fresh perspective now

Time to make a fresh start
Let go of all the old art
release it into the wild
Time to bin the glass chin
Find a way to harden in
Make a statue out your own will
---------------------------------------------

Feel the ground rush up to meet me
Fall on hard and cold cement
Waiting for the right perspective
Writhing at the thought reflective 

Looking for a loaded gun
Hoping for a silent sun
Gonna hit the ground as one
Better make it count this one

If we're gonna live again
Gotta make it through the pain
Feeling sorry for myself
Need to put that on the shelf

And rise up to the brightest day

We going to feel the change
we're no longer, consumed by darkness
Fighting the enemy within

Thrills (ft The Turtle Project)

Irish Tyrone