Still alive

Empire of the Middle

(Heavy Metal English Version)

Verse 1

You sent me off to a distant land

I followed silent, no demands

Friends were gone, school meant nothing at all

I chose my road and I stood tall

You always knew where I would go

I’d never kneel, I’d never slow

I walked my path through dark and light

And never feared the endless night

Pre-Chorus

Forbidden city

Neon lights

Between heaven and steel

You survive the nights

Chorus

Forbidden city

My old domain

Capital of the empire

Still burns in my veins

Forbidden city

Through fury and blood

I carry your streets

Like a permanent flood

Verse 2

Then we came back home again

But something died somewhere back then

I fell deep down a bottomless hole

And lost the boy I used to know

Everything strange, everything new

No direction to hold on to

From the ashes, stone by stone

I had to build my life alone

Verse 3

Nineteen ninety-four, the first cold beer

Shell station nights, we had no fear

Dennis, Markus, Tore, Flo

Party vultures stealing the show

Ten long years till the speakers broke

Wolters nights beneath the smoke

Cola-corn upon the tray

Fifteen marks — our glory days

Pre-Chorus

No more borders

No restraint

Only noise

And neon rain

Chorus

Forbidden city

My old domain

Capital of the empire

Still burns in my veins

Forbidden city

Through fury and blood

I carry your streets

Like a permanent flood

Verse 4

Then the girls came into sight

Sabrina changed my restless nights

First apartment, freedom’s flame

But standing still was never my game

Then Wacken Open Air arrived

Two thousand four — we came alive

Six days raging, beer and dust

Brothers bound by metal and trust

Headbang till the morning came

Onkelz calling out our names

Saxon, Nightwish, Doro’s cry

Heavy metal never dies

Breakdown

Mud on boots

Steel in heart

Through every ending

We restart

Final Chorus

Forbidden city

My eternal fire

Capital of the empire

Still feeds my desire

Forbidden city

Through ashes and blood

I carry your scars

Like a sacred flood

Outro

And ever onward

Year by year

The old capital

Still draws me near

Empire of the Middle

Till the end

Through every battle

We ascend