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Kuchisake Onna

from Tales Of Ancient Times by Tartarum

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about

Kuchisake onna (Slit-mouthed woman in Japanese) is more of a Japanese urban legend going all the way back to the 17th Century. According to the original legend, a woman with a covered face (usually with a mask) will appear in front of a potential victim and ask: "Am I pretty?" If he or she answers yes, she will remove her mask and ask him or her again in a girly voice. If he or she answers yes or screams, she will slash him or her from ear to ear so that he or she resembles her. If he or she answers no, she will walk away, only to follow her victim home and brutally murder him or her that night.
To avoid this fate, several people during the Edo period claimed that they gave her confusing answers like average and so-so or threw money or hard candy at her, buying themselves time to run away and lose her.

lyrics

Out in the cold
I walk alone
The air here feels haunting
The misty shadows grow

Noises, right and left
I’m feeling a presence
It stalks me like pray
I take a look, behind my back
Nobody’s here, I turn straight ahead
Surprice! A woman stands there!
Wearing a mask, hiding her face
Her soul dark like night’s sky
Reflecting her horrible past through her eyes

Once, there was a married couple
A girl, and a samurai
For long they lived together
Ages ago, in Japan

But, the wife’s beauty
It conquered her feelings, it crawled in her head
The husband caught her cheating
He drew his sward, and took her beauty away

(In Japanese)
«Am I pretty?»
«Yes»
«Am. I. pretty..»

No! No!
Her mouth is sliced from ear to ear
While my body is sweating from fear
She is staring at me
So-so, is my answer
She’s confused while I run like a madman
I think I escaped from her eyes
But I’m not so sure, I may be dead by sunrise

Finally, I went home
What a day, I go straight in my bed
As, I close my eyes
I feel her cold blade go straight through my heart

credits

from Tales Of Ancient Times, released January 1, 2018

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Tartarum Nicosia, Cyprus

Tartarum is a Symphonic Death Metal band from Cyprus that was formed in 2017 and combines orchestral elements with crushing guitars and guttural vocals.

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