| "Anger's Remorse" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Song by Old Gods of Asgard | |
| from the album Rebirth: Greatest Hits | |
| Released | October 27, 2023 |
| Length | 5:51 |
| Label | Insomniac |
| BPM | 144 |
| Key | A |
Anger's Remorse is a track by Poets of the Fall's alter-ego band Old Gods of Asgard that features in the Remedy Entertainment game Alan Wake II. It was included as the sixth track on OGoA's 2023 debut album Rebirth: Greatest Hits.
The song is an apology from Tor Anderson to his estranged daughter Freya. Like other Old Gods tracks, the lyrics to Anger's Remorse are diegetic and two plot points in the game centre around the vinyl single - the only copy of the song in existence.
In Initiation 5: Room 665, Alan stumbles on the song playing faintly while in The Dark Place. He sends the record to Saga Anderson through an Overlap by placing it in the bath-tub where Cynthia Weaver became a Taken.
In Return 5: Old Gods, Saga needs the record as part of a ritual to open the Overlap and rescue Tor from Cynthia's thrall. It had last been seen in the Old Gods of Asgard Museum at the Valhalla Nursing Home, but Saga finds the frame that had held the pressing smashed on the floor. She obtains the record from the bath-tub and then plays it on the Nursing Home's record player. The track grows from in-game audio to cinematic music when she steps outside, approaching the Overlap. The track plays again in the Return 5 interlude.
Lyrics
Look in a mirror, the cobweb of my soul
On my face, forever, seeking to be whole
Driven by passion, raging like a storm
With thunder and lightning, and this hubris I was born
Blood hot and vain, I risked to take it all
Blind to your pain, your wounds, my downfall
You can relight my fire
When our shame becomes a pale horse
The story's harbouring a liar
But you're the seer, can break the curse
For in the twilight of my years
I am nothing but anger's remorse
You were my light, the spark inside my soul
Of venom and spite, tears would forever flow
I did you wrong, and I never set it right
And you played along, the grey from black and white
Waves of despair, an ocean of desolation
Fighting for air, my swan song be done
You can relight my fire
When our shame becomes a pale horse
The story's harbouring a liar
But you're the seer, can break the curse
For in the twilight of my years
I am nothing but anger's remorse
Dive through the dark
To find the light on the other side
You will find him there
The piece you're missing
The man I drove away
You can relight the fire
When our shame becomes a pale horse
The story's harbouring a liar
But you're the seer, can break the curse
For in the twilight of my years
I am nothing but anger's remorse
Trivia
- An old version of the song with slightly different lyrics was included in the release versions of the game and would play due to certain bugs. The bugs have since been patched and the audio file removed. "You can relight my fire" was instead "Who will light my fire?" "The story's harbouring a liar, but you're the seer, you can break the curse" was instead "Round and round the pyre, my glory, my curse". "Dive through the dark to find the light on the other side, you will find him there, the piece you're missing, the man I drove away" was instead "You got away, as I know is good and right, I can't say the same, for I still run in the night"