In a galaxy that will never know peace, before legends, before mankind… before Him on Terra, there was only war.

This is my first Warhammer 40K Story Song, a musical retelling of the War in Heaven.

Story Songs will be rare given the scope of projects like this, but I am very curious to hear your thoughts on occasional, extremely long songs of this kind.

What do you think of this format? Any favorite moments/quotes? Let me know below.

This is why Warhammer 40k has captured my intrest. You see all of the races, technology, scale of the battles and think it is awesome, but when you learn about it, you start to see that it is one of, if not the most tragic galaxy in all of fiction. The War in Heaven might have occured long before humanity and the Emperor came into the story, but it forever decided the nature of this galaxy. A galaxy that knows no peace, only war. It is a wounded in a way that will never heal, doomed to be either destroyed by those that live within or to be consumed by the darkness that is Chaos. But at the end of it all, those rare moments of hope shine brighter than the stars ever could.

This is really funny from the Eldar perspective, because imagine your only purpose in life being to fight for your gods because these guys who are incredibly weak and fragile created a pact with what are basically gods from the void, they beat you, your buddies, and your gods up, get betrayed by their void gods, get mad and beat THEM up as well, THEN they retire in tomb words. So, of course you start to party because hell yea we beat them, even if they kicked the asses of everyone we knew!

Then you party so hard that your entire culture turns to just partying. So, you party and you party, and you party so god damn hard that you GIVE BIRTH TO A CHAOS GOD WHO EATS YOUR SOUL WHEN YOU DIE. And then, some new species takes your place as the big boss of the galaxy and after their Emperor gets stabbed and put on the throne, he gets worshipped so hard he might just appear in the immaterium soon enough. CHERRY ON TOP, your old enemies wake up and are still every bit as terrifying as when they left to sleep.

How fun! (I don't know how to put this in to fit with the rest of the comment, so I'm putting it here, Hannes please do an Ancient Rylanor song or a Lamenters song)

The war that was so horrific that paradise turned to hell.

I keep forgetting there’s a whole rich abundance of 40k lore preceding the day God Emperor walked among Men

By the Throne…

I can genuinely picture this being performed on a stage with a full choir and orchestra as a rock/metal opera.

The Greatest Tragedy was not the Horus Heresy, but the war that ended it all before, everything else

Full Lyrics:

[Intro – The Dawn of First Light]
The galaxy hummed, the dawn of first light,
The Old Ones shaped both day and night.
Before the birth of mortal breath,
Their hands had forged both life and death.
But in the black, beyond their sight,
A war would come to drown all light.
The first of wars, creation’s doom,
The War in Heaven, the gods’ tomb.

[Pre-Verse Chant – Creation Burns]
Magnus bellum, aeternum lumen,
Ex caelo cadunt, astra pereunt.
Creatio ardet, finis venit,
Bellum in caelis, deus interit.

[Verse I – The Age of the Old Ones]
The Old Ones ruled with endless grace,
They sowed the stars, they seeded space.
They wove the web, the warp was bound,
Creation thrived by their command.


[Verse I – The Curse of the Necrontyr]
Yet in the dark, beneath a dying sun,
The Necrontyr’s lives were swift, undone.
To flee the curse of fleeting breath,
They sought escape from age and death.

[Pre-Chorus I – Denied Salvation]

But the Old Ones turned their plea away,
With cold disdain, they left the Necrons to decay.

[Verse II – The First Rebellion]
So armies rose to strike by might,
To claim the gods’ eternal light.
Yet swiftly crushed, their fleets laid low,
The Old Ones’ wrath, a mortal blow.

[Verse II – The Oath of Vengeance]
Cast in scorn, in endless hate,
They swore revenge to save their race.

[Pre-Chorus II – The Star Gods’ Bargain]

From the void they came, a cursed flame,
The C’tan gods the Necrons named.
“Bind your souls in crafted form,
We shall make you eternal, transformed.
We bring you vengeance, the stars shall fall,
The Old Ones shattered, we shall claim all.”

[Verse III – Biotransference]
And thus the sun eaters woke to feed,
Gods of hunger, gods of greed.
The Silent King gave his command,
Flesh to metal at star gods’ hand.

[Verse III – The Price of Eternity]
A race of silver, a soulless throng,
Their vengeance forged, their hate made strong.
But pride was lost, their souls enslaved,
Their fate eternal, to C’tan chained.

[Setup – Gods Made Manifest]
The C’tan in mortal form,
Bound the Necrons, marched to war.

[Invocation – The Galaxy Ignites]
Ignis aeternus, sanguis cadit,
Caelum ardet, vita perit.
Mortem portat, lux occidit,
Bellum aeternum, numen interit.

[Chorus – War in Heaven]
War in Heaven, the stars all fall,
Eternity burns, the void consumes all.
War in Heaven, suns are shattered, skies aflame,
Galaxies weep, all consumed in flame.
From flesh to steel, from soul to chain,
Immortal hate, eternal reign.
The C’tan and Old Ones, gods of war,
Hurl suns like weapons in this celestial war.

Ooooh, War in Heaven, creation torn apart,
Ooooh, the tomb of every star.
Ooooh, War in Heaven, where endless night is born,
Ooooh, the universe forlorn.

[Verse IV – The Last Creation]
As the Old Ones faltered, doomed to fall,
They seeded new life to answer the call.
To stem the tide, to hold the line,
They forged new races, near divine.
The Eldar born with psychic flame,
The Krorks unleashed to fight until no wars remained.

[Verse IV – The Final Failure]

Yet still the heavens burned away,
Enslavers rose from warp’s decay.
The Old Ones faltered, fell, or strayed,
Their last command, a mantle laid.
To children born with power vast,
To guard creation, to hold fast.

[Pre-Chorus III – The Gods Turn on Their Masters]

But in the void, another fate,
The C’tan hungered, turned to hate.
Their feasts of stars, their endless greed,
Now clashed with those they swore to lead.

[Verse V – Rebellion of the Necrons]
The Necrons rose, their shackles torn,
They shattered gods they once had served.
Star gods broken, shards in chains,
Fragments scattered, their power remains.

[Verse V – The Mantle of the Old Ones]
“By the grace of the Old Ones, we shall guide the galaxy,
Their wisdom flows eternal, their spirit lives in me.
We bear the mantle, bright and true,
The stars our charge, creation renewed.”

[Verse V – The Cold Truth]
“You pray to gods for your salvation,
We shattered ours in revelation.
We claimed their thrones, we broke their chains,
Our reign eternal, their souls in chains.”

[Chorus II – Aftermath of Gods]
War in Heaven, the stars still fall,
Empires shatter, the void consumes.
Eldar crowned with a burdened flame,
Necrons freed from gods and chains.

Ooooh, War in Heaven, the galaxy scarred and torn,
Ooooh, War in Heaven, a thousand empires born.
Ooooh, War in Heaven, the stars all burned in celestial war,
Ooooh, War in Heaven, echoes forever remain.

[Epilogue – Tombs and Pride]
The Necrons sleep in tombs of stone,
The Eldar rule, but not for long.
Their pride proclaims eternity,
Yet whispers promise tragedy.

[Epilogue – The First Spark of Terra]
And on a distant, quiet world,
A golden spark begins to swirl.
Old Ones gone, yet fate shall turn,
From Terra’s soil, a golden flame begins to burn.

[Outro – Eternal Echo]
Ooooh, War in Heaven,
Ooooh, War in Heaven,
Ooooh, War in Heaven,
Ooooh, War in Heaven.

The final part. The Necrons's sleep, the Eldar's rule, the rise of Humanity. Goosebump even in my soul. Peak 👌

Yep that just about what happened in the War in Heaven. I can only imagine the countless other unnamed races that were wiped out as collateral damage

that art piece of a space marine being brought before a old one who looks like a slann if they wernt devolved into helplessness escpially the many long almost buddhistic reptillian arms guarded by what looks like a 40kified version of skink guards is just pure fire.

I have mixed opinions on this idea. Imagine a game like Horus heresy but it’s the war in heaven. Necrons and C’tan vs Old Ones(possibly lizardmen), Prime Eldar and Krorks. My only issue with this is that I love the war in heaven because it’s obscure and remains one of the few mysteries left in Warhammer. But if they could do it in a way that didn’t explain any of what happened aside from what we already know would be great.

after a couple of months, we will get a 30min songs

That is by far the best warhammer music I have ever heard. Both epic and full of lore of the very beggining of warhammet story

So am i the only one who would LOVE a separate mini range based on the war in heaven?! Like come on imagine playing a krork army against an necrontyr army or an aeldari army set in there prime!

When i found this I had it on loop for 5 days straight. IM NOT JOKING. Still going strong. Im more or less a beginer in 40K, and this is an absolute masterpiece

I like long songs, and would love to hear more of the 40k story told like this.

The age of mankind song needed

Truly, peak fiction at its peak

Sooooooo, I've done some research out of curiosity and hehe the second Latin part before it says ''war in heaven, the stars all fall'' I translated it and yeah not a good day to be anything but necron from what the translation said...

ignis aeternus
sanguis cadit
caelum ardet
vita perit
mortem portat
lux occidit
bellum aeternum
numen interit

eternal fire
blood falls
the sky burns
life perishes
it brings death
light dies
eternal war
the divine spirit perishes
It isn't the aeldari's breeding Slanesh or the Horus heresy which later led to the great rift that led to all this, the galaxy was done the second the old ones saw an entire efing race stop infighting and ally to ask them for help and said nah Xenocide sound better and told them to screw off having absolutely no idea that they just created the very thing that will destroy what they wanted to save and also ensured the galaxy never knows piece at all...
Hell imagine the orks realising yarrick, the imperium or even space marines we're never they're original foes and that they're ''waaagh'' was just a desperate attempt to hope stopping the necrons