They came from Anglesey With ashes in their hair Suetonius burned their sacred groves While they were chanting prayers
Druids, priestesses, the wise ones Slaughtered on holy ground The smoke still rising from Mona When they came and tracked us down
Verse 2
intensity rising
They said "We heard you're marching" "We heard you've made Rome bleed" "Our gods were murdered yesterday" "We'll help you plant the seed"
I looked into their eyes And saw my daughters there Every sacred thing destroyed By men who didn't care
Pre-Chorus
drums entering, mystical
They painted symbols on our shields They blessed our blades with blood They called upon Andraste To rise up from the mud
Chorus
powerful, epic, 135 bpm
We are Mona's daughters now! Every priestess that they slayed! Every sacred grove they burned! Every debt that must be paid! We are fury and we're faith! We are vengeance and the wild! We are every god Rome killed! We are every murdered child!
MONA'S DAUGHTERS RISING! Druids and the queens! MONA'S DAUGHTERS BURNING! Everything between!
Verse 3
building coalition
Iceni brought the rage Trinovantes brought the hate Druids brought the blessing Of every god that Rome makes wait
We painted ourselves in woad Ancient patterns, ancient ways Became the thing that Rome fears most The past that wouldn't stay
Verse 4
ritual and preparation
They taught us the old songs The ones before Rome came We sang them while we sharpened swords We carved them in our pain
"For Mona," they whispered "For the groves that burn no more" "For every sacred stone they broke" "We'll break down every door"
Pre-Chorus
intensity building
They read the omens in the smoke They cast the stones and bones They said "The gods are with you, Queen" "Now burn them from their thrones"
Chorus
fuller, more powerful
We are Mona's daughters now! Every priestess in the flame! Every Druid cut down while They were speaking the gods' names! We are older than their empire! We are deeper than their law! We are everything they buried! Coming up to settle scores!
MONA'S DAUGHTERS RISING! United by their crimes! MONA'S DAUGHTERS SCREAMING! The end of Roman times!
Bridge
drops to mystical chanting, female voices
Andraste, goddess of victory We release the hare, show us the way The old gods are not dead They're just waiting for the day
When the stones remember When the groves grow back When the blood of empire Feeds the earth it cracked
Spoken word over building drums
Suetonius thought he won at Mona Thought he killed the old religion But you can't kill faith with swords You just make it a contagion
Every Druid that he murdered Became a martyr for the cause Every sacred tree he burned Made the forest want his blood
Building to explosion - war drums, Celtic instruments
So we joined our rage together Celtic fury, Druid fire Political and spiritual The empire's funeral pyre
Breakdown - tribal, powerful
FOR MONA! (For the groves!) FOR MONA! (For the wise!) FOR MONA! (For the gods!) FOR MONA! (Watch Rome die!)
Final Chorus
absolute power, layered vocals
WE ARE MONA'S DAUGHTERS NOW! Every sacred thing you stole! Every goddess you erased! Every story you controlled! We are memory returning! We are history awake! We are every culture burning! In the fires that you make!
MONA'S DAUGHTERS RISING! From the ashes and the graves! MONA'S DAUGHTERS MARCHING! To remind you nothing's saved!
Outro
returning to mystical, haunting
They say we lost in the end That Rome won after all But every time a sacred grove grows back We're still answering the call
Mona's daughters never die We just wait beneath the ground For the moment empire stumbles Then we rise without a sound
Final chant - fading with Celtic instruments
For Mona... for the groves... For Mona... for the old ways... For Mona... we remember... For Mona... still we rise...
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The history
Late 60 / early 61 AD · The Menai Strait, between Anglesey (Mona) and the Welsh mainland
Source: Tacitus, Annals 14.30
Named figures
Suetonius PaulinusRoman governor of Britain; commanded the Mona campaign and later the Watling Street battle
The druids of MonaSenior priestly class of pre-Roman British religion; Mona was their last major stronghold
The black-robed womenDruidesses (or priestess-warriors) Tacitus describes running among the British line at the Menai crossing
What this song renders
Mona (modern Anglesey, off the north Welsh coast) was the spiritual heart of pre-Roman British druidism. After successive Roman campaigns drove druids west out of southern Britain, Mona became the last major centre of the tradition. Suetonius Paulinus targeted it deliberately in 60 AD as both military strategy and religious extermination.
Tacitus’s description in Annals 14.30 is one of the most cinematic passages in his entire work: black-clad women among the warriors, torches lifted, curses called down on the legions, the Roman soldiers freezing in the boats before their officers got them moving. The crossing succeeded; the groves were destroyed; the priesthood was massacred.
The timing matters. Suetonius was completing the Mona operation when the news of Boudicca’s revolt reached him. He had to abandon the campaign and march east, leaving large parts of the western province ungarrisoned. The album reads the two events as connected fronts of the same war on indigenous British religion — one led by a queen, one by druidesses, both losing, both refusing to lose quietly.
Verdict
The Roman attack on Mona, the description of the druidesses, the campaign’s timing relative to the Boudiccan revolt are all from Tacitus and are corroborated by archaeological evidence of Iron Age religious activity on Anglesey. The framing of the women as ‘daughters’ rather than priestesses is the album’s; the historical figures are documented.