Doom Metal, Moby Dick and Man’s Tireless Quest to Conquer Indomitable Nature
AHAB’S “THE GIANT” ALBUM
Band Location: Germany
Genre: Funeral, Doom Metal
Themes: Moby Dick, The Ocean, Fate, Futility, Anguish, Eternity
Look out for their new album in the Fall of 2015!
MOBY DICK AND MAN’S FUTILE EFFORT TO CONQUER NATURE
(SPOILER ALERT! INFORMATION ABOUT THE END OF MOBY DICK BOOK IN THIS TEXT)
Most of us are familiar with Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick,” the tale about Captain Ahab’s single minded obsession with catching the white whale, ‘Moby Dick’. Yet the white whale is an indomitable force of nature that cannot be tamed, and all who try die in the process. At its most fundamental level, Moby Dick is a man versus nature story. It is the crew of the Pequod against endless,black waters and the ferocious creatures of these depths.
So this is more than just a chapter book about the homoerotic adventures of cannibals aboard the Pequod – although that part is interesting too.
In most fiction, nature is often depicted as a Disney tale fantasy, a place of happy, fluffy bunnies and birds that sing to princesses as they fold their clothes. Yes, nature is beautiful – but she is a cruel beauty. She is beauty and the beast incarnate. Nature is a ferocious system with harsh laws. She is the wolf ripping out the throat of her prey, she is the wasp that lays her young inside the paralyzed carcass of a caterpillar, she is the parasite sucking the blood of her host. Yet most importantly, nature is an eternal life force that is billions of years old. She is a system with strict laws of life and death that cannot be rewritten, altered or changed. So “Moby Dick” is an important work of fiction in that it captures nature in all her eternal and horrific glory.
Man’s tireless quest (from the days of Gilgamesh to now) to tame nature is a very futile effort indeed. Yes, humans have succeeded in cutting down nature’s forests, polluting her skies and streams, enslaving her children and fracking deep beneath her soil. But this is only a temporary set back for nature, while it is a deadly crisis for humanity. For nature has survived mass extinctions that wiped out 90% of the life on the planet. So will nature survive the plight of humanity? Yes she will. Yet the kicker is that we human beings, cannot survive without food, water, clean air or soil. Much like the mad captain Ahab and his crew, will the sinking ship of human civilization end up tangled up in our own harpoon lines and pulled into a deadly whirlpool caused by our own ship? It is very possible if we do not change our course.
“Wreck of a Transport Ship” Joseph Mallord William Turner
AHAB “THE GIANT” ALBUM – A BEAUTIFUL MELANCHOLY
“The Giant” is Doom Metal band Ahab’s latest album, which came out in 2012. The first time I checked it out, it was love at first listen. I even like it better than their previous albums (although popular opinion seems to be against me on that one).
The phrase that I think of as I listen to this album is “beautiful melancholy.” A sort of depression that is endless, but has a depth to it that makes you ponder and question the mysteries of life.
“The Giant” seems more prog rock to me than past works, which are more doomy. Yet the combination of prog rock clean vocal harmonies and melodies alongside growls, and slow heavy guitar chords creates a sort of melodic grief that I find to be very enchanting. The album takes me into a sort of dreamland wonder where I find myself envisioning the crashing waves of the ocean beneath a morning fog. Much like the book, this album contains powerful musical themes about the dark futility of nature, and the vast – endless abyss that is the ocean.
A PART OF THE LYRICS FROM “THE GIANT” SONG
Silver blood pours from wounded skies
Drowning our anxiety
Black man, white beast in dismay cries
Phantasmagoric me
Vaporise in sheer reality
In blackness, in intensity,
in obscurity and glare,
in gloominess, in brilliancy
in somberness and gleam,
in murkiness and luminance,
in ashes soil the snow
I hear thee chant my name
Faint voice distant and dim
I prithee, please enfold me
AHAB LINKS
Happy All Snakes Day!
St.Patrick’s Day has become one of those holidays that no one understands, but everyone likes to celebrate (just like Cinco De Mayo and Mardi Gras). After all, it’s a great excuse to get wasted, kiss Irish people, wear your best green shirt and pinch people. However, for those in the Pagan community – especially for those who are Celtic Pagans – the holiday has less lighthearted undertones.
St. Patrick’s claim to fame is that he “drove the snakes from Ireland.” Now of course, there were no snakes in Ireland. So this phrase is a euphemism. What it really means is that he is the person who drove the druids from Ireland, since snakes were a sacred symbol that many druids had tattooed to their arms.
Ironically, this patron saint of Ireland isn’t even Irish. Patrick was a 5th century Romano-British missionary and bishop who came to Ireland to preach Christianity. According to the Confessio of Patrick, he was captured from his homeland in Britain and taken to Ireland as a slave where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. Later, when he became a cleric, he returned to the land of his capture to spread the Christian religion.
However, it has been argued that Patrick’s conversion of Ireland is a highly exaggerated affair. There were Christian missionaries in Ireland long before Patrick arrived, and the druid culture existed in Ireland centuries after Patrick died (on March 17th). Many aspects of the pagan culture in Ireland even blended into Christianity over time: holidays, holy wells, and even Gods were absorbed into the Christian tradition and called saints.
Whether Patrick’s conversion of Ireland is exaggerated or not, I still have a problem with dedicating a holiday to this man. I have a problem with celebrating a figure who is famed for driving the druids out of Ireland, so I will not celebrate his name.
Some also suggest that the institution of “St Patrick’s Day” was an attempt by Christians to replace the Pagan celebration of the Spring Equinox.
So I agree with many others when they say that we should instead call this day “All Snakes Day.” Hail the Irish Druids! Hail the holy symbol of the snake, a creature of healing and power! I will take today to celebrate my own Irish heritage and welcome the coming spring with open arms. I will take today to cherish the connection of my ancestors with Ireland’s ancient druidic culture.
RELATED ARTICLES
Saint Patrick, Druids, Snakes, and Popular Myths (Patheos)
Saint Patrick and the Druids (Sacred Texts)
Snakes and Bladders: Celebrating All Snakes Day (The Pagan Pope)
“A Dream Within A Dream” Poem – Edgar Allen Poe (1850)
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
Ways that Modern People Have Overlooked Warrior Women as Historical Fact
(Historians have assumed this woman was holding a cleaning tool – um she looks more like she’s ready to cut someone’s head off with that thing than polish the floor.)
Cracked isn’t always the most accurate place for news, but the article I posted above makes some good points.
In modern depictions of the past, such as a TV series like Spartacus, we are shown an image of muscular slave men battling each other to death in the gladiatorial arena, while a woman’s maximum participation is cheering from the sidelines or later rewarding one of the gladiators with a blow job.
However, the truth is that female gladiators were quite common in Rome. There were many graves of decorated gladiators that historians assumed to be male, only to be surprised when the bone analysis revealed these warriors to be women – as if the woman just so happened to fall into the wrong grave!
The assumptions don’t just end there. Most heroic warrior figures, such as vikings or samurai are all assumed to be male, and this depiction is the norm in television dramas, comics and movies. Yet in most warrior societies – such as that of the Spartans, the Mongols, the Celts and the Vikings, the art of war was such an important skill that everyone was expected to know what they were doing – including the women. In ancient Celtic societies, there were even fighting schools where female teachers called a BAN-GAISGEDAIG taught boys the art of fighting and love.
In fact, in a DNA analysis of the Japanese battle of Senbon Matsubaru in 1580, 35 of the 105 bodies tested were female. Not to mention that this is only one of several archaeological finds that show a similar story.
Then there is the fact that most ancient societies had goddesses associated with war and death, such as Athena, Freya, Sekhmet, the Morrigan, Brigid and Kali. In fact, some of these named Goddesses were more terrifying than their male counterparts. If the idea of a woman fighting was really so unrealistic to the people of the ancient world, then why were there Goddesses entirely devoted to warfare?
So today’s reality of women in the military or police force actually isn’t anything new. If anything, it is a return to long term historical trends. Look at the fact that more than 30% of the Kurds fighting the ISIS scum are female. When a group of people are in danger, and bodies are needed to fight for survival, women will be among that number. This is why it is unrealistic for people today to think that women don’t need to know anything about fighting or self defense. What society has a better chance of survival – one where only half the population knows how to fight, or one where 100% of the population can kick some ass?
So next time someone complains that the portrayal of women warriors in historical dramas is “not realistic,” remind them that the more historically inaccurate fallacy is one where there are no women warriors at all in societies that prized the art of battle in all aspects of life.
Masha Scream of Arkona (Source)
LINKS OF INTEREST
Japanese Warrior Women – Onna-Bugeisha
Rock Icons Episode – Heavy Metal God Rob Halford of Judas Priest
My love affair with the world of metal began in middle school when one of my friends was listening to Judas Priest’s “Metal Meltdown.” She said, “Hey, you gotta check this out.” I put the headphones to my ear and it was like a bolt of electricity was shot straight into my brain.
Now this isn’t to say I wasn’t already a fan of rock music. I grew up listening to my dad’s music collection of 60’s and 70’s rock legends like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Later on I was introduced to the “Nu Metal” trend of bands like Korn, and also rap/rock groups like Linkin Park (Yes, I’m admitting that I listened to Korn and Linkin Park).
But when Judas Priest entered my life, it was like everything I once thought was great paled in comparison to the awesome power of these raw and brutal Metal Deities.
What I really like about this video above is it does more than explain the creation of a type of music, it describes the birth of a Metal Legend and a way of life. Judas Priest wasn’t just some ordinary band, they developed the Heavy Metal leather rebel look, they pioneered the Heavy Metal sound.
Heavy Metal really has helped a lot of people get through the most difficult times of their life because it gives them a sense of invincibility and power. There are times in my life too that I felt weak and helpless, but when I fired up the Heavy Metal and blasted it out of the speakers of my car, I felt like I could do anything.
All hail the Metal God Rob Halford! \M/
Metal Gaia 