Posts tagged “black

Help Urarv Drummer Fight Cancer

urarv

GO FUND ME HERE

Recently Trish, the drummer of the Norwegian avant-garde black metal band Urarv found out she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I myself have battled breast cancer, and know how expensive and difficult this disease can be to deal with.

So please do what you can to help Trish, even if it’s just donating a few dollars along with a few minutes of your time.

Thanks!

 


Celtefog – The Rain Is Coming From The North

Country: Greece

Genre: Pagan Black Metal

Lyrical Themes: Respect for nature, winter, revenge against humanity.

Damn. When Greece makes black metal they definitely know how to make it dark and intense. Another big Greek Black Metal band to pay attention to is Rotting Christ.

The style of Celtefog also reminds me of the style of atmospheric black metal bands from the American North-West, like Agalloch.

This is definitely a haunting song to listen to as nature around us darkens and we prepare for the winter months


RELATED LINKS

a2179136737_10

Encyclopedia Metallum

Facebook

Official Website


Burzum – Lost Wisdom

Genre: Black Metal

Country of Origin: Norway

Themes: Rediscovering the ancient Pagan ways

For many people, the old school black metal is difficult to listen to because of its low production quality. However, for others, this is a big part of its appeal. After metal music became over commercialized in the 1980’s, the scene of Norwegian Black Metal that emerged in the late 80’s/early 90’s was appealing in a primordial, and natural kind of way. The music seemed a sort of dark, pagan magic re-emerging into a world that had become fake and synthetic.

Burzum evokes a gritty brutality that is quite captivating. Burzum itself means ‘darkness’ in the Black Speech, a fictional language from Lord of the Rings. The song above came from the album ‘Det som engang var.’ The album cover was visually inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. So there is obviously an interest in fantasy at work here.

Varg himself, the man behind the Burzum solo act is quite the controversial figure. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murder of  Mayhem guitarist Øystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth and the arson of three churches. What’s interesting is that Varg stabbed Euronymous a few days after the release of the album listed above.

After Varg’s release from prison in 2009 he recorded three further black metal albums.

Varg is also a controversial figure for his racist and anti-semitic views. However, amidst a lot of his rantings about race and the Jews, he does sometimes have some pretty brilliant things to say about the return to the ancient wisdom and truth.

Here is piece of an interview with him from the movie ‘Until The Light Takes Us.’ (The background music is Bathroy’s ‘One Rode to Asa Bay’)


Musician Challenges Christianity in Ghana – A Call For the Old Ways

“History has it that the colonial masters came with the Bible and the gun, gave the Bible to the Africans, as they pointed their guns at their heads.” — Azizaa

“They took away our spirituality and gave us religion; they banned us from gathering under a tree by the fireside and herded us into churches.”—Wanlov

According to a 2012 Gallup International Survey about religiousity around the world, Ghana is one of the most religious countries in the world. Indeed its the kind of country with a church on every street corner (or maybe four or five). Many of these churches are places where rich pastors prey on the poor. A quick google search of pastors in Ghana will pull up a list of the richest pastors. This expresses a clear message: Christianity is a big business in Ghana (as well as elsewhere in Africa). A fundamental part of this business is poor people going to mass and giving away a substantial part of their income to rich pastors.

These churches also demand that the African people abandon their ancient spiritual practices in favor of the new religion put in place by Western, colonial forces.Yet many people in Ghana still invoke the ancient juju when nothing else works.

Music artist Azizaa and rapper/video director Wanlov the Kubolor have recently collaborated together make a music video that directly challenges Christianity, the song is called “Black Magic Woman.”

In the video a woman is being harassed by two Christian missionaries. When these missionaries run after her, they are confronted by the forces of an ancient and powerful magic.

azizaa11

Azizaa Official Page

Azizaa Mystic Facebook

Wanlov Official Site

Wanlov the Kubolor Facebook


Lustre – They Awoke To The Scent Of Spring

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

Country of Origin: Sweden

Themes: Nature, Darkness, Mysticism, Spirituality

Perhaps this is not the right time of year at all for this album, but I’ve been enjoying the Hel out of it. It is a dark, ambient but magical meander into the blossoming of spring. The sounds of nature in the background, such as the rain at the end of this album, really bring to life a certain time of year and the mindset that you can often have when spring is just around the corner. Yet in addition to being magical, it also has an eerie and haunting tone that reminds one of walking into the darkness of a primeval forest. Lustre is an amazing band in general, especially in terms of capturing the mood of nature and expressing it in only that which music can accurately describe.

LINKS

Facebook

Lustre Black Metal and Dreamscapes


Satyricon – My Skin is Cold

“A heathens call, stand up or fall. This world is yours, for you to rule.”

Band Location: Norway

Musical Genre: Black Metal

Lyrical Themes: Mysticism, Nature, Apocalypse, Anti-Christianity

As the winter approaches for those of us in the world’s Northern Hemisphere, the ice cold chill of this Norwegian black metal song fits the season well. Satyricon makes for a formidable force with the singer’s ghoulish voice, pumping double bass drums and an ambiance that sounds like it was recorded in a primeval Norwegian forest. The Nordic fathers are calling, those ancient Heathen voices from long ago are returning yet, like torches in the dark. The black metal of today evokes voices of old, in their brutal, primal essence.

LYRICS

My skin is cold and the birds fly free
Over my head, where winter grows
A heathens call, stand up or fall
This world is yours, for you to rule

This, the blood of sin
Flows freely
This, unstoppable force
In the naked flesh
My skin is cold – your skin is cold

Black metal rock and scent of leather
And bloodstained gold
With rain and wind come times of change,
and dream come true
I go with you, on the path we make

This, the blood of sin
Flows freely
This, unstoppable force
In the naked flesh
My skin is cold – your skin is cold

Snow covered mountain
I gaze in awe
Wondering who and what was here before
I made my mark on that sacred soil
This phoenix rose from a pit of pain

This, the blood of sin
Flows freely
This, unstoppable force
In the naked flesh
My skin is cold – your skin is cold

One nations man carrying the weight,
of a peoples disgrace
This is the turnaround!
Driven by birthright and godsent will
The time has come for you to rule

This, the blood of sin
Flows freely
This, unstoppable force
In the naked flesh
My skin is cold – your skin is cold

SATYRICON LINKS

Official Site

Satyricon Playlist

Facebook

Metal Archives


Cnoc An Tursa – The Lion Of Scotland

Cnoc An Tursa is Gaelic for “Hill of Sorrow”

GENRE: Black/Folk Metal

LOCATION: Scotland

THEMES: Scottish History and Poetry

Happy Tuesday! Enjoy some riveting Scottish Black Metal. I’ve noticed that a lot of the good metal I’ve been listening to lately has been from Scotland. There must be something very awe inspiring about the Scottish landscape.

As mentioned above “Cnoc An Tursa” is Gaelic for “Hills of Sorrow,” which relates to the Callanish Standing Stones (similar to Stonehenge) which  is an actual place on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides Scotland.

Cnoc An Tursa started in 2006, but only has produced one album, “The Giants of Auld”. In an interview with Teeth of the Divine the band said it took them three times longer to produce the album than they expected. But hey – you can’t rush perfection, right?

The song posted above, “The Lion Of Scotland” is the second track on this album followed by a brief intro from “The Piper O’Dundee.” “The Piper O’ Dundee” is a well known Jacobite war song. The original lyrics of the song deal with the rebellious influence of music during the Jacobite era. The bagpipes were outlawed in Scotland because they were thought of as an “instrument of war.” Many of the other songs on the album are also based off old Scottish melodies.

In this album the guitar does a great job in lacing driving melodies over black metal ambiance. The only complaint I’ve heard about the band so far is the choice of screamed Hardcore vocals. I myself prefer clean or growled vocals, but there are some people who like the screamed style.

If you liked these guys, check out the links below.

Official Band Facebook

Encyclopedia Metallum Page


Watain – Outlaw Official Video

If you want a black metal seizure, behold this video.

Genre: Black Metal

Location: Sweden

Lyrical Themes: Lucifer, Death and Darkness

“The only way to create something of true beauty of this world is to look beyond its borders…to search outside of the mundane…to step into the realm of liberated wilderness, untamed fire and that ancient chaos to which every true and potent artist has been mouthpiece.” ~ Watain quote.

Watain captures a sort of magical chaos in their performances and music. Like a shaman, they go beyond the boundaries of the mundane to bring us – the audience – into the realm of the unknown. This is a band that has musical skill, but also knows how to this power onto the stage and put on an unforgettable performance. The above song captures the spirit of this anarchy, the feeling of what it is like to be an outlaw. True brilliance will always exist on the fringes of society, not within its borders. This is why many tribal shamans lived outside the tribe, so they could bring wisdom from a different place – a place beyond the accepted norm. So enjoy this musical chaos, this black metal pandemonium.

LINKS: 

Official Watain Page

Watain Facebook

Encyclopedia Metallum Page


Primordial – Heathen Tribes (Celtic Folk/Black Metal)

Most Relevant YouTube Comment: This band is “somewhere between Flogging Molly and Korpiklaani.”

Genre: Celtic Folk/ Black Metal

Lyrical Themes: Cultural heritage, struggle, history

Location: Dublin, Ireland

Primordial was originally a cover band that covered songs by Black Metal groups such as Bathory and Venom. But then they started performing their own Celtic influenced music. In terms of vocals this song has the organic simplicity of a punk, or Flogging Molly song. Yet this song still packs a punch with atmospheric, black metal instrumentals. While this song is pretty simple, it does convey the power of a primordial, ancient past.

Lyrics:

This is my church
It stands so tall and proud
It has done for all time

It has no walls
Yet its vast halls
Reach from shore to shore

To whatever shore
You know as your own
We stand as one, we stand alone

We are born
From the same womb
Hewn from the same stone

From the frozen Baltic
I watched sunrise over Athena
Walked the battlefields of Flanders
And saw duskfall at Cintra

Beneath the spires of Sofia
Fields of crosses at Arnhem
Armenius stood tall in Teuteborg
Senatus Populusque Romanus

To the fjords of Hordaland
Shadows of ancient Albion
At the shore of a 1000th lake
Saint Vitus dance in Praha

Yet when to Ireland we Return
I know that I am home at last
And every sun that sets
Takes me closer to her Earth

(Source)


Xanthochroid – Land of Snow and Sorrow (Folk Version)

A perfect theme song for this subzero winter we’ve been having!

Band Genre: Cinematic/ Melodic Black Metal

Location: U.S. California

Lyrical Themes: Self Created Lore

The song above is a folk tribute to a Wintersun song. You can read the song lyrics here. 

I am excited to discover a new band I like that begins with the letter ‘x’ so I can own my friends at Metal Scattergories (ever notice how the only metal bands that start with the letter ‘x’ are usually black metal?) But I digress. Xanthochroid is highly influenced by Wintersun, Opeth, Moonorrow, Emperor and many black metal bands.

As mentioned above, the lyrics of the band’s songs are about a fantasy story created by the band itself. I find that more and more bands are starting to use music to convey a story of their own creation. You can read more about their story idea on their facebook or in their lyrics.

According to facebook, their interests are: “hiking, camping, hunting and anal” – a very down to earth crew of folk as you can tell. Just don’t go mountain climbing around these guys with your pants off, because you never know what will happen…

So enjoy some gentle, haunting and at times bombastic music from Xanthochroid!

Facebook

Encyclopedia Metallum Page

Bandcamp Page


Satan: A Symbol of Man’s Subconscious Revolt Against Christianity?

Exploring a world of sex, drugs, rock and roll….and Satan.

531024_112866338860735_1723339542_n

DISCLAIMER: Pagans are not Satanists. Christians talk more about Satan than Pagans do. This article also does not represent every Satanist’s point of view, it just is a basic summary of Satanism in music and modern practice. This is not an article telling people to go worship Satan, it is merely examining the practice as well as the idea of Satan in other areas of cultural life. 

Although it is controversial, it is true that Satan has popped up in the subject matter and lyrical content for many heavy metal and rock bands throughout the years. Most of these musicians are not Satanists themselves. So why has Satan and Hell been a popular topic in the realm of Rock and Roll? I’m here to explore this theme and put some popular misconceptions about the whole deal to rest.

Music and art are a manifestation of the subconscious reality within ourselves. It is fascinating that the imagery of Satan, the so called Lord of all Darkness and Evil, has been such a prevalent musical topic and inspiration. So we must question, what does this iconic figure represent? Perhaps, rather than being a symbol of all evil and darkness – he has come to represent man’s suppressed primeval nature.

The Christian Church has long had a monopoly on the sexual and moral laws of man. Yet as the chains on the minds of men begin to crumble, man’s true instincts will bubble to the surface. Rock and Metal music are a manifestation of this primeval out-pour. This is why the legacy of Rock and Roll is sex, drugs and brutality.

Some look at Satan merely as a symbol. Yet there are a few who actually call themselves Satanists. How is Satanism practiced today? Does it involve sacrificing babies and drinking goat’s blood? Sorry, it’s not that exciting. If we’re talking about Satanists of the “Lavey variety,” imagine a room full of ritual atheists drinking wine and talking about their birthdays.  That’s right, some Satanists are actually Atheists while others are Theists. These are the two different approaches to Satanism in practice, Atheistic and Theistic.

So this article will look at the emergence of Satan as a counter-cultural icon in an age where the rules of Christianity are beginning to fade away.

SATANISM’S ORIGINS

PAN –  THE PRIMEVAL GOD OF THE FOREST GETS CO-OPTED

satan

What image does the word “Satan” conjure? A red goat man with a pointy tail and trident? The interesting thing here is that the bible didn’t actually give a very specific physical description of Satan. From what I’ve read, he was initially a fallen Angel who disguised himself as a serpent at some point. I don’t remember anything about pointy horns and a tail.

The goat-like image of Satan is an effort on the part of the early Christian Church to defame some of the popular Pagan Gods. Some of the key Gods who were converted into a Satanic image were Pan, a Greek who really knew how to party. Pan represented the free and primitive call of the forest to a place of natural sexuality and savage revelry. It is interesting that the Christians took the God of raw masculinity and nature to re-brand into their chief bad guy. Perhaps they were trying to tell people to ignore their base, primeval instincts.

SATAN AND SEXUALITY 

satansexj

There has long been an association between Satan and sexual power. Throughout the Middle Ages and even in some parts of the world today, many Christians believed that an initiate of Satan would meet him out in the woods and engage in sexual rites. It was primarily believed that witches (females received most of the blame) would have sex with Satan in the woods in exchange for supernatural powers and magic. This is why witch hunters and priests would verify the identity of a witch by examining her naked body, they were checking for “the devil’s mark.” This could be a mole, a birth mark or any kind of scar or skin blemish. The protests of the “witch” usually went ignored.

What is significant about this paranoia? Perhaps these priests were afraid of the Old Pagan Ways returning. After all, druids practiced out in wooded groves, as well as other spiritual folk. This also goes back to Pan, since he was a God of the Wild Wood.

In particular, there was a fear of women having access to magical power. Notice how all the church authority figures were male? This is why most of those accused of witchcraft were female. Yet the church fathers were not only afraid of female power – they were afraid of people getting in touch with their natural, sexual urges. Which explains the paranoia about people having sexual rites with the devil in the woods.

Satan’s role as a sexual deviant would later emerge powerful in the realm of rock and roll and metal.

PARADISE LOST: LUCIFER HAS A NEW MEANING IN PRE-ENLIGHTENMENT ERA

fallingangel

After brutal war between the Protestants and Catholics, many people were getting tired of religion. It is natural that the Enlightenment emerged with a celebration of reason and science – and a general discontent with Christianity.

Before the Enlightenment Era began, the poet John Milton wrote an epic poem about the fall of God’s highest Angel Lucifer to the lowest pits of hell. This was one of the first times that a major literary work portrayed Lucifer in a sympathetic light. He described himself with the now famous quote, “Better to reign in hell, then serve in heaven.” While Satan is still understood to be the antagonist of this work, there has been much debate throughout the ages as to his real role. In this Epic, Satan attempts to raise a rebellion and wrestle control of heaven from God, claiming that God is a tyrant and that the Angels should each be Gods onto themselves.

It is significant to note that Lucifer in this poem represented many of the traits that eventually became important in the Enlightenment Era: knowledge, self-determination, an escape from religious tyranny and individualism. During time periods in which people buck convention, Satan will play a role of inspiration. Later in the 1960’s, there was a massive social revolution spurred on by rock music, psychedelic drugs and “free love”. Here, Satan would once again become a revolutionary symbol. Satanism as a religious and occult practice also emerged into the limelight – or shall we say  darkened torchlight – during this era.

ALEISTER CROWLEY 

aleister

“The key of joy is disobedience. ” ~ Aleister Crowley 

The fascination with the occult began to rise during the 19th century. This was a time period in which Western Cultures were exploring (plundering) other parts of the world and opening their minds to alternative religions. This trend later continued into the 20th century.

Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) is one of the most well known Occultists of the 20th century. He is famous for such works as “The Book of The Law,” “Magic in Theory and Practice,” and “The Book of Thoth.” He was also a reknown sex and drug addict. He enjoyed opium, hashish and mescaline. There is some dispute over the fact of whether Aleister Crowley was actually a Satanist or not. Did he worship the old Pagan Gods, did he worship Satan or was it a mix of both for him?

In his Liber Samekh ritual, there are several invocations to Satan. Yet what did “Satan” mean to Crowley? Was it devil worship or something else? A key concept for Crowley was the idea of the “True Will.” A key quote from Crowley is “Do what though wilt, shall be the whole of the Law.” Perhaps to Crowley, Satan or Lucifer were manifestations of the True Will?

Thelmapedia gives a further explanation for this idea of the “true will.”

“The concept postulates that each individual has a unique and incommensurable inherent nature (which is identical to their “destiny”) that determines their proper course in life, that is the mode of action that unites their purest personal will with the postulated course that preexists for them in the universe (Source).” 

Read Thelmapedia  for more information on the works of Aleister Crowley.

How would this True Will manifest itself later in the 20th century?

The 1960’s controversial film maker Kenneth Anger made a movie about Aleister Crowley. An interesting fact about this film is that one of the actors, Bobby Beausoleil, was involved with the Manson family (Interview).

RISE OF THE “I-THEISTS”

ANTON LAVEY’S CHURCH OF SATAN

lavey

Above I mentioned that the character of Satan in Paradise Lost encouraged the angels to overthrow God and become their own Gods. Many modern day Satanists seek to revel in their own internal power and worship themselves as a God. In particular, this is a key ideology for Anton Lavey’s Satanists.

While not all Satanists are part of the Church of Satan, it is definitely prominent enough to mention. In 1966 Anton Lavey set out to create The Church of Satan and wrote The Satanic Bible. He reigned as the High Priest until his death in 1997.

What are the fundamental beliefs of Lavey’s Church of Satan? 

“Satanists are atheists. We see the universe as being indifferent to us, and so all morals and values are subjective human constructions.

Our position is to be self-centered, with ourselves being the most important person (the “God”) of our subjective universe, so we are sometimes said to worship ourselves. Our current High Priest Gilmore calls this the step moving from being an atheist to being an “I-Theist.”

Satan to us is a symbol of pride, liberty and individualism, and it serves as an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential. We do not believe in Satan as a being or person” Church of Satan FAQs.

What are some misconceptions about the Church of Satan? 

The Church of Satan FAQ section clears up several of the prominent myths about Satanists. This page explains that Satanists do not perform sacrifices, they do not ritually abuse people and they definitely do not have sex with children. Having sex with children, an animal or any non-consenting adult is strictly against the Satanic Rules and is grounds for immediate expulsion from the church. (Funny how this isn’t always the case for Catholic Churches…oh did I go there, yes I did!)

What kind of rituals do Laveyan Satanists have? 

Satanists do not see any Gods or divine forces behind ritual. They still perform rituals, but they see it as a kind of “self transformational psycho drama.” For Satanists, ritual is a means to expunge oneself of emotional baggage or to mark a significant occurrence in one’s life.

Criticisms of Lavey: There are some wild rumors that Lavey lied about portions of his past in his biography or that he even recanted his beliefs on his deathbed. The truth of these rumors however, remains unknown. In the content below however, I will give further examples of some criticisms that other Satanists may have of Lavey and the fact that he tried to turn Satanism into an organized institution.

THEISTIC SATANISTS

n1175226527_30079975_3444

Unlike Laveyan Satanists, Theistic Satanists are spiritual. It is hard to make assumptions about the beliefs of Theistic Satanists as a whole, since they are a diverse and disparate group of entities.

The common ground for many Theistic Satanists is the importance of knowledge, self-development and individualism.  In the Old Testament, Satan was a bringer of knowledge, since he is the one who encouraged Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and leave the limitations of Eden behind. The quest to raise up oneself, and one’s power is important to Theistic Satanists. These Satanists see Christianity as a demand for submission to a megalomanic God. In this dynamic, Lucifer plays the role of the liberator.

Beyond this common ground, there are many different orders, such as The Order of Nine Angels, The Temple of Black Light, Children of the Black Rose, Palladrists, and Luciferianists. Theistic Satanism is also sometimes called “Traditional Satanism.” These Satanists see Satan as an actual deity to worship. Some of the orders mentioned above see Lucifer as something entirely different from the “Devil.”

Luciferianists see Lucifer as a God of Light, Knowledge and equality. The Temple of the Black Light, on the other hand, believes in a militant nihilism. They believe that a true Satanist can never be a part of Society, since they believe society to be founded on lies.

It is difficult to accurately portray the attitudes of some of these orders, since they are closed to the public and are highly secretive in nature. However, there is a belief that some of the more radical Satanic groups despise Lavey’s Church of Satan and his modern attempts to make Satanism into something safe and socially approved. They believe that turning Satanism into a “church” is the ultimate irony, since a church is a part of an organized religion. Satanists from both the Order of Nine Angels as well as The Temple of Black Light have expressed that Satanism is supposed to remain on the fringes of society. They believe that Satanism isn’t supposed to be safe or socially sanctioned – rather, they think Satanism is supposed to be dangerous and embrace the chaos of the unknown.

This primeval chaos certainly manifested itself from the Sexual and Social revolution that emerged from the 1960’s via Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll.

SEX, DRUGS, ROCK AND ROLL….AND SATAN

behemoth

Metal and Rock music played a prominent role in breaking controversial ideas about Satan into the cultural mainstream. First of all, an overwhelming majority of rock and metal music is NOT about Satan. Yet as far as Rock and Metal are concerned, Satan played the same role for modern rockers that Dionysus played for the Ancient Greeks. Dionysus himself was a subconscious manifestation of drunken debauchery, raucous violence, in your face blatant sex and a general enjoyment of Earthly pleasures.

The Blues

Even the Blues, Rock’s ancestor, was called “The Devil’s Music.” Part of this was the controversial aspect of Blue’s Musicians using the “Blue’s Note” or the flattened fifth in a musical scale. This was already highly unconventional. Yet even more controversial was the gritty lyrical content of Blues Music itself: sex, drink and hardship. There is even a legend that Robert Johnson, a famous Blues virtuoso, received his guitar skills from the devil in exchange for his soul.

The Beginnings of Rock and Roll

Eventually the Blues spawned Rock and Roll with the song “Rocket 88” in 1951, a song about women and fast cars. A key feature of Rock and Roll music in the 1950’s is that it  flaunted sex in the face of a very sexually restrained American public. When Elvis started to gyrate his hips on stage, the women in the audience went insane with sexual delight – some even passed out from all the excitement. I wouldn’t blame them, considering that this was the same time period in which Ricky Ricardo and Lucy had to sleep in separate beds on television in their neck high pajamas.

The 1960’s Cultural Revolution

zeppelin

Hmm…a fallen angel, where have we seen that before? 

In the 1960’s, Rock Music became a key part of the sexual and cultural revolution. One of the prominent bands of the time, Led Zeppelin, incorporated symbols of the occult in their music and included the occasional allusion to Satan. Houses of the Holy for example contained the following Satanic Lyrics:

So the world is spinning faster. Are you dizzy when you’re stoned
Let the music be your master. Will you heed the master’s call
Oh… Satan and man.

There is some controversy about Led Zeppelin, considering their interest in Aleister Crowley. This interest is fairly obvious – considering that Jimmy Page bought Aleister Crowley’s old house – The Boleskine House! However, in recent years Jimmy Page has denied that he had anything to do with Satanism and that the occult was merely a musical topic – not a lifestyle.

Hard Rock and Heavy Metal

blacksabbathcross

Later, as the genre of Rock and Roll evolved into Metal in the 1970’s, hard rockers continued to use Satanic imagery and symbolism in their lyrics and band art. While these Satanic images were used to cause shock and controversy, most of these heavy metal bands deny any actual involvement with Satanism as a religion. Other artists from this era, such as Ozzy and Danzig, would also deny bowing before Satan in real life. You can read the Danzig article here. In this way, Satanism was more of an artistic concept – a symbol for the return of the primeval self.

The Rise of Black Metal

watain

Eventually, a genre emerged in the 1980’s that truly celebrated Satan – Black Metal. This began when the English Heavy Metal band Venom’s second album, Black Metal kick-started an entire genre. Unlike previous genres that dismissed Satan as a mere artistic muse, early Black Metal embraced Satan very openly. Upside down Pentagrams and bloodied crucifixes became a staple of the genre. Bands like Burzum even engaged in burning churches – although Burzum’s frontman Varg believes in the Ancient Norse Religion, not Satanism. Later in the 1990’s, some Black Metal groups eventually made the split from Satan-centric content and delved into the world of Ancient Paganism. You can read about that in my article: Bathory and Paganism.

Yet there are many Black Metal artists today who still have a strong connection with Satan. Behemoth’s newest album in 2014 will be called “The Satanist.”

Watain is one of the key, openly theistic satanist bands in the world of Black Metal. While they like to keep a majority of their rituals private, they have incorporated this ritual atmosphere into their music and art. Erik Danielsson, the Frontman of Watain, discusses the bands connection to Satanism more in the following interview.

If you would like to see an example of ritualistic ambience in Watain, watch the opening of Watain’s 2012 DVD.

SATANISM IN SUMMARY

480900_386600591450315_1310284092_n

Satanism is a diametrical opposition of Christianity’s laws. Where Christianity demands humility, chastity, love for all and obedience; Satanism calls for pride, lust, love for only those you care about and devotion to the self. Some Satanists use upside down crosses or inverted Christian symbols to show their own personal rebellion.

Do I agree with the principles of Satanism? No. I won’t expand too much on my personal opinion here, but I’ll throw down my two cents. Why am I a Pagan instead of a Satanist? I am not looking to follow an inverted form of Christianity. I am looking to follow the eternal laws of Nature as our ancestors did for millennia.

Yet Satanism is clearly significant here in a cultural context. As the hold of the Christian Church on the minds of men began to crumble, people began to look to Satan as a symbol of rebellion in order to break their shackles. Paradise Lost became popular in the 17th century because this was a time when key thinkers were breaking free from the church and beginning to explore new scientific and spiritual ideas about life and nature.

Eventually Satan became merged with our understanding of Ancient Pagan deities – as he represented a sort of raw, primeval power. This chthonic power took root in Rock and Roll and inspired the masses to break the conventions of their time. People began to explore ancient ideas about sex and identity.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Bathory’s transition from Satanic to Pagan based metal 


Moonsorrow-Sankarihauta

The name of the band was inspired by Celtic Frost’s song “Sorrows of the Moon”

Genre: Folk/Pagan/Black Metal

Lyrical Themes: Paganism, Legends, War, Folklore, End of the World

The band originally started out as a black metal band. Over time they started adding folk elements to their music and eventually Moonsorrow evolved into a pagan/folk metal band. This was evident in their debut album, “Suden Uni”. According to Metal-Archives, they have once again started reaching for a darker sound, starting with the “Verisäkeet” album.

The video for this song was put together by a fan who took clips from “Course of the Ring” by director Uli Edel.

Official Website

Facebook

Metal-Archives


Tengger Calvary 长生天铁骑 – (Nomadic Mongolian Folk Metal)

Listen to this band or Genghis Khan will light you on fire.

Tengger Calvary is a one man band hailing from Beijing China. 天然 (Nature), the man behind the band, is heavily influenced by Mongolian Spirituality. “Tengger” is the high lord, father of the sky. This band presents the ideal harmony between elements of modern metal and Chinese and Mongolian folk. In many folk metal bands, the folk instruments can overwhelm the song: as if to say – “hey everyone! We’re folk metal!” rather than writing a comprehensive song.

Yet in Tengger Calvary, Horse head fiddle, Mongolian throat singing and Buddhist bells work together well with modern elements of metal  – such as catchy guitar hooks, molten hot solos and double bass drumming.

MONGOLIAN THROAT SINGING, MIMICRY OF NATURE

mongolianlandscape

Mongolian throat singing is the production of more than one pitch in the chest or throat at the same time. The open landscape of Mongolia allows for sounds to carry a great distance.  Often, singers will travel into the countryside looking for the right river, or will go up to the steppes of the mountainside to create the proper environment for throat-singing. The singing itself is connected to an animistic set of beliefs. Animism is the idea that the objects of nature have their own spiritual power. Throat singing takes this idea a step farther, attempting to mimic the sounds of nature. (More information about Throat Singing)

TENGGER CALVARY LINKS 

tenggercalvary

Myspace 

Facebook 

YouTube Video Collection

Metal Archives Listing

Blood Sacrifice Shaman Album

Metal-China-Wiki Article

CURIOUS ABOUT MONGOLIAN SPIRITUALITY? 

tengerism

Check out the Circle of Tengerism


Primordial – The Coffin Ships

A tale of famine, 3 million dead and many more gone. One of Ireland’s saddest tales. 

Genre: Celtic/Folk/Black Metal

Lyrical Themes: Cultural Heritage, History, Struggle, Paganism, Dark Romanticism

Origin: Dublin, Ireland

Primordial’s music has a simple but powerful aesthetic. There are no keyboards and flutes. Simply the power of voice, acoustic guitars and drums.

This is a song heavy with woe and grief. The history of Ireland itself is one of blood and tragedy. Between the years of 1845 – 1849 a great famine ravaged Ireland, outsiders call it “The Potato Famine”. The Irish call it “The Great Hunger.” Anywhere from 1 million to 3 million people died in this famine. Many of their youth left the shores of Ireland on ships to America. The Irish called these “Coffin Ships.”

This event was a dividing line in Irish History, after which many Nationalist movements formed in Ireland – seeking an escape from the United Kingdom of Great Britain. For you see, the British took much Irish farmland and used it for farming beef to export to Britain. Many Irish folk were pushed off their land and forced to contend with smaller plots. The potato was a crop that could grow abundantly on a small amount of land, so it became the food of the poor. Yet the poor became dependent upon it. Eventually a disease killed most of the potatoes in 1845 – resulting in “The Great Hunger.”

Check out the lyrics for this song here, to read more on this tale of woe. 

PRIMORDIAL OFFICIAL BAND WEBSITE

Primordial Facebook


Native Blood

Metal in itself has been a way to empower those on the fringes of society. A person who’s lived their life in the shadows can make themselves heard via blazing guitars, amps tuned up to 11 and screaming vocals that make your neighbors loathe the day you were born. It’s the music that says, “If you try to push me against a wall, I’ll push you off the nearest cliff. If you ignore me, I’ll give you something you can’t ignore. My fist.”

If you want to talk about a group on the fringes of society, let’s talk about Native Americans. They are a people who used to be 60 million strong in this country, but now number only 500,000. They have been pushed out and replaced in their own home land, and given some of the worst land to eek out an existence as a token for their troubles. Today many are plagued by alcoholism and some of the worst poverty/unemployment rates in the nation.

This video tracks the life of a Native American boy: getting bullied at school, dealing with parents who don’t want him to date their daughter and seeing the Earth his ancestors lived on getting sold away to the highest bidder. Yet the boy draws strength from his struggles. His voice will be heard. He will draw power from his Native Blood and heritage.

Testament made this video on behalf of the singer Chuck Billy’s own Native American heritage, tracing back to the Pomo line of Northern California. The video itself was filmed on the Hopland Indian reservation in Hopland, California.

The goal of this blog is to embrace Earth Based Culture. Natural cultures of the Earth. Earth based spirituality and wisdom. Not only must Native Americans rise up and defend their mother Earth, but all cultures can learn from their struggle. Your heritage can be a source of history, knowledge and power. In many of the Epic Legends of old, heroes not only named themselves, but they named their fathers, and their father’s father’s, and the line of their people as far back as they could remember. They didn’t do this to be boring (although it may seem pointless to the modern reader), they did it because they shared a collective ancestral memory and destiny with their kin.

Up until the modern age, a person’s culture was something that sprung up from the Earth. Festivals revolved around the rotations of the sun and the phases of the moon. “Where is now the intricate richness of traditional costume, in which every folk could express its own nature, on its own landscape? (Ludwig Klages, Man and Earth).”

Being proud of your heritage doesn’t mean avoiding all other people who don’t conform to that heritage. Rather, it means understanding where your forefathers have been in order to know where you yourself are going. Yet the trouble in this day and age is that many people are lost. We don’t know who our ancestors were.  Some people have a vague idea of what country their forefathers may have come from. But when it comes to the stories, the traditions, the folk lore of our people – we are clueless. We are like a tree without its roots, and without roots such a tree will be blown around in the breeze without direction or purpose.

Some people came to America out of desperation. Others were kidnapped or coerced. Yet the commonality that most Americans have with one another is that the rich bank of lore that connected them with their ancestors was a slate wiped clean. That deep knowledge was replaced with Pepsi jingles and the latest story on Snooki’s baby. We are a country with shallow roots and shallow values. Through the imperialistic American agenda, we have succeeded in spreading these values to most quarters of the globe. And what do we have now to show for it? The idiotic idea that we have an endless supply of resources to consume. We need this endless train of gizmos to fill the void within ourselves, because our lives have no real meaning.

Yet nature is persistent. Like weeds beginning to grow in a well manicured garden, something is happening in the subconscious mind of people around the world. Our ancestors are knocking – no pounding on the door. They are telling us to wake up from this mindless destruction before it’s too late.

People are becoming interested once again in ancient cultures. You can see this every where. From music, to movies, to the interest in Eastern and Native American spirituality, to the popularity of a show like Spartacus on television. It’s all pointing to a re-emergence of Earth based spirituality.

Eastern spirituality is popular because many of their ancestral traditions are still alive and thriving. Compare this to the West where Ancestral Traditions were burned, destroyed and oppressed in every way the Christian Church could possibly think of for hundreds of years. In terms of ethnic heritage, I am mostly a Celt. I am a mix of Irish, Scottish, French blood with a few other things thrown in like Croation and the possibility of Native American blood. Yet do I know anything about my own ancestors? Their traditions? Their fights? Their rituals? Aside from what I can read in a textbook or website about the matter, No. Yes, the information is out there, but there is a thousand year gap of distortion in the way. Compare that to India where you can go to a Hindu Guru who’s learned directly from a master, who learned from another master, who learned from a chain of masters that could date back for a thousand years.

Some people say that White People don’t have a culture and I blame Christianity and Capitalism for that fact. Much was also done to African American slaves to annihilate all traces of their ancestral memories, and replace their traditions with Christianity – a religion of subversion. Is it no small wonder that slavery worked better in religious, puritanical America than it did in other places around the world?

So what do we do now? Our roots have been cut, how do we grow them back? I think so much has happened that it is nigh impossible to revert back to whoever our ancestors may have been. And many Americans will never truly know who they were. At this point our ancestors are a silhouette in the dark.

As trees without roots, we line the canopy of the forest floor and have become rotting logs. Our only purpose being to take up space until some forest fire burns us away. It may take some large wave of destruction/global warming/man made disaster to clear away the debris of this toxic culture so a new and better society can grow out of the ashes of the wake.

But there is another option. That option is that we can rediscover our roots. Much like the Native American boy of this video who was clutching his necklace as an emblem of power. I don’t mean that we should rediscover our roots in a racist way – excluding others who don’t match our ancestral path.

Let me put it this way. All successful ecosystems are diverse. The rainforest itself is a testament to that fact, with the largest number of plant and animal species surviving together. So let us become like the rainforest and find a common ancestry in the Earth. I have a Celtic ancestry and as you can see, I post a lot of Celtic Pagan material on this blog. Yet I also learn lessons from Norse, Roman, Hindu, Buddhist and Native American cultures. If a healer has medicine to offer me, I’m not going to decline based on the color of his hand.

So what is my Native Blood? It is dirt. It is clay. It is twig. It is vine. It is an endless message sewn within the seams of time. It is the wind, the fire, the air and water of the Earth. It is the cosmic heritage that spawned my birth. I am particles, stardust, universal DNA – intertwined. I am a messenger of ancient truths communicated online. I am the seeds of Yggdrasil. The rings of a redwood tree. I am the echoes of decimation that proceeds eternity. I am the thunderbolt that bleeds electric from the darkening sky. I am the prophet that breathes great happenings are nigh. I am the voice that calls to you from the void in your sleep. I am everything because I can be nothing. I am Metalgaia, harbinger of destiny.