Behemoth’s Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel – A Rite of Transformation and Power

This video will blow your mind

Yesterday, the Polish Death Metal band Behemoth released a new video for their song “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel.” This song will appear on their next album “The Satanist,” which will be coming out in 2014. The album is currently available for pre-order. Nergal (the vocalist) said he was inspired in the making of this album by his battle with cancer (Metal Injection). There are few things more brutal than telling cancer “nope” and kicking its neoplasmic ass straight to hell.

Now let’s talk about the song above. First I would like to complement the bassist. Listen to the bass at 3:41 for example, I love that part!  The bass wasn’t just like “Raaar brutal metalz jun jun jun jun,” it was the velvet wall between the trumpets, drums and guitar, a texture that gave the song definition, emotion and dynamics. In terms of the rest of the song, it of course is very reminiscent of Behemoth’s usual sound. But they did a great job, as usual, in amping up the brutality on this one.  Makes me excited to listen to the rest of the album when it comes out.

The video itself is a masterpiece to be sure. I can’t give you a clear cut answer for what the video represents itself, but I have my own interpretation. In this video a girl goes through a journey and a transformation. She walks through a field and finds herself with a trio of “satanist priests?”

The most visually jarring part of the video is where the music picks up in intensity. After the girl drinks the ritual (wine?) she goes through a painful transformation. She starts vomiting blood, thorns pierce her body, her eyes become red with blood and she loses her hair.

As I mentioned earlier, Nergal states that he was inspired by his battle with cancer. What happens to a person when they battle cancer? They lose their hair, spend a lot of time vomiting – possibly vomiting blood – and of course go through mind wrenching pain. I think this girl’s transformation represents Nergal’s interpersonal battle with cancer. At the end of the painful transformation, the girl is something new – something unearthly. She is an angel or a demon, blowing Gabriel’s trumpet. She is more powerful than she was before, having overcome her barbaric rite.

Yet I see a meaning here that goes beyond a battle with cancer. Behold, there are religious images splashed throughout the video: a rosary, a crucifix, a Jewish menorah, a man sacrificing a lamb, etc. Remember, the album that this song is from is called “The Satanist.” Perhaps the girl’s battle represents The Satanist’s battle against all religions and ideologies. It is a battle against systems that attempt to control the mind and the soul. At the end, the new Satanist initiate is more powerful having overcome the religious restraints on her mind and does something that Christ speaks against – she blows her own horn. She is an entity onto herself, a primeval wolf in the forest, her own personal God. She proclaims herself as such as false religions crumble around her.

At least…that’s my interpretation. What’s yours?

December 4, 2013 | Categories: Death Metal, Music, Satanism/Black Magic, The Dark Arts | Tags: behemoth, blow your trumpet gabriel, interpretation, meaning, official video, rite, video | 12 Comments