What's all this fuss about?

Latin lyrics in Heavy Metal music are a common phenomenon. The darker the music, the more evil the band wanna be. What's better than using an old, mysterious, hardly understandable, cryptic, medieval and therefore almost satanic language? Unfortunately bands seldom know how to use this language properly. So, instead of evoking the demons of the realm of evil, they just evoke a hop-frog. Clatu verata nicto! - The most of you know what happened after this wrongly spoken spell.

Normally, two questions are the result of the fact that you've just read a latin phrase:
- What does it mean? (almost everybody)
- Is it correct? (just a few latin aficionados)

This page doesn't want to make fun of mistakes in latin lyrics. I wanna answer the first question to everybody who is interested. The second question is just for myself or for the two or three weird guys out there or for bands which are thinking about using a latin phrase as well. You can contact me if you want.

Freitag, 24. August 2012

Eïs - Lykoi

Eïs - Kainsmal (2011)

Today, a little bit of Ancient Greek. On "Kainsmal", there is a song called Lykoi. This means wolves in English (and, by the way, "Ulver" in Norwegian). The song starts with the words Outo pos exei kardian lykou periplanate monaxos - He who has the heart of a wolf inside of him, wanders alone.

Maybe you already know that the band started under the name Geïst (German for ghost) but that they had to change their name due to an alternative rock band with the same name. So they quitted the first and last letter and got Eïs. This is a German word as well and means Ice (the German counterpart is pronounced like the English word). But for having two dots (and I don't thing that they are röck döts) there is a second way of pronouncing this word - like a combination of the sounds of the "e" from "end" and "ese" from "these". Now you have a Latin word which means to them, for them.

I don't know if the band knows this or if it was the band's intention, but nevertheless: If you want to see it, you get another starting-point for your interpretations.

Donnerstag, 16. August 2012

The Foreshadowing - Second World

The Foreshadowing - Second World (2012)

Recently, Italian's Atmospheric Doomsters The Foreshadowing released their third record. On three tracks, they uses Latin quotes:

~ Havoc ~

Here, they changed one word, compared to the latin text of the Bible.

Gloria in excelsis Deo
Et in terra infernum laudamus te.


Glory in the highest to God,
And hell on earth. We praise you 

Originally, the bible says "pax - peace" instead of "infernum - hell".

~ Reverie is a Tyrant ~ 

The Latin words Absolve domine animas omnium fidelium defunctorum are from the Requiem and mean
"Forgive, o Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed."

~ Noli timere ~

The ninth track is called Noli timere which means: Don't be afraid. At the end they use some latin lines, which are a quote from Revelation I,17. They sound like Gregorian chants - nice and really atmospheric. Follow the link under the picture and check it out!

et cum vidissem eum
cecidi ad pedes eius tamquam mortuus
et posuit dexteram suam super me dicens
noli timere 


And when I saw him, 
I fell at his feet as dead. 
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me
don't be afraid.

Freitag, 10. August 2012

Therion - Symphony Masses

Therion - Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas (1993)

Recently, I was asked about the meaning of the song title Symphoni Draconis Inferni. This latin title means Symphony of the infernal dragon. The band's name and the subtitle is ancient greek: therion means beast, big animal, and ho drakon ho megas means the great dragon.