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.

Samstag, 9. November 2013

Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen


Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen (2013)

Welcome, trick Nr.5! Quite dark and obscure, more a network of mere impressions. Ihsahn used some German words and some Latin ones as well - so here we go:

  • Hiber - the noun hiems means winter, and the adjective hibernus wintry.
  • Tacit - he/she/it remains silent
  • Sub Ater - sub means under/ underneath and ater means dark, black. The term sub ater isn't grammatically correct: under the black would be sub atrum/ sub atra, and underneath the black sub atro/ atris.
  • Sum quad eris - (what the choir sings in "Regen") This is a spelling mistake, it must be sum quod eris - I am what you'll be. This was a often used writing on tombstones: fui quod es, sum quod eris - I was, what you are (now), I am what you will be.
    Or, in latin metres: Siste viator iter, per me tu gnothi seauton, Nam quod es hoc fueram, quod sum nunc et eris - Hold on, traveller, with my help you know yourself, because what you are, was I and what I am now, you'll be.

Samstag, 27. Juli 2013

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony


 Fleshgod Apocalypse - Agony (2011)

Fleshgod’s music isn’t metal for the masses. Their mix of classic orchestration and insane and complex death metal is quite demanding. So are their lyrics, the English as well as the Latin ones. They don’t content themselves with screaming words like “sathanas”. They dig deaper into ancient books. Some of the phrases are very well-known, some I didn’t found in classical textes, so I guess that they wrote it by themselves. Hats off!

~ The Imposition ~

Semper avarus eget et hostis humani generis est
He who is always greedy lives in want and is an enemy of the human race

Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat
Impunity always invites to greater crimes.

Parcere subiectis (et) debellare superbos
To spare the subdued and war down the proud 
This is a quote of Vergil’s Aeneis, Book 6, Verse 853, where (in the underworld) the dead Anchises reveals the future and destiny of Rome to his son Aeneas.


Ab uno disce omnis
From one, learn all/ the whole 
Again a quote of the Aeneis, Book 2, Verge 65. Here, the whole phrase talks about the Trojan Horse.

Fiat iustitia et mundus pereat
Let there be justice, though the world perish 
This was the motto of Ferdinand I, the Holy Roman Emperor of 1558.

~ The Deceit ~

Discete aut disce quam ubi non accusator, ibi non judex
Learn (plural) or learn (singular) that there is no jugde where is no accuser. 
(Although discite would be the correct imperative plural)

Si vis pacem para bellum, cur qui tetigerit picem inquinabitur ab ea
If you want peace, prepare for war, because he who touched pitch, will be besmeared by it

Impares nascimur, pares morimur, ergo iustitiam quaerimus, rem omni auro cariorem cur pulvis sumus et in pulverem reverterimus
Unequal we are born, equal we die, so we seek justice, which is more valuable than gold, because we are dust and to dust we turn

~ The Egoism ~

Si vitam inspicias hominum, si denique mores, cum culpant alios: quia nemo sine crimine vivit
If you look at the men’s lives, or at least at his manners, (see, that) everyone has a skeleton in the closet, although he blames the others
This is a poem from the Distichs of Cato (the Elder, 234 -149 BC). In fact, the collection of Roman proverbial wisdom is older and not originally written by Cato. Fleshgod filled in the word quia – because. This doesn’t make any sense, because it turns the only main clause into a subordinate clause and it destroys the hexameter. But I don’t want to blame the others!

~ The Oppression ~

Quis habet fortius certamen quam qui nititur vincere se ipsum?

Who is forced to struggle more than he who tries to master himself?
Thomas à Kempis - The Imitation of Christ, Book I,3

Keep on rockin’, FG and see you in the “Labyrinth”.

Donnerstag, 25. Juli 2013

Powerwolf - Preachers of the Night

Powerwolf - Preachers of the Night (2013)

~ Coleus Sanctus ~

When I first read the title, I thought "What the f***?"  The title means Holy balls. (Althought the plural form Colei Sancti would have been better - Holy ball isn't that masculine) But then I checked the whole lyrics and saw that my first impression was right and that their lyrics are quite funny and ironical.

Coleus Dominus Sanctus Animus
Coleus Sanctus
Coleus Dominus Sanctus Animus

Balls Lord Holy Spirit
Holy Balls 
Balls Lord Holy Spirit

~ Kreuzfeuer ~

Ave deus animus - O Lord soul
Credo peccatoribus - I believe in the sinners
Sanctus iesus dominum - Holy Jesus Lord
Cantus mortus filium - The dead son's song (?)
(I guess, the grammar isn't correct)

Mater deus oremus - Let's pray the the Lord's mother
Omnis malus impetus - the whole evil attack/ urge
Sanguis virgo saeculum - Blood virgin century
Sanctus lupus dominum - Holy wolf Lord
(again, not every ending is correct)

~ Extatum et oratum ~

Peccatum - sin
Cantatum - sung, song
Extatum et oratum - ecstasy (???) and prayed
Peccatum cantatum nomine - sinful song by the name
Patrum - of the fathers
Nomine patrum- by the name of the fathers
(here, the most of the forms have endings without any sense in this context, but it sounds funny...)

Freitag, 8. März 2013

Rotting Christ - Grandis Spiritus Diavolos

Rotting Christ - Kata ton Daimona eautou (2013)
 
 
Demons of the world, unite! In 2013, Rotting Christ sings about a lot of aspects of occultism: Mesopotamian, ancient Greece, Viking, Rumanian and Russian and - of course - Christian demons. For every demon they use elements of it's proper language. Here is the catholic one:
  
Ave pater tenebrae grandis - Hail, great father of the darkness
Gloriossissime pater - most glorious father
Gloria - gloria - glory - glory
Salve domine inferum pater - Hail Lord, father of the demons
Sanctum est nomen tuum - holy is your name
Gloria - gloria - glory - glory

Magna patris - gloria grandis - great glory of the great father
De profundis - nostris patris - out of the depths of our father

Grandis spiritus diavolos - great spirit demon

Pater nostrum qui es in caelis - Our father who art in heaven
Sanctifacatus sit nomen tuum - hallowed be thy name
Victoria - victoria - victory - victory
Pater grandis et liberalis - great and kind father
Sed libera nos a bono - but deliver us from good
Victoria - victoria - victory - victory

Magni patris - gloria grandis - great glory of the great father
De profundis - nostris patris - out of the depths of our father

Grandis spiritus diavolos - great spirit demon

In nomine penebrae patris - in the name of the father's darkness (? > tenebrae)
In domine libertatis - in the name of liberty
In nomine gloriae grandis - in the name of the great glory
In nomine satana - in the name of Satan.
 
Finally, Rotting Christ put together some fragments of Roman liturgy, especially from the Lord's prayer. Not all the latin forms, genders and endings are correct, but the devil will understand them all right.

One last comment concerning the album's title. Some say that it's a phrase said by Aleister Crowley and means "Do what you will!" If Crowley said it, I don't know. Anyhow, the title is written in Ancient Greek and means "in accordance with the inner demon itself". In Ancient times, men believed that every man had his personal "demon" or - better - "inner voice". The word "daimonion" haven't had a negative connotation then. It was also a little bit similar to our idea of the guardian angel.

Maybe you know Socrates, the famous philosopher and persistent inquisitor of morale aspects. He was contemned to death because of corrupting the youth and of denying the Gods of the city of Athene. In court, he also refered to his daimonion and said that he just puts into practice what his inner voice says to him.