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.

Montag, 28. April 2014

Ævangelist - De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis

 Ævangelist - De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis (2012)

This title is quite nice, because a title starting with "de" - "about" was typical for scientific and/or philophical works written in latin (in ancient Rome as well as in times of Humanism and Renaissance). It means "About the cheewing of the deads in the graves". The title's meaning is ambiguous: it means that the dead are still chewing as well as that the dead are eaten.

On the album there are two titles with latin words:
- Anno Mortii - In the year of the dead
- Crematorium Angelicum - the angel's crematory

In 2013 they released another album with a Latin title: Omen Ex Simulacra. The word omen means the same as in English, ex means "out of/ from" and simulacrum image, reflection, shadow, illusion, wraith.

 Ævangelist - Omen Ex Simulacra (2013)

Sonntag, 6. April 2014

Schammasch - Sic luceat Lux

Schammasch - Sic luceat lux (2010)

All good things come in threes! A few days ago Vader used three latin words to name their next album, right now I found the Swiss Band Schammasch, who named their debut Sic luceat lux - So shall shine the light!
The track you can listen to above is from their forthcoming album "Contradiction". Great stuff!