Mayhem - Deamon

Mayhem - Deamon (2019)

Well, there is a Norwegian black metal band called Mayhem. I guess some of you have already heard of them. They say that they are quite famous - don't know... Ok, Mayhem are bloody famous, but not for their Latin skills. They didn't much here in 2019 either.

The song title Agenda Ignis means The agenda of fire.

The song "Malum" contains Latin lyrics:

Mors certa hora incerta - death is certain, the hour uncertain Daemonem liberta - Free the deamon! (The imperative "free!" means "libera" in Latin, "liberta" isn't a correct form) Mens mala - Evil sense Animus malus - Evil soul Ab infernus sulus - From infernal soil (this is what I guess. "sulus" doesn't exist. "solum" means "soil". The preposition "ab" needs the ablative case which would be "ab inferno solo") Daleo perdeo extinguo - ???, I destroy (correct: "perdo"), I exstinguish Malum magnum excito - I evoke the big evil Daleo perdeo extinguo - see above Malum magnum excito - see above Convoro lucem - I devour light. Mors certa hora incerta - see above Daemonem liberta - see above Daleo perdeo extinguo - see above Malum magnum excito - see above Diabolicus fatus - Diabolical fate (correct: fatum diabolicum) Purifies ad crucem - ??? to the cross (maybe they mean "purify") Adlecto necto - ??? ??? (no existing words) Mortem vesto - ??? death Impetus excitus - called attack (?) Daleo perdeo extinguo - see above Malum magnum excito - see above Well, the majority of the phrases are ok, but I have no explanations for some words which haven't anything in common with Latin words.

Mayhem - My Death & Ordo ab Chao

Mayhem - My Death - Chimera (2004)

At the end of the quoted song you hear the line odium humani generis. Three simple, correct words, a delight for every latin teacher, a phenomenon which drives students crazy, because you can translate this line in two different ways.

odium (subject) - hatred
humani generis (genitive object) - of humankind

1.) The genitive marks the one who feels hatred: the hatred of humankind
2.) The genitive marks the one who is hated by someone else: the hatred towards humankind.

I guess, the second interpretation is what Mayhem wants to express.

By the way, I was also asked to tell something about the album title Ordo ad Chao.
You find informations about it in the internet, but I will explain it for the sake of comleteness.

Ordo ad Chao means order (leads) into chaos. The is the inversion of the quote Ordo ab Chao - Order from Chaos, which is used as a motto by the Freemasons.

Mayhem - Mediolanum capta est

This album title means "Milan is captured."

("Mediolanum" is the latin name of "Milan". The correct phrase is: Mediolanum captum est.)

Mayhem - Symbols of bloodswords

Mayhem - Symbols of bloodswords - Wolf's lair abyss (1997)

tanto magis infra se cecidit
quanto magis se contra gloriam
sui conditoris erexit

the more he fell down
the more he arose against the glory
of his originator

(The phrase is quite good, that's why I don't make any comments about the grammar. The logical order of this phrase is: the more he arose - the more he fell...)

Mayhem - De mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Mayhem - De mysteriis Dom Sathanas - De mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1993)

I bow my head in reverence to this ground-breaking band within the black metal scene. Musically, they are part of the Olymp. Lyrically, refering to their latin parts, they are... somewhere else.
On their legendary CD "De mysteriis Dom Sathanas" they use latin phrases in the last song, which has the same title the CD has. The song describes the situation of a black mass in which a priest evokes the prince of darkness.

De mysteriis Dom Sathanas - About the mystery of the Lord Satan
"Dom" is the abbrevation of "dominus - lord, master", here in the genitive form "domini - of the lord". "Sathanas" (correct: satanas) is the genitive form in ancient greek of the word "satan" (which actually is a hebrew word). I'm sure you know the translation of this word.

Now the latin lyrics:

heic noenum pax - here is no peace
("heic" is unknown to me, the correct form is "hic"; "noenum" is the archaic form of "non" which means "no")

de grandaevus antiquus malum tristis arcanus mysteria scriptum - about aged old the evil sad arcane mystery written
(my translation tries to imitate the grammatically wrong structure of the latin phrase, though it's quite complicate in english. In latin the endings of all the nouns, adjectives and participles are changing, depending in which case the word is used or to which other form the word refers. In the latin line there is no structure, the most words are in their "normal" form, as you find them in the dictionary.)


invoco cruentus domini de daemonium - covered with blood I invoke the lord of the demon
(the endings of "domini" and "daemonium" are wrong, as well as the use of the word "de - from".)

rex sacrificulus mortifer - king, victim priest, bringer of death

psychomant(i)um et precor exito annos major - oracle of the dead and I pray with the end the years bigger
(this phrase is totally wrong, none of these words is in the matching form.)

ferus netandus sacerdos magus - wild (animal), ???, priest, mage
("netandus" isn't an existing latin word. There is "nefarius - godless" which sounds similar to that.)

mortem animalium - the death of all animals/ creatures.