Opeth - Pale Communion

Opeth - Pale Communion (2014)

I have to confess, I was not the first. For I was on holiday the last days, I couldn't buy the new Opeth record yet and therefore it was wikipedia who told me that there are three latin sayings in the triptych you can see on the cover. Where are my sackcloth and the ashes?

• On the left: An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur? - Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?
  The Swedish statesman Axel Gustavsson Oxenstierna wrote this sentence to his son in 1648, because he wanted to encourage him for the forthcoming negociations which leaded to the Peace of Westphalia - the end of the Thirty Year's War.

• In the middle: Hoc tempore obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit. - In these days friends are won through flattery, the truth gives birth to hate.
  This sencence appears in the comedy "Andria", written by the Roman author Terence in 166 BC.
  

• On the right: Ille dolet vere qui sine teste dolet. - He grieves truly who grieves without a witness.
  You can find this phrase in Epigramma I,33 by Martialis. In this little poem he blames a girl because she just weeps over her dead father when witnesses are around.

Schammasch - Split my Tongue

Schammasch - Contradiction (2014)

Schammasch loves the light! You'll find this topic quite often in their lyrics. In the first record's title you had "lux - light" and "luceat - it shall shine". Now, in the second track of their new record, there is the adjective "lucidum - shining, bright, lucid".

Aleph lucidum in noluntas Dei - A shining beginning (lies) in the displeasure of God

This is my interpretation; "aleph" is the first letter in the Hebrew "alpha"bet (!), the verb "to be" I added because such a simple verb often lacks in Latin sentences. And - to use the teacher's red pencil again - it should be "in noluntate". Well....

The Tower - Hic Abundant Leones

 The Tower - Hic Abundant Leones (2014)

The title of the reacord means Here we have an abundance of lions. In old maps this saying (sometimes together with a picture of a lion) was used to express that this area is still unexplored and might be dangerous.

The first song title is Non Omnis Moriar. You can find these three words in the poem Carmina III.30, written by the famous ancient Roman writer Horace (he who also wrote Carpe Diem). In this poem he says: I'm not gonna die wholly. With an abundance of self-confidence he says that he has created something which will last longer than eternal bronze, so his work will survive.