Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Thursday 8 November 2007

Toward a Liturgical Language?

In a review charmingly entitled, "On the Road to Spread the Word of Good, Old-Fashioned Evil"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/arts/music/08ensl.html?ref=arts
we learn about the hard work and diligence of a heavy/black/viking/progressive/extreme Metal group. with the sunny name of "Enslaved."
Amongst such tidbits as "The members hurtled through a typically eerie, riveting set, propelled by tricky rhythms, keyboard atmospherics, mutating guitar riffs and careful but cathartic explosions of noise and screaming. 'evil' imagery exists everywhere.... old-fashioned Satanic imagery has given way to subtler allusions to pre-Christian culture... lyrics are more suggestive than bombastic. Hints of the old black-metal misanthropy remain ('I do not pity life/I follow not pathetic order')... Enslaved was once associated with one of the most reviled music scenes of all time. In the early 1990s Norwegian black metal made headlines with a series of high-profile events: one musician’s suicide, a spate of church burnings and the conviction of two prominent figures .... for murder."
But here's what caught my eye:
"[The lead singer] mainly sings in English, partly in an attempt to close the language gap with non-Norwegian fans, [but] the foreignness of English was a benefit too: 'That dissonance helps, getting into character, removing ourselves from our daily lives.' "

Hmmmm... Universality and a transcendence of the quotidian.

I can see why a rock band would need or want to do that, but gee, why would you want either of those result in corporate worship of the Ineffable, the Almighty?

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