Wellspring Cantata: November 2013

* Song done by request. If you have a song request for me to analyze, you can submit it via the "Contact/Submit Song Request" area on the right.

There comes Lopt, the treacherous

Lusting for revenge

He leads the legions of the dead

Towards the Aesir's realm

The march in full battle dress

With faces grim and pale

Tattered banners and bloody flags

Rusty spears and blades

Cries ring out, loud and harsh

From cracked and broken horns

Long forgotten battle cries

In strange and foreign tongues

Spear and sword clash rhythmically

Against the broken shields they beat

They bring their hate and anarchy

Onto Vigrid's battlefield

There comes Lopt, the treacherous

He stands against the God

His army grim and ravenous

Lusting for their blood

Nowhere is longer safe

The earth moves under our feet

The great world tree Yggdrasil

Trembles to its roots

Sons of Muspel gird the field

Behind them Midgard burns

Hrym's horde march from Nifelheim

And then Fenris wolf returns

Heimdal grips the Giallarhorn

He sounds that dreaded note

Oden rides to quest the Norns

But their web is torn

The Aesir rides out to war

With armor shining bright

Followed by the Einherjer

See Valkyries ride

Nowhere is longer safe

The earth moves under our feet

The great world tree Yggdrasil

Trembles to its roots

Sons of Muspel gird the field

Behind them Midgard burns

Hrym's horde march from Nifelheim

And then Fenris wolf returns

1. Is there anything good I can hold on to from this song?

I could highlight this song as a great example of poetic communication through music. The musicians seem to have considered their subject matter and very appropriately set the music to go with it. "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags" is rather forceful and convincing in its expression.

2. Is there anything true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, or praiseworthy in this song?

The truth of "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags" is in portraying a sweeping picture of Norse/Scandanavian mythology. By that I mean that a body of people throughout history have genuinely subscribed to this myth narrative, and so from this song we can get some insight into their belief system.

I tried to search for the context of where in the mythology this song was set, but I couldn't find anything exact. To really be able to speak insightfully about this mythic account, I feel that knowing the context would be important. Unfortunately, in my research, the more I searched the more my head spun in reading the accounts of gods partnering with each other, fighting against each other, pulling humans in, trampling over humans, going to this realm or that realm...

In returning to the Scriptural question from above, what I can say is that there is that I see nothing noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, or praiseworthy. But as for the area of truth, I want to tread carefully. Certainly I would not make a case that the myth of this song outlines a truth framework in any absolute sort of way; however, I am not one to immediately dismiss such things either. In Wikipedia, I read that myth, "according to Alan Dundes... is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind assumed their present form." That being the case, then the picture we get from this mythology is far removed from the Bible's account, where we read of Jesus being the firstborn over all creation, creating everything, holding all things together, and in the display of God's power through coming back to life from the dead, being seated far above every ruler, authority, power, and dominion (Colossians 1 and Ephesians 1).

So where does that leave me in considering the truth of "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags?"

What I find incredibly interesting is that this band, "Amon Amarth," gets its name from the mythology created by J.R.R. Tolkien. According to Wikipedia, the name Amon Amarth is "Sindarin" (one of Tolkien's invented languages) for Mount Doom, where the dark lord Sauron constructed the One Ring of power to control all the other rings given to the elves, dwarves, and humans. It seems somewhat grim that this band chose that as their group's name, but in considering that choice, I was brought back to reflecting on the nature of myth and its power. J.R.R. Tolkien, from my understanding, was unquestionably a follower of Jesus and was influential in the conversion of apologist and author C.S. Lewis from atheism to Christianity. "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia," to me, are two towering works that demand we not completely throw out the power of mythology in illustrating Truth as supported by the Scriptures and by experience. Another contemporary of Lewis and Tolkien, G.K. Chesterton also delves into this topic in his stunning work, "Orthodoxy." Here is one quote from the chapter titled, "The Ethics of Elfland":

“Thus ends, in unavoidable inadequacy, the attempt to utter the unutterable things. These are my ultimate attitudes towards life; the soils for the seeds of doctrine. These in some dark way I thought before I could write, and felt before I could think: that we may proceed more easily afterwards, I will roughly recapitulate them now. I felt in my bones; first, that this world does not explain itself. It may be a miracle with a supernatural explanation; it may be a conjuring trick, with a natural explanation.

But the explanation of the conjuring trick, if it is to satisfy me, will have to be better than the natural explanations I have heard.

The thing is magic, true or false. Second, I came to feel as if magic must have a meaning, and meaning must have someone to mean it.

There was something personal in the world, as in a work of art; whatever it meant it meant violently. Third, I thought this purpose beautiful in its old design, in spite of its defects, such as dragons. Fourth, that the proper form of thanks to it is some form of humility and restraint: we should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking too much of them. We owed, also, an obedience to whatever made us. And last, and strangest, there had come into my mind a vague and vast impression that in some way all good was a remnant to be stored and held sacred out of some primordial ruin. Man had saved his good as Crusoe saved his goods: he had saved them from a wreck. All this I felt and the age gave me no encouragement to feel it. And all this time I had not even thought of Christian theology.”

The truth, then, that I see portrayed in "Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags" (and therefore in the Norse mythology at large) is that there is something much bigger than us at work. Moreover, I unquestionably feel the impression of "primordial ruin" from the lyrics, but the disappointment comes in never seeing a "[good] remnant to be stored and held sacred."

This is an area where I feel the Bible stands in stark contrast to what I have ascertained about other spiritual texts (though I claim no certain expertise). Whereas in this mythology and in other faith systems we see a paradigm of struggle between humans and God(s), the Biblical scriptures offer that because of the "primordial ruin" that came from our sin-born fallen nature as humans, God himself offered the solution in bearing the weight of the ruin by sending his son "who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Scriptures make it clear that, rather through struggle, healing comes "in repentance and rest" (Isaiah 30:15), for God gives rest to those he loves (Psalm 127). This is the God who has the authority, in the face of adversity, to say (if he chooses), "You do not have to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 20:17). Ultimately from the Bible we see that, for the evil that is out there, the "Lord Jesus will destroy [it] with the breath of his mouth and will bring [it] to nothing with the brightness of his coming," (2 Thessalonians 2:8) leaving those of us who follow him to rest in the benediction of: "Death has been swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

3. When I listen to this song, does my thinking become conformed or transformed?

"Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags" is transforming in the sense of pulling us into a more "spiritual"/mythical way of thinking, but in that, I would say my thinking then becomes conformed with the falsehoods of ages past. Taking Jesus at his word that he is the unique and only way to God - who Scripture tells us is One - then I am led to say these lyrics conform to a worldly pattern of belief.

4. Does this song cause me to set my mind on things above or on earthly things?

There is a bit of both here (see above, #2). The myth is spiritual in its search but ultimately does not leave me with anything convincing enough on which to set my mind.

5. Is this song leading me to feel anger, rage, malice, or slander?

I wouldn't say that the song itself is leading me to feel these emotions; however, I'm pretty sure that if I listened to this song over and over for a prolonged period of time that I eventually would end up feeling anger start to well up from the heaviness and force of the music and lyrics.

6. Does this song contain filthy language or encourage me to use filthy language?

No.

7. Is this song calling me to pursue youthful passions?

No.

8. Can I listen to this song in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him?

No, I can't. While, as I mentioned above, there is a use for this song in terms of learning more about a culture's history, myth, and worldview, I could not choose to listen to this song for my own edification with a clear conscious. It is possible that enough digging could produce some traces of redemptive elements, but to me it is not worth the effort. If anything, I suppose I could give thanks to God that he sent Jesus as a revelation of the Truth and redemption from the path of following after a plethora of gods and their confusing and depressing interactions with each other and with people. But then with that I would still most likely end up focusing on some of the negative aspects of this song.

I would not encourage students to listen to something to God's glory for the realization of the opposites. This makes me think of a passage of Scripture in which Jesus tells his followers to be as innocent as doves and as shrewd as serpents. I won't call other followers of Christ to go stick their heads in a hole and pretend that darkness does not exist; however, in terms of what I am willingly placing into my mind, I believe I should focus on filling up with songs that powerfully remind me of Truth.

Music

There are just a couple of things I want to comment about the music. First, pay close attention to the bass drum at the beginning. As is usual for this style of music, the drummer is actually using to kick drums, or bass drums. with those drums, he is subdividing the beat into 16th notes. The timing is flawless, and part of me wants to cry "studio made!" I'm not 100% sure that any human being can play with that absolute metric precision, but if the drummer really did play that, it's quite impressive.

The other thing to mention, is the singing. From what I read online, that style is known as "death growl." I read a few interesting discussions about the impact of this singing – if you call it that – on the voice. I didn't really read a consensus, but here's the bottom line – students, if you read this, please DON'T go home and try to sing like this. While it may be possible that there is a technique to doing this that will not damage the voice, I know for sure that there are many other ways to do this that would seriously damage the voice if done too much for a long period of time. Or, if your voice is more susceptible to fatigue, then maybe not even that much would show some strain on the voice. Part of me definitely feels that this death growl singing is a very twisted aesthetic; however, if any song should use this sort of style, it appropriately fits with this song.

In closing, I enjoyed the challenges of listening to him thinking about this song. And if you have different thoughts, I'm glad to hear those. Let me know what you think my posting comment.

21 November 2013

SQUILT Set 3, #2 - "Missa Pange Lingua: Kyrie"

20 November 2013

Alive In This Moment

13 November 2013

Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags