Arhive oznaka: metalhead

Coronavirus, heavy metal

CORONAVIRUS AND THE WORLD OF HEAVY METAL

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  A week earlier, I attended a stoner rock concert. The headliners were from Portugal. At the end of the concert, the bass player(I believe) said they just came from a gig in Italy and that they were clean, in the context of today´s main problem, the Coronavirus. In the end, he said: “F*CK CORONAVIRUS!”
As much as I would like to say that myself and as much as I would like that the show just goes on, man ought to be cautious in situations like this, and, of course, not panic.

In many countries, including my home country and my hometown, public manifestations are forbidden for a longer period. Furthermore, this will be a problem for the economy and event management. I am not an economy expert, but since our economy is relying too much on tourism, it is not an understatement to say that we could become like Moldova. Even now, heavy metal culture is still developing here and it is not even close to USA, Germany, Finland and so on. If this epidemic will not be solved quickly, it will definitely have a huge negative impact on the world of heavy metal and on the world itself.

In this text, I will try to provide practical solutions which can help you, your family and friends from getting the virus and try to provide some solutions which can help the heavy metal world “breath” as much as possible.

Practical solutions against the virus

  In situations like this, I think the best thing you can do is to consult with an expert and to learn about viruses as much as you can while taking preventive measures. First thing you can do is to make sure you have enough food and water. The more you have stored in your house, the less you need to go out. If “sh*t hits the fan”, you could consider growing your own food and find a source of water. Next thing you should have are soaps and hand sanitizers. Apparently hand sanitizers made from alcohol are the best for killing the germs. Soaps, of course, to keep your hands clean. I am not sure about the masks, but apparently, keeping your hands clean is much more important because there is less chance to get infected.
Elderberry juice(lat.Sambucus nigra) is apparently a strong antiviral juice that you could use or even make by yourself. You should watch for the roots and leaves because they are toxic. I would advise that you should prepare it carefully and try to consult with someone who knows how to prepare it. You could also try to find out if it grows in your area

Alcohol and alcohol-based disinfectants are also a good solution against the viruses because they are highly flammable.

I know that honey is good for killing bacteria and  for keeping the immune system strong, but I do not know how much honey can help against viruses.

If the water you want to drink is dirty and filled with bacteria, viruses and germs, you could try throwing silver or copper in it. Apparently it kills almost all of it after one night.

It is not much, but I hope this helps. Try to learn about this as much as possible, it could help in the future.

Heavy metal

  In situations like this, I believe that listening to music that you extremely like can lift your spirit up in no time. From personal experience, I can say that heavy metal can pump you up and calm you down when necessary. Perhaps if someone is an enormous Caribbean music enthusiast, that kind of music would have the same effect as heavy metal has on me. Music, in this case could, as a personal, and yet as an universal shaman, have placebo or adrenaline rush effects on people which could be really useful and helpful.
The second thing you could is just listening to heavy metal so the genre itself is not forgotten. Unforgetfullness is important if one wants to accomplish a continuum of something. There is of course uploading new songs and content so that the scene lives on.

Third thing you can do, if possible, is buying merch, so you can directly support them.

Behemoth stated on their Instagram page: “2. According to WHO the virus can´t survive on packages or products for more than very short amount of time. Online shopping is considered now as the most safe one. So, no risk you will get the virus because of us! Stay safe!”

On the other hand, apparently making cotton t-shirts needs very high amounts of water so it would not be environmentally friendly to make them in an abundance. That is a subject for another time which needs a further and deeper investigation.

You can always try to help locally as much as you can right now and staying in contact with relevant people.

I hope this helps. Try to educate yourselves on these things that I have listed, because not everything that I have wrote needs to be 100% correct. Take care of yourselves and the ones you love the most! Stay safe, stay healthy, live on and rock on!!!

                                                                                                     The Mage

heavy metal, history, Witchcraft

BORN FOR BURNING (THE STORY OF MARIGJE ARRIENS)

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  As promised, I will now write the story of the Dutch witch Marigje Arriens. When I was writing about the logical fallacies, one fallacy was about the interpretation of Bathory´s song “Born for Burning”, which the author misinterpreted in the book that I criticized. When you read the lyrics of the song, you can clearly see it is about a witch who defies Christianity and that is why she is “born for burning”. When I looked up at the lyrics, in the end, it was written that the song is “dedicated to the witch Marigje Arriens, born 1521., burned 1591., in Schoonhoven, Holland”. Sources I used are from the Dutch websites (NOTA BENE! Be careful with the information found on the internet because they might not correspond with the truth. Same goes with other sources.) and “Malleus Maleficarum”, the standard handbook on witchcraft written by Catholic clergymen to see if there is any connection between the two.

  The story of Marigje Arriens

She was born in 1521., in Poederoijen. She was a herbalist and one of the last people to be burned at the stake because of alleged witchcraft. There is no information about her childhood, but she was often consulted for her knowledge of medicinal herbs. The reason why she was accused of witchcraft is not entirely clear. According to one version, she was indicted by a dissatisfied patient. The second version says that she was accused of witchcraft because she wanted to charm or seduce a young, little boy. After being arrested, she admitted that the devil had visited her twice and encouraged her into witchcraft. Allegedly, she made this confession even though she was not tortured. Marigje was sentenced to burn at the stake and was graciously strangled in front of the town hall of Schoonhoven and then burned to ash.
Apparently she was very poor and has never been married in her life, although she lived in Nieuwpoort for 6 months with a man called Michiel de Cuyper.
She had to wait two and a half months for her sentence. She was taken prisoner on October 4th 1591. and the sentence was enforced on the 18th of December. She was not the last witch to be burned, but she is the best known. A year before her death, she lived in Utrecht, and before that, in Vianen and Nieuwpoort. It is believed that she traveled a lot.

  Malleus Maleficarum and the connection with the case of Marrigje Ariens
The only connection I found between the two is if we are going to take the second version of her story literally, in which she seduced the young boy and because of that, she was accused of witchcraft. Malleus Maleficarum can only help us with this case if we use it as a literal and truthful source of information. I found no help from it since it is a guide and a fairy-tale crossover. It is a guide which helps you find witches, succubuses, incubuses, people who are possessed with demons and so on. It is especially superstitious and illogical when it comes to the subject of why women tend to do witchcraft more than men.

  To sum up

Unfortunately, I could not find more information on Marigje than this, and Malleus Maleficarum was not helpful with the case (unless, of course, we take it all literally and trustworthy). In this text, I presented the story of the infamous witch, but when I get my hands on more trustworthy information, I shall make an addition to this one.
I will end this text as a start to a future, additional one. Why were women REALLY targeted and why were they accused of “WITCHCRAFT”?
My take on this is several possibilities:
1.) Their expertise in medicine, herbalism and so forth (just like Marigje was an expert in herbalism)

2.) Women are those who pass on the tradition (stories, language, knowledge…) which the Church wanted to eliminate

3.) Deep hatred for Christianity

                                                                                                         The Mage

heavy metal, Philosophy

DON´T WEAR THE SHIRT IF YOU DON´T LISTEN TO THE BAND

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You have probably already encountered the following phrase on the internet or in real life: “Don´t wear the shirt if you don´t listen to the band.”


  This phrase is very common inside the heavy metal community because you can see various people wearing Slayer shirts, Metallica shirts, Iron Maiden shirts, without any knowledge about them. They are not metalheads and do not support the genre, but they wear the shirts because they are “trendy” or have a “cool print”. The most popular that I have seen are Nirvana and Ramones shirts (although they are not heavy metal bands, people wear their shirts not because they support them, but because they are trendy and you can find their shirts in your local stores) in the stores. I have seen Slayer shirts for sale in “H&M” stores in my home city, which is one of the most popular stores here, and my first reaction was: “What the f*ck?!”.
I found that highly loathsome. I do agree that band merch should not be worn just because it is trendy. It makes the metalheads furious because wearing the metal merch is a sign of love and dedication towards the band and the genre. It is also a sign of support. You can imagine a scenario in which two guys walk towards each other. Both are wearing Iron Maiden shirts. One of them is a true fan of Iron Maiden and then proceeds to say: “Hey man, it is so cool to see another Maiden fan!! My favorite album is “Somewhere in Time”!! What is your favorite Maiden album?”.
The second guy then says: “ Oh, I just bought the shirt because I liked the print. Later!”

The fan was probably left furious and confused. I think that, for example, it would be infuriating, for an e.g. Manchester United fan, to see someone wearing the jersey of their club just because they like it and do not even support the club.
Anyway, as much as I agree there should be some “rules” about wearing shirts that promote a band, genre or a football club, I thought about the sentence “Don´t wear the shirt if you don’t listen to the band” and I will present the arguments that this sentence can not be universal in every case.

  ARGUMENT #1: BUYING AND WEARING A SHIRT AT THE CONCERT
Let us say there is a person called Max. Max is going to a heavy metal concert in his hometown and there will be five bands playing. He has not heard or listened to any of them before. He arrives at the concert, buys himself a beer and goes to the front row. The first band, called Inertia, starts playing first and they play for the first 45 minutes. Max was extremely impressed by how the band played. He was so impressed, he decided to immediately buy their t-shirt and wear it for the rest of the concert and on his way home. The thing here is, he does not listen to them, maybe in the future he will, but, the key here is that he wore and bought that shirt to support the band he discovered because they played brilliantly. Hence, you do not need to wear the shirt only if you listen to them, it could be a sign of genuine support for the band.

    ARGUMENT #2: FESTIVAL SHIRTS PROBLEM
Can we apply this main sentence to festival shirts? Think about it, it is stated in the sentence that you should not wear the shirt with a band on if you do not listen, but what will we do then with the festival shirts on which multiple bands are represented? The main sentence then fails to maintain itself if we talk only about having band names on the shirt. A counter-argument could follow:
It is not the same wearing a festival shirt and a band shirt. A festival shirt is a form of support for the festival and memorabilia that you have attended the festival in question. Could a counter-counter argument follow after? One could have attended a festival because of some bands that played and not all of them. One could have just bought the festival shirt and not go at all, but is material support also a sign of genuine support? I think not. I believe that bands would, on one hand, be devastated to see that no one came to support them by attending to them but just by buying the festival shirts.

  ARGUMENT #3: SURVIVAL ARGUMENT

Let us say there is a person called John who suddenly woke up in the middle of a meadow. John is also almost naked, he only has his underpants on. John proceeds to look for someone to help him and he is freezing to death. John suddenly hears music and proceeds to walk towards it. He discovers that an open metal festival is nearby and rushes towards the nearest person there is. He asks if could give him some clothes. The person gives him all the necessary clothes. The shirt he gave him is a Death shirt. John thanks him and decides to hang a bit at the festival. He encounters another person. The second person says: “Ahh, you´re a Death fan!! That‘s sweet (sweet as in awesome)!! What is your favorite song?”
John then answers back: Hey!! Some nice man gave me this shirt because I was freezing to death. He saved me!!”
The second person says: Damn, that is so cool! Thank goodness for that man!!

As you can see from this case, one can not really state the main sentence in all cases. In extreme cases such as this, it really does not matter if it is a shirt or a band shirt. It would not be appropriate to say that someone should not wear a band shirt in extreme cases just because he does not listen to the particular band.

  ARGUMENT #4: A GIFT FROM YOUR MOTHER

I consider this to be a weaker argument but I will present it nonetheless.
Let us say your birthday is coming up very soon. Your mother loves you very much and she wants you to buy a gift. She knows that you are a metalhead and that you love that genre with all your heart. She also wants to surprise you with the gift. She knows that metalheads love band shirts. She then proceeds to buy a Dark Funeral shirt although she does not know if you listen to the band or not. She gives you the gift impatiently and hopes that you will like it and wear it. You do not listen to Dark Funeral and you have the belief that one should not wear the shirt if you are not listening to the band, but on the other hand, you want to thank your mother that she made an effort to buy you a heavy metal shirt because obviously you like metal and the best way to thank her is to wear that shirt. The only thing she did not know is what bands do you listen to. Are you staying true to your belief or will you wear the gift? One could give it a try and start listening to Dark Funeral, then that would not be a problem, but what if that is not the case? I think that a gift is slightly different than wearing a shirt because it is trendy. Especially if it is a gift from your own mother. Perhaps only the most orthodox ones will be true to their belief.

                                                                                               The Mage

heavy metal, Song comparison

F* THE POLICE (SODOM VS N.W.A.)

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 Throughout the years, the police have been an oppressive organ that serves the state and the system. Some of the mottos for various police forces are “To Protect and to Serve” or, in my home country, “Safety and trust”. But to protect and serve whom? To protect and serve their fellow countrymen or those in power? Can we actually trust them? Are we safe with them? Police can surely work in an obscure, Orwellian way to repress speech, art and/or actions if it is against the system that enslaves the people. Some policemen can become arrogant by doing whatever they want just because they have a police badge. In this text, I will compare two songs, “F* The Police” by German thrash metal legends Sodom  and “F* Tha Police by the notorious rap group called N.W.A. to see how similar these two are, since they basically have the same name, and if they are “f*ing” the police for the same reason.

“F* The Police” by Sodom

I will put the lyrics of the song, part by part, and try to analyze it. Here is the first part:

“New age rebellion, anarchy

Intoxicated with injustice of law

Sneaking lifes, mental decay

Practicise subversive dirty needs

No acts of grace, stand up and fight

You are their slave but never questioned why

Born on your knees, don’t give a shit

You are remote controlled but who is to blame”

In the first part of the song, Sodom tells us about a rebellion of the people who are sick and tired of the injustice of the law. The law, in this case, probably only serves the system and those who are in power.

Then, in the next two verses, the people, who are fed up with the system, tend to do subversive actions to overthrow the people in power and destroy the system that enslaves them.
And then, in the following verses, they need to do that without grace, mercilessly and without repenting, fight against the system that had enslaved them from day one. The problem is that people do not question the system and authority. They are remote-controlled, but who is really to blame? When you start questioning it and try to break the chains, especially mentally, the repressive force of the system will put you down for being disobedient. Hence, F* THE POLICE!

Part two follows:

“Blaze of anger, deaf and blind

The enemy that overshadows us all

Out of control, disrooted minds

The final judgment and the final day will come

Too much pressure, to much power

Until the point of no return

Interwar period, martial games

To find out what they try to ignore”

The enemy is obviously the system and the people in power. Because of their potent position, they are “deaf and blind”. They use the system for their own benefit and only see people as their cattle. They are blazing out of anger because people are becoming disobedient.
“Out of control, disrooted minds”, whether it is about the people in power or “the cattle” starting to disobediently riot, the final battle between the two will take place no matter what. There will be no return when s*it starts to hit the fan because of the imbalance within the system.
“Interwar period, martial games”, one can see peace as a period between two wars, but as Sodom says, there are martial games fought between the two sides. Between those who control everything and those who are controlled but should set themselves free. Peace, by these standards, is only an illusion. Ignoring the people for their own benefit.

The final part of the song:

“Eternal lies, visions of change

When the dreams of freedom awake

Methods of greed, bleeding hearts

An easy target for the one with the gun

Empty promises, better left unsaid

Illusions shattered by mendacity and hate

Supremacy, hungry to kill

No more effectual fervent supplication”

Visions of change have two forms. The lies which the authority serves the people and the dreams, the true solutions that could lead people to their freedom. How to stop people from reaching their freedom from the system? By using the repressive force, the police force, that will physically stop them.
Their lies, their promises, and their illusions are no more because they are nothing more than words, whispers in the wind, which creates hate towards them. And so the battle begins. The authority, hungry to submit the rioting side and “the cattle” who will not beg anymore but fight for their freedom.

“F* Tha Police” by N.W.A.
I will now analyze this song by N.W.A., part by part. The intro follows:

“Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect

Judge Dre presiding

In the case of N.W.A. vs. the Police Department

Prosecuting attorneys are: MC Ren, Ice Cube

And Eazy motherfuckin’ E”

“Order, order, order

Ice Cube, take the motherfuckin’ stand

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth

And nothin’ but the truth so help your black ass?”

“You god damn right!”

“Well, won’t you tell everybody what the fuck you gotta say?”

As you can see in the intro, the rappers are portraying themselves as prosecuting attorneys and the judge. The “attorneys” are announcing that they will testify their case against the Police Department in their particular fashion. Their testament follows:

“Fuck the police comin’ straight from the underground

A young nigga got it bad ’cause I’m brown

And not the other color so police think

They have the authority to kill a minority

Fuck that shit, ’cause I ain’t the one

For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun

To be beatin’ on, and thrown in jail

We can go toe to toe in the middle of a cell

Fuckin’ with me ’cause I’m a teenager

With a little bit of gold and a pager

Searchin’ my car, lookin’ for the product

Thinkin’ every nigga is sellin’ narcotics

You’d rather see, me in the pen

Than me and Lorenzo rollin’ in a Benz-o

Beat a police out of shape

And when I’m finished, bring the yellow tape

To tape off the scene of the slaughter

Still gettin’ swoll off bread and water

I don’t know if they fags or what

Search a nigga down, and grabbin’ his nuts

And on the other hand, without a gun they can’t get none

But don’t let it be a black and a white one

‘Cause they’ll slam ya down to the street top

Black police showin’ out for the white cop

Ice Cube will swarm

On any motherfucker in a blue uniform

Just ’cause I’m from the CPT

Punk police are afraid of me!

Huh, a young nigga on the warpath

And when I’m finished, it’s gonna be a bloodbath

Of cops, dyin’ in L.A.

Yo Dre, I got somethin’ to say

Fuck the police

Fuck the police

Fuck the police

Fuck the Police”

What Ice Cube is basically saying, is that if you are a young guy of African American descent, you are going to have trouble with the police just because of your racial background. He will not put up with any bullying from policemen so they can beat him up and throw him in jail. He will rather go one on one.
He states that the police are searching for narcotics just because he is an African American teenager with a little bit of jewelry and a pager. And as he angrily gets to the end, he says that he will beat them up and it will be a bloodbath when he is finished with them.

The second part featuring MC Ren follows:

“Example of scene one”

“Pull your god damn ass over right now”

“Aww shit, now what the fuck you pullin’ me over for?”

“‘Cause I feel like it!

Just sit your ass on the curb and shut the fuck up”

“Man, fuck this shit”

“Aight, smart ass, I’m takin’ your black ass to jail!”

“MC Ren, will you please give your testimony

To the jury about this fucked up incident?”

Fuck the police and Ren said it with authority

Because the niggas on the street is a majority

A gang, is with whoever I’m steppin’

And the motherfuckin’ weapon is kept in

A stash box, for the so-called law

Wishin’ Ren was a nigga that they never saw

Lights start flashin’ behind me

But they’re scared of a nigga so they mace me to blind me

But that shit don’t work, I just laugh

Because it gives ’em a hint, not to step in my path

For police, I’m sayin, “Fuck you, punk!”

Readin’ my rights and shit, it’s all junk

Pullin’ out a silly club, so you stand

With a fake-ass badge and a gun in your hand

But take off the gun so you can see what’s up

And we’ll go at it, punk, and I’ma fuck you up!

Make you think I’ma kick your ass

But drop your gat, and Ren’s gonna blast

I’m sneaky as fuck when it comes to crime

But I’m a smoke ’em now and not next time

Smoke any motherfucker that sweats me

Or any asshole that threatens me

I’m a sniper with a hell of a scope

Takin’ out a cop or two, they can’t cope with me

The motherfuckin’ villain that’s mad

With potential to get bad as fuck

So I’ma turn it around

Put in my clip, yo, and this is the sound

Yeah, somethin’ like that

But it all depends on the size of the gat

Takin’ out a police would make my day

But a nigga like Ren don’t give a fuck to say

Fuck the police

Fuck the police

Fuck the police

Fuck the Police”

At the beginning of the second part, you can see that the policeman wants to restrain and imprison MC Ren for no valid reason whatsoever and afterwords, Ren´s “testimony” follows. His message to them represents his people from the streets and their opinion about the police force. The police are afraid of him and because of that, they attack him from behind and blind him. They are nothing without their badge and gun. He knows that the rights they are reading to him will not be of any value since it will not benefit him anyway. He also says that he will ragefully “smoke them all”.

The final part, Eazy-E´s part commences:

“Yeah man, what you need?”

“Police, open now”

“Aww shit”

“We have a warrant for Eazy-E’s arrest

Get down and put your hands up where I can see ’em”

“What the fuck did I do, man, what did I do?”

“Just shut the fuck up

And get your motherfuckin’ ass on the floor”

“But I didn’t do shit”

“Man, just shut the fuck up!”

“Eazy-E, won’t you step up to the stand

And tell the jury how you feel about this bullshit?”

I’m tired of the motherfuckin’ jackin’

Sweatin’ my gang, while I’m chillin’ in the shack, and

Shinin’ the light in my face, and for what?

Maybe it’s because I kick so much butt

I kick ass, or maybe ’cause I blast

On a stupid-assed nigga when I’m playin’ with the trigger

Of an Uzi or an AK

‘Cause the police always got somethin’ stupid to say

They put out my picture with silence

‘Cause my identity by itself causes violence

The E with the criminal behavior

Yeah, I’m a gangsta, but still I got flavor

Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?

A sucker in a uniform waitin’ to get shot

By me or another nigga

And with a gat it don’t matter if he’s smaller or bigger

(Size ain’t shit, he’s from the old school, fool)

And as you all know, E’s here to rule

Whenever I’m rollin’, keep lookin’ in the mirror

And ears on cue, yo, so I can hear a

Dumb motherfucker with a gun

And if I’m rollin’ off the 8, he’ll be the one

That I take out, and then get away

While I’m drivin’ off laughin’, this is what I’ll say

Fuck the police

Fuck the police

Fuck the police

Fuck the Police

His part also begins with how the police came into his house with the arrest warrant, but he states that he did not do anything. He says that he is fed up with lying and “lawful” robbery from the police force, meaning he is done with police doing anything to him for no reason.
“Cause my identity by itself causes violence, The E with the criminal behavior”, this verse can be interpreted in two ways. The first one is the reason from the beginning. His identity itself causes violence just because he has an African American background. The second one is because of the previous verses, meaning he is a notorious criminal and, because of that, his face and appearance are instantly connected to crime. He finishes his part like everybody else, by saying that he will be doing a drive-by on the police and passing by laughingly while doing it.

Summary

As you can see, the two songs are not just different in genres, but also a little bit thematically, even though they are basically named the same. Sodom´s song is more of a rebellion against the system that is controlling the people like cattle while the police are the repressive instrument of the system and the people in power. A battle between the people and the system that enslaves them in every way.
N.W.A.´s song is more of a reflection of the rappers what happens on the streets of Compton and what happens just because you are just of African American descent. The relationship between the police force and the young African Americans is a delicate one.
But there is definitely a meeting point between these two songs, and that is injustice. Firstly, injustice of the system and the brutal use of the police as a repressive instrument to restrain people from rebellion against it, and, secondly, the injustice that policemen think they can do anything to anybody just because they have the authority (the badge and a gun) WITH NO VALID REASON WHATSOEVER! This situation could be extremely dangerous for anybody.

                                                                                                                                The Mage

SOURCE: LyricFind

Future, heavy metal, Literature

DANGER OF AN EXPRESSIONLESS WORLD

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Have you ever thought of how the world would be if you simply could not express yourself properly? I am not talking only about having a lack of tools to express yourself, e.g., through art, like music, dance, painting or through other methods, like speech, for instance. The true problem that I will present in this text lies in being totally deficient in the expression of your own thoughts, emotions, and desires. Can you imagine yourself being unable to say anything or to make a gesture for what your heart wants to express? Even to the level that expression becomes extinct because there is nothing left to express?
In George Orwell´s (in)famous novel “1984” occurs a problem with people becoming expressionless through lack of words which I will present here. I will also present an example that I noticed not long ago and is related to this problem.
I want to point this problem out because heavy metal is a genre where artists use a vast number of diverse words to express themselves. Without expression there is no art or heavy metal whatsoever. This is also a general problem, not only for heavy metal and art.

Syme

In Orwell´s “1984”, there is a character called Syme. He is a minor character who works in the Ministry of Truth who is working on the new edition of the Newspeak Dictionary. The Ministry of Truth is the ministry of propaganda in the state of Oceania. For instance, if they say that 2+2=5, then that is the truth. If they say that the planet they live on is a cube, then it is a cube. The Ministry of Truth serves the Party, better known as Ingsoc (English Socialism) in Newspeak, by making up the truth and distributing it to the people all over the cities (in this case, London). Newspeak is the language of Oceania which was created by Ingsoc and its general purpose is to limit freedom of thought, the identity of man and expression. As you can see, Oceania is the ultimate totalitarian state.
In one part of the book, Syme and the main character called Winston Smith, talk about the new edition of Newspeak in which Syme has been working on. He said to Winston that the key “ingredient” for making the new edition of Newspeak is to reduce words as much as he can. In both senses, to reduce the number of words to a minimum count and to reduce the staggering of words. For instance, you would not have good, better and great, but rather good, plusgood and plusplusgood. This is my example, it could be a part of Newspeak. For instance, maybe in Newspeak, you would not have names for the spectrum of colors like we do. Gray, green, red, yellow, purple and so on. You might have colorone, colortwo, colorthree and so on.
This edition of Newspeak in which Syme has been working on has a sole purpose to make people emotionless, expressionless and thoughtless for the benefit of the Party. IT IS FORBIDDEN TO QUESTION THE PARTY AND TO THINK THAT THE PARTY IS DOING SOMETHING WRONGLY. IT IS WRONGTHINK!  A perfect recipe for making people fully inhuman robots. I will now present an example of Newspeak:

English version: “Rectify big brother´s speech in times issue March 17, 1984, which misreported Africa.
Newspeak version: “times 17.3.84 bb speech malreported africa rectify”

Can you see the drastic difference between the two? The main goal of the Party is to get rid of thought crime and thought in general. The thing I will explain further, in context of heavy metal is, becoming expressionless and emotionless.

Real-life examples
I will now present two cases from our contemporary world that are similar to reducing words from “1984”:

1.) THE INTERNET LANGUAGE
This is the first one I have noticed years ago. In this case, I am talking about abbreviations that are used when commenting or texting on social media like LOL, ROFL, LMAO, xD, brb and so on. The more wicked thing I have noticed about it is when people text love messages or if they comment something online furiously, their faces are still. They do not smile or have an angry face. They just do it mechanically without any emotion whatsoever which could be a potential threat to expression.

2.) FROM MOTHER AND FATHER TO PARENT 1 AND PARENT 2
This is another case I have noticed that has taken place recently. So, when a baby is born, he/she will not have who is his/her mother and father written on his birth paper, but rather parent 1 and parent 2.
This case has more problems than just the potential danger for expression, but that is a subject for another time. This is a potential elimination of two meanings: Mother, as a biological female parent, and father, as a biological male parent. Hence, we will maybe, in the near future, just have the word “parent”. The words (and their meanings) mother and father might be forgotten in the near future. I especially see this as a threat to pagan metal bands that use phrases like “Father Thunderer” or “Mother Earth”.

Summary
Heavy metal is a genre where expression of thought and emotions is very important. When you see the lyrics which heavy metal bands use, you will notice how many diverse words there are. They have a vast vocabulary of words for expression. Words are very important for expression! Just like the example I gave for pagan metal bands, what would happen if the crucial words for expression just cease to exist?It would be a disaster for heavy metal or music in general to have words erased from our memory and history. Can you actually imagine a world where you cannot express yourself as you wish to? Or even worse, can you imagine a world where there is nothing left to express? I hope the future is not Orwellian.

heavy metal

the art of moshing

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Have you ever attended a concert that involved mosh pits? If you are a metalhead or a punker, you probably have. The main thing about it that I want to point out is the different perspectives of how people look at it. The first group of people looks at it as a sort of fun. They are moshing to have a good time and, while doing it, to be nonviolently in harmony in the pit with other moshers. The second group of people is much more violent and savage. They want to make the pit as violent as possible. They make mosh pits look like a battlefield. Bellum omnium contra omnes.

By standard definition, moshing is sort of a dance in which the participants slam or push into each other. Typically, it is performed on concerts where “aggressive” and loud music is played (e.g. metal and punk).
When you look at all the components of moshing, slamming, pushing, “aggressive” and loud music, full of energy and body contacts, I wonder if moshing is more of a war than just a form of dance. Mosh pits look more like battlefields than dance courts.
This is what I ought to reassess! Is moshing more similar to war than to dance? To accomplish this task, I have taken the earliest extant strategic book in human history, namely The Art of War by Sun-Tzu. I have taken the parts of the book which could be paralleled and compared with moshing. I have taken the English version by J.H.Huang from 2008.

About Sun-Tzu

Sun-Tzu lived in Qi, China, and was a contemporary of Confucius. He was one of the chief military strategists for the state of Wu, and he enjoyed much success in his lifetime. His words have lasted and flourished beyond the empires and battles for which they were originally written.

The art of moshing

THE LANDS THAT ARE LETHAL OR SAFE AND THE WAYS THAT CAUSE EXISTENCE OR DESTRUCTION MUST BE NEVER TAKEN LIGHTLY:
I believe we can apply this thought to the balance between safety and hazards in mosh pits. One should first inspect and make a fine judgment about the “physical features of the land”.
In what kind of venue will I be moshing? Is it big enough so you can mosh? Or is it so small that the whole venue will be a battleground itself? Moshing is one of the key components of metal and punk concerts for the crowd (more or less), so it would be inadequate to have a venue where you cannot mosh.
Although, there are some exceptions like low budget concerts where you cannot afford a venue big enough for moshing. As I said, moshing is definitely one of the traditional key components of such concerts, but it does not have to be present at every concert and all the time! That depends on the atmosphere and the character of the people present at the concert. Back to the “physical features”…
One should also watch out for potential hazards like beer stains, pillars or if the floor itself of bad quality. If you are going to dominate in the pit, make sure you do not kill or severely wound yourself in the process…
Wounds are often in pits and naturally a part of moshing, but one should always take caution.

THE RULES OR FUNCTIONS OF MOSHING:
This is where things get tricky. Not everyone sees the pit the same way as the others. As I said in the beginning of the text, we have two groups of people that have different views about how the concept of mosh pits should function. One group sees it as a form of harmlessly having fun. Just friendly moshing around with no one getting hurt at all. The second group sees it more as a war where every individual is for himself. The survival of the fittest. I have not heard or experienced where groups of people mosh against each other. By that, I mean, e.g., Group X moshing against Group Y at the concert. Not likely to happen, but it is not impossible to happen, so one should not exclude that option. I will now speak from experience. Mosh pits naturally tend to be more violent and warlike. If you are just here to expect every pit to be harmless and fun, I am sorry… You should try and strengthen up your mentality and just enter the pit. With wounds and experience your progress further. Fear limits you to conquer yourself. When you overcome fear, then comes wisdom.This is why I started this text, to see if moshing is more similar to war than to dance.
On the other hand, I do agree that moves like karate kicks, intentional punches, and wrestling moves should be banned and culprits should be outcasted. In that case that would simply be a fighting pit, but that is certainly not the function of a mosh pit.

DOMINATION IN THE PIT (INDIVIDUALLY AND IN GROUPS)
Domination tactics in pits could be applied both to individuals and groups at concerts. For a person or a group to be dominant in the pit, one must establish superiority. Especially through weakening the enemy (other moshers or a mosher-group). The tactics one could use for his or her advantage are deception, enticement, defense, evasion, delusion, discouragement, fatigue and, especially for groups, disunity. As Sun Tzu said: “Victory relies on outstanding intelligence work and a full grasp of one´s situation before actions are launched.”
Even if a mosher has outstanding and dominant perks like strength, roughness, speed, and flexibility to withstand the pit, one should always check out what kind of moshers are in it and if pits are safe enough for moshing. Your assessment is one of the first rules for establishing your superiority in the pit. Others are:
Calculating the number of moshers in the pit (if possible). That could be of great use for group tactics.
The third is to estimate what are your chances to establish superiority in the pit by weighing your perks against the perks of other moshers (or group of moshers).
The last one is establishing dominance, being superior, being victorious.

How can one acquire the skill to establish dominance in the pit? By going to concerts, watching what other moshers do and then imitate them. While you are imitating them, you are also training to become better. Your intelligence will be of great asset to yourself to figure out your physical perks and how to use them.

OTHER THINGS TO HAVE IN MIND
If a pit is very turbulent and chaotic, try not to get confused in it because you will be in a state of inaction where your body and mind will not be prepared for physical contact. Try to be aware of your surroundings as soon as possible or try to exit the pit in that particular situation.

If a pit is circular and you move within gyrations, you have much less chance to be wounded or “defeated”.

If you find yourself in a pit with moshers that severely punch and kick others and even maybe yourself, you have two solutions:
1.) AVOID THEM AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
2.) GIVE THEM A GOOD BEATING

There are not many people that punch and kick people accidentally. Most of them are doing it on purpose and will not stop if you do not give them “a lesson” about it. I do not advocate beating them literally to death, but I see that many people only understand physical pain as a sign of warning. Dominating the enemy is an instant establishment of superiority.
If you want to strike them in the pit (the “fighting” moshers) you can try, as Sun Tzu says: “…as unpredictable as rain clouds, striking like thunder and lightning.”

TIPS FOR AVOIDING YOUR OWN DEMISE
Do not behave idiotically by being a “fighting” mosher, doing karate kicks in the pit or doing similar things because it could potentially lead to getting yourself beaten up by other moshers attending the concert. Try also not having short tempers, in other words, do not “explode” if problems occur.

This is it for my “fusion” text about war and moshing. As you can see, there are similarities that could be applied to moshing. I believe that you cannot really apply war tactics in the same way for both dance and moshing. Sure, there are some, like, to be in harmony with your squadron (in war) or your dance partner, but if you could apply war tactics and similarities to waltz or moshing, I believe you will find it more reasonable to apply it to moshing.
I hope you will like this text and if you disagree with some points I have made, you are more than welcome to contact me or talk to me about it! I believe I will, in the near future, make a text about moshing and dance to see if they are harmonic enough to draw similarities.

ONWARDS HORDES! – The Mage

heavy metal, Philosophy

LOGICAL FALLACIES OF CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ABOUT HEAVY METAL MUSIC AND BANDS (PART 5)

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FALLACY #24: STATING THAT A BAND IS NS, BUT NOT PROVING IT

For a band to be national-socialist or NS, the band has to have national-socialist lyrical content that promotes national-socialism (this is my opinion, if someone else has their definition, let me hear it). Now, I have seen a lot of people making a prejudice that a  band is NS because of the following reasons:

  1. A BAND IS NS BECAUSE IT HAS PAGAN LYRICAL CONTENT AND IMAGERY

This is a common fallacy. I believe it is common because NS and pagan content do mix often. There are bands that are NS and pagan, but one cannot judge that a band is NS if their lyrical content and imagery are pagan or promote paganism. Just because a band promotes their own pagan culture and the heritage of their own people, it does not mean they are necessarily NS. If that is the case, bands like Amon Amarth and Tyr would be categorized as NS.

  • PROMOTING YOUR OWN PEOPLE IS NOT NS

There is a misconception that if a band has lyrical content that promotes its own people racially, ethnically and culturally, then the band is surely NS. I might speculate why people connect these things together, but I can ask some questions. For instance, if a Mongolian metal band promotes their own racial, ethnic and cultural background, does that make them a national-socialist band? I would not agree with a positive answer. Maybe the band is proud of their Mongolian background, its heritage and the history of their own people.
Just a quick note, national-socialism is a political system which any state could implement it.

  • IF A BAND HAS 1 SONG THAT IS IN SOME WAY CONNECTED TO NATIONAL-SOCIALISM, THAT DOES NOT MAKE THEM NECESSARILY NS

Let us say there is a band whose new album just came out. Let us also suppose that they are a glam metal band. They have recorded ten songs and one of them is called “Meine Ehre Heißt Treue”. That is the motto of the SS which translated to English means “My Honor is Loyalty”.

Let us continue with the argument. Their song is called “Meine Ehre Heißt Treue”, but you have not yet seen the lyrics so you do not know if it promotes national-socialism. When you see the lyrics of the song, it is actually about the band´s loyalty and dedication to the glam metal scene. To conclude, if you have a song that is inspired by something that is connected to national-socialism, it does not necessarily mean that it promotes NS or that the band is NS. As I said it before, artists (in this case, musicians) have the freedom to express themselves however they want.

  FALLACY #25: MARDUK, A FALSE DEITY?

This is another case of Christianity vs other religion, or a fallacy of Christian perspective to understand what other religion is about (god, gods, stories, myths…). This fallacy concerns the Swedish metal band, Marduk. When writing about Marduk, the author stated the following:

“MARDUK is a Swedish black metal band. They took the name from some false Babylonian deity.”

Marduk is the “solar chief” in Babylonian mythology and paganism. Marduk is also probably a metaphor for the Sun itself and the problem is as it follows: In Christianity, there is only one God who is mystical, almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent and righteous. He is the ultimate good and cannot be otherwise, while in paganism you have many Gods that represent something within nature or man itself. There are no mystical Gods or Goddesses in paganism. That is why Christians cannot interpret pagan myths and legends. The interpretation that everything is a battle between the forces of good and evil is the primal disease of the mind.

On the other hand, I want to address the second problem here. Sure, the band named itself from the Babylonian solar deity, but what if there is a band from Japan that is also called Marduk. Picture this. A hardcore Christian has already heard for the Swedish band Marduk and he thinks that every deity is false except theirs. He suddenly discovers another band called Marduk and they are from Japan. He then says: “Ah, another band called after that false Babylonian deity…”
The catch here is that they did not name their band after the Babylonian deity but after the Tekken character Marduk. They never heard of the solar deity Marduk or even Babylonian mythology whatsoever.
It would be fun to see that hardcore Christian arguing against them how they should not have the name Marduk because he is a “false deity when they are just Tekken fanboys. Two perspectives = Two worlds colliding

  FALLACY #26: THE “ERIC HARRIS AND DYLAN KLEBOLD” CASE

I will include this one in the text because of the next fatal logical fallacy: If you listen to (Satanic) heavy metal music as a kid, you will become possessed by Satan and become a killer.
I will now proceed to write a quick story about the Columbine High school shooting. On the 20th April 1999., in Columbine High School in Colorado, USA, two young men, Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold killed 12 other children and 1 teacher from that school, while 23 children have been wounded. Later, both culprits have committed suicide. During the investigation, it has been affirmed that both of them listened to Marilyn Manson´s music and they had a fan-club in the school.
The author also wrote about it and then said:

 “From this case, it is clear that the children, directly under the influence of Satan, have done this massive crime. This is actually the most serious warning to all parents to avert their children from listening to this kind of music and these people because it leads them to damnation.”

[1]

Now, I want to address the problem from this quote. The author states that the children committed the hideous murders because they listened to Marilyn Manson´s music and because they were possessed by Satan. If listening to heavy metal music would be the sole reason to commit crimes, then every metalhead in the world would be a criminal. If the music would be the sole reason for making crime, then there would be much more murders, church burnings and so forth. We can see that his statement is absolutely not compatible with logic and the reality of this world. The author should rather make a psychological analysis of the case than just concluding that they were possessed by Satan, whatever that means. I do not believe that someone will launch a crusade if they listen to Saxon´s “Crusader”.

  FALLACY #27: MONEY COMES FIRST

Apparently, there are opinions that if someone has morbid and grotesque cover art for their album to attract people, they do it just to make money. I agree that morbid and gruesome cover arts certainly will attract most eyes, but the first thing you see is the art. I believe it would be unusual to see a heavy metal album cover with a Hello Kitty style of art. Back to the argument, it is not logically true that they to it just to make money. The artist can make the cover that is corresponding to his music, to send some kind of message, whatever his soul desires to do with it. If everybody were to make music or cover arts just to make money, everything would be soulless, commercialized and mainstream, in my opinion.

  FALLACY #28: THE PROBABILITY ARGUMENT

“This means that there are more than 20 Satanic bands in France alone. From this, you can even conclude how many such bands are there in the world”[2]

This is what the author wrote after writing about Mutiilation, a black metal band from France and Les Legions Noires, a French underground group of black metal musicians and bands.
Now, for his argument to be true, he would need to make an analysis of how much bands there are in the world that actually are Satanic. In his second sentence, he is implying that there are much more Satanic bands in the world. Without an analysis, his implication means nothing and it is definitely not trustworthy.

  FALLACY #29: OZZY OSBOURNE IS A MADMAN

Ozzy Osbourne had problems with drugs and alcohol throughout his life and one can definitely say that he has not been always clean. In my opinion, Ozzy Osbourne is one of a kind person for whom people tend to think is a madman or a psychopath. Primarily they think so because of the acts where he bit off the heads of a bat and a pigeon. If you take this out of context, probably every person will be like: “What the fuck…???”
Shockingly (to some), this does not necessarily mean that the person is mad. I will again explain what shock value is.
Shock value is the potential of an image, text, action, or another form of communication, such as public execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions.
Black Sabbath is one of the first bands that started using shock value as their tool of impression of stage. To conclude, these acts do not necessarily make you a madman.

  FALLACY #30: THE DENIAL OF LIFE

This is the last fallacy that I will write about. In his book, the author applied a quote by Saint Paul from “Romans” on metal bands that have anti-Christian imagery and lyrics that are, by his words, the worst insult for God, Virgin Mary, for The Church and for all Christians. I will now present the quote, only shortened:

“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”[3]

The whole text is about how men and women have gone into doing homosexual acts, how they embraced lie over the truth about God and how they rather worshiped humans and animals than the immortal God. This part is not of my interest, but the last one is. “That those who do such things deserve death.” Notice what I have written at the beginning of the text. He applied it to the metal bands who are anti-Christian. According to his quote, we are full of envy, arrogance, deceit, and malice. Hence, someone that is an anti-Christian or maybe is not in accordance with Christian teachings, automatically deserves death. They are not much of a talker, are they?
This is where I get to my second point. Christians praise themselves how they help the poor, do charity and so on. They want to present themselves how they accept life and propagate life. It seems to me they deny life and, for those not in agreement with their religion, the propagation of death.

This is the end for now with the logical fallacies. At least concerning the Christian perspective. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful. Onwards hordes!- The Mage


[1] Žažar, page 75

[2] Žažar, page 80

[3] Romans 1:18-32 NIV