"Black metal is a dying art form" Rusty pillars with unknowns written on them rise from the seas of flame symbols. Bones and skulls of people and animals lie everywhere. The smell of fresh blood combines with kerosene. In the middle of the flames and smoke, five raucous black metal players roar men whose appearance is like something straight out of the post-apocalyptic era from a horror movie.
This is what the Swedish Watain's live show looks like at its best: it takes the audience to another reality that is both nightmarish and fascinating at the same time. Strangely kind of beautiful, but terrifying at the same time.
- We are trying to take Watain's concerts to a new level. I'm not talking about pyrotechnics there should be more or that there should be huge amounts of lights and effects but that the concert would approach religious and ceremonial experience. That it would be about a place where people would feel something unusual, Watain's singer and music manager Erik Danielsson says.
In the Swedish way, Danielsson is an easy and polite interviewee, but he is not wants to answer all questions: according to him, no themes that go too deep can be dealt with in a quarter-long interview.
Not an ordinary band
Founded in 1998, Watain belongs to Sweden's most internationally known black metal bands. Uncompromising and sometimes suddenly wrong attitude, crazy stage shows and black metal - respecting traditions both in terms of music and attitude have elevated the band to the lists of the best bands of all time in the genre. It's also no wonder that Watain regularly makes headlines also because its style and way of doing things don't please everyone.
Part 1
This is what the Swedish Watain's live show looks like at its best: it takes the audience to another reality that is both nightmarish and fascinating at the same time. Strangely kind of beautiful, but terrifying at the same time.
- We are trying to take Watain's concerts to a new level. I'm not talking about pyrotechnics there should be more or that there should be huge amounts of lights and effects but that the concert would approach religious and ceremonial experience. That it would be about a place where people would feel something unusual, Watain's singer and music manager Erik Danielsson says.
In the Swedish way, Danielsson is an easy and polite interviewee, but he is not wants to answer all questions: according to him, no themes that go too deep can be dealt with in a quarter-long interview.
Not an ordinary band
Founded in 1998, Watain belongs to Sweden's most internationally known black metal bands. Uncompromising and sometimes suddenly wrong attitude, crazy stage shows and black metal - respecting traditions both in terms of music and attitude have elevated the band to the lists of the best bands of all time in the genre. It's also no wonder that Watain regularly makes headlines also because its style and way of doing things don't please everyone.
Part 1
In 2019, for example, the band was not allowed to perform in Singapore because it were suspected of disturbing the "social harmony" of the island nation. In the same year, the guitarist Pelle Forsberg was denied entry to the United States because his phone was found "suspicious" footage. According to Forsberg, it was about Satanism, black metal and of images related to animal carcasses.
- We have had problems in some countries, which have mainly been related to paperwork. Of course, these problems may have something to do with the fact that we are not an ordinary band, but Singapore, for example, has also boycotted Lady Gaga. Neither does he, though don't be a standard artist, Erik Danielsson clarifies.
According to Danielsson, there is a difference between when Watain provokes an exacerbation and when it does not hard to find any real logic.
- Sometimes we are frowned upon and then after a couple of years we are rewarded with a Grammy.
Black metal has done its job
Sweden's abundant black metal offering includes both Dark Funeral and Marduk like classics, but also Mephorashi style, like Watain to the visual and groups investing in ritualistic expression.
- After doing this for such a long time, you notice that people come and go constantly.
There have been bands in Sweden with whom we have had a lot in common, but the biggest some of them are no longer included in the designs, says Danielsson.
Perhaps even symptomatically, Danielsson has put on a Nifelheim t-shirt. More than three the Swedish band, which had a decade-long career, ceased operations last year.
Danielsson brings up a Latin phrase: Sic transit Gloria mundi, which refers to the worldly to the loss of honor.
- This compares to what I feel the situation of black metal is like at the moment. Really a lot of great bands die and disappear, but I don't see any new bands to be found similar dignity and revolutionary thinking. Mostly it is largely repeated, what has already been done before.
Part 2
- We have had problems in some countries, which have mainly been related to paperwork. Of course, these problems may have something to do with the fact that we are not an ordinary band, but Singapore, for example, has also boycotted Lady Gaga. Neither does he, though don't be a standard artist, Erik Danielsson clarifies.
According to Danielsson, there is a difference between when Watain provokes an exacerbation and when it does not hard to find any real logic.
- Sometimes we are frowned upon and then after a couple of years we are rewarded with a Grammy.
Black metal has done its job
Sweden's abundant black metal offering includes both Dark Funeral and Marduk like classics, but also Mephorashi style, like Watain to the visual and groups investing in ritualistic expression.
- After doing this for such a long time, you notice that people come and go constantly.
There have been bands in Sweden with whom we have had a lot in common, but the biggest some of them are no longer included in the designs, says Danielsson.
Perhaps even symptomatically, Danielsson has put on a Nifelheim t-shirt. More than three the Swedish band, which had a decade-long career, ceased operations last year.
Danielsson brings up a Latin phrase: Sic transit Gloria mundi, which refers to the worldly to the loss of honor.
- This compares to what I feel the situation of black metal is like at the moment. Really a lot of great bands die and disappear, but I don't see any new bands to be found similar dignity and revolutionary thinking. Mostly it is largely repeated, what has already been done before.
Part 2
Danielsson also places the future of black metal in a larger cultural context.
- There are cultural currents that last their own time, and maybe they will relevant, say, a hundred years later. One cannot assume that something radical the art form would be on fire or revolutionary with constant input. Maybe someday it could think about letting this art form die in peace.
According to Danielsson, it is usually problematic if a certain style of music is distorted people who have no idea about the whole genre.
- It's mostly embarrassing. It would make more sense to leave the music making to us for bands like ours or leave it entirely
Ceremonial approaches
According to Erik Danielsson, Watain has carried out since the beginning until these days up to the concept with the same philosophy and energy. The audience is whisked away blood from the middle of the sea of flames and otherwise it's about communicating very strong emotions ritual.
- In the case of Watain, it's about a ceremonial approach. In the middle of everything is the devil (=devil), who is the ultimate archetype, force and monument to, what we consider true, relevant and important to life.
As stated at the beginning, Watain's concerts take the audience to spaces that are not here of the world. For Erik Danielsson, Watain has offered an opportunity to look at the fact that there is something more than things that can be perceived by the human senses alone.
- Of course, this includes life after death. Maybe I've been able to hint to some kind of answer through the things we have done more than half of my life.
Danielsson emphasizes the word mystery.
- I think mystery is one of the most important fuels for an artist, not only black for a metal musician. Regardless of how high we are as humans in other things above or no matter how rationally we think, we all walk towards something we know nothing about. We can either blink away or look straight ahead.
Part 3
- There are cultural currents that last their own time, and maybe they will relevant, say, a hundred years later. One cannot assume that something radical the art form would be on fire or revolutionary with constant input. Maybe someday it could think about letting this art form die in peace.
According to Danielsson, it is usually problematic if a certain style of music is distorted people who have no idea about the whole genre.
- It's mostly embarrassing. It would make more sense to leave the music making to us for bands like ours or leave it entirely
Ceremonial approaches
According to Erik Danielsson, Watain has carried out since the beginning until these days up to the concept with the same philosophy and energy. The audience is whisked away blood from the middle of the sea of flames and otherwise it's about communicating very strong emotions ritual.
- In the case of Watain, it's about a ceremonial approach. In the middle of everything is the devil (=devil), who is the ultimate archetype, force and monument to, what we consider true, relevant and important to life.
As stated at the beginning, Watain's concerts take the audience to spaces that are not here of the world. For Erik Danielsson, Watain has offered an opportunity to look at the fact that there is something more than things that can be perceived by the human senses alone.
- Of course, this includes life after death. Maybe I've been able to hint to some kind of answer through the things we have done more than half of my life.
Danielsson emphasizes the word mystery.
- I think mystery is one of the most important fuels for an artist, not only black for a metal musician. Regardless of how high we are as humans in other things above or no matter how rationally we think, we all walk towards something we know nothing about. We can either blink away or look straight ahead.
Part 3
"Love, Good, and Freedom"
Today, people are rather removed from the true sense of self and from the real meaning of life and love.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, love is defined as "a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties, or attraction." Aquinas suggests that love is not a feeling but a conscious, trained action. The classical definition is: love is willing or choosing the good of another.
What we need to ask is, what does choosing the good of another person look like? It may not look like simply following your feelings or even following your passions, but ultimately, something much better.
Love is an ability.
According to Aquinas, the natural inclination of will is drawn toward the “perfect good” or the “universal good.” This is expressed by one’s will tending toward what is good for them, but more so everyone. Aquinas suggests that love is not an event that happens to us but a conscious, trained action.
This implies a freedom of decision found in action. But the issue with this freedom of decision lies among unlimited choices. An abundance of choices can tempt us to pass up an authentic good in the pursuit of an imaginary one.
Pursuing the latter will cause you to always wonder “what might have been.” The tragedy of this is missing the good in search of the better, which is purely imaginary. We must see each other with the eyes of the heart. Involved in this is also the dimension of our own suffering. St. John of the Cross says,
"The purest suffering carries in its train the purest understanding."
Our own personal sufferings and losses can make us cynical, can make us withdrawn, can make us selfish; or they can make us tremendously compassionate – free to love in truth. We live freely not when we live within the frame of love but when acting out of love since our actions do not depend on a desired result.
Freedom has to be earned. Reason understands humans to have a natural inclination toward what is good and their opposites to be evil. We are truly free only when we seek to further the greatest good.
This shouldn't be hard, but most people are locked in sin. They are bound, built, and held captive by their vices. They are not free to love others because they are immersed in themself. A healthy body, however good, is not the source of happiness.
Imperfect happiness, which depends on sensory input, is the highest kind of happiness that we can achieve in the mortal world. The body is a means for the soul to do “all the works of man.”
The body is not an end in itself. For this reason, pleasure is temporary. Aquinas argues that the body will not be needed in the afterlife to experience perfect happiness, for we will be fulfilled, so we do not want to achieve anything else. This makes us entirely free.
What is more, this natural inclination gives rise to all other acts of will, including the love one has for another person. It may be that one expects some return in the future from the other, but it may also be simply the good achieved in the other that is the source of pleasure.
To the degree we fail to be realistic, we are not free.
To the degree we give service from in love, not out of love, we are not free.
To the degree that we put on an act or are not authentic, we are not free.
To the degree that we refuse to know each other as we are, to respond to each other, as one seems, we are not free.
The body is a means for the soul to enforce its will. It's not the end, itself. For this reason, pleasure, or “bodily delights,” are temporary.
Only when we think of people and situations as they are and respond to them according to our freedom and intelligence, then, and only then, is our response free.
Today, people are rather removed from the true sense of self and from the real meaning of life and love.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, love is defined as "a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties, or attraction." Aquinas suggests that love is not a feeling but a conscious, trained action. The classical definition is: love is willing or choosing the good of another.
What we need to ask is, what does choosing the good of another person look like? It may not look like simply following your feelings or even following your passions, but ultimately, something much better.
Love is an ability.
According to Aquinas, the natural inclination of will is drawn toward the “perfect good” or the “universal good.” This is expressed by one’s will tending toward what is good for them, but more so everyone. Aquinas suggests that love is not an event that happens to us but a conscious, trained action.
This implies a freedom of decision found in action. But the issue with this freedom of decision lies among unlimited choices. An abundance of choices can tempt us to pass up an authentic good in the pursuit of an imaginary one.
Pursuing the latter will cause you to always wonder “what might have been.” The tragedy of this is missing the good in search of the better, which is purely imaginary. We must see each other with the eyes of the heart. Involved in this is also the dimension of our own suffering. St. John of the Cross says,
"The purest suffering carries in its train the purest understanding."
Our own personal sufferings and losses can make us cynical, can make us withdrawn, can make us selfish; or they can make us tremendously compassionate – free to love in truth. We live freely not when we live within the frame of love but when acting out of love since our actions do not depend on a desired result.
Freedom has to be earned. Reason understands humans to have a natural inclination toward what is good and their opposites to be evil. We are truly free only when we seek to further the greatest good.
This shouldn't be hard, but most people are locked in sin. They are bound, built, and held captive by their vices. They are not free to love others because they are immersed in themself. A healthy body, however good, is not the source of happiness.
Imperfect happiness, which depends on sensory input, is the highest kind of happiness that we can achieve in the mortal world. The body is a means for the soul to do “all the works of man.”
The body is not an end in itself. For this reason, pleasure is temporary. Aquinas argues that the body will not be needed in the afterlife to experience perfect happiness, for we will be fulfilled, so we do not want to achieve anything else. This makes us entirely free.
What is more, this natural inclination gives rise to all other acts of will, including the love one has for another person. It may be that one expects some return in the future from the other, but it may also be simply the good achieved in the other that is the source of pleasure.
To the degree we fail to be realistic, we are not free.
To the degree we give service from in love, not out of love, we are not free.
To the degree that we put on an act or are not authentic, we are not free.
To the degree that we refuse to know each other as we are, to respond to each other, as one seems, we are not free.
The body is a means for the soul to enforce its will. It's not the end, itself. For this reason, pleasure, or “bodily delights,” are temporary.
Only when we think of people and situations as they are and respond to them according to our freedom and intelligence, then, and only then, is our response free.
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Temple of the Oracle pinned «"Love, Good, and Freedom" Today, people are rather removed from the true sense of self and from the real meaning of life and love. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, love is defined as "a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal…»
Forwarded from THE MONKEYWRENCH GANG
We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we have lost our connection to ourselves.
-Andy Goldsworthy
-Andy Goldsworthy
Forwarded from ☤Hermean☤
To those who ask, where have you seen the gods, or how do you comprehend that they exist and so worship them, I answer, in the first place, they may be seen even with the eyes.
In the second place, neither have I seen even my own soul, and yet I honor it.
Thus then with respect to the gods, from what I constantly experience of their power, from this I comprehend that they exist, and I venerate them.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 12.28
In the second place, neither have I seen even my own soul, and yet I honor it.
Thus then with respect to the gods, from what I constantly experience of their power, from this I comprehend that they exist, and I venerate them.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 12.28
Forwarded from Wudubearu 🌲 (Eecebaam)
“Berchtoldstag is an Alemannic holiday, known in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is near New Year's Day, during the Rauhnächte, in Switzerland nearly always on 2 January, with the status of a public holiday in a number of cantons. Its observation is attested since the 14th century, although celebrations were limited after the Protestant Reformation.
Berchtold Day is a light-hearted, sociable event. People meet in pubs and restaurants to exchange good wishes for the New Year. In Hallwil in the canton of Aargau one can still witness the Bärzeli, a parade of dressed up and masked figures symbolizing concepts like fertility, age, ugliness, wisdom, and vice.
The name may be related to the Perchta, a female of myth and folklore, guardian of the animals, and sometimes leader of the Wild Hunt,
Perchta shows dual faces at this time. To the faithful, she appears as a beautiful goddess of light who blesses humans with health and prosperity. To the evil hearted, deceitful and wicked, she appears as a ferocious demon with horns and fangs.”
Berchtold Day is a light-hearted, sociable event. People meet in pubs and restaurants to exchange good wishes for the New Year. In Hallwil in the canton of Aargau one can still witness the Bärzeli, a parade of dressed up and masked figures symbolizing concepts like fertility, age, ugliness, wisdom, and vice.
The name may be related to the Perchta, a female of myth and folklore, guardian of the animals, and sometimes leader of the Wild Hunt,
Perchta shows dual faces at this time. To the faithful, she appears as a beautiful goddess of light who blesses humans with health and prosperity. To the evil hearted, deceitful and wicked, she appears as a ferocious demon with horns and fangs.”