Set’s Music Corner ~ “Those Whom the Gods Detest” by Nile

Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest

Nile is a very heavy black metal band, who often incorporate Kemeticism into their lyrics. If you’ll remember the last song I reviewed, “Xeper-i-Set” by Dissection, while being about Set had a lot of Satanic, Aleister Crowley influences which I personally am averse to, not because I disagree with Satanism per se I just don’t like Abrahamic religion in general, nor do I like mixing it with paganism. I follow Set from a more Kemetic perspective, the Set known throughout the Oases and in Nubt/Ombos. Nile’s singer and lyricist Karl Sanders does do his research from what I have seen. Most of his songs are about “destroying the enemies of Ra”, but he explained his writing process on the same website where I found the lyrics, that he wanted this song to be more from the “bad guys’” perspective for a change, although with Set being lumped in with Kemeticism’s baddies once again. It would appear that he based some of the lyrics on the Book of the Dead. Here are the lyrics:

“I will not speak

The spell for not dying again

I will not speak

The spell for not dying again

I will not speak

The spell for not dying again

I am the murderous Seth

My hostility made manifest

In the rebelliousness that is humanity

Entwined in coils of wrath

I disrupt the continuity of the sublime

And defy the words spoken from the mouth of Ra

We are they whom the gods detest

We are they whom the gods detest

Unrepentant

I deny the secrecy of the texts

Impenitent

I blaspheme the sacred scrolls

Unwilling to submit

I embrace what Ra hath called profane

We are they

We are they

I shall not hail to he who rises and sets

I shall not bend to he who imprisons myriads at his will

He who would bathe in my blood

And drink my gore

Embraced within the coils of Set

I have no fear of the second death

Of being slashed with knives

Of being butchered on the slaughtering blocks

No God or Demon will feed on my entrails or drink my blood

No blind servant of the throne of Ra

Shall I willingly allow to devour me

No consuming flames of uttermost damnation shall I fear

No tongue speaking words of redemption shall ever penetrate my will

Darkly splendid I remain unconquered

Supreme and terrible Ra

Who maketh Gods and men tremble before thee

I am counted amongst legions of the unrighteous

Who dread not being immersed in pits of fire

We are They Whom the Gods Detest”

The lyrics seem to reflect a time when Set was being heavily demonized, like during the Ptolmaic or Roman eras. Ra was usually on Set’s side even when most of the other Netjeru were not, as even in the Plutarch version of The Contendings of Seth and Horus most people know of it was Ra who vetoed their vote to put Heru on the throne despite it being known that he murdered Asar. It makes sense for Ra to take Set’s side once you think about the other stories; Set protects Ra from the Chaos Serpent every night, not to mention that incident where Aset almost killed Ra to get his secret name, which I’m sure he didn’t just forgive and forget. I just can’t see Set ever being a rival to Ra. In fact, you could worship both synchronized as Set-Ra. 

Well, to each their own. Anyone else have thoughts on the lyrics? 

𓋹֍֎𓋹

~ Siamanto the Foreigner

 𓋷𓅁𓈖𓏏𓍯𓀭𓈖𓐎𓏺𓈉𓏏𓅂𓌙𓀀

Սիամանթօ Օտարը

Sutekh’s Music Corner ~ Kotipelto - Battle of the Gods

 Sutekh’s Music Corner

 

I felt like having a look at the different songs I know that have to do with Set, which are all on my devotional YouTube playlist “Dua Sutekh” by the way. The first one is going to be the first song I ever heard that directly mentions Set, “Battle of the Gods” by Kotipelto. This is the solo project of Timo Kotipelto, best known as the singer of the power metal band Stratovarius. Power metal, by the way, typically has clean vocals, and the music is generally less loud and dark and more melodic than in black metal or death metal, very little growling and screaming too. And this is the case with Kotipelto as well. His first solo album, “Waiting for the Dawn”, was released in 2002 and is a concept album mostly about ancient Egypt. There are songs dedicted to Ra creating the world, the afterlife, the Sphinx, Ramses the Great, and this, the battle between Set(h) and Horus. Here are the lyrics:

𓋹֍֎𓋹

He was raised to avenge, to make things right

He could feel the anger running in his veins.

In a foreign land, he began to understand,

He must overthrow his uncle for his reign.

Learning how to fight, using his might

Getting ready to avenge his father's death,

With power in his arms and a will to win

He will fight until the last breath.

They have started the great battle of the gods.

Who'll be ruler, it goes on for days and nights.

When the fight begins Seth seems to win,

More powerful than ever before.

But Horus has the thumb that Seth once cut off,

By swallowing it he wins the war.

Now Seth is captured his hands are tied,

But he gets some help from inside.

Using the surprise Seth plucks out Horus' eyes

And plants them in the ground with pride.

They have started the great battle of the gods.

Who'll be ruler, it goes on for days and nights.

They meet again and the fight begins,

The battle rages on until the end.

Finally Seth is beaten and Horus wins,

But will that turn an enemy into a friend?

𓋹֍֎𓋹

So, perhaps not my favorite retelling of the story, but it’s neat that there is a song on this topic at all, I suppose. I like how it ends on a hopeful note, with “Will that turn an enemy into a friend?” The song doesn’t necessarily paint Set as irredeemable. Was there a version of the myth where a thumb is severed and then swallowed? I have yet to come across that version. There are a lot of better episodes from the Contendings of Horus and Set that could have been included in the song besides this one. Why not sing about the boat contest? (Probably because that story makes Horus look like a cheater.)

Anyway, overall I like the song, still play it on occasion. Give it a listen too if you like. I know of several other songs about Set that I can review. 

𓋹֍֎𓋹

~ Siamanto the Foreigner

 𓋷𓅁𓈖𓏏𓍯𓀭𓈖𓐎𓏺𓈉𓏏𓅂𓌙𓀀

Սիամանթօ Օտարը

Reviewing an old school assignment: Have I always been this cynical? The answer may surprise you.

 I keep a binder up in my closet with a bunch of old school work dating back to High School in it. This morning I was rummaging through it, looking for something to use as an art reference for my webcomic Alcatraz High. And I found the assignment above. There’s no date, so I don’t remember when exactly I wrote it. Due to a reference to a specific incident that happened to me in Junior year, the earliest it could have been written would have been late Junior year, which was 2003 for me. This may have been some kind of creative writing prompt; for all I know it could have been written later and I was putting myself back into my high school mindset, which would have been much easier to do in early college than it would be now. I honestly don’t remember writing it. It appears to be a mock answer key to a test, but within it are some valuable tidbits from my years as a sarcastic and moody teenager who even back then saw right through all the bullshit of the world. This is stuff that’s going to help me with my comic, because there’s a lot I don’t remember. Anyway, I will transcribe it in case it’s hard to read, and provide commentary.

High School Answer Key

Question 1: How was Homecoming Week

Question 2: How was the dance?

Question 3: Did you do your homework?

Question 4: How are you doing in school?

Question 5: What is your GPA?

Question 6: Is it true when people say “these are the best years of your life”?

Answer 1: It was a nauseating display of “pride” in the very thing that imprisons us, forces us to conform and makes our lives miserable.

Answer 2: Loud, hot, clammy, lacking oxygen, crowded, filled with crappy hip-hop music; mark answer right if the student guessed any of these.

Answer 3: Only in the classes I didn’t do it for last class. The teachers say it should only take an hour; little do they know I have five other teachers who feel the same way about their homework.

Answer 4: I would be doing good if it wasn’t for the dead beat moron I got paired up with for a project that was 25% of my grade who didn’t do any work and made me do it all, resulting in my getting an “F”. 

Answer 5: Saying that your GPA matters in college is the biggest lie told in school. As long as it’s decent, it doesn’t matter.

Answer 6: It may be the best years of your life if you’re a jock or a cheerleader. If you aren’t and these are still the best years of your life, you must have had a pretty crappy life.

Elaborations on my Answers

Ah the precious high school memories this brings back. Even back then I suspected the purpose of school “pride” is to create a unifying factor among the students so that they will be more obedient and less likely to rebel against their oppressors. Nationalism is this on a larger scale, by the way.

I went to maybe two dances the entire time at High School and didn’t enjoy myself in the slightest. I never had a girlfriend first off, and as a metalhead at the time they never played my type of music. Wouldn’t it be fun to have Cradle of Filth played at a school dance? 

I do remember having to prioritize my homework due to having too damn much of it. I would figure out which assignment would have the least impact on my grade if I didn’t do it, and focus on more important ones. The teachers always acted like their class was the only class their students had. Perhaps this was a result of tunnel vision, myopia, or as I suspected as a teen, the teachers got together and coordinated their assignments this way deliberately to stress their students out. 

The partner project incident happened to me in a history class Junior Year. My partner was a notorious burnout drug addict who just didn’t care, and try as I might to save the project it wasn’t enough. I ended up with an F and had to retake the class in night school the next year. Partner projects are a special kind of evil. I don’t know why the teacher who graded this found that so funny. 

I was correct that GPAs don’t matter in college, but when I wrote this I still didn’t realize just how meaningless they were. Is my life better right now because I got an A in English 20 years ago? Is my life worse because of the F I got in History Junior year? NO. My grades were generally pretty good. I ended up with a Master’s Degree, a huge student loan debt I’ll never pay off, and I can still only get hired for barely above minimum wage. I would be in the exact same position now if I had just stopped after High School, except without the debt. 

“Best years of my life”, ha! I stand by what I said there. My best years were either late childhood ages 9 to 11, or my early-to-mid 20s. My worst years were Middle School, and High School was only marginally not as awful. 

Top 11 Songs of the Month- June 2021/ Մարգաց 4513 ~ Lilith My Mother, No Man Cry, Death Loves Veronica

I have been inundated with new music this past month so it’s been hard to narrow my favorites down to just 5. But you know, why limit myself? I’ll just talk about all my favorite new songs this month. Just one per band though, or else I would be writing forever. So this time, let’s call it a Top 11 list. You can think of it as a Top 10 plus an honorable mention, but I would say after the third song these are in no particular order and I like them all equally. I won’t say I will have this many songs every month, I might go back to just 5 next month, but we’ll see. There’s no limit, no maximum. 

I’ve been listening mainly to music that came out either this year or last year. I’ve made some exciting discoveries this month, from bands around the world. A lot of US bands this time around, a lot of California bands in fact, but, I finally found an Armenian goth band! More on that later. 

Lilith my Mother - There’s No Poetry in Light

Lilith My Mother is the solo project of Oleg Degtiarev out of Czechia, and their new album Now released just last month. Included on the album is the original title track along with no less than 13 remixes of the song from artists such as Project Ich, Luin and Batavia. It’s very interesting listening to each artist’s different take on the track, I don’t think I have ever heard so many remixes of one song. It really becomes an entirely different song sometimes. So don’t think the album is going to be redundant with so many remixes of the same song on it, it really is quite varied. No two are the same. In fact Oleg was kind enough to send me the album to listen to and review, and I decided to include it in my monthly Top Songs blog. My favorite track off the album is one of two songs that aren’t “Now”, and that’s “There’s No Poetry in Light”. A terrific song for lovers of the night and lovers of poetry, of which I am both. The lyrics themselves would make a good poem. I definitely recommend checking this album out.

You can find the album here:

https://lilithmymother.bandcamp.com/album/now

No Man Cry - Undead

I finally did it! I finally found an Armenian goth band! They do exist! After finding so many Greek, Russian and Turkish goth bands it feels great to finally hear goth from my homeland. I know The Deenjes, an Armenian band which has made my lists before, can be goth-passing or goth-adjectant on certain tracks, but No Man Cry is fully goth. No Man Cry is the solo project of Tigran Davtyan out of Yerevan, Armenia, founded just last year. He now has three albums out. As soon as I found this band I bought their whole discography. So far my favorite song on the three albums is the above track, “Undead”. The song is off their debut album Kukuruznik, released almost exactly one year ago, which you see on the video above. The usage of an old Soviet skyscraper on the album cover (Kukuruznik, Russian for “corn”, is the name of the building, in fact, a legacy of Soviet modernism in Yerevan) reminds one of Molchat Doma, and given Armenia’s cultural closeness with Russia I wouldn’t be surprised if No Man Cry wasn’t influenced by the bustling Russian post-punk scene that has exploded in recent years. But No Man Cry has a charm all its own. They mainly sing in English, although they do have an occasional song in Armenian. The English in the lyrics isn’t always the best, reminding me of the Greek band Tango Mangalore; for instance one verse in this song is “Body that twitchy, eyes that are twitch, a blood on my hands I am dragging that witch.” It adds to the charm. As does the accent. I love how “Undead” opens with the sound of ravens and a church bell chiming, very classical gothic. The song goes on to have shades of Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”, with its “undead” chant, and a gloomy post-punk atmosphere. The drum beat at the beginning even reminds me of that song. In all, I think it’s a good introduction to this band if you want to check them out. 

Check the album out here:

https://nomancry.bandcamp.com/album/kukuruznik

Death Loves Veronica - LIES

“You can’t break the system, it’s always been this way.”

This is another one of those songs, like the thematically similar songs “Deep Down in a Box” by Paradox Obscur and “Off the Grid” by Rein, that correlates with my worldview. It expresses a desire to escape the inescapable dystopian system upon which our society operates. The system is something you can’t escape, it’s always been this way and always will. Or at least that’s what the authorities would have you believe; the Sun has to expand into a red supergiant and swallow the Earth someday, after all, it won’t always be this way. Another good lyric is “Don’t go outside, just play the game.” Stay asleep and obedient, work to make the rich richer, pay your bills, never question anything, and then die. Stay locked up in the cave and stare at the shadows on the wall your whole life. Basically the stuff I write about in my Doom Scroll blogs all the time. The system is a game I never asked to play. 

Death Loves Veronica is the solo project of Veronica Campbell of San Antonio, Texas. She’s been releasing albums for a few years now but I only just discovered her, and I like what I’ve heard. I have a lot of great music to get through. This track is off the album Chemical, which released late last month and can be found here:

https://deathlovesveronica.bandcamp.com/album/chemical

Slow Danse With the Dead- Red Wine and Sad Songs

The ever-prolific Slow Danse With the Dead released a new album mere days ago, called Into the Dark, not to be confused with a two-song EP by the same name released in late May (which I accidentally bought while trying to buy this album on Bandcamp, but it’s okay! One of the songs on that wasn’t on this album at least.) Each SDWTD album is a little different. This album is a bit more up-tempo and synth-heavy than their self-titled album last year, if only by comparison. It also doesn’t sound quite as ironically miserable as the first albums I heard from the band (compare the title track “Into the Dark” to “So Obnoxious” and “Monday Mourning”, you’ll see how the music has evolved), but it’s still satisfyingly dark. My favorite track was the final one, “Red Wine and Sad Songs”, with “Church Be Gone” as a close second. Who doesn’t like sipping red wine while listening to sad songs? Well okay, let me rephrase that, what goth doesn’t like sipping red wine while listening to sad songs? Anyway, Slow Danse With the Dead remains one of my favorite bands right now. 

You can find the album here:

https://slowdansewiththedead.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-dark-2

Mystic Priestess - No Tomorrow, Only Today

Mystic Priestess is a deathrock band out of Oakland, California, same county I grew up in. I wonder where all the goths were when I lived in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, I always felt like the only one on the planet when I lived there. Anyway, I discovered this band last year when they appeared on a radio show I occasionally listen to either on their website or through Radio Garden, The Hanging Garden on BFF. FM out of San Francisco. I heard the track “Toxic Masculinity” and enjoyed it, but I hadn’t gotten around to listening to to their other music until recently. Their music is often very angry and politically charged, as is the case with the above track “No Tomorrow, Only Today”, a song about how the United States is headed for nuclear doom. But what really grabbed me about this track was the rare and illusive goth sax. Yes, the gothic saxophone appears again. I’m going to make a goth sax mixtape once I find enough songs with it. 

This track is off their self-titled album, which was released last December. Highly recommended listening. You can buy the digital album, but the CD is only two dollars more and you also get their previous EPs as well as the MP3s, so that’s probably the best way to go.

https://mysticpriestess.bandcamp.com/

Glaare - Buyer’s Remorse

Glaare’s 2017 debut album To Death and a Day is still a favorite of mine, I even got it on cassette. The song “My Love Grows in Darkness”, first song on the album, is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, and I don’t say that lightly, considering my MP3 player is now past 2,200 songs. So I was thrilled when I learned that Glaare was going to have a new album out this year. The new album, Your Hellbound Heart, takes their sound in a bit of a new direction, with synthwave tones thrown into their usual shoegaze/post-punk. The theme of the album is sci-fi action movies of the 1980s, such as Hellraiser and They Live. One of the songs is even called “Terminator 2” and is told from the perspective of Sarah Connor, a character in the film. It’s very much a concept album, which are getting rare these days. Like their previous album, listening to it from beginning to end is like listening to one single work rather than a collection of unrelated songs, and that’s the mark of a good mix. There’s a lost science to placing songs on an album (or mixtape) in a way that they flow into each other and you kind of forget that you’re listening to more than one song at times. Glaare is good at this.

 My favorite off the album is “Buyer’s Remorse”, with the title track “Your Hellbound Heart” a close second. Those two songs are a bit slower and sound closer to Glaare’s initial sound, although I do like all the songs. Admittedly nothing is quite like “My Love Grows in Darkness”, but perhaps that song is like lightning in a bottle. I do wonder if this album signals a permanent change of musical direction for the band, or if the next one will be different still.

Listen to it here:

https://glaare.bandcamp.com/album/your-hellbound-heart

Pitch After Dark - Torn

I discussed this band last month when I was hooked on their song “Trapped Inside”. I bought both of their albums then, and I love every song on both. This song eventually surpassed “Trapped Inside”. It’s more subdued and mellow than that song, but with that same great post-punk sound. I just love the vocals of singer Pari Dark, and while the guitar solos that appear in their songs almost feel a bit outside the genre, that punctuate the songs well. Anyway, this song is a good one to listen to during my walks outside. Dark yet relaxing.

This track appears on their self-titled debut album, released last year.

 https://pitchafterdark.bandcamp.com/album/pitch-after-dark

New Cross - Fist of the Hanged Man

New Cross is a band out of London, England, which emerged last year. I recently became hooked on this song after it was shared on the Guitars and Sound YouTube page. I went on a quest to find out more about this band for the blog but information seems pretty scant. They do have quite a lot of music out despite only debuting last year though, so it looks like I have some more new music to get to! This song can be found on the Fist of the Hanged Man EP, which also includes an instrumental version of the track. 

https://newcrosss.bandcamp.com/album/fist-of-the-hanged-man

Qyburn - Rain on a Grave

This song has two versions, a slow version and a speeded up version. I find that I prefer the speeded up version, but maybe it depends on one’s mood. This song is atmospheric and dreary. It just puts the image  in your mind of a foggy graveyard, raindrops falling upon a tombstone. I imagine if it were played live a fog machine with blue and purple lights would be a must. Maybe it’s because of the image on the above video but I feel like the hooded druid is perfect too, like the Ghost of Christmas Future presiding over the grave of Ebenezer Scrooge. I guess this song just takes my imagination places. Which judging by Qyburn’s Bandcamp page was the intent. The music is supposed to evoke a setting. They’ve succeeded.

Qyburn is based out of Los Angeles, California. This track is off their new album Wax Mask.

https://qyburn.bandcamp.com/album/wax-mask

Serj Tankian - Your Mom

Alright, time for some rock music. Serjik appears on my non-music related blogs quite frequently due to how our viewpoints usually align, but I hadn’t actually listened to his music in a long time until this song came out and got stuck in my head for days. Then I had to go marathon his discography again. This ties in with a nu-metal kick I’ve been on lately, which I will talk about next. Anyway, this song is a scathing attack on Islamic extremism, but I think it could also apply to anyone whose extreme dogmatic philosophy leads them to kill, like Armenia’s wonderful neighbors to the east for instance. I almost wonder if that is indirectly what he’s singing about, given present circumstances. I mean I guess ISIS and Al Qaeda still exist but they haven’t been in the news much for several years (that’s American news for you though, they exist but they aren’t a useful boogeyman at the moment so they’re not talked about). Some might take issue with the abelist language in it, (the word “retarded”, specifically), just to forewarn. I think he could have used a better word there. I mean when I was in high school just 20-ish years ago everyone was calling each other that, but it’s hurtful to people with mental disabilities so I don’t say it anymore. I’ve been trying to understand the connection with “your mom”. I think he’s asking if their mother would approve of their bloodthirsty behavior. I’m not exactly sure. Serj ending the song with “nah, bruh” was a stroke of genius though. Can we make this man Prime Minister of Armenia, please? 

This track is off his new album Elasticity. You can find the album here:

https://serj.themerchcollective.com/

Tetrarch - I’m Not Right

You know what, I like nu-metal and I’m tired of pretending that I don’t! So along with my typical musical tastes of post-punk, darkwave, and all the other spooky wave genres, thanks to my old CD collection now being on my MP3 player I’ve been going back and listening to the nu-metal of my early teens for the first time in many years (Korn, Disturbed, System of a Down, Adema, even Linkin Park). My trip down memory lane transferred over to Youtube where I was searching for other music I remembered from back then, and I eventually landed upon this band. People say Tetrarch is like a cross between Korn, Slipknot and Linkin Park (minus the rap, which yeah, was never my favorite part of a Linkin Park song). The singer sounds like Chester Bennington, the guitar work brings to mind Korn and on the heavier tracks Slipknot. There was another band that sounded just like that in the early 2000s known as Adema, a band I have also been listening to for the first time in forever. So really this band is carrying the torch of all these bands. This just goes to show what I’ve said on this blog before. Crusty old fogeys who complain that today’s music sucks just aren’t digging deep enough, and if you look hard enough you will find some band, somewhere in the world, making music in a genre most people think is dead. Case in point, I thought nu-metal was long dead, having been killed off by emo in the mid-2000s. I mean the only other genre I can think of that was “killed” by a sudden backlash like that is disco. I don’t know why everyone turned on nu-metal. And yet here I find a new band that makes me feel like a moody 14 year old again. It looks like nu-metal is making a recovery!

This track is off their new album Unstable, and can he found here:

https://tetrarch.bandcamp.com/album/unstable