Equimanthorn (song)
Equimanthorn is a song by the Swedish metal band Bathory . It appeared on their third album Under the Sign of the Black Mark in 1987 .
Emergence
Quorthon wrote the material for the third album in the period after the release of the second album The Return ...... (1985). After constant problems finding suitable musicians, the album was recorded in September and October 1986 with the drummer Paul Pålle Lundberg. The bassist Christer Sandström Quorthon dismissed because he was trying to change the songs, which was not up for discussion for Quorthon. So he took over the position himself, only two or three songs were recorded with Sandström. The album was released on May 8, 1987.
Music genre
The entrance passage was more or less taken from the score for The Jaws , otherwise the music comes from Quorthon. After the slow start, the song changes to a fast Black / Thrash Metal style, shortly afterwards the fast, guttural vocals also set in , which Quorthon himself as "almost unbelievably fast" and the review of the Nocturnal Horde website as his Speed called almost inhuman. After about one and a half minutes, just before the beginning of the last section of text, the pace is reduced again. After the end of the text section, after about two and a half minutes, the tempo is increased again, shortly afterwards a guitar solo can be heard, which lasts almost a minute and continues until the end of the song.
text
The meaning of the title Equimanthorn has been a mystery for a decade and a half. Bathory fans searched in vain in the literature on various mythologies and asked Quorthon in letters and e-mails what kind of deity the Equimanthorn was and where one could get more information about it. Quorthon put the name from equi as in 'equal', man ( English : 'human' or 'man') and thorn (English: 'thorn'). In Latin , however , equality is originally written aequalitas or aequitas , in ancient Latin the beginning of the word component equi is more like equus (Latin: ' horse '); In the Middle Ages, however, the diphthong ae was shortened to e using the ligature æ and the sign ę . The thorn in the name represents the revenge theme in the text. According to his own memory, Quorthon tried to create a nature deity of early mankind who should not stand above man but be equal to him, i.e. a primitive deity of primitive mankind. With Equimanthorn Quorthon treated for the first time other spiritual, mythological and cult topics than the purely satanic of the previous albums.
With the second line of text “And give me a sword forged in the raging Hell's fire”, the text still contains references to the hell of Christianity and traditional theistic Satanism , the following line “Lend me the eight legged black stallion of Odin and I'll have my vengeance “, however, refers to the deity Odin and his eight-legged steed Sleipnir from Norse mythology . The speaker calls on his gods to give him the powers of thunder, a sword forged in hellfire and sleipnir for his vengeance. This makes him invincible in battle. After killing his enemies, he praises the gods of his ancestors and especially the Equimanthorn. Gioele Nasi from Rockline.it sees parallels to Manowar in the pagan elements , which, according to Quorthon, only exist in the drumming of the song Enter the Eternal Fire from the same album and come from Lundberg.
reception
Equimanthorn is considered a classic in Black Metal, for which the band Bathory has played a pioneering role. Rüdiger Stehle from Powermetal.de describes the song as one of the “blueprints for the second black metal wave that was to sweep Scandinavia and particularly Norway from 1991 onwards.” The song was used by numerous other metal bands, particularly from black metal Areas such as Abigail , Naer Mataron , Proclamation and Dark Funeral covered.
It was also Equimanthorn on Quorthon Tribute gig at the Hole in the Sky played in 2004, the band consisted of members known Norwegian bands and changed the position of the singer depending on the song. Ivar Bjørnson from Enslaved and Tomas Thormodsæter “Samoth” Haugen from Emperor played guitar, Bård G. “Faust” Eithun from Aborym played drums, Ole Jørgen “Apollyon” Moe from Aura Noir bass and sang with Equimanthorn .
A member of Dark Funeral adopted the song title as a pseudonym. Equimanthorn also became the name of several bands, such as the Australian band, whose members Griffiths and Camazotz formed the NSBM band Spear of Longinus in 1993 , and the later multinational post-industrial project Equimanthorn, founded by members of the American band Absu . The song can also be found in the film music for Gummo .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Quorthon : Bathory - Under the sin. bathory.nu, accessed July 8, 2011 .
- ↑ AvNatten: Bathory - Under The Sign Of The Black Mark. (No longer available online.) Nocturnal Horde, February 6, 2006, archived from the original on September 12, 2011 ; Retrieved July 8, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Gioele Nasi: Bathory. Under the Sign of the Black Mark. Rockline.it, accessed July 8, 2011 (Italian).
- ^ Rüdiger Stehle: The Memorial Hall - In memory of Quorthon by BATHORY. Powermetal.de , accessed on July 8, 2011 .
- ↑ Fafnir: ENSLAVED (GRUTLE). Terrorverlag, October 17, 2004, accessed July 8, 2011 .
