Metal Blog Spotlight: Heavy Latin
Latin is a dead language. What better music to employ that dead language than a genre that celebrates death? I recently came across a fellow metal blog called Heavy Latin that periodically highlights use of Latin in heavy metal lyrics and song titles, typically with the intent of poking fun at its misuse. Because, really, Illud Divinum Insanus is a bit too silly not to deride.
Thankfully, unlike this guy who commented on one of Cybro’s old articles, Markheim, the owner of the blog, doesn’t take himself too seriously.
In the introduction to the blog, Markeim notes that only a small handful of Latin aficionados (read: dweebs) would actually notice any of the errors in the lyrics and song titles. Instead, Markheim hopes to offer helpful translations that may allow you to appreciate the sometimes incorrect wordsmithing used by your favorite artists. Let’s take a look at some examples, shall we?
I guess Il Papa needs to spend a bit more time in the catechism, no?
Pretty cool that Markheim was able to draw out all those allusions to Roman politics.
Turns out Anaal Nathrakh are masters of both sword and sorcery films and dead languages. Who’d have guessed.
There are a lot of other excellent posts, including an entire section on Powerwolf. I encourage you to head on over to Heavy Latin and check out all the thoughtful analysis Markheim provides. I, for one, appreciate this contribution to our understanding of this genre we love.
(h/t Pope Guilty on Metafilter)
(Photo VIA)
