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Death Metal English (2013)

invisibleoranges.com

81–90 of 114 posts

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#81

This article was written by my good friend, bandmate, and former co-worker Doug Moore! Doug is best known as the vocalist for extreme death metal noise maniacs Pyrrhon. https://pyrrhonband.bandcamp.com/album/abscess-time He is also the vocalist for the death metal band Glorious Depravity, in which I drum. This makes best use of his DME skills. https://gloriousdepravity.bandcamp.com/album/ageless-violenc... . Look at…

Who are the lyrics for and what is expected of the audience? Are they purely artistic or do fans usually read the lyrics at some point and appreciate them and do they ever understand them in the song?

Someone who’s committed to learning them will understand them, so that usually works backwards: someone becomes a fan of a band, they feel motivated and committed enough to learn the lyrics so they can bark along.

Screamed metal vocals are a rhythm instrument and intensity amplifier. They serve as a focal point for the atmosphere that a band is trying to create. They provide a path for the audience to connect with music in a visceral way. It’s akin to listening to music in another language. I don’t need to understand Italian to appreciate opera or comprehend the emotion behind any particular moment, the presentation alone is enough when it’s done well.

The lyrics themselves serve different purposes depending on the band, genre, and topic. They often act as a signifier of identity, something that helps readers categorize genre and properly contextualize the complete package. Sometimes they’re just fun for the vocalist to bark, offering some combination of rhythm and sound that lets them perform with the intensity that they’re looking for. Some bands use more personal, meaningful lyrics, at which point they’re poetry. The DME piece is a brilliant glimpse into one kind of death metal lyricism but it’s far from exhaustive where the genre is concerned.

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#82

I'd wonder whether an LLM could make a coherent translation engine. It's like cognoscenti of the cthulic void rhyming slang.

ChatGPT was made for this. Here is a link to a conversation I just made so anyone can test it: https://chat.openai.com/share/807fddd2-4628-4052-9e65-096317...

Here are some examples:

Normal English: "My boss needs this report by 5 PM"

Death Metal English: "THE OVERSEER OF OUR TOILS DEMANDS THE MANUSCRIPT OF ACCOUNTABILITY ANON UPON THE QUINTESSENTIAL HOUR OF THE SOLAR DECLINE"

Normal English: "That sounds like a win-win situation to me!"

Death Metal English: "UNTO MINE EARS, IT RESONATES AS THE DUAL FACETED TRIUMPH OF FATE'S INEXORABLE CONFLUENCE!"

And, for those of you trying to explain the Single Responsibility Principle to your colleagues for the umpteenth time:

"THE SOLITARY OBLIGATION DOCTRINE THUNDERETH FORTH THE DECREE THAT EVERY CONSTRUCT, STRUCTURE, SEGMENT, OR SERVITUDE MUST BEAR A SINGLE, UNMISTAKABLY ETCHED DUTY. IN THE TONGUE OF THE MORTALS, EACH CLASS, FUNCTION, OR MODULE SHALL BE GUIDED BY ONE AND ONLY ONE CATALYST OF TRANSFORMATION."

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#83

I'm a bit confused about most death metal, are they trying to appear (as the cockney's say) "hard men" in the way that gangsta rappers are trying to portray street-level gangs?

I'd say it's mostly not serious, in the same [kayfabe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe) tone as "professional wrestling" where it's known to those that are in the know that it's all a show.

The website linked in this post (invisibleoranges) is a reference to a hand gesture a lot of metal artists and audiences make when performing/listening that appears to look as though they're holding invisible oranges, tongue firmly in cheek.

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#84
I find these almost laughably stupid. An eight year old boy might find them neat because they’re gross, but surely this is the lowest form of use the English (or any) language can see?

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#85
post #52

I'm a bit confused about most death metal, are they trying to appear (as the cockney's say) "hard men" in the way that gangsta rappers are trying to portray street-level gangs?

Death metal is indeed very silly. What I'm not sure of is whether its fans don't realise it's silly, embrace the silliness, or have simply moved beyond such pathetic human dichotomies as serious and silly.

Most fans are very aware of the silliness. There's kind of an arms-race nature to the genre to see who can come up with the most over-the-top lyrics and ambience. Perhaps the one non-silly element to it is the cathartic feeling of aggression and rage it tries to get across. Few styles of music are as tapped into that dark portion of the human psyche that revels in violence, forbidden feelings, and raw aggression. It's actually a very cathartic genre to listen to; most fans and bands are very relaxed and calm people otherwise.

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#87
> “Some of them early songs were, instead of actually singing something, it was maybe just a series of growls or screams that kind of went along with it,” he says.

The first Obituary album doesn't always have lyrics even though you can find fans that transcribed them. :)

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/obituary-t...

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#88
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally enjoy not understanding the lyrics, but just rarely recognizing some coherence in the noise. Bonus points for bands, like Anaal Nathrakh, who don't publish their lyrics in the first place, so even lyric sites have just a bunch of ??? where nobody understands what's going on[0]. There's also bands like Swarrrm, where there are vocals, but practically no lyrics exist. [0] http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/a…

As per a member of Undead Corporation, when asked what are the lyrics to one particular song, since there's no associated lyrics sheet: "We don't actually remember"

I've got a Warcollapse album that actually comes with a lyrics sheet, but under the one song it just says "try to figure this one out. We can't." Which seems fitting for a song called Drunk, Collapsed, Destroyed.

Re: Death Metal English (2013)

#90

> Normal English: “You have to mow the lawn” Death Metal English: “BRING DOWN THE SCYTHE OF GODS UPON THE NECKS OF THE GREEN-RIBBED LEGIONS AND SWEEP AWAY THEIR WRETCHED BODIES; THOU ART IMPLORED BY ME” I'd listen to an album of that--while mowing!

THE SCYTHE OF THE GODS DROWNED IN DEATHLY SILENCE DECREED BY THE LORDS OF THE INFERNAL CASTLE. (It is banned to mow the lawn here on Sundays, by a municipal bylaw.)

Is it also banned if you don't make noise, like when using a scythe?
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