Lyrical notes
Farther on in the Nocturnal Horde interview, Jakhelln went on to describe briefly the lyrics and concepts between each track on the album:
"Ragnarok: A poem about the end of the world, from my poetry book "Yggdraliv".
Shock And Awe: A song about the invasion of Iraq. It turned out in favour of the victims of the bombings when I wrote it, as I felt bad about the civilians involved. Still, the songs aim at capturing some of the tremor et stupor of such a massive military operation.
Erlkönig: One of Goethe's most famous ballads, sung and whispered in a dark forest ambience. A father rides with his young son through the forest, and the son is killed by an elf.
Army Of Odin (Hafrsfjord): Battle action from Hafrsfjord!
Master Hunter: A hymn to Jägermeister. I write about a giant cat in Schwarzwald, who hunts down hunters, and force-feed them Jägermeister!
Rattenfänger: This tells about the Rat Chaser, who seduces women and sing for gold!
Grimmer Than Ugly: A Western song, with epic landscapes and men who would kill for brandy or gold!
Walpurgisnacht: I love this song cycle. It talks about the pagan Druids celebrating the Night of Spring, with a mock attack on a Christian village. There is nothing more German on "Meister Mephisto" than these songs. " [7]
In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. Huginn and Muninn are attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources: the Prose Edda and Heimskringla; in the Third Grammatical Treatise, compiled in the 13th century by Óláfr Þórðarson; and in the poetry of skalds. The names of the ravens are sometimes modernly anglicized as Hugin and Munin.
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries to be with Odin, while the other half gets chosen by the goddess Freyja for the field Fólkvangr. In Valhalla, the dead warriors join the masses of those who have died in combat and various legendary Germanic heroes and kings, as they prepare to aid Odin during the events of Ragnarök. Before the hall stands the golden tree Glasir, and the hall's ceiling is thatched with golden shields. Various creatures live around Valhalla, such as the stag Eikþyrnir and the goat Heiðrún, both described as standing atop Valhalla and consuming the foliage of the tree Læraðr.
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live. Selecting among half of those who die in battle, the valkyries take their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin. There, the deceased warriors become einherjar. When the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök, the valkyries bear them mead. Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty, sometimes accompanied by ravens and sometimes connected to swans or horses.
Jägermeister is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35%. The recipe has not changed since its creation and continues to be served in its signature green glass bottle. It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
Mephisto is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appears in The Silver Surfer #3 and was introduced in the Marvel universe by Stan Lee and John Buscema, based on Mephistopheles – a demon character from the Faust legend, who has sometimes been referred to as Mephisto. Introduced as a recurring adversary of the Silver Surfer and Johnny Blaze, an incarnation of Ghost Rider, Mephisto has also endured as one of Spider-Man's adversaries, being part of the superhero's defining stories as well as being responsible for Norman and Harry Osborn's respective transformations into the Green Goblin and Kindred. Mephisto has often come into conflict with Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, and other superheroes in the Marvel Universe, responsible for the creation of the Cosmic Ghost Rider.
Lars Are Nedland, known also as Lazare, from Kristiansand, Norway, is the vocalist, drummer, and keyboardist for acclaimed avant-garde black metal band Solefald. He is also keyboardist for the progressive black metal act Borknagar. He composes much of the music and all the arrangements for violin and cello on the Solefald albums, Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part 1 and Black For Death: An Icelandic Odyssey Part 2. He also has written some lyrics for the band, including the songs "04.34 pm", "Fluorescent", and "White Frost Queen." He and vocalist/guitarist/bassist/main lyricist Cornelius Jakhelln started Solefald in August 1995.
Stian Tomt Thoresen, known professionally as Shagrath, is a Norwegian musician best known as the vocalist, founding member and multi-instrumentalist of the band Dimmu Borgir.
Solefald is a Norwegian avant-garde metal/black metal band that was formed by members Lars Are "Lazare" Nedland and Cornelius Jakhelln in August 1995, with Nedland singing and playing keyboard/synthesizer/piano and drums, and Jakhelln singing and playing guitar and bass. The duo experiment with a wide array of musical styles, frequently work on other projects, and rarely perform live under the Solefald name, leading them to describe themselves as "two stubborn goats pretending to be a band." According to the duo, their name is an Old Norse word for "sunset," taken from one of Theodor Kittelsen's paintings illustrating a poem of the same name by Theodor Caspari, published in the 1901 book Vintereventyr.
Simen Hestnæs, better known by his stage name I.C.S. Vortex or simply Vortex, is a Norwegian musician. He is the vocalist of the similarly named band ICS Vortex, the avant-garde metal band Arcturus, and the doom metal band Lamented Souls. He is also the vocalist and bass guitarist to the progressive black metal band Borknagar, and the former bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir.
Cornelius Jakhelln, also known as Cornelius von Jackhelln, is a Norwegian vocalist, guitarist, musician, writer and poet.
Sturmgeist is an experimental black/thrash metal band formed by Cornelius Jakhelln in 2002.
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Xasthur is the project of American musician Scott "Malefic" Conner. Conner formed Xasthur in 1995 and released eight studio albums of black metal by 2010, when he announced the end of the project. However, he revived it in 2015 to focus on acoustic neofolk music, releasing a ninth album, Subject to Change, in 2016.
The Forsaken is the third studio album by the Christian black metal band Antestor, released in 2005 on Endtime Productions. The album features guest appearances of the established metal musicians Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer) and Ann-Mari Edvardsen.
Über is the second full-length album by Norwegian experimental black/thrash metal band Sturmgeist. The album was released on October 16, 2006 through Season Of Mist. This album introduced two new members to the band, John E. Jacobsen aka Panzer on guitar and bass and Christian Svendsen aka AntiChristian on drums, officially changing the project from a solo band to a full band.
Hellig Usvart is the debut album by Australian unblack metal band Horde, released in 1994 on Nuclear Blast Records. Upon its release in 1994, the album created a controversy among many black metal fans; death threats were sent to Nuclear Blast demanding the label to drop the album from its catalogue because the album contains Christian, anti-satanic lyrics that counteract the usual black metal thematics at the time. Because of the strong lyrical contradiction, the album was thought to be a parody of the Norwegian black metal movement by magazines such as Morgenbladet in 1995.
Ragnarök Festival is a pagan metal festival held annually in Germany since 2004 founded by Ivo Raab. It started out as a small, one-night festival with only regional bands in the town hall of Hollfeld. In 2005 it was decided to go for a festival featuring mostly Viking and pagan metal with the booking of bands like Månegarm, Menhir, Eisregen and Equilibrium. From 2006 on the festival took place in the significantly bigger town hall of Lichtenfels, Bavaria.
Reason to Believe is the ninth studio album by the American punk rock band Pennywise, which was released on March 25, 2008 as a worldwide free digital download on MySpace. MySpace Records released the album within the United States as a standard CD and a limited-edition vinyl version with two bonus tracks not available in any other format. The album was available in Europe on March 24 through Epitaph Records. Originally to be released in 2007 based on the two-year gaps between the last eight studio albums, a tentative title for the album was Free for the People, but the title was scrapped.
Analog Rebellion is the solo, independent music project of Aledo, Texas songwriter Daniel Hunter. Hunter's solo career was started under the name PlayRadioPlay! in December 2005. Hunter changed the name to Analog Rebellion in September 2009, stating in his blog "I have come to the point where I no longer feel that the name PlayRadioPlay! represents the music I create".
John Howard is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and recording artist. With his February 1975 debut album Kid in a Big World, Howard emerged as a late voice of the glam-pop wave of the early 1970s. Across a musical career that has included two main periods of recording activity – 1974-84 and 2004–present – Howard has released 16 studio albums and 11 studio EPs. In March 2018, he became a published author, his first autobiography, Incidents Crowded With Life, covering his childhood up to 1976, was published by Fisher King Publishing. In August 2020, the second volume of his autobiography, Illusions of Happiness, covering the years 1976 - 1986, was published by Fisher King Publishing.
