Behemoth - Ora Pro Nobis Lucier

Black metal gets a bad rap for it's association with Satanism and anti-religious ideologies/lyrics, but it's not like the people listening to it or the artists who write it are out in the forest sacrificing goats on giant pentagrams drawn on the ground - So why the hate? It seems that people can't separate the idea that this is music, not a manifesto of actions or beliefs.

One could go further and make the claim that the "violent and hateful" lyrics are warping the minds of our youth, for which they would apparently be right. According to Anderson, Carnagey, Eubanks (2003), there is a positive correlation between violent lyrics, aggressive thoughts, and hostile feelings. No meta study was performed, no other pre-existing factors were accounted for (personality, ethnicity, age, financial status, musical preference, etc), and they only tested college students. Given the small sample size and likely near-homogenous pool of participants, this study should be redone with a larger and more representative group of individuals in order to confirm its initial findings - not to mention that they only proved a correlation, NOT causation. To top it off, the study only compared an individual's self-reported feelings while listening to one song as opposed to a different song - no FMRI study was performed. The results are dubious at best.

All associated negativity aside, it seems that this band, Behemoth, is *also* banned in Russia. Surprise, surprise. The lyrics, while hard to understand, are pretty intense and sing of praise and empathy for Lucifer - not quite fit for "relaixing weekend music". I ran into this interesting question and answer while researching the lyrics for the song and laughed pretty hard. Cleverly disguised lyrics always add a comedic bit to a song and serve to remind us that this is clearly intended as art, not a guide to reality. You can find their music on these sites: Metal Blade Records - Amazon Music - Apple Itunes - Google Play Music - Spotify - Behemoth Web Store

Artist: Behemoth

Song: Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer

Album: The Satanist

Year: 2014

Genre: Blackened Death Metal

Website: Behemoth.pl

Thoughts: I love the song for how powerful and intense it feels. It has that perfect combo of complexity and dark lyrics from Black Metal and the intensity and speed from Death Metal. The lyrics are pretty funny in a certain light if you Google them, but perhaps they're not meant to be funny. The band has been around for 25 years and have dedicated themselves to 10 full studio albums filled with dark and Satanic lyrics -- they're either very passionate and creative in this vein of lyricism, or they're actually musically-talented Satanists. Last I checked, Satanists weren't a united front dedicated to terrorism, slavery, or oppression, so I don't feel bad supporting the band by buying their music.