Christ is Dead - And You’ve Killed Him!

Yes you’ve read the title right. You murderer. You’ve killed the very icon you claim to admire. You’ve personally sucked the last breath out of his holy lungs and nailed him to the cross a second time. Permanently. And now he’s up there, rotting, you continue to stab his worm-eaten corpse with endless sin.

And I thank you.

Before you rally to your defenses, let me take you to the beginning. Genesis 3:2-5.

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The serpent was Lucifer in disguise and seduced Eve into sin. As you all know Eve ate from the tree and was banned from paradise. Man became sinful. But not to worry, God still loved us. He sent his only son down to earth to be sacrificed in order to forgive mankind for it’s sin. The only thing you’ll need to do is accept Jesus in your heart as your Lord and Saviour and everything will work out for you in the end. We’ll get back to that statement later.

Let’s take closer look into Genesis first. Paradise was a place where man had no idea about good nor evil, our eyes were closed. Only God knew the distinction between good and evil. Lucifer didn’t just bring enlightenment, or so-called sin, to mankind. Lucifer is enlightenment. It’s the literal translation of his name. The first sin of mankind was opening our eyes in order to judge for ourselves without the need of God. We became God.

When we take this into perspective and strip it down to the basics the story basically tells us mankind is unfit to choose between good and bad, and doing so is sinful. We should also choose to accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. The paradox is obvious but let’s ignore that for a second. Free will is a sin. You should not judge for yourself, you should not lead your life the way you like it. You should live by the will of God.

When we take a trip down memory lane we’ll meet some of the greatest adversaries of Christianity. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in the Gay Science:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

Aleister Crowley wrote in his Book of the Law:

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law

And maybe the most well-known of them all. Frank Sinatra.

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and ev’ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, even Sinatra. Almost every musician is a messenger of Lucifer and almost every Christian loves to hear them ol’ songs on the radio, I know you do! Tell me then, what’s the difference between “Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”, “I did it my way” and “Listen to your heart”?

It has become the modern credo. Listen to your heart, follow your heart, let your heart guide your hand. Everybody is living by it. Everybody judges by the standards they hold dearest. It’s not just a sin, it’s the one and only mortal sin. It’s the only sin higher than those of the ten commandments. Accepting Jesus in your heart as your Lord and Saviour is the sin he has died for!

Admit it. Christ is dead. Lucifer rules supreme. Ave! Ave versus Christus! Ave Satana!

New Zealand Domination Tour II

If someone wants to meet/catch/kill us during our tour through the country of New Zealand, here’s the exact schedule. Some things may change, although unlikely. Autographs are free as in beer, as long as you supply the pen and the body parts to put them on.

The list is pretty complete now. It’s an expensive trip, kind of tripled our budget. It’ll even quadruple by the time we’ve paid the ridiculous fuel- and airport taxes. But hey, it’s an awesome country. It’s worth it, right?

Auckland

Wellington

Hokita

In the mean time we’ll do stuff on the west coast

Greymouth

Christchurch

Here’s a map for the fun of it.

Yes, this is an edit of this post. But this just brings it back to the front page.

Opeth’s Watershed

These words might sound a little overdone, but words can’t really describe this album. And it’s true, for a change.

On the third of June Watershed was released to the general public. Of course I went to Amsterdam to receive it from the gods themselves. My brother got his guitar signed and we both got our collectors edition albums signed.

The number of Opeth fans has increased dramatically since Ghost Reveries back in 2005. I bet more than a hundred fans turned up to get something signed or to just shake hands with it’s creators. And as I’ve expected, most of them are the regular prog metal fans. Open minded people with a vast musical knowledge.

The album is something completely new. Something Opeth has done with every release, but this time they’ve evolved into something completely new. The lineup is vastly different from the Damnation/Deliverance era. A new drummer has joined the band after Martin Lopez left because of his condition. Martin “Axe” Axenrot. He’s a very friendly guy and maybe one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen. He’s right up there with Probot/QOTSA/Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and Kataklysm drummer Max Duhamel in my opinion. Although his technique and sound are different to Martin’s, he fits right in. He makes up for the loss of Latin percussion by offering superior blast beats and sharp snare drum riffs. As many of us fans still regret, Peter Lindgren has left the band due to personal issues. Fredrik Ã…kesson of Arch Enemy fame has replaced Peter. Fredrik is a real Technical Death Metal guitarist and he, as he stated in the DVD’s interview, had to learn how to play the mellow acoustic parts from Mikael after joining the band. You can clearly notice the new Technical Death Metal influences in this album, but it’s not right on the surface. The album isn’t a second Deliverance. Per Wiberg, who joined the band after Ghost Reveries was released, is now a full-time member. For the people who don’t know, Per is the guy playing the keyboards and backing vocals. The new album includes more of his handiwork and resulted in an even more progressive edge to this album. I think his contribution isn’t only that of a keyboard player, but he also functions as a source of inspiration and new ideas. Like Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson was during the Deliverance and Damnation recordings. This is also Opeth’s first self-produced album. Oh, I almost forgot, Axe’s girlfriend, Nathalie Lorichs, lets her beautiful voice shine in one of the songs. I’d really like to hear more of her in future Opeth songs and I’d really like to hear her perform live.

As I said at the start of this post, I can’t really describe the album’s contents. It’s just great. It features the stuff you can expect from a band like Opeth. 10+ minute long songs with mood and tempo swings, mellow parts and brutal Death Metal. A great use of both electric and acoustic guitars, supported by keyboard magic and stunning drums. Luckily Martin Mendez hasn’t lost his touch so you’re also guaranteed to hear one of the best bass players in the world do his thing on this album. But even the most devoted Opeth fan has to get used to this new album. Opeth has evolved and I’m sure most of the fans will follow. I know I will.

And while I’m at it I’d like to point out two other new albums worth checking out. Korpiklaani, the Finnish Folk Metal band, has released another album called Korven Kuningas. They haven’t changed a bit, so if you didn’t like them in the past you won’t like them now. Also, Kataklysm has released a new album called Prevail. It’s definitely worth checking out if you like speedier Morbid Angel-like Death Metal.