Album: "Ast" by Skagos (2009)

The Drums Pound Every Night in a Glorious Celebration of Life

Cast them in to the fire,
totems of sacrifice and woe,
for the Sun god is here,
and he is generous.

The drums pound every night
in a glorious celebration of life!
The earth is bountiful and rich-
fertilized and multiplied.

The sky gives way to great storms,
a deluge that deafens all.
Game trails run as raging torrents,
and the end is fucking nigh!
The end is fucking nigh!


Blossoms Will Sprout From the Carcass

We walk upon the soaked carcasses of those who once gave us life.
Be it rain, wind of the weight of finality, the cadavers fall and fall.
Day light is meek, and the night grows long and cold.
Fungi lurch forward for a final gulping breath.
All is returned to the earth and the rain will fall and fall.

Rain will fall and fall.

It's the fury of the storm.
It's the endless falling rain.
It's the growing of the dark.
It's the thrive in decay.
It's the voice of woe.
It's the call of the moon.
It's the cold retribution of
the dark rider known as death.

Two pagan naturalistic songs about the cirle of life and death that inspire woe and respect to mother nature. Skagos is a band of the new trend in Black Metal Scene with biocentric direction in their thematology. This scene was named "Cascadian Black Metal" with Wolves in the Throne Room being the most famous band of this movement.

This movement has inspired its name by the proposed by environmental activists environmental independent state of Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest of North America being formed by the hypothesized union of the states located there.

We read in their myspace about their influences:

The constant, laconic suggestions of our subconscious. The ever bleak, damp landscape of endless Cascadian forests being nefariously whittled away by an inescapable capitalistic dominion.

You can hear some of their songs in their myspace

"Reise Reise" by Rammstein, album: Reise, Reise (2004)

Auf den Wellen wird gefochten,
wo Fisch und Fleisch zur See geflochten,
der eine sticht die Lanz' im Meer,
der andr'e wirft sie in das Meer

Ah, Ahoi

Reise, Reise,
Seemann, reise,
jeder tut's auf seine Weise,
der eine stt den Speer zum Mann,
der andere zum Fische dann

Reise, Reise,
Seemann, Reise,
und die Wellen weinen leise,
in ihrem Blute steckt ein Speer,
blutet leise in das Meer

Die Lanze muss im Fleisch ertrinken,
Fisch und Mann zur Tiefe sinken,
wo die schwarze Seele wohnt,
ist kein Licht am Horizont

Ah, Ahoi

Reise, Reise,
Seemann, reise,
jeder tut's auf seine Weise,
der eine stt den Speer zum Mann,
der andere zum Fische dann

Reise, Reise,
Seemann, reise,
und die Wellen weinen leise,
in ihrem Blute steckt ein Speer,
blutet leise in das Meer

Reise, Reise

Reise, Reise,
Seemann, reise,
und die Wellen weinen leise,
in ihrem Herzen steckt ein Speer,
bluten sich am Ufer leer,
bluten sich am Ufer leer

english translation from here:

Even on the waves there is fighting
Where fish and flesh are woven into sea
One stabs the lance while in the army
Another throws it into the ocean

Ahoy

Arise, arise seaman arise
Each does it in his own way
One thrusts the spear into a man
Another then into the fish

Arise, arise seaman arise
And the waves cry softly
In their blood a spear is lodged
They bleed softly into the ocean

The lance must be drowned in flesh
Fish and man sink to the depths
Where the black soul dwells
there is no light on the horizon

Ahoy

Arise, arise seaman arise
Each does it in his own way
One thrusts the spear into a man
Another then into the fish

Arise, arise seaman arise
And the waves cry softly
In their blood a spear is lodged
They bleed softly into the ocean

Arise, arise seaman arise
And the waves cry softly
In their heart a spear is lodged
They bleed themselves dry on the shore

Obscured lyrics, may they have to do with any kind of violence in the sea by humans. But the video clip is quite interesting with footage from the environmental movie "The day after tomorrow". Also the title means Journey and Arise. As we read in wikipedia and in the above site:

The phrase "Reise, Reise" is used by seamen as a wake-up call and finds its roots in the Middle High German verb "risen", which meant "to rise" (to which it is obviously related as well). This verb has since died out in New High German, though the noun was retained and came to mean "journey" or "voyage". The verb "reisen" was rederived from the noun "Reise", but now means "to journey" or "to travel". It seems the old meaning has been preserved in this phrase in the seaman's language.

So hearing the song and seeing the video clip, the song may become an environmental warning too
You can hear the son and see the video clip here

“Woodman, spare that tree!” by George Pope Morris, 1830: The first protest song for environment?

Rock songs, when sociopolitically orientated, are undoubtedly protest songs. The history of protest songs may be lost in ancient times. There were many references in medieval ages or later about folk singers who critisize or abuse authorities, either cosmic or religious, rebellion songs of any era, etc.

Concerning environmental awareness, we were recently surprised by discovering an american 19th century poem/song about the protection of a tree, the so-called “Woodman spare that tree”. The poem was written by George Pope Morris in 1830. The music was written by Henry Russell. This poem was published in 1837 in the New York Mirror, and was extremely popular in America.

Here are the fascinating lyrics in Old English, in a time when post-materialistic values, especially concerning environment, were practically non-existent, or were eccentric views of some wellfare people. As we see in the above picture (from the book cover of its edition), a well-dressed man asks from the woodman not to cut the tree:


Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now.
'Twas my forefather's hand
That placed it near his cot:
There, woodman, let it stand,
Thy axe shall harm it not!

That old familiar tree,
Whose glory and renown
Are spread o'er land and sea,
And wouldst thou hew it down?
Woodman, forbear thy stroke!
Cut not its earth-bound ties;
Oh, spare that aged oak,
Now towering to the skies!

When but an idle boy
I sought its grateful shade;
In all their gushing joy
Here too my sisters played.
My mother kissed me here;
My father pressed my hand --
Forgive this foolish tear,
But let that old oak stand!

My heart-strings round thee cling,
Close as thy bark, old friend!
Here shall the wild-bird sing,
And still thy branches bend.
Old tree! the storm still brave!
And, woodman, leave the spot:
While I've a hand to save,
Thy axe shall harm it not.


You can read more in the following link listening instrumentally the melody of the song:

http://www.contemplator.com/america/woodman.html



YOU CAN HEAR A PERFORMANCE OF THIS SONG HERE

also read about protest songs in wikipedia

Album: "Terra incognita" by Gojira (2001)

Clone

Every Step you take is to the end
Chaos, duplicate the human slaves
Mother Nature so far away : Why?
Perfect is the race you dream

Right now, I make my choice
Perfection you fake is not
The soul, not a genetic code
You fools, you ignoramuses

Hatchery, the newborn to celebrate
Ashes to ashes, I see respect in the dust
Life is so perfect

Now for the weak an abortion
Celebrate perfection that grows
The flesh, a gift of science
The soul a fault of a god

Life on its way to the state of fire
From the cold taste of steel
Light embraces the dark, lava flowing free
and the cradle is...
Forgot the reasons why - We all lie so pale
On the playground of cold
Mother Nature is at saturation point
and the cradle is falling down...


In The Forest

I want to live in the forest
Between the roots and the branches I lay
On the moss I sit, I want to rest by the river

I want to live in the forest forever
The power of trees, I want to feel forever
Connection with life, animals, and stars

Between the roots and the branches I lay
Meditate the light wide open to the stars
Speak of the whales, deep in the oceans
Speak to the planets, deep universe

Thanks to an Anonymous friend we'll present the four up today works of an environmentally aware French metal band "Gojira". We start from their first album "Terra incognita"

The first song is a warning for the dangerous experiments of science with modification of gens and biotechnology. The second is an escaping song to nature and forests. We read in wikipedia about the album title:

According to text on the album inlay, the title "Terra Incognita" refers to the area inside of each man, where, according to Hindu legend, Brahma hid the divinity that he had taken from humanity for the punishment of its abuse

You can hear some songs from this album:

Clone
In the forest
Satan was a lawyer
Deliverance
Fire is Everything

“Red Tide” by Rush, Album Presto (1989)

Nature has some new plague
To run in our streets
History some new wrinkle
We are doomed to repeat
Fugitives at the bedroom door
Lovers pause to find an open store
Rain is burning on the forest floor
And the red tide kisses the shore
THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM
THIS IS NOT A TEST
Stay out of the sun
It only burns my skin
Sky full of poison
And the atmosphere's too thin
Bless the sun, the rain no more
River running like an open sore
Black wind falling to the ocean floor
And the red tide washes ashore
THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM
THIS IS NOT A TEST
Nowhere we can fly away
Nowhere we can rest
The party is disrupted by
An uninvited guest
Deadline approaches
For the weary land
It used to be something
But we let it run down in our hands
Too late for debate, too bad to ignore
Quiet rebellion leads to open war
Bring a sea-change to the factory floor
As the red tide covers the shore
Now's the time to turn the tide
Now's the time to fight
Let us not go gently
To the endless winter night
Now's the time to make the time
While hope is still in sight
Let us not go gently
To the endless winter night

A song about various environmental threats upon humans because of their impacts of their activities to biosphere.

You can hear a song by Rush in Youtube