Hi everyone! With a return to my original format, it’s given me time to think about how to do things, and more time to play, watch, or listen to for my reviews and other postings. Even better, I might actually post up things (including this) right at the beginning of the week now that I've given myself more time to do stuff! With that little tidbit out of the way, it’s time for something a little new, so here’s a list of 5 environmentally/historically conscious metal songs.
Note: I said 5 [insert subject matter] metal songs. This is not one of my “Top 5” lists, but rather a simple list of songs that I’ve listened to recently, and thought that they would be appropriate for something that isn’t so rigidly structured. The only reason that they're numbered is simply because of the order that I listened to. I may revisit this list a few months down the road, and convert it into a “Top 5” list, but I’ll have to think about it for a bit, since this list wasn’t structured for that type of post. Regardless, here’s the songs.
1) Sabaton - Primo Victoria
When I first heard this song, I couldn’t believe my ears. Heavy Metal bands have always had numerous sources of inspiration to use, but World War 2 is something you don’t often encounter in music, whether heavy metal or not. Regardless, Primo Victoria (First Victory, if my translation from Latan is correct) is perhaps the most iconic of WW2-based metal songs, based off one of the most iconic battles of the war. From about June 6th to late August of 1994 (I hope that I’ve measured the time properly), 12,000 out of the 156,000 Allied soldiers that landed on Normandy Beach, as well as a few other battles up until August, had died from intense fighting with the Germans. Yep, bloody conflict makes for good music.
2) Cranberries - Zombie
I’m stretching this next choice a little bit, considering that the band in question is an Irish Rock band, not a metal band. However, with the way they play their instruments (and to a lesser extent, the singing), I’m giving them a little break.
Anyways, the source material for this song is a bit darker than Primo Victoria. Zombie is a protest song about The Troubles, a period of time from the late 1960s to 1998 in Ireland (which also spread to England and Continental Europe), filled with ethnic & political violence. The song also takes into account a bombing in Warrington, England, in which two children needlessly died. Luckily, the violence eventually stopped, and peace between Ireland & England finally came to be in 2005. This is without a doubt the saddest song on this list, but it’s not only song that involves the death of children.
3) Ministry - 99%
If this was a “Top 5 Historically Recent Metal Songs”, then this song would be right at the number 1 spot. If you didn’t guess by the name, 99% uses the bank protests of last year & this year to create what is perhaps the most heaviest song on this list, and barely passing Primo Victoria in that regard (emphasis on the world “barely”). Unlike the first two songs, 99% is more basic in terms of instrumentation and vocals. It’s still a great song, but don’t expect anything remotely intellectual.
4) Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
Although not tied to a specific event, Run to the Hills is perhaps the most famous of metal songs on this list. Taking influence from the conflict that occurred between European settlers in the New World and Native American tribes during the days of colonization and later westward expansion, Run to the Hills is a very powerful song. What’s interesting is that Iron Maiden made this song with both perspectives in mind: the Native Americans have their viewpoint in the beginning verse, while the Europeans take the rest of the song. Even if the song didn’t really have a subject matter, the 80s style of metal instrumentation and singing is so iconic of the time, it’s difficult to forget.
5) Rammstein - Donaukinder
If I made this as a “Top 5 Historical & Melodic Metal Songs”, Zombie would take spot number 2, and Donaukinder would take the number 1 spot. Rammstein is always known for making some of the most brutal & loud songs, but at times they’ve created some surprisingly beautiful music. The story of Donaukinder (Children of the Danube or Danube Children, depending on the translation) is rather interesting:
“The song deals with an accident near Baia Mare, in Romania, which occurred on 30th January 2000.
Extremely heavy rainfall on 30 January caused a dam to breach, causing 100.000 m³ of water to flood a goldmine and carry with it app. 100 ton of heavy metals and sodium cyanide into the nearby river Donau (German name for the Danube). The poison was carried along the river, causing havoc in several countries; drinking water became poisoned, and people fled the rivers’ surroundings to escape the deadly poison, which quickly destroyed all life in and around the river itself.
Lots of children were obviously affected by this disaster, but the name ‘Donaukinder’ (‘Danube Children’) more probably refers metaphorically to the fish in the river, seen as the ‘children’ of the Danube/Donau; the fish obviously suffered most directly the full force of this disaster and the absence of fish in the river is the most obvious consequence of the disaster. Hence, the song rhetorically asks: ‘Wo sind die Kinder?’ (‘Where are the children?’). Furthermore, the German name for Baia Mare, where the breach occured, is ‘Frauenbach’, meaning ‘Woman-River’, which sustains the metaphor of comparing River/Fish to Mother/Children.”*
* Taken from: http://en.affenknecht.com/lyrics/rammstein-donaukinder/
** I personally don't like the version on youtube. A better version of Donaukinder can be found on Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da's 2nd CD.
Although the parties in question were dealt with, and the land healed, things still haven’t fully recovered since then. In particular, fishermen in Hungary have said that their catch are only 1/5th of what they used to bring in. Quite tragic, actually.
See you all next week, when I’ll give you my review of Torchlight 2. Until then, stay Otaku!
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