Pages

13 April, 2010

Another One For My Bulging Music List

I know the vast majority of you have probably already seen this, but for the handful of you who don't read Pharyngula (for shame!), allow me to commend the following to your attention:



The Ocean, as it turns out, is my kind o' band.  Death metal-ish with some symphonic elements, very solid musically (if, like me, you understand that death grunts are musical), and above all, inspired by Dawkins:

The songs, art and lyrics of this album tell the story of the rise of the heliocentric world view - the idea that the earth revolves around the sun, and that the sun is stationary and at the center of the universe. Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei were the first popular ambassadors of this idea, although ancient greek astronomers like Aristarchus had already posited this theory centuries before.

The journey starts with the creation of the firmament in Genesis 1:6-20 (Firmament) and ancient explanations of the movement of celestial bodies in 1 Enoch 72:2-5 (The 1st Commandment of the Luminaries). It continues with Copernicus and Galileo, the first propagators of heliocentrism who were not yet in conflict with the Church (Ptolemy Was Wrong) and Giordano Bruno, who was burnt at the stake of the Spanish Inquisition for being a heretic (Catharsis of a Heretic). Arthur Rimbaud's's criticism of moral law in his essay Reasons Not to Believe in God and Nietzsche's rejection of fundamental Christian values has inspired the lyrics to Metaphysics of the Hangman. The album concludes with the greatest achievement in the history of modern science, Darwin's theory of evolution (The Origin of Species) and ideas inspired by evolution biologist and passionate atheist Richard Dawkins (The Origin of God, Epiphany).[3]

Its companion album, Anthropocentric, challenges the views of creationists and other modern fundamentalists who believe that the earth is at the center of the universe.

So there's two more albums I must add to my already-overstuffed music list, which includes Haggard's Eppur Si Muove.  Now I can have a science-themed party complete with science-themed metal.  And if one more idiot tells me death and black metal is only a bunch of idiots in silly makeup screaming at the top of their lungs, I shall be very pleased to inform them that not only can my band beat up their band, but score higher on the SATs as well.

1 comment:

  1. That is perhaps their worst album... instead of listening to «Eppur se Muove», listen to their oldest songs like «The Final Victory» or «Awakening the Centuries»... different but great music.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.