Lo-Ruhamah

[Kerrick]

Any fans here?  Lo-Ruhamah released their debut full-length The Glory Of God back in 2007 and then ten years later their follow-up Anointing.  The lyrics to Anointing are about a man's rejection of God's love and are therefore quite bleak.  The music is really stellar but I was initially confused and put off by the lyrics.  Recently, however, one of the band members posted on another forum an explanation of the lyrics and the mind/heart behind them.  I thought folks here might be interested to read that as well, since I surely did.

I had a hard time listening to this because of the lyrics. I wanted to take it as a downward spiral of man (perhaps Satan?) trying to deify himself, turning from God. It seemed like the album showed a progression of the despair that ensued. Personally it is one of the darkest albums lyrically I've ever experienced. I think if you read it in the manner above you'll see it though [...]

This is Jonathan of LR. Frozen Fire's reading of the lyrics is very close -- close enough to say it's accurate. I really appreciate the close, attentive reading. 

It would be a mistake to associate the speaker in the lyrics with my own (or our own) voice personally, as if the lyrics were simply articulating my own viewpoint. In a sense, everything in the lyrics has come from personal experience, at least in the sense that I've found those motives buried in my own heart. The difference is that the lyric's speaker has made a decision to turn away from God in a way that I have not. 

Roughly speaking, I closely identify with the viewpoint of the lyrics up through track five, but track six begins a trajectory that is different from my own. When I came to the edge of the pit, in the last moments before I spilled "over the edge into the hole" and called out to God, I did not reject His response but gave Him a part of myself that I had always held back before, I think. The album, however, carries out the trajectory I was on. What if I had continued down the direction I was going? More generally, where would that path end up when taken to its ultimate logical conclusion? 

The lyrics end with just that conclusion: when the Logos is rejected, even the logic of linguistic sense/grammar can't be expected to hold. He IS the unfailing Logic through which all coheres. The cost of trying to take His place is that the house, as it were, will fall apart. The evil in the human heart is revealed in its refusing to change, despite the consequences to itself and all else. Think about the end of the movie The Boxtrolls.

For my part, this album is something like a mirror held up. The world is largely occupied with telling itself lies about its moral reality. We're not THAT bad -- as bad as that other thing or person -- so therefore we must be good. Black Metal, in my view, largely performs this very role: it makes concrete and visceral the spiritual condition that the world is trying desperately to cover up and hide with contouring makeup. Black Metal at its truest, whether it knows it or not, holds up a mirror and says, "This is the truth of the world." It's why BM is so often apocalyptic. The most recent Deathspell Omega interview with Bardo Methodology is a good example of that. It's 23:58 on the doomsday clock.

The lyrics to Anointing are not the personal spiritual vision and intimate truth of my own heart -- thankfully. And I am thankful both for the fact that the lyrics were hard to write and that I listened to my wife's counsel and didn't hold back in the full depth of darkness that the truth would reveal. 

This album was written from a fully and unequivocally Christian perspective. I reserve nothing in my commitment to Christ, even with the gritted teeth of the dedicated soul seen often in Black Metal: blood for blood, the unrepentant commitment of the blasphemed soul, but held toward the Lord rather than away from Him -- unwavering in my commitment to the Lord and defiance toward the spirit of the world. CHAIN ME TO HIM. In that sense, it could be said to be a Christian album. But I wouldn't say that it's a Christian album, really, because I don't think it's written for Christians, and I would never recommend it to a Christian (especially a young one) who is looking for Christian music to influence them in the way they should go -- to uplift, encourage, or teach in a direct way. 

I don't think that generally a Christian audience is the right audience for this album, even though it was written from an unequivocally Christian perspective. Indeed, I don't think this album could have been written at all except from a truly Christian perspective. Perhaps for a Christian who is veering away from the Lord there is some value in showing the end result of a certain trajectory -- and, like the way the last song ends, inspiring a nausea in the listener that repels them from the direction being depicted. 

I hope this makes sense. I know I'm kind of necroing a thread, but I came across this post a while ago and wanted to respond to it. I appreciate that someone picked up the basic spirit and intention behind the lyrics, and I'm not at all bothered that even Frozen Fire had difficulty with the lyrics and didn't feel edified by them. I would hope not. There are upcoming projects (yet to be revealed) whose purpose is more to express my actual spiritual core. The Anointing lyrics, however, were written in hopes that they would repulse someone -- toward a good end. But they were written from a fully Christian commitment and viewpoint. I am a PhD student in a philosophy-related field (semiotics), but I have not and am not veering from my faith, nor are the other two LR members, in my estimation. In fact, I hope God does not call me to work full time in academics. I would much rather move into an area where I can more explicitly devote my energies into things that openly glorify God -- directly rather than obliquely. 

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever unto ages of ages.

Plus, that artwork is pretty amazing!

[MetalPioneer]

I might give it another shot. I remember not listening to this band specifically because of the lyrics. Part of the problem I have with this is that he should have explained his purpose with the release of the album. There's no reason not to be transparent about what you are doing unless you are trying to hide something. In some ways, this seems like just a charade to get more Christian listeners, but I don't know the man or his heart. I do remember that Christian online CD shops did sell the band's albums, which was kind of misleading.

[Kerrick]

Was it the lyrics of Anointing or The Glory Of God that turned you off?  I agree, given the subject matter and ambiguity of Anointing's lyrics, an explanation two years ago when it was released would've been nice...  I'm not sure why they didn't.  Though I know many other bands don't like being pigeon-holed into the "Christian band" label for their own reasons and being on a secular label could be an influence too.

TGOG was released on Bombworks Records which is primarily a Christian label so I could see why it'd get distributed to Christian distros indiscriminately - much like a lot of My Silent Wake releases.  Though in the quote above, he clarifies that all the members of the band are indeed practicing Christians, so in that sense it wouldn't be misleading for their albums to be on Christian distros.

It could be all a charade, though I'm inclined to take him at his word.  Heck, he obviously put a fair bit of time in writing his responses which would be a lot of work just to gain a few extra album sales!

[MetalPioneer]

It was the lyrics from the first album. I never bothered with the second. I didn't think about the Bombworks part, although that does make sense. I will think about it.

[Kerrick]

Gotcha.  I should revisit TGOG's lyrics too, though IIRC they're a little less ambiguous and I don't remember anything *too* out there...

[Kerrick]

p.s. in the CMR thread I linked above, the member explained a little about the lyrics to TGOG and where he/the band were at spiritually/emotionally during that time if you're interested.

[Sponsored content]