Deathspell Omega - Kénôse

Deathspell Omega - Kénôse (2005)

This little EP contains three songs, called I, II and III. All of them contain some Latin fragments , which I want to explain right now. But first, some comments about the title. The ancient greek word kenosis means emptiness and in theological contexts it means the emptying of oneself to be able to accept the divine grace.

Kénôse I - III

si non credideritis, non intellegetis - If you haven't believed, you'll not understand (Isaiah 7.9)

immaculata - the immaculated (female)

res rapta - the/a stolen/ catched thing

res rapienda - a thing that has to be stolen/ catched

in visceribus - in the entrails

et vestitus erat veste aspersa sanguine - And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood (Rev. 19,13)

in abstracto - in abstract

ecce lignum crucis in quo salus mundi pependit - see the wood of the cross in which the salvation of the world hung (which is a call to the worship of the cross on Good Friday)

thesaurus ecclesiae - the treasure of the church

sanctorum communionem - the community of the saints

Et proiectus est draco ille magnus serpens antiquus qui vocatur Diabolus et Satanas qui seducit universum orbem proiectus est in terram et angeli eius cum illo missi sunt
(Revelation 12,9) - And the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the Devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him

consummatum est - it is completed

There are some German words as well, maybe you are interested in their meaning as well:

Du wirfst mich in den Moderstaub des Todes - you throw me into the musty dust of death

Qual und Tod bringt dieser Sarg, der ihn bestürmt, sein Herz zerreißt, Sinne zerstört - agony and death brings this coffin which besieges him, tears his heart into pieces, destroys senses


The saying lamma sabacthani is the cry of Jesus and means why hast thou forsaken me?

Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini (2010)

Recently, I was asked to explain the meaning of this album title. With pleasure, I gonna fulfil this wish - easy work for me, because singer Grutle himself has already talked about the title in interviews. (I'm sure there are interviews about this topic out there in english as well, but here I post the link to the interview Grutle gave to the German metal online-mag metal.de).

He said that Ivar wanted to name the album "Axioma" (By the way, the correct plural form would be axiomata and not axiomae, as Grutle assumed in the interview). An axiom is - in logic, philosophy or sience - a proposition which is considered as to be self-evidentially true. So, there is no need for discussing or doubting this proposition.

Grutle instead wanted to name the album "Ethica Odini" - ethical (matters) of Odin. He says that the title is the Latin translation of the Book "Havamal", a collection of Odin's ethical sayings.

So, at the end they just combined the two proposals and created this album title which now means Odin's ethical self-evident proposition.