Cygnus Rock Band - Lady Hél (Death And Glory)

Earlier, in my album review I wrote that this song is one of the cornerstones of Death And Glory.

This song is unique. Not only because I don't remember if I have ever heard such a song from any band.

Since I know that by Murphy's laws a wannabe expert always pops out of nothing claiming that "yes, there is such a song" and brings up some fossil or something that says nothing at all except for maybe a group of nerds, hereby I declare that I fucking don't care about your opinion. Now get out of here.

Cygnus Rock Band is well-known about many things, 

you know, talent, dedication, creativity, constant improving, not sitting on their laurels and so on

and one of these, of which I truly admire them is that they experiment and dare to cross their own boundaries. This song is exactly like that; as the overture gently slips into this song, a very heavy and dark intro hits the listener right there. I sense here tracks of thrash and even death metal; the drums (all glories to Ruxx!) reminded me of such old-school drum legends from the 90's as Dave Lombardo, Gene Hoglan, Vinnie Paul or even Pete Sandoval. I have said it quite a few times, be sure I will say it many more times again, Ruxx is one of the most skilled drummers I have ever seen, absolutely versatile and this album is full of those moments through which you can see his talent. This, dear everyone, this what Ruxx is playing in the song's intro, is something absolutely new. My second thought was that I tried to imagine how much time, dedication and practice there is behind our favorite drummer-singer's performance and how long it took for him to learn this technique. Cygnus Rock Band's drummer definitely reached a new level on this album.

Not just him but the entire band as well; more about it later.

The song continues to be dark, heavy and gloomy; Deneb's voice is distant and strangely reverberating, creating a dream-alike atmosphere for the song. (This element appears in the lyrics, too: "I was not expecting you at all/yet in my dream you showed yourself") This lasts until the first bridge, yet the song won't get any less gloomy or heavy, on the contrary. You will hear one of the darkest, most evil vocals of the entire album, the deep, guttural, otherworldly voice by the bassist-singer of Cygnus Rock Band.

Since I'm aware of how much such a singing can exhaust the vocal chords,  hereby I would like to express my absolute, unconditional respect and admiration for Deneb and for all that he has made in this song, from composing, lyrics writing and playing to this absolutely badass voice he pressured out of himself. HAIL!

Right after the chorus a flute softens up the darkness for a moment, but it doesn't last long. Deneb's echoing, distant voice returns with the next verse, followed by the bridge and the chorus from the depths of the underworld. Afterwards the song is heading into the solo, which is played - if I'm not wrong - by none else than Andrés F. Bernal, the "Colombian Yngwie Malmsteen", a wonderful, absolutely gifted guitarist - he is that kind of musician that is often referred as "a god-given talent". He really is. Believe me.

And for everyone's joy it's not the only solo he plays on this album.

The solo has got a symphonic part as well, it's also Cygnus's tradition to divide the solo into a piece that is played by the guitar and another that is played either by symphonic or folk instruments. But the best part of it hits right at the end of the solo.

The bells.

The tubular bells.

They make such an atmosphere that gives goosebumps to the listener. The deep, dark theme supported by the tubular bells sound like the tolling bells of the underworld. There's something cathartic in it. And this is why it's the cornerstone of the album. Hitting a new road they haven't tried yet, crossing boundaries, trying out new ideas, a special atmosphere, special lyrics (more about it later) and tubular bells. And something else, too. I don't know if any of you have noticed the very interesting structure of the song. 

Better say I know very well that none of you have noticed it and for you it's not more than a "cool long track with lots of metal" at the very best, no matter how much I'm writing about it. No, I won't tell you the secret of the structure, because I'm not in the mood. Open your ears, open your hearts and find out. Also, well, you know, it would be nice to use these mentioned organs outside of their mere functionality, too. And you know, perhaps this way you will realize not just how much work and energy our favorite Colombians invested into every song, every note and every beat on this album, not just because you perhaps find something beautiful or at least interesting, but because you may even learn something. You know, maybe you even end up a bit more civilized. Educated. Cultured. Who knows, magic happens every time, maybe with you out there as well. Pick yourselves together, not for me but for these Vikings, who share all these wonders with you, merely out of the love of art. 

I need to talk about the lyrics, too, because they are also unique.

I think perhaps "Tears of Gold" on the album Ancient Visions was a bit similar.

Not just because it's about Hél, the Norse goddess of the underworld, the divine personality nobody really dares to address, neither in poetry nor in songs. Deneb had the heart, the devotion and the talent to write this glorifying prayer to the goddess, which is something ground-breaking and unique. It's full of poetic images, descriptions of Hél's realm Helheim (as my favorite part says "mist of darknes, palace of shadows/black sun and fear, I've seen your kingdom and it's real"), an offering to her ("my army will send to you as offering/thousands of corrupt souls") and glorification ("half gorgeous, half rotten/glorious goddess of death"). These lyrics are dark, but unlike the thousands of cheap death and black metal song texts, that are similarly about death, darkness and infernal environments (and just in between us, they are all rather primitive)

we can all name at least three bands like that, if not more

this song and these lyrics are beautiful. They notice the grace and divinity in something of which the majority of people associate to death, destruction and fear. In my opinion this is a cathartic experience in itself; composing a song around it that is equally deep, dark and beautiful with catharsis does make it the cornerstone of the album. But perhaps to Cygnus Rock Band's musical career as well.