Death Of The Celts

[wickman]

I must be deaf or stupid, I listened to that part three times in a row and I have no idea what you or the people on that forum are talking about.

It sounds like crackling, popping in the background. It's apparently called digital clipping and is introduced during mixing/mastering because the guy doing it don't care about the sound, only that it's load enough so they crank it all the way until it clips and information is lost, ruining the sound. That's what I gather from that hifi thread anyway.

(As for Still Life, it is there but much less noticeable than in Celts and The Parchment, where it's horrible. It's the same on Hell on Earth as well by the way)

 

[frus]

It's the same on Hell on Earth

Yeah, heard it there somewhere just now

 

[Mega]

I think the muddiness issue is more because there are 3 guitarists and they don't play the rhythms tightly enough. The production overall is great IMO, the druma and bass sound killer.

 

[frus]

This is not muddiness, but literal clipping in places
Other than that, the guitars are crispy clear, and you can hear all un-tightness crisply clearly

 

[Mega]

This is not muddiness, but literal clipping in places
Other than that, the guitars are crispy clear, and you can hear all un-tightness crisply clearly

Ha, true that.

 

[GhostofCain]

I quite like this song and think it is miles better than The Clansman.

That being said, I find it quite funny to hear Bruce sing "In God we trust" when the Celtic religion was polytheistic. A Quest for Fire moment from Steve? By Toutatis!

 

[GhostofCain]

It's best heard on Death of the Celts, 7:23 onwards, left channel especially (where Dave's solo guitar appears), headphones recommended
On Still Life it's very faint, and may be dependent on the release, but this is from Senjutsu CD

I can hear what you hear. Very annoying. I seem to remember this happening in The Thin Line Between Love and Hate too.

 

[Poto]

If people can't hear it you are lucky, this sort of thing gets even more annoying when you know it's there.

 

[mckindog]

I quite like this song and think it is miles better than The Clansman.

That being said, I find it quite funny to hear Bruce sing "In God we trust" when the Celtic religion was polytheistic. A Quest for Fire moment from Steve? By Toutatis!

I haven’t done a deep dive into the lyrics yet, but I didnt think the narrator is a Celt, I thought he’s headed to fight them.

 

[daan]

As of now DotC is the only song on the album that I feel like skipping, because it really drags for me. At this point in the album I'm rather impatient for The Parchment to start. Also, the transition from Darkest Hour to The Parchment would work fine. (And for the record - I'm not one of those guys who would edit an album, it's just an observation. )

Anyway, I'm not giving up on DotC yet, I'm still very much interested in exploring this track, so I'll keep listening with a lot of attention.

 

[harrisdevot]

I think subject matter this feels about 1600 years before William Wallace, as I said above, the lyrics remind me of the sentiment of the Dying Gaul, it definitely feels like it's a fight against the Romans.

The Dying Gaul, although its Roman copy was probably commissioned by Caesar to celebrate his victory over the Gauls, is originaly a statue from Pergamon and celebrates the victory of the kings over another Celtic people called the Galatoi.
There is nothing in Harris' lyrics that points to a particular historical context, but he made a big mistake by implying the worship of a unique god, while there is no such thing in any of the so-called Celtic societies we know.

 

[srfc]

but he made a big mistake by implying the worship of a unique god, while there is no such thing in any of the so-called Celtic societies we know.

they did the same in Flight of Icarus too, and especially referring to him as "my father" as well

 

[Oregano]

The Dying Gaul, although its Roman copy was probably commissioned by Caesar to celebrate his victory over the Gauls, is originaly a statue from Pergamon and celebrates the victory of the kings over another Celtic people called the Galatoi.
There is nothing in Harris' lyrics that points to a particular historical context, but he made a big mistake by implying the worship of a unique god, while there is no such thing in any of the so-called Celtic societies we know.

Yes, an unfortunate mistake, but one that can be excused if one assumes that one of the gods is invoked in the situation of war. Could it be that in a polytheistic religion, God is also sometimes spoken of in the singular, in the sense of a great deity that encompasses all the other gods?

Anyway, the lyrics are cringe. It would have been better, for example, to call the goddess of war Morrigan. The lyrics are too banal for me. I would have liked more specific references to the Celts. Steve is in the subject (even if only hobby).

But the song is growing more and more. I recognize more and more musical details. A few weeks ago I was on vacation in a region where there was once a metropolis of the Celts. There you can see border walls. That gives me a magical feeling when I listen to it.

 

[frus]

they did the same in Flight of Icarus too, and especially referring to him as "my father" as well

I always assumed "my father" referred to Daedalus (his actual father), who made those wings for him

 

[GhostofCain]

I haven’t done a deep dive into the lyrics yet, but I didnt think the narrator is a Celt, I thought he’s headed to fight them.

To me the lyrics read as if the narrator is a Celt.

 

[GhostofCain]

I always assumed "my father" referred to Daedalus (his actual father), who made those wings for him

That's what I have always thought. I remember Bruce saying that he repurposed the original myth and told it in the context of a son trying to impress a pushy father.

 

[GhostofCain]

Anyway, the lyrics are cringe. It would have been better, for example, to call the goddess of war Morrigan. The lyrics are too banal for me. I would have liked more specific references to the Celts. Steve is in the subject (even if only hobby).

I beg to differ. I am not the biggest fan of Steve's lyrics, but in this case I think there is an excellent marriage of lyrical and musical storytelling (something that he did really great on The Talisman too).

 

[Magnus]

That being said, I find it quite funny to hear Bruce sing "In God we trust" when the Celtic religion was polytheistic. A Quest for Fire moment from Steve? By Toutatis!

Unless it's about e.g. British Celts fighting the Anglo-Saxons, or later the English?

 

[GhostofCain]

Unless it's about e.g. British Celts fighting the Anglo-Saxons, or later the English?

At what point in time did the Celtic tribes in what is currently known as Britain embraced monotheism?

 

[Boroking]

At what point in time did the Celtic tribes in what is currently known as Britain embraced monotheism?

There was a substantial Romanized British elite which had embraced Christianity, probably in some part for political reasons, by the time the Romans left around 400. It's hard to know how deep those roots went though.