Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs ever. Laugh all you want, Philistines, especially if you haven't heard the song or should you take it as stereotypical stoned metal poetics, but know this: your fate is that of your namesakes, and that people like Matt Pike- the writer of this song- are far closer to gnosis* than anyone would like to believe.
At some later date, I hope to comment upon classical Gnosticism more thoroughly (and thereby possibly render my previous post obsolete and/or hypocritical), but don't hold your breath: my knowledge of theology may seem impressive to the sub-layman, but trust me, it's utterly wretched.
In the meantime, download an mp3 of the song below, crank up the volume, and try to understand why this kind of thing means as much to me as it does, as well as why I feel that heavy metal is the only musical venue that's done anything for any kind of religious sentiment since country and western and gospel.
"Baghdad"
High On Fire
from The Art of Self Defense
Quickening of the Elder
Knowledge of the Otherside
Deepweed sets emotion
Hardening of the Warrior
The burning
That will never die
Melding of the Riffchild
From wall to the Universe
Weed priest stoned arrival
Sharpening of the weapons
The skill inside the endless mind
Celestial King walks water
Hear words foretell destruction
Hear words expose corruption
Generation darkening
Echoes from the mountain
A warning to behold the times
Insight saved the blind man
Covenant with the Father
The burning that will never die
Supersonic psalmist project
Reveals astro child
Windows of the Riffian
Nameless masses cower
From horse and carriage
In the sky
*I had the (presumably) correct Greek text for this in the body of this post, but Blogger opted to render it as ??????, which is unacceptable. You can find my source at the Wikipedia entry for "gnosticism" if you're interested.
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