An Unnecessary Evil


"My name is Lucifer, please take my hand."

Black Sabbath, N.I.B.

"And thus I took the first step on a three-year journey during which I
totally lost my faith."

Zenit has an interesting interview with Journalist Carlo Climati on
young people's introduction to the occult, and Satanism in particular.
Carlo points out that one of the ways in which children are exposed to
Satan is through music.

An Unnecessary Evil

"My name is Lucifer, please take my hand."

Black Sabbath, N.I.B.

"And thus I took the first step on a three-year journey during which I
totally lost my faith."

Zenit has an interesting interview with Journalist Carlo Climati on
young people's introduction to the occult, and Satanism in particular.
Carlo points out that one of the ways in which children are exposed to
Satan is through music.

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=55922

This article is rather timely, as I had recently decided to revisit
some of the music of my lost youth. Since I was a bit of a head banger,
I decided to pull out my old Black Sabbath albums a few weeks ago and
give them a spin. Compared to most heavy metal acts, Black Sabbath was
the heaviest and, at the same time, the most melodic. Musically, no one
has captured the intensity of rock n' roll found on their first six
albums.

Lyrically, it's a different story. Listening to the lyrics after 20
years brought back a flood of experiences.

I had never considered the band to be "Satanic" (despite the rather
obvious name). Heck, even the late, great rock critic Lester Bangs said
of Black Sabbath:

They are probably the first truly Catholic rock group, or the first
group to completely immerse themselves in the Fall and Redemption: the
traditional Christian dualism which asserts that if you don't walk in
the light of the Lord then Satan is certainly pulling your strings, and
a bad end can be expected, is even imminent.
Indeed, Bangs' entire article was an apologia for the band's
seemingly overt Satanic influence, twisting it into a pseudo-Catholic
catharsis, essentially concluding "Hey, they have to tell you about
evil in order to warn you to stay away from evil."

I owned that 1972 Creem magazine from which the quote is taken, having
purchased it sometime in 1975. I discovered the band through a
classmate in highschool and I immediately began to hungrily devour
everything written about them; at least, everything that I could lay my
hands on, including old Creem magazines. Of course I accepted Bangs'
explanation of Black Sabbath's "Catholic credentials" and swallowed it.
Despite the band's name and the obvious lyrics, I seized upon that
quote to justify my new-found love of the band. "They're not
Satanic! See? Lester Bangs says they're a Catholic rock band!"

Obviously, I was lying to myself, altering the truth of the matter in
order to justify my musical preferences. And thus I took the first step
on a three-year journey during which I totally lost my faith. I even
recall chastising my sister (10 years older) for having the nerve to
baptize her children - "You know it's all a lie," I believe I
told her.

Although I never held a seance or attempted any magickal spells, or
even explored Satanic rituals, I did dabble in occultism. I read books
by LaVey. I almost got sucked in by Scientology (a very close call!). I
had several friends who did, in fact, explore Satanism and Satanic
rituals. I consider myself very, very lucky.

I can't believe how thoroughly I fooled myself. Bangs pulled selected
lyrics, out of context, to support and justify his reasoning, and being
a wide-eyed 14 year-old kid who just discovered and fell in love with
real Rock And Roll, I fell for it. Of course, the article was written
in 1972, several years before the later and more Satanic albums were
released, but there was still plenty of evidence of Satanic influence
to be found in the three albums out at that time.

For example, Bangs quotes this lyric from N.I.B. on Paranoid (1970):

Some people say my love cannot be true
Please believe me, my love, and I'll show you
I will give you those things you thought unreal
The sun, the moon, the stars; all bear my seal

Follow me now and you will not regret
Living the life you led before we met
You are the first to have this love of mine
Forever with me 'til the end of time

Now I have you with me, under my power
Our love grows stronger now with every hour
Look into my eyes, you will see who I am
My name is Lucifer, please take my hand
I don't think there's any way to read that other than as purely
Satanic, a usurpation of God's creation, claimed by Lucifer, with the
design to lead people to Hell. Bangs' response? Yeah, some people might
take advantage of these lyrics to support their causes, but the band
says they're not into Satanism, so that's the final word.

Things started turning more sinister on their fourth album (Vol. 4,
1972), released not long after Bangs published his critique. From
Supernaut we learn that religion is imaginary and unnecessary:

Got no religion, don't need no friends
Got all I want and I don't need to pretend
Don't try to reach me, 'cause I'd tear up your mind
I've seen the future and I've left it behind
Bangs may have been able to coax his "Catholic rock band" quote
from the band's prior lyrics, but there is no way to read this lyric as
embracing anything Catholic. Things then take a darker turn in
Cornucopia:

Take a life it's going cheap
Kill someone no one will weep
Freedom's yours just pay your dues
We just want your soul to use
And then, in case we didn't get the anti-religious statement the
first time, they bang it home on Under the Sun:

Well I don't want no preacher telling me about the god in the sky
No I don't want no one to tell me where I'm gonna go when I die
I wanna live my life; I don't want people telling me what to do
I just believe in myself, 'cause no one else is true
Here, we have a direct rejection of Heaven and Truth, replaced by pure
secular humanism ("I just believe in myself 'cause no one else is
true"). If Black Sabbath arguably was a "Catholic rock band"
after three albums, the fourth certainly demonstrated the fallacy of
that argument. Lester died in 1982, but, at least to my knowledge, he
never revisited his "Catholic rock band" quote.

Their fifth album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, took a decidedly evil turn,
beginning with a front cover depicting either an exorcism or a Satanic
ritual, complete with "666" written on the headboard of the bed.

From the title track we learn that we're all damned to Hell and that

God knows no more than a dog:

Where can you run to? What more can you do?
No more tomorrow, life is killing you
Dreams turn to nightmares, Heaven turns to Hell
Burns out confusion, nothing more to tell, yeah
Everything around you, what's it coming to?
God knows as your dog knows, bog blast all of you
Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, nothing more to do
Living just for dying, Dying just for you, yeah...
On Who Are You? the lyrics are rather more obtuse, but the meaning
seems no less clear:

Yes I know the secret that's within your mind
You think all the people who worship you are blind
You're just like Big Brother, giving us your trust
And when you have played enough you'll just cast our souls
Into the dust, Into the dust

You thought that it would be easy from the very start
Now I've found you out I don't think you're so smart
I only have one more question before my time is through
Please I beg you tell me in the name of hell
Who are you? Who are you?
The band continued its descent into Satanism with Sabotage, its sixth
album. From the aptly-named Megalomania, the lyricist (usually Ozzy or
Bill Ward) rejects God and then announces just how much he despises
Him, having found solace with Hell:

I'm really digging schizophrenia the best of the earth
I've seized my soul in the fires of hell
Peace of mind eluded me, but now it's all mine
I simply try, but he wants me to fail
Feel it slipping away, slipping in tomorrow
Now I've found my happiness, providence of sorrow

No more lies, I got wise
I despise the way I worshipped you yeah
Now I'm free, can't you see
And now instead I won't be led by you now.... Free!
By the time they got to their seventh album, Technical Ecstacy, it
seemed like the boys were finally willing to put the devil behind them.
On You Won't Change Me, Ozzy bemoans the fact that no one understands
him and that he seems doomed to live in this world, but, mysteriously,
he adds "If there's a God up there, well I hope he helps me." Hope?
Well, any hope is quickly dashed with the band's ode to yet another
evil woman:

Gypsy woman you're the devil in drag
You are the queen of all hell
You took my body, now you're wasting my soul
You've got me under your spell (Gypsy Woman)
Never Say Die, the next album, starts off well enough. You actually
have to go half way through the album to reach the first visionary
Satanic statement in Shock Wave:

There's no reason for you to run, you can't escape the fate of the
chosen one
Black moon rising, in a blood red sky. This time you realize that
you're gonna die

Drinking your blood brew is your answer, that's what you plan to do
No dreaming, time you cheat this master, you're on your own going
through
But then the boys partially redeem themselves (if that's possible)
with Swinging The Chain:

Compare ourselves with others and cover them in sin
Oh, God what a terrible, a terrible state we're in
There must be some way out of here, a compromise that's right
If we cannot work it out we're gonna have to fight

Yes we're sad and sorry, really sorry that it happened that way
Yes we're sad and sorry, we cannot go on in those days
On Heaven and Hell, Ronnie James Dio takes over the lyric creation
process, and his writing is a bit more fantastical and obtuse then the
prior lyricists. While he speaks of an evil witch in Lady Evil, it
comes across more as a warning than a celebration. Neon Knights
describes a battle of good v. evil, but it's not clear as to which
side Dio is on.

Dio continued in his role as lyricist for 1981's The Mob Rules, and
his lyrics began to take a slightly darker turn. On Voodoo, he intones;

Call me a liar, you knew you were a fool, but that's cool, it's all
right
Call me the Devil, it's true. Some can't accept but I crept inside you.
So if a stranger calls you, don't let him whisper his name
'Cause it's Voodoo, oh!
Fade into shadow, you'll burn. Your fortune is free, I can see it's no
good
Never look back, never turn. It's a question of time 'till you're
mine and you learn
On Country Girl we are warned about yet another evil woman with Satanic
charms:

Fell in love with a country girl, morning sunshine
She was up from a nether world, just to bust another soul
Her eyes were an endless flame, holy lightning
Desire with a special name, made to snatch your soul away, yeah
By 1983's Born Again, Dio is out and Ian Gillan is in, but the slow
decent into Hell continues unabated in the anti-Catholic Disturbing the
Priest:

The force of the devil is the darkness the priest has to face
The force of the night will destroy him but will not disgrace
To get into his mind and to his soul you gotta set alight
The flames of doubt so deep inside inside
The devil and the priest can't exist if one goes away
It's just like the battle of the sun and the moon and night and day
The force of the devil, that's we're all told to fear
Watch out for religion when he gets too near too near

We're disturbing the priest, won't you please come to our feast
Do we mind disturbing the priest, not at all, not at all, not in the
least
Next up is Born Again, not exactly a paean to baptism:

Born again, you'll be born again
Look at this prince of evil fighting for your mind
Fighting all the priests of shame for the thrust of my challenge is
aimed
At the hearts of mutant gods who think we're all the same
They're controlling our minds and they use us for fortune and fame

As you look through my window, deep into my room
At your future and freedom, the grey and plastic retards all floating
in circles
And as you taste the fruits of new sensations softly brushing your lips
As we rise when we challenge and kill
By this time the BS Boys had descended past Hell and into woeful
self-parody, averaging at least one song per album about an evil woman,
two or so songs about Satan or evil/fallen beings, and a smattering of
woe-is-me, life-is-hard, we're-all-gonna-die downers. One need look
only as far as the album titles to discern the continuing Satanic
influence over the band: Live Evil, the Eternal Idol, The Headless
Cross, Dehumanizer and Cross Purposes. A smattering of lyrics from The
Headless Cross:

How do you feel, when the locks refuse the key
and the master is calling your name
Does the luck of the charm, really keep you from harm?
does the talisman protect you from pain? (Headless Cross)

A thousand times over, you'll hear on the wind
in the name of hell, these sinners never sinned
But Satan never listens to the words that they send
Drenching the soul with blood, when will it end (Devil & Daughter)

Tell me not fear of the flames means that heaven is closer
For I believe Satan lives, in the souls of the dying
Misguided mortals, you'll burn with me
Spirit of man, cannot be freed. (When Death Calls)

I remember the Devil coming to steal my soul again and again
I remember the dawn was breaking
In Cathedrals of unholy light (Cloak & Dagger)

The seal is broken, the oath has been crossed
In the house of the dead there's a taker
Some say that this is the ultimate sin
When the spirit world turns to the altar (Kill In The Spiritual World)

In this last macabre hour, witches cry
and turn to dust before the moon
Many spirits are lost forever, but one survives
To call the tune of Lucifer
It's the call of the wild calling you (Call of the Wild)

I've been blinded, lost and confused,
darkness will call me no more.
Heaven is no friend of mine,
no god ever knocked on my door. (Black Moon)

They say he comes for those whose souls are weak
and call his name upon the wind
The night is cold and thick with mystery
Oh I can feel his beating wings
Tell every creature of the night
The kill is around the bend
Nightwing flies again (Nightwing)

From Tyr:

When an angel cries-Jerusalem
Better watch your lies-Jerusalem (Jerusalem) (a little anti-Semitism,
too?)

What God is this that stands to hear his people cry?
What hand would strike and watch his people die?
What life that takes, what future did we earn?
It's our mistakes, take heed the Sabbath Stones
What life that takes what future did we earn?
It's our mistakes (The Sabbath Stones)

You stand face to face and your heart gathers pace
for the answer to a question a prize
If only you had known to be honest was wrong
For the work that you've done you will pay with your eyes
Into the black where the night never ends and the light
leaves a scar on your soul
where your heart used to hold your love here!
Heaven in Black

Inside there's a voice saying was there a choice
you'd still be entombed in the night
Lucifer's to blame, the reason for the flame
They've taken your sight but they'll not take your God (Heaven In
Black)

From Dehumanizer:

Deliver us to evil, deny us of our faith
Robotic hearts bleed poison on the world we populate
Virtual existence with a superhuman mind
The ultimate creation, destroyer of mankind (Computer God)

Join the congregation, everybody's got to get in line and
We never justify, the choir sings a never-ending lie (Buried Alive)

From Cross Purposes:

You better run from the holy man, the eyes that will are set upon you,
listen not to verse and prayer, songs that thrill and voices tempt you
the inner flame has fear of death, never, has light ever seemed so
dark.
Pilgrims of sabbocracy, hear the hounds of heaven, as they bark (I
Witness)

When you talk about saving, the souls of the faithful,
you can't help thinking, you've got blood on your hands.

From a cross of thorns....

Oh, from the hands of death we take our daily bread,
now all we do is choke, and the words that you once spoke, fade away.
Look at what you've done, oh, it's a cross of thorns. (Cross of Thorns)

Poison tears running from a palsied face,
Satan nears, descending on the human race.
Think you're God, don't you wish you had control,
Think you're loved but there's no one there at all... (Psychphobia)

From the spirit runs poison, and the wheel of fortune is ever still,

Sweeter than the light, the darkness of your soul.
Immaculate deception. (Immaculate Deception)

We are the star demons, reaching out yeah,
We want to touch your world (back to eden)
Don't feel the hunger, can't drink no holy water,
No light in these eyes, no place for dreams at all tonight. (The Hand
That Rocks The Cradle)

How are your dreams, do they claw at your sleep
Making darkness a place you despise,
Where is the God, that once was your strength
Are you sure he was there from the start.

All the world is watching you, nowhere you can hide,
Every tongue is screaming fool, only Satan hears your cries.

When you sin Cardinal Sin, you make your bed and on it you must lie,
And your futures looking grim, but did you ever give a damn
About the child, he's running wild.
When you sin Cardinal Sin, don't expect the world will treat you well,
We say oh, go to hell. (Cardinal Sin)

Got no time for love, there's something in your mind,
Got the face of an angel but the stare of a devil inside. (Evil Eye)
What's the use of paradise or everyday of livin'
They spend learning every sin in hell
What's the point of children
When evil got before them
They learn in every tale we tell (What's The Use?)
I pulled out only some of the more obvious examples. There are many,
many others that are not so obvious.

Is Black Sabbath solely to blame for the loss of my faith? Hardly. But
they were there when I was looking for answers I wasn't finding
elsewhere. I came back from the brink but I still have significant
problems with demonic influences.

How many others have gone over the edge?

http://thebarristers.com/weblog/2004_06_01_archived.html#1088446621420458
16

My name is Lucifer

"My name is Lucifer, please take my hand."

An Unnecessary Evil


"My name is Lucifer, please take my hand."

Black Sabbath, N.I.B.