Devils Blood Introduction to the Occult Ways of Anti-Cosmic Satanism in Modern

Rock Music
"Not only do modern methods of travel mean that the world's
cultures are only a few hours away; but, thanks to radio,
television and increased literacy, information about other
cultures and religious communities is disseminated widely and
rapidly. As a result, people in the modern world are increasingly
aware of, influenced by and challenged by the existence of other
religions and cultures."1
In this paper I attempt to introduce a modern day connection in between music and
religion having roots in the faraway historical times. In this paper the rock band, Devils
Blood is part of the examined items serving the function of giving the opportunity of exerting
the explanation of the occult tendencies in the aspirations of rock music. My pursuit is to
widen the knowledge of modern occult tendencies by placing this particular phenomenon on a
wider religious spectrum - even if such effort could only be partially achieved. Since evil has
been a dualistic and antagonistic opposite of good since the Abrahamic tradition comes the
question what is evils function in the modern day rebellious philosophy of rock and roll
music?2 To stop what Weiner calls disciplinary deafness this text deals with the relationship
of rock and roll music and anti cosmic religious tendencies and the path leading to this
tendency.3
The study of religion and ethnomusicology has the potential what music industry lacks
of while answering questions concerning the connection of music and religion. Folklorist Carl
Wilhelm Von Sydow calls it tale migration how past folkore text gets applied in present text
by being taken out of context. This process seems very similar to how rock music uses ancient
or medieval occult sybomlism and expressions serving a modern purpose.4 While Devil's
Blood was active for a relatively short period of time their pursuit was similar on the occult
psychedelic rock scene.

Christopher H. Partridge, Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative
Spiritualities, New York, Oxford University Press, 2004, 15.
2
Paul O. Ingram with Frederick John Streng, Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Mutual Renewal and
Transformation, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1986, 148-149.
3
Isaac A. Weiner, Sound and American Religions (2009), Religon Compass Volume 3, Issue 5, 897908.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00164.x/abstract accessed 25 April 2015
4
Harriw M. Berger, Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience,
Middletown, Wesleyan, 1999, 3.

The way leading to the Abrahadabra

It shall be addressed that there is a common confusion as the following terms are being
used interchangebly: Occultism, Spiritualism, Paganism, Satanism, Black Magic, Left Hand
Path. For a proper Devil's Blood analysis it is essential to understand these so I would like to
briefly clarify these terms in my article.
First of all, Occultism stems from the Latin word occultus, which means 'the secret',
'the unknown' and 'the hidden'.5 Therefore the Occult is the knowledge of secret subjects and
could include the study of fields like Alchemy, Astrology, Magic, Spiritualism, and even
Religion. According to Crabb, occult science is one that is "hidden from the view of persons
in general, which is attainable but by few."6 Occult ideas can be found in Black Magic,
Gnosticism, Manicheism Hermeticism, Neopaganism, Theosophy, and Chaos Magic just to
name a few.7 The earliest mentions of magic can be found in the ancient times. Interestingly
even Solomon, the wise king of the Jews in the ancient times is also known as a great
magician and conjurer.8 Moreover, the term Occultism, was first used by Agrippa von
Nettesheim in the De Occulta Philosophia libri III.9
The term Spiritual hails from the Latin term spiritus, which can be translated as
'breath'. Furthermore, Spiritualism expresses a dualist metaphysical belief based on the
dualism of 'matter', and 'spirit'.10 In philosophy it expresses "a characteristic of any system of
thought that affirms the existence of immaterial reality imperceptible to the senses".11
Modern Spiritualism has little connection to the term being used in earlier times.12 But what is
the difference? Nowadays, Spiritualism expresses a belief that spirits have the capability to
connect the dead with the living.13 It has first been used by opponents of materialism in the
end of the 18th century. The modern term can be traced back to the 1848 activities of the Fox
5

Colin Wilson, The Occult: A History, New York, Random House, 1971, 16.
George Crabb, English synonyms explained, in alphabetical order, copious illustrations and examples drawn
from the best writers, New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1927, 679.
7
Menyhrt, L. Lszl, Okkult Tudomnyok Kziknyve, Szentenedre, Urbis Knyvkiad, 2004, 6-10.
8
Hans Biedermann, A mgikus mvszetek zseblexikona. Budapest, Kentaur Knyvek, 1989, 284.
9
Kurt Seligmann, History of Magic and the Occult, New York, Gramercy Books/Random House, 1997, 249.
10
The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica, Spiritualism, London, 2015,
http://www.britannica.com/topic/spiritualism-philosophy, accessed 29 April 2015.
11
Scott Calef, Dualism and Mind, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ISSN 2161-0002,
http://www.iep.utm.edu/dualism/ accessed 23 April 2015.
12
Frank Podmore, Modern Spiritualism. A History and a Criticism. The American Journal of Psychology (The
American Journal of Psychology, 1903, Vol. 14, No. 1) 14 (1), 116117.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1412224?origin=crossref&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents accessed 20 April 2015
13
Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary: Lucifer, 2001,
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lucifer accessed 04.25.2015.
6

Sisters in Hydesville, New York. They created international attention by presenting knocking
sounds that they described as being "messages from a spirit".14 Many spiritual experiences
like the one described seem to be in relation to the ecstasy experienced by drug abuse while in
history, literature, folk fairytales, and mystical spiritual tales represent examples of the
connection between the real and the spiritual world.15
In the 19th century the impact of Modern Spiritualism grew. It lead to movements
established in the United States to the United Kingdom, and finally to Europe. Besides this
progress, the circulation of influences, it is considered also a relevant information that the
works of Andrew Jackson Davis were paving the way for all later spiritual movements.16
Graham Harvey mentions that modern day pagans identify their religion as being of
17

nature.

The word pagan, first appearing in the 4th century AD, originally meant 'villager,

rustic; civilian, non-combatant'. This noun often said to be derived from the "conservative
rural adherence to the old gods after the Christianization of Roman towns and cities".18
Today in England and Wales alone there are approximately 80,000 people following some
branch of the modern paganism - also called contemporary paganism, or neopaganism.19
Modern Paganism is considered to have historical roots, and as being generally based on
polytheist belief. "Pagans" in ancient times believed in supreme deities, for example gods
(daimons in Greek), but theres no unified practice or belief that all of their believers share.20
Paganist beliefs are seperated from Satanism by the latters admiration for Satan.

21

We could

find references to how the figure of evil got preserved in Zoroastianism (Ahriman)22,
Buddism (Mara) 23, Islam (Iblees)24 and in Norse religions (Nhggr )25.

14

Joe Nickell, A Skeletons Tale: The Origins of Modern Spiritualism, Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.4, July,
2008, http://www.csicop.org/si/show/skeletons_tale_the_origins_of_modern_spiritualism/ accessed 28 April
2015.
15
SNU - The Spiritualists' National Union, The Origins of Spiritualism, Essex, 2011
http://www.snu.org.uk/spiritualism/history/origins.html accessed 28 April 2015.
16
SNU - The Spiritualists' National Union, The Origins of Spiritualism, Essex, 2011
http://www.snu.org.uk/spiritualism/history/origins.html accessed 28 April 2015.
17
Donna Weston and Andy Bennett, Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music, London, Routledge, 2014, ix.
18
Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary: Pagan, 2001,
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pagan accessed 04.26.2015.
19
Liz Williams, Paganism, part 1: what is modern paganism?, 2013.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/15/what-is-modern-paganism accessed 28 April 2015.
20
Alan G. Cameron, The Last Pagans of Rome, New York, Oxford University Press, 2011, 28-30.
21
B.A. Robinson, Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA), 2010, http://www.religioustolerance.org/sra.htm accessed 29
April 2015.
22
Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin, Ahriman, Encyclopaedia Iranica 1, New York, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982,
670.
23
Ananda W. P. Guruge, The Buddha's Encounters with Mara the Tempter. Access to Insight, 2005,
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/guruge/wheel419.html#fn-26 accessed 1 April 2015.

In 1990 Satanism was still the belief of a small community compared to the leading
religious doctrines. The word Satan stems from the Hebrew word for 'adversary'. According
to Harper, in early Hebrew storytelling satan meant a supernatural character, one of the angels
sent by God for "blocking or obstructing human activity."26 Traces of the word Satanism can
be found as early as the end of the 16th century, meaning satanic disposition, but the term got
first recorded in France in 1895.27
In modern times, the 20th century key figure of black magic Aleister Crowley, the
wickedest man in the world. He brought back the Black Magic, the occult Evil to common
knowledge putting Abrahadabra back in everday vocabulary by citing it in The Book of Law
(1904).28 But abracadabra was no new word since Quintus already used it in the ancient
Roma which shows the ancient roots of the expression.29 Nevertheless The Crowleys book
established a base for his belief system called Thelema. By old terms in new context magic
was placed under the magnifying glass of modern spiritual thinkers.30
Crowleys Black Magic was serving egoistic tendencies and the tradition of the Lefthand Path, but the useage of supernatural powers were revitalizing a much traditional concept:
an ancient, prevailing evil force. But what is the Left-Hand Path? It is one of the two contrary
approaches in Western esoterism. While it is the way of Black Magic, the Right-Hand Path is
the way of White Magic.31
While Crowley belonged to the Left-Hand path tradition he refused to be identified as
Satanist32 also stating a non-belief in the existence of Satan according to the Christian
ideology.33 Crowley was more interested in ceremonial magic and communication with the

24

Qurn,7:27, http://quran.com/2/34 accessed 28 April 2016.

Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda: Tales from Norse Mythology (Dover Books on Literature & Drama).
Mineola, Dover Publications, 2006, 27-30.
26
Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary: Satan, 2001,
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Satan&allowed_in_frame=0 accessed 04.25.2015.
27
Jules Bois, Le Satanisme et la magie (1895) : Prcd de Bois et Huysmans, Millon, Golgotha, 1895.
28
Martin Booth, A Magick Life: The Biography of Aleister Crowley. London, Coronet Books, 2000, 283284
29
Serenus Sammonicus Quintus, De medicina praecepta salvberrima, Printed Ex officina Breitkopfia, Leipzig,
Lipsiae n bibliopolio .G. Mvlleriano, 1786, p 150.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x001152308;view=1up;seq=5 accessed April 24 2015
30
Nevill Drury, The Watkins Dictionary of Magic: Over 3,000 Entries on the World of Magical Formulas,
Secret Symbols and the Occult. London, Watkins, 2006, 2.
31
(Evans, 2007)
32
Asbjrn Dyrendal, Satan and the Beast: The Influence of Aleister Crowley on Modern Satanism. In Bogdan,
Henrik; Starr, Martin P. Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism, Oxford and New York, Oxford University
Press, 2012, 369.
33
Lon Milo DuQuette, The Magick of Aleister Crowley: A Handbook of Rituals of Thelema. San Francisco and
Newburyport, Weiser, 2003, 2-3.
25

spirit world.34 Ironically he is still said to be the biggest influence on the the most influential
leaders of the religious Satanism: Lavey and Aquino.35
This testifies the far-reaching effect of individual ideas (here by Crowley) I would
prefer to call the phenomenon of impact. This is a key element undestanding that the impact of
a theory is not depending on the amount of people creating it but rather the luck the impacting
has with an (1) innovations inclusive environment, (2) historical period or timing, and the (3)
geographical location.
The underlying spiritual identity - the phenomenon of the Occult ways of Satanism
through the public eye
In Christian worldview the figure of Satan is hardly seperable from the ancient notion
of evil.36 The character of Satan surely appears as the enemy of the system, furthermore
Fizotti states that followers of Satan have a masochistic tendency in the public eye.37 This
judgement is probably in connection with the presence of what Langone calls the adolescent
satanic dabblers38 who identify with satanic practices, for the most part, do not have
accurate information about satanism as a religion, system, or philosophy.39
In addition in Robinson states that SRA, also known as Satanic Ritual Abuse (a
psychological, sexual, and/or physical assault) seemed a threat in the 1990s.40 He writes
about a Satanic Panic sweeping through the United States of America and Canada from
1980 until the 1990s fearing that there are underground satanic circles annually killing people.
This panic died afterwards because of the lack of evidence. It is interesting to consider this in

34

Osara and Sadie Lamort, A fenevad mgija, Budapest, Tuan kiad, 2005, 19-26.
Asbjrn Dyrendal, Satan and the Beast: The Influence of Aleister Crowley on Modern Satanism. In Bogdan,
Henrik; Starr, Martin P. Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism, Oxford and New York, Oxford University
Press, 2012, 369394.
36
Dr. Robert D. Luginbill, The Satanic Rebellion: Background to the Tribulation - Part 4: Satan's World System.
Louisville, ICHTHYS, http://ichthys.com/SR4%28SWS%29.htm accessed 21 April 2015.
37
Eugenio Fizzoit, Satanism from Psychological Viewpoint. L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English
12 February 1997, page 10, https://www.ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/satan3.htm accessed April 15 2015.
38
Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., Treatment of Satanism, http://www.icsahome.com/articles/treatment-of-satanismlangone accessed 22 April 2015.
39
R. Tucker, Teen Satanism. Paper presented at Ritual Abuse: Fact or Fiction? Conference sponsored by The
Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse, Aylmer, Ontario, Canada, 1989 May,
http://www.icsahome.com/articles/treatment-of-satanism-langone accessed 20 April 2015.
40
B.A. Robinson, Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA), 2010, http://www.religioustolerance.org/sra.htm accessed 23
April 2015.
35

the light of the information that heavy metal music was even used as a tool bombarding
enemies for political purposes.41
Modern Satanism achived a strong presence in modern occult tendencies by The
Church of Satan, founded by Anton Szandor LaVey in 1966. They concentrated on
individualism and on an 'eye for an eye' morality under the influence of Nietzsche, while on
the practical side focusing on rituals and magic influenced by Crowley. They were seeking
truth and are skeptics of the religious world surrounding them.42 As Wilcox says, Lavey
marketed an individualistic philosophy for a freer generation appearing in the US in between
1960-1970. But his impact ripples surely away from the sixties, and farer than the seventies.43
Lavey rejected all anti-deities, gods and put the human ego in the focus point. In this
case Satan is the symbol of an individual consciousness which is giving a new edge to the
term Satanism. This is why Paul Heelas describes Satanism as 'self-sprituality'.44 Moreover
Harvey says that Satanism is a "radical rejection of socialization".45 By concentrating more
on the ego, and the inner-self they may lose the connection to reality, public communities, the
trends of economics and everyday life, and other developments in the present. Arguably this
may lead to sacrifice of physical form of the person who owns the ego: the human body.
The differences among people who claim to be Satanists are partly the reason why
Grandholm says that, "the analytical usefulness of the term 'Satanism" is questionable.46 Still
it is important to show common characteristics of self-proclaimed Satanists. They are (1)
atheists, since they don't believe in gods, (2) autodeist, since they worship themselves,
beliving that everyone is a God. And last but not least they are the (3) followers of the Left

41

Steve Paschal with Heather Guerrero, Ret. Lt. Gen. Marc Cisneros to Discuss Capture of Former Panamanian
Dictator with A&M-Corpus Christi Students, 2007,
http://www.tamucc.edu/marcom/news_releases/2007/september/cisneros.html
42
Shankbone, David, Satanism: An interview with Church of Satan High Priest Peter Gilmore, 2007,
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Satanism:_An_interview_with_Church_of_Satan_High_Priest_Peter_Gilmore
accessed 25 April 2015.
43
Melissa M. Wilcox, Religion in Today's World: Global Issues, Sociological Perspectives (Contemporary
Sociological Perspectives), London, Routledge, 2012, 395.
44
Paul Heelas: The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity, Oxford,
Blackwell Publishers, 1996, 50-51.
45
Jesper Aagaard Petersen, Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology (Controversial New
Religions), Farnham, Ashgate Pub Co., 2009, 29.
46
Kennet Granholdm, The Left-Hand Path and Post-Satanism. In: Faxneld, 2012, Chapter 10., p. 1.
http://www.academia.edu/11761572/The_Left-Hand_Path_and_PostSatanism_The_Temple_of_Set_and_the_Evolution_of_Satanism accessed April 21 2015.

Hand Path, the way of black magic. Lavey stated in 1969 that Satanism is "the
personification of the Left Hand Path". 47
The common media has a huge influence on how Satanism is represented to the
public. According to a 2007 Gallup Poll 70% of Americans believe in the existence of the
Devil and this belief had increased since 2000.48 A research published in 2013 states that
more than half of the population in United States believe in the Devil, and posession by
Devil.49
The vivid memory of Tate Murders happening in 1969 is still impacting the judgement
of Satanism and the evil. Even so rarely its emphasized that the event labeled with the satanic
cult tag was committed by Charles M. Manson who was not considered himself a satanist.50
While his family is said to be "held together by black magic" he strongly believed that he
"and all human beings, are God and the devil at the same time.51 The danger of the idea is
that if someone kills then it's just killing part of you (however in contradictory to this killing
an animal was prohibited in the communa). Manson considered himself a Scientologist, and
even borrowed one of his ideas from the The Process Church of the Final Judgment who
believed that Satan would become reconciled to Christ, and they would come together at the
end of the world to judge humanity."52
Artistic creativity from the psychoanalysis side
I prefer to emphasize Langones psychological analysis in understand the
psychological side of Satanism.53 He mentions Tucker who separates two types of Satanist:
(1) Profile 1, and (2) Profile 2.54 Profile 1 are tending to hail from disturbed families, and are
47

Anton Szandor Lavey, The Satanic Bible, New York, Avon Publications, 1969, 30 209.
Piercarlo Valdesolo, The Psychological Power of Satan: How a belief in pure evil shapes peoples
thinking, 29 October 2013, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/psychological-power-satan, accessed on
29 April 2015.
49
William Jordan, 18% of Brits believe in possession by the devil. 27 September 2013,
https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/09/27/18-brits-believe-possession-devil-and-half-america/ accessed 2 April
2015.
50
Piero Scaruffi, A History of Rock Music: 1951-2000, Bloomington, iUniverse, 2003, 71.
51
Los Angelese (AP), Black Magic World, The Sumter, 5 December1969,
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1979&dat=19691205&id=IJgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3242,4381773&hl=hu accessed 23 April 2015
52
Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry, Helter Skelter The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary
Edition, New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 1994, 163-164.
53
Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., Treatment of Satanism, 1992, http://www.icsahome.com/articles/treatment-ofsatanism-langone accessed 28 April 2015.
54
R.Tucker, Teen Satanism. Paper presented at Ritual Abuse: Fact or Fiction? Conference sponsored by The
Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse, Aylmer, Ontario, Canada, May 1989,
http://www.icsahome.com/articles/treatment-of-satanism-langone accessed 20 April 2015.
48

very likely to have long-time history of psychological maladjustment. For them Satanism
justifies selfishness, which comes from the rejection of love and trust. Profile 2 teenage
Satanists are from normal families and by seeing hypocrisy in the world, they turn to
Satanism to (1) proclaim their outrage; (2) justify the self-indulgence which comes from the
experience they have of a world without values.
Furthermore Crabtree mentions sociologists Wallis and Bruce who created a 3 list
societalization, three factors that are reducing the power of religion in the modern world.

55

From the point of view music could provide an (1) opportunity to the communities to gather,
(2) a self-esteem boost, and (3) could possibly increase the self-knowledge as Nagel states:
It has been demonstrated that musical study and performance can transform individuals and
their communities by increasing self-knowledge and self-esteem, a core goal of
Psychoanalysis. 56
Psychoanalysis provides an argument concerning this spiritual explanation. Notably
some psychologist also talks about the evil, but psychoanalysis gives several studies on the
evil in the human behaviour.57 The Modern Neuroscience developed in parallel interval with
the Modern Satanism. It gives the act of creative thinking the classification as being creative
cognition and gives no space to the idea of a spiritual being using a human channel.58
Scientists such as Einstein believed in intuition and inspiration as a tool to reach insight.59
Einstein is famous for stating: Imagination is more important than knowledge", and finding
relief in music when he got stuck answering the questions he came up with while working.60
Meeting the Devil at the crossroads Filling the void that secular systems and organized
religions failed to fill

55

Vexen Crabtree, Multiculturalism, Globalisation and Religio, 5 May.2012,

http://www.humanreligions.info/multiculturalism_and_globalisation.html accessed on 2 May 2015.
56
Julie Jaffee Nagel, Melodies of the Mind: Connections between psychoanalysis and music, London, Routledge,
2013, 115.
57
Arthur G. Miller, Perspectives on Evil and Violence: A Special Issue of personality and Social Psychology
Review: Vol 3, No 3. East Sussex, Psychology Press, 2014
58
J. Zull, The art of changing the brain: Enriching the practice of teaching by exploring the biology of learning.
Sterling, Stylus Publishing, 2012
59
Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein, Einstein On Creative Thinking: Music and the Intuitive Art of Scientific
Imagination, Psychology Today, 31 March 2010.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201003/einstein-creative-thinking-music-and-the-intuitive-artscientific-imagination accessed 25 April 2015
60
George Sylvester Viereck, What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck. The
Saturday Evening Post, 26 October 1929, p. 17. http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wpcontent/uploads/satevepost/what_life_means_to_einstein.pdf accessed 25 April 2015.

Could it be that Satanism and occult rock music fills a void that secular systems failed
to fill in everyday life? May our presumable curiousity lead us to the dimension of the occult?
In the book, The Season of the Witch Bebergal speaks about the phenomenon of an
underlying spiritual identity in American music to understand why rock and roll music
shares similar topics with Occult.61
The tendency of people turning their back on Christianity is not purely the crisis of
organized religions. This is why Jones wish to note a contemporary occult explosionin North
America that belongs to the same desperate effort to react against the growing
desacralization of the 10 modern world, specifically the almost general crisis of the Christian
churches."62
Some folklore ideas brought to the US by the first generations of American slaves are
appearing in modern occult ideas such as Robert Johnson meeting the Devil at the
crossroads63 Bebergal says this tale has African trickster deity origins. 64 Another theory is
that it comes from the African god, Legba.65
Trance, ritual and posession are all common elements of rock music lyrics but they
were part of lyrics before the time of rock or modern Satanism though the ideological
polarization of the late 1960s that seemed to be in connection with the popular music
becoming the public enemy of the conservative politics in the US.66
The presence of the American band Coven with their first record Witchcraft Destroys
Minds & Reaps Souls dealing with occult themes had set a ground for other future psychedelic
rock bands. The genre's probably best known band, Black Sabbath was formed in 1968. Later
on, the American organization PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center, formed in 1985) tried
to boycott such heavy metal an other popular music which they believed were promoting

61

Peter Bebergal, Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll. Tarcher, New York, Penguin
Books, 2014, c.1
62
Lindsay Jones, Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition. Gale, Farmington, 2005:xxi
63
G. Wardlow with E.M. Komara, Chasin' That Devil Music: Searching for the Blues. San Francisco, Miller
Freeman Books, 1998, 196201.
64
Peter Bebergal, Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll. Tarcher, New York, Penguin
Books, 2014, c.1
65
Carole Elizabeth Boyce Davies: Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture 3volume set. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2008, 625-626.
66
Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, American Popular Music: The Rock Years. Oxford, Oxford
University Press, 2006, p. 167.

10

"alcohol, irresponsible sexuality, sexual perversions, violence and involvement in the occult".
67

Rock and roll was already considered an insult against Christianity so it is of no

surprise that Heavy Metal found an even more controversial reception in conservative circles.
And while Black Sabbath is the most common heavy metal band in Central Europe this genre
is much stronger in Northern European countries such as Norway or Sweden.68 Usually the
performers of this genre prefer to be called Black Metal musicians and the source of
misunderstanding and brouhaha is because of the musicians apparent "obsession with Satanic
imagery in lyrics"69
Black metal as a subgenre of heavy metal, involved thrash style musicianship, lyrical
invocations of the occult, and Satanism.70 But a 2006 movie, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
by filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen tried to put emphasis on the difference in
between (1) music marketed with the tool of 'horror', and (2) musicians who apply Satanism
in their music for religiou and philosophical conviction.71
The Black Mass of the second golden era - The Temple of Black Lights and the Anti
Cosmic Satanism
The act of the Black Mass receives a highlighted attention in Satanism. This ritual is
said to be the intentionally a reversed version of what the Roman Catholic Church calls, the
traditional Latin Mass.72 The followers of Anti Cosmic Satanism also apply the Black Mass
into their rituals, as Graham Harvey states in his article Satanism: Performing Alterity and
Othering deals with the Church of Satan, Temple of Set, and the Nine Angles. 73 Harvey also
emphasizes that in some very important questions Satanists disagree even among themselves.
The differences could be originated from answers to the following questions: (1) if they
belong to an organization, or not; (2) if they follow it for having self-identity or not; (3) who
67

Tony Bennett and Simon Furth, Rock and Popular Music: Politics, Policies, Institutions, London, Routledge,
1993, p. 196.
68
William Phillips with Brian Cogan, Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music. Greenwood, Santa Barbara, 2009,
205.
69
William Phillips with Brian Cogan, Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music. Greenwood, Santa Barbara, 2009,
232.
70
Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind, Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground.
Los Angeles, Feral House, 2003, XI.
71
Gerd Bayer, Heavy Metal Music in Britain. Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series. Farnham, Ashgate, 2009,
p. 17.
72
H.T.F. Rhodes, The Satanic Mass, London, Rider & Company, London, 1954
73
Graham Harvey, Performing Alterity and Othering, 3 January 2008, http://oro.open.ac.uk/9646/
accessed 24 April 2015.

11

is Satan for them; and (4) the origins of Satanism. Harvey claims there have not been any
Satanists before the 19th century, and that the second 'golden era' of Satanism started in the
1960s, around the time the Satanic Bible has been published.74 Being inspired by that
numerous of mainly Swedish black metal bands write under the influence of kaosgnostic
Satanism, such as Dissection, Arckanum and Watain, and Devils Blood.
There is another name for Anti Cosmic Satanism is Kaosgnosticism (also known as
kaosofi, anti-cosmic Satanism, or 218-flow).75 But what makes this Satanism to become
Gnostic is seeking knowledge in chaos by various making rituals or practicing meditation?
To get closer to the roots of Anti Cosmic Satanism, I had to examine folklore beliefs,
post-Christian Left-Hand traditions and ceremonial magic. In this labyrinth of cultural
heritage it is easy to get lost. Olson states that in the 1980-1990s Anti Cosmic Satanism was
spreading in the UK and Scandinavia quickly as part of the heavy metal subculture.
Anti Cosmic Satanism have sticked to the idea of losing the ego and reducing the
importance of the physical body. This orientation connects to the Nordic black metal music,
but most interestingly, this path applied narrative structures of the Conservative Christianity
into its cult.76
Are you a sinner or a saint? Introduction to Devils Blood
Devil's Blood were not the first band in the history of rock and roll to apply occult
symbolism and philosophy in songs but they are probably one of the most contemporary
examples for Anti Cosmic Satanism in rock music. Formed in 2006 Devils Blood earnined
success since bringing back the authentic feel of some of the legendary 1970s heavy metal
formations such as Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, with the twist of the 1960s psychedelic rock
bands, such as Jefferson Airplane, Coven, and Black Widow.77 The visual plus was that they
covered themselves in real blood onstage as a reminiscence to Alice Cooper.78

74

Jesper Aagaard Petersen, Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology (Controversial New
Religions). Farnham, Ashgate Pub Co., 2009, 27-28.
75
Kaosgnosticism Wikipedia, 28 Januar 2014, http://wfncnews.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/01/Kaosgnosticism-Wikipedia.pdf accessed 24 April 2015.
76
Benjamin Hedge Olson, At the Threshold of the Inverted Womb: Anti-Cosmic Satanism and Radical Freedom.
International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 2013, Vol 4, No 2.
https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/IJSNR/article/view/18293 accessed 26 April 2015.
77
Eduardo Rivadavia, The Devils Blood Artist Biography. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-devils-bloodmn0001021127/biography accessed 22 APril 2015.
78
Arthur Nimal, Interviews: The Devils Blood: Selim Lemourchi and death, 2012,
http://www.radiometal.com/en/article/the-devils-blood-selim-lemouchi-and-death,54157 accessed 22 April 2015.

12

The identifiable characteristics of Devil's Blood with Satanistic movements opens up

to research by comparison. Founding member, Selim Lemouchi applied a cosmic pessimism
in the music which relates it to the Anti Cosmic Satanism. Devil's Blood's first album, The
Time Of No Time Evermore released in Europe on September 11, 2009 via VN Records is a
good example for that. The album contains eleven songs with mysterious, very graphic, and
visional lyrics. In the sixth song, Christ or Cocaine not only a vision is described, but also the
duality of good and bad is presented, which is an everlasting topic in many fields. The end of
the composition suggests to join their church and "go to hell" with them. 79
Devil's Blood's second album, The Thousandfold Epicentre was released on 11.11.11.
This was the first to be get distributed also in the US.80 In an interview from this period,
Lemourchi stated that for them "the entire stage becomes the altar and becomes the place
where we can sacrifice", and for him music is boring when it is dominated by musical rules
only and doesn't have any other content, whether it is an emotional or an ideological, like
Satanism.81 The record's lyrics are based on Satanism and Occultism. The song On The Wings
of Gloria deals with the theme of love and death just like Within The Charnel House Of Love.
While the title composition, The Thousandfold Epicentre, and the song Feverdance is all
about death, while the Everlasting Saturnalia deals with the topic of love.
Devil's Blood's third, and final album II: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars
is the most psyichedelic and occult recording by the band. In The Loving Arms Of Lunacy's
Secret Demons deals with the topic of love, while White Storm Of Teeth is a song dealing with
the topic of both love and death.
It is important to recognize while reading rock lyrics influenced by Anti Cosmic
Satanism ideology, that the symbolism and message is not always as visual as expected.
Lemourchi believed that their musical activity helps a chaotic evil force to take over this
world and reoccupy what is rightfully his since the beginning of time and music was only a
tool serving this purpose.
Love and death motif The key to the chaos while painting a musical picture
79

Darklyrics.com, Devils Blood Lyrics: 6. Christ of Cocaine. 2009,

http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/thedevilsblood/thetimeofnotimeevermore.html accessed 20 April 2015.
80
Andrew Bansa, Interview: The Devil's Blood Mainman SL Discusses New Album, 'The Thousandfold
Epicentre, 2012 http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-devils-blood-mainman-sl-discusses-new-albumthousandfold-epicentre accessed 25 April 2015.
81
Andrew Bansa, Interview: The Devil's Blood Mainman SL Discusses New Album, 'The Thousandfold
Epicentre, 2012 http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-devils-blood-mainman-sl-discusses-new-albumthousandfold-epicentre accessed 25 April 2015.

13

Why motifs appearing in lyrics are important? In Medieval Times the term motif was
for example a sigil (meaning sign, mark) used commonly in ceremonial magic.82 Sigils
were mysterious occult signs presenting certain angels and demons. The training books for
magician students, called grimoires, often listed sigils of such mysterious creatures.83
Today a modern sigil could be a song for example, especially if one considers the
work of Devils Blood. After a qualitative research on the three albums lyrics there are
several recurring motifs, but selected very elaborately. The words Love (20) and Death (29)
appear relatively often. Expressions connecting to these two words occur all throughout the
lyrics (blood, burning, heart, lover, dead, die). I recognized the source of the tension in
between two words like the ones mentioned are similar to the conflict present in Anti Cosmic
Satanism. A believer of this religious tendency may reach to that level of intellectual thinking,
when understanding the tension of what is (1) the pure idea of chaos (2) and the tension of
dealing with the thought of the unimaginable distances in cosmos generates, or (3) what
attempting to destroy the human ego, therefore their own existence does to one person.
n the case of Devils Blood songs are demonstrating the inner world struggles,
opinions about the world, other dimensions, and religious views. Lemouchi, frontman of
Devils Blood stated that the music he writes is something he received, and its secondary that
it comes from his mind.84 He looks at himself as a channel.
Devils Bloods first album, The Time Of No Time Evermore (2009) gives a good
example to the love and death motif with the song Christ or Cocaine. There are songs, where
the message is expressed more figuratively, for example in Evermore, Queen Of My Burning
Heart, Angel's Prayer and in The Yonder Beckons.85 The Thousandfold Epicentre, Devils
Bloods second album offers even more psychedelic lyrical content. The song On The Wings
of Gloria shows the closeness of death and demolition, often referring to love and death,
while Die the Death is openly dealing with the topic of death. Within The Charnel House Of
Love is not a traditional love song. The horror turns to love, then again, the love turns into
fight, therefore sharing this topic with She, and Cruel Lover. Everlasting Saturnalia has a bit a
lighter picture of love, not as dark as in the ones mentioned. The title song The Thousandfold
82

Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary: Sigil, 2001,

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sigil&allowed_in_frame=0 accessed 25 april 2015.
83
John Michael Greer, The New Encyclopedia of The Occult. Woodbury, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2003, 338.
84
Arthur Nimal, Interviews: The Devils Blood: Selim Lemourchi and death, 2012,
http://www.radiometal.com/en/article/the-devils-blood-selim-lemouchi-and-death,54157 accessed 22 April 2015.
85
Darklyrics.com, Devils Blood Lyrics, 2009
http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/thedevilsblood/thetimeofnotimeevermore.html accessed 20 April 2015.

14

Epicentre states the following From thee branches of Death's tree, The fruit is finally falling
down86
Devils Bloods third album, the

Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars is, as

mentioned above, the most psychedelic and occult recording by them. The lyrics tend to be
very nihilist, self-destructive, but rich in their metaphors. Examples of this can be found in In
The Loving Arms Of Lunacy's Secret Demons which looks like dealing with the topic of love,
but actually shows elements of the Anti Cosmic Satanist ideology. I light your fire, I destroy
your heaven, I recreate your world, I now add the 1 to form the 11. The composition White
Storm Of Teeth tops the performance by cosmic, Satanist, and Occult elements (Mars, Devil,
Wings, Dreams, Sea, Earth).
This chaotic group of words may seem disturbing or confusing, but in defense of
Satanism Petersen provides help to understand. He states that the contemporary religious
Satanism is satanic in the sense that all group and individuals relate to the figure of Satan,
as mentioned above, as a force, model, symbol or expression of self.87
Epilogue
While the figure of evil surely appears in almost every culture all over the world
people tend to mainly connect it to the figure to the phenomenon of Modern Satanism.
Whereas the original pursuits of Modern Satanism is mainly established by and connected
with the work of Lavey, he had theoretical predecessors such as Crowley who insulted the
well-established value system of the state-approved churches. This flick against the system
got the sympathy of rock music, and has a powerful presence in Black metal music for
example. Abrahamic traditions viewed evil as the opposite of good, therefore putting Satan,
as a symbol of the badin the focus certainly gave people a chance to express their religious
frustration.
To understand the presumable curiosity for violence and the magic in human history
we suddenly get under the umbrella term of the Occult which have found a new revival in the
1960s and 1970s hippie eras psychedelic rock music, and later on the Heavy Metal, Black
Metal, and Occult Rock.

86

Darklyrics.com, Devils Blood Lyrics, 2011.

http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/thedevilsblood/thethousandfoldepicentre.html#7 accessed 20 April 2015.
87
Jesper Aagaard Petersen, Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology (Controversial New
Religions), Farnham, Ashgate Pub Co., 2009, c.1., 2.

15

The Cosmic Pessimism of Kaosgnosticism promises an ultimate liberation by death

and this is also what saturates through the works of Devils Blood. When the ego stays in the
background it surely appears again just by choosing the musical career which puts every ego
destroyer on stage. And if the music is good, and is earning itself an audience.
While psyhoanalysis provides and argument concerning the spiritual explanation
music tries to express ideology with lyrics and melody. ts hard to create something that
survives the test of time. And while the limitation of time probably increases our fear of final
judgement its hard to decide what is the good or the bad way.
The fight between the good and the bad may never ends.

16

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2004, 6-10.
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