Heathen’s Lament

Matt Frost — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:13:19 +0000

Last Sunday, I was working around 3 PM, delivering food, when a bolt of inspiration struck me. I heard a melody in my head and I couldn’t get it out, but I knew if I didn’t do something I’d forget it eventually. I’ve lost so many ideas that way. So, I wrote down the first half of the first verse of what would become a new song in less than 24 hours’ time.

“And we march on through the frigid night,
In the shadow of our forefathers,
We brave the Winter’s might.”

I didn’t know if I would keep these at the time, or where the song would go from there, but it was enough so I remembered the melody. When I got home at midnight, I picked up my acoustic and fired up the drum program, and out came this song.

Heathen’s Lament

by Matt Frost, February 2010

And we march on through the frigid night,
In the shadow of our forefathers,
We brave the Winter’s might
Soldiering across this barren lane
To where we’ll join out kin
And resist the invading warriors of
Christendom, who’re threatening
To destroy our very way of life

Lay siege to the cross
Don’t let them gain upon your ground
Fight to defend our clan
Cut every last one of them down-

Before they kill us all,
And put our women and children
To their swords and burning stakes
And raze our temples and destroy
Our lore, our tales of old
Traditions handed down for eons
From the bards, we were told
We must not let this be our fate

The next day, after mixing Not While I Draw Breath, Jay and I hammered out Heathen’s Lament in about six hours. While lyrically, this sounds like a gung-ho fight song, it’s intended to be a reflection on the history of what happened centuries ago, how vigorously our pre-Christian ancestors fought, and yet could not stem the spread of Christianity. At best, Christianity absorbed some of the heathen customs, holidays, and traditions, at worst, people were killed and the beliefs of our ancestors were stomped out. This song is written from the perspective of those who are marching off to fight to preserve their traditions, their culture, and their gods, who saw Christianity as a threat to their way of life and were willing to do whatever they had to do to stop it. Ultimately, they failed, and were either assimilated into Christendom, killed, or driven far from their ancestral homes and land.

Now that we live in a time of relative safety, we do battle mostly with words and images. We don’t go at each other with swords and axes, or guns for that matter. Instead, we mostly trade verbal slights and barbs. Non-Christians are subject to proselytizing by fervent believers, but that’s nothing new. We’ve learned to deal with that. However, there may be a time when the strife will become physical- maybe not- but the question remains, will we allow history to repeat itself? It probably won’t even be Christianity that threatens this time. Christians in Europe don’t seem to be willing to stand up to Islamists anymore and there aren’t enough Heathens to fight this battle. Even speaking out against Islam in Europe can be considered a hate crime, just ask Geert Wilders. So, basically, the song is saying, keep your swords sharp, your wits about you, and be prepared for anything. You never know when you may have to really fight for what you truly believe in. I sincerely hope and wish for peace and understanding between Christians, Muslims, and those of us who don’t follow any of the Middle Eastern Abrahamic faiths, but I still don’t think we’ve quite reached that level of ecumenicism.

And of course, enjoy the song. For all the layered meanings in the words, it’s a catchy number that’ll have you toe-tapping and singing along.

~Matti Frost

Strong words, angry music.

Matt Frost — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:27:10 +0000

The most life-changing moments for me have always come by accident, it seems. When I was 15, I told a lie that ended up committing me to buying a drumset and started me on the path to becoming a musician. When I was 30, another flap of my big fat mouth put me in the gym and it’s kept me there, more or less, for the last 7 years. This bout of happenstance, however, was not my doing, at least, not directly, but it came about through my acquaintance with Michael W. Dean.

Michael and I met online at ConservativePunk.com, where our common love for music and passion of political discourse made us friends, at least online friends. When he was writing the first Right Arm of Wyoming album, I offered to send him some drum loops I had created in a program I have. Being a drummer for so long, I tend to try and make programmed drums sound as real as possible. Alas, I had no way of uploading the files to him, as none of the upload sites worked, but all of this was discussed openly on ConPunk.

After the RAW CD Cling to Our Guns was released, Michael would post reviews and comments on ConPunk, both positive and negative. One such post was a review posted on the Bridge Nine forums. The post, titled Fox News- The Band, was a scathing criticism of RAW’s music and themes. One user, however, seemed to have some inside knowledge, which could only have come from them being a lurker on ConPunk. They claimed that I was the drummer for RAW and that I was a “homosexual right-wing Odinist”. Sadly, the post has long since scrolled off the boards, but it did make me call out the person who posted such wrong information about me and RAW on the B9 boards. I also became a poster there as well.

It was shortly thereafter that I saw a post about organizing a compilation CD titled Enough is Enough, to benefit Freedom to Marry, an organization dedicated to promoting marriage equality and fighting anti-gay ballot initiatives. I contacted the organizer, Paul Blest, and offered a Frost Giant song, but none of the existing songs at the time fit topically except for Relic, which was just too long at 9 minutes to be included. So, I decided to record fresh. Initially, the plan was to do a 7 Seconds song called Regress No Way, which was arguably one of the first anti-homophobia songs out there, but the compilation started gaining ground, and soon, a lot of bigger names in punk & hardcore started signing on. I knew then that as much as I love that band, I couldn’t go out there with a 7 Seconds cover. I wanted to make my mark, so I decided to write a new song. It took me a long time to get a song in my head, as I do not do too well when I am forced up against a deadline, but soon enough I had something to work with and I went to my drum program and my trusty Les Paul and wrote it out. What came out of it was something I never imagined.

The song Not While I Draw Breath is probably the most angriest, pissed off, intense and in-your-face Frost Giant song to date. The lyrics deal with standing up to oppression and tyranny, of not caving in and backing down, and with being willing to hurt, suffer, and even die for the sake of your principles. It speaks of defending yourself and not going out meekly without a fight. On one hand, it could refer to the fight for marriage equality and is thus in line with the message of the compilation, but it’s written to be far more universal than that. Complacency, apathy, and willful ignorance abound in music and in pop culture in general. We are easily distracted by trivial things and made to focus on those as if they were important while we’re taken for a ride on the things that really matter. I intend this song to be a wake-up call to anyone that will hear it, but I leave it to the listener to apply it to their own lives however they see fit. I will not tell you what to think or what you should stand for, only that you should think, and that you should stand for something.

Not While I Draw Breath

Will you stand with me
Fight and die if need be
Hold against the hordes until
The last man falls
Will you sacrifice all
You have gained in life
Reject your comfort
For a greater end
Stand together
And never waver
Brave in the face of
Overwhelming odds
For our future,
And our freedom
We unite in
Liberty or death

The evil stirs from its sleep
And no one will be safe from its reach
For we shall fight to be free
And never will we bend our knee

Forever clawing
Fight like a demon
Taking it to
The very bitter end
Swords are drawing
Battle lines forming
Storm clouds are churning
Soon there will be war
The earth will be fed
With blood
And the skies will weep
Unto the dead
Never give up,
Never back down,
We unite in
Liberty or death

Tonight, we lay down our lives
In the path of those who would oppress
And enslave us to their god
And trod us under until we are no more

Not while I draw breath
Will I submit, will I accept
Not while I draw breath
Will I bow down, nor will I live
With empty regrets

Now feel the sting of a thousand swords
Vanquish the hordes drive them away
To the darkness from whence they came
Obliterate they are no more

Overrun them all
Take what is ours.
Crush the wretched enemy
Bring victory
To our hearth and home

***************************************

Check the song out on the Frost Giant myspace. Let me know what you think.

~Matti F.

Libertarian Punk. Keep your filthy hands off! » viking metal

Heathen’s Lament

Strong words, angry music.