"Reaping Death" is a single by Swedish

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

band Watain from the album ''

Lawless Darkness ''Lawless Darkness'' is the fourth studio album by Swedish black metal band Watain, released through Season of Mist, on 7 June 2010. The cover art was made by Zbigniew M. Bielak, who also painted '' The Wild Hunt'' cover art.

''. "Reaping Death" was released as a CD single on 6 April 2010 and a 7-inch picture disc on 30 April.

Background

In December 2009, Watain confirmed its appearance at

Sweden Rock Festival The Sweden Rock Festival is an annual rock/metal festival held in Sweden since 6 June 1992. While having a clear rock/metal focus, the festival is noted for its diversity across these genres, from southern rock bands such as Molly Hatchet to de ...

and announced a tribute to Bathory as part of its performance on 12 June 2010. After the announcement, Watain were approached by ''Sweden Rock'' magazine to record a Bathory cover. In collaboration with ''Sweden Rock'' magazine and

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pag ...

, Watain released a CD single that all subscribers of the magazine got with issue number 70. The CD single consists of "Reaping Death" and a cover of Bathory's "The Return of the Darkness and Evil". The 7-inch picture disc edition is limited to 1,300 copies and features, besides "Reaping Death", a cover of Death SS's "Chains of Death".

Lyrics and meaning

At the presentation in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Watain's frontman Erik Danielsson explained that "Reaping Death" is a song written as a tribute to

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He wa ...

. Danielsson described Cain as the first murderer and

Satanist Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few h ...

, and said that through the murder of his brother Abel, Cain was also "the first to break the shackles of creation and went against the will of God. Therefore, Cain was pushed away and found his way to his true father, the serpent in the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

, also known as

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

Reception

The CD single was certified gold in Sweden on 21 April 2010 by the

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...

for sales in excess of 10,000 copies. Adrien Begrand of PopMatters in his review of ''Lawless Darkness'' pointed out that "Reaping Death' approaches the simplicity of Immortal in the way the verses border on straight-up thrash metal, the pre-chorus riff reminiscent of early

Celtic Frost Celtic Frost () was a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich. They are known for their strong influence on the development of extreme metalBukszpan, Daniel. ''The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal''. Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2003. p.43 and avant-ga ...

as rikDanielsson spouts his usual Satanic

shtick A shtick ( yi, שטיק) is a comic theme or gimmick. The word entered the English language from the Yiddish ''shtik'' (שטיק), in turn derived from German ''Stück'' and Polish ''sztuka'' (both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *''stukkiją'') ...

in surprisingly effective cadences and rhyming schemes: 'Hail! Hail! Thou who makes the cosmos wail! / In anguish as we fuck the world / And sodomize the god that failed." In contrast, David E. Gehlke of Blistering.com stated that "Reaping Death' upholds the bold and bloody angle of pure black metal."

Track listing

CD

Vinyl

Personnel

*E. (Erik Danielsson) – bass, vocals *P. (Pelle Forsberg) – guitar *H. (Håkan Jonsson) – drums *T. Stjerna – producer

References

External links

"Reaping Death"
at Discogs {{Authority control 2010 singles Watain songs 2010 songs