"Reaping Death" is a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

by Swedish

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

band

Watain Watain is a Swedish black metal band, formed in 1998.Eduardo Rivadavia: ''Watain Biography'' Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation. The band's name is taken from an early recording by the American black metal group Von (band), Von.Ronald Ziegler ...

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 dea ...

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 A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

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 Death SS (later also intended as a contraction of In Death of Steve Sylvester) is an Italian heavy metal band. Biography Death SS was formed in 1977 in Pesaro by Steve Sylvester (born Stefano Silvestri), a future member of the Ordo Templi Ori ...

's "Chains of Death".

Lyrics and meaning

At the presentation in Stockholm, 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 w ...

. 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 ...

, and said that through the murder of his brother

Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepherd ...

, Cain was also "the first to break the shackles of creation and went against the

will of God The will of God or divine will is a concept found in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament and the Quran, according to which God's will is the first cause of everything that exists. See also * Destiny * ''Deus vult'', a Latin expression meaning ...

. 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 the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

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 1 ...

for sales in excess of 10,000 copies. Adrien Begrand of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, f ...

in his review of ''Lawless Darkness'' pointed out that "Reaping Death' approaches the simplicity of

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...

in the way the verses border on straight-up

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

, 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-gard ...

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 Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

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