A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

Now Playing: A Prayer to Cernunnos by Elvenking

As has been previously discussed here, metal can be deeply spiritual. (Yes, I know this applies to music in general, but I’m trying to make a point here.) But does that extend to making actual prayer a part of metal? I argue that yes, it does. Let me explain.

Putting prayer in music is nothing new in modern society, Christians do it all the time. (Think church hymns and other kinds of what is classified as “spiritual”, which is most often just Christian in nature.) But it’s pretty rare to see it in a pagan sense, and putting it in a metal sense just seems contradictory on a surface level. This is where the two things can coincide to make something a little more unique and interesting.

As always when combining paganism and metal, we can turn to Elvenking as a solid example. (I would say I hate to keep using them as an example, but I really don’t. Their music just happens to be a good example of areas that overlap in my own life and practice.) They have a song called Moonbeam Stone Circle, written intentionally as an ode to Cernunnos, the Horned God of fertility, and to the forests of England that house the soul of many pagan deities. The chorus directly calls to the Horned God himself, invoking him and an unnamed moon goddess. In a live performance for the band’s DVD in 2015, this song was preceded directly by an overt prayer from the singer invoking Cernunnos directly. (While I deeply respect the fact that he dared to have the audacity, it will never not be funny to me that mid set, he essentially said, “Hold up, gotta pray.”)

Within my own metal writing, I do intend to include something similar, though with other deities. That is, in essence, the beauty of pagan practices and metal coming together in such a way.