Diabolus in Musica
/The Devil’s Interval
When I was sixteen, I performed an original song on electric guitar for a live audience at our music school’s annual festival. A video of the show found its way into my grandparents’ VCR. They liked the song and were so proud, but I was warned, “Careful what notes you’re playing, those are too dark.” I hadn’t a clue but the progression of notes I’d used were once thought to summon the devil. All I knew is that I liked the sound of it!
Composers from as far back as the 1800’s, like Beethoven and Wagner, have been using the tritone—essentially a triad of notes three whole steps apart—to add a dark, foreboding, and unsettling element to their music. When these notes are played slowly and in progression, they create a dissonant tone that early listeners dubbed “evil” because the sounds were unexpected and not pleasing to the ear.
Speaking of evil, the devil made his appearance in heavy music as something to be feared. In 1970, Black Sabbath paired the doom-laden notes of the tritone with lyrics espousing the dangers of the devil to create their self titled classic, “Black Sabbath.”
The intro showcases how the triad can be used to create an oppressive, dark atmosphere:
Black Sabbath, “Black Sabbath” (Intro)
The intensity builds as the song progresses, until reaching an alarming crescendo:
Black Sabbath, “Black Sabbath” (End)
Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and many others incorporated the tritone into their music, but the “evil” they portrayed in songs was usually something they were warning listeners against, the moral being that we should run from the devil. In the documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Ronnie James Dio remarks, “In my mind, we live in heaven, and we live in hell. God and the devil are inherent in each of us. Its our choice to make, we can take the road to good, and we can take the road to bad.”
It wasn’t until the mid 80’s and early 90’s that bands like Slayer, GWAR, and Cannibal Corpse changed the narrative around horror in music. These bands took the evil sound of the tritone and combined it with brutal imagery and graphic lyrics featuring themes of death, war, murder, rape, suicide, cannibalism, satanism, the occult, mental illness, and the degradation of society. In this iteration of scary music, the devil became a counterculture icon, used to give the middle finger to the church. Horror in this context reflects society ills and it’s used to challenge the status quo.
One of my personal favorites from this era is Slayer’s, “Live Undead” which takes listeners through the visceral, painful experience of becoming a zombie. It’s so damn creepy and the blood curdling scream near the end sends a shiver down my spine every time I hear it.
Cannibal Corpse takes horror themes to the extreme, shocking audiences with vile lyrics and album covers featuring monsters, demons, and the undead performing grotesque and depraved acts. The song “Butchered at Birth” is a good example, detailing the macabre delights of dining on babies. The song is abrasive, the lyrics are disturbing, and unsettled is exactly how they want you to feel when you hear it.
Cannibal Corpse, “Butchered at Birth”
GWAR brings horror to the stage in a big way, dressing as aliens from another planet and staging elaborate live shows where attendees can watch them eviscerate effigies of corrupt politicians, religious officials, and pop culture icons all while being sprayed with imitation blood, urine, vomit, and semen. If you’re lucky, you might even be dragged on stage and fed to a giant maggot or shoved through a human meat grinder!
By now, you must be thinking anyone who enjoys this kind of entertainment must be a sick, twisted individual. But most fans know the horrific images and dark themes portrayed are absurdly unreal—after all, demons aren’t going to burst out of your gut anytime soon. It’s the absurdity that allows us to play with these dark themes and retain our humanity. We can have fun with it, because in the end, its all just pretend!
Nicholas Kungl - A Professional Writing student at Algonquin College who has always been fascinated by the darker side of life. After all, what stares back at you from the abyss is ever so interesting, don’t you think? He spends his free time doing yoga, listening to music, and wandering green spaces with his dogs.
