A Hill To Die Upon

ok so by now everyone has heard all about the stryper controversy with the new album.  But I haven't heard a single word about A Hill To die Upon's new album.

the second track in my opinion is way more controversial than Stryper.  With them I get what they are trying to do but A Hill To Die Upon What in the world is this all about.

Jubal and Syrinx	04:52	Hide lyrics
	I made to call myself righteous  I made to fashion myself a saint  But I saw the devils standing there  And they called to me "brother!"  I sought to cast off my indignities  I sought to slough off my stains  But my whole skin came with it  For I am not but soul, sin, and pain  We thought we were wolves hunting our prey  but weíre just dogs searching for a new master  Drowned I shall be by the waves,  But solid I shall stand in my watery grave.  What if what I wilt is this sickening submission?  What if what I wilt is this goddamned religion?  I tried to steal past the watchful dragons  But only one of us made it through  I tried to steal past those deceitful dragons  But what they say might be true  I shall lay the foundation  Of a temple that shall last forever  A simple harmony to the grand theme  A sound that shall never pass away  Apollo has a made bed in my ear  To sing me songs of my disgrace  Making his temple of sublime noise  Just behind my terrified, unbelieving face  We thought we were wolves hunting those who pray  but weíre just dogs searching for a new master  I shall waste my time  With blood and wine  And the superstitious meal  Shared by me and my kind  Drowned I shall be by the waves,  But solid I shall stand in my watery grave.  What if what I wilt is this sickening submission?  What if what I wilt is this goddamned religion?

To me this is flat out taking God's name in vain.  Am I the only one to catch this?  I love A Hill To Die Upon but this song has me scratching my head.  Thoughts?

I'm sure they have a way to justify it but i'm not for this.

When was this written?

They already addressed this back when they released the album.

The "dogs searching for a new Master" are atheists/satanists who claim to find freedom by spurning God to, in reality, become slaves to their own desires.

The "what I wilt" is a play on Aleister Crowley's famous statement, the Satanist/hedonist motto "do what though wilt shall be the whole of the law." They are literally calling satanism/hedonism a God damned religion. Not in appropriate at all in my opinion. In fact I find it perhaps the most appropriate use of the term I've heard. It's also perfectly fitting that AHTDU would write it because they nail these clever turns of phrase in their work all the time. It's their thing.

Love the song

It's obvious that the lyrics are from the perspective of one opposed to Christianity. That doesn't seem controversial - Christian bands have done that hundreds of times.

Are we supposed to be bothered by the term "goddamned"? Does the term "God Forsaken" offend you in the same way? Both terms mean similar (not identical) things. God "damning" something expresses condemnation, while God "forsaking" refers to deserting or abandoning.

Demon Hunter has a song called "God Forsaken." Here's the chorus:

"A fall to the fires of Hell never failed to awaken
Though my soul ascends, in the darkness of my heart again
I'm God forsaken
A fall to the fires of Hell never failed to awaken
Though my soul ascends, in the darkness of my heart again
I'm God forsaken 

Like you said, they don't mean the same thing and the DH song is used in a very different way, echoing the Psalms and Jesus words on the cross.

I know this is old - But I struggled with this for a bit myself, so perhaps this helps someone *shrug* I unno

As someone who was pretty disappointed with FFAK and P'd off, I actually dont mind this lyric at all lol.

P'd off annoyed me because its a "half cuss" used nowadays however as someone who loves his trusty old KJV "pisseth" is certainly used...frequently in the OT. However it wasn't used in the proper context in FFAK case - it's culturally a kind of half cuss. I don't think Christians need to be using unwholesome talk at all (Eph 4:29)

With that said so hopefully I dont get beat with the hypocrite stick. For me I try and give people who are known fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as much benefit of the doubt as possible. When I looked up the lyrics on darklyrics these lyrics were prefaced with the following:

'Do what thou wilt' shall be the whole of the Law.
―Aleister Crowley

So then I googled Aleister crowley to refresh my dumb self and sure enough the guy was ...well... see for yourself.

According to Wiki

Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century

So then I throw myself in the shows of Aleister, perhaps being convicted by the Holy spirit and instead of converting I start "kicking at the pricks"

Then I read the lyrics.

Drowned I shall be by the waves,
But solid I shall stand in my watery grave.
What if what I wilt is this sickening submission?
What if what I wilt is this god-damned religion? (Thelema) from the Wiki article

*notes in red are mine of course.

Then there's nothing wrong here is there? Will God not be just and damn that which is evil and corrupt? I for one certainly believe says so and therefore certainly does hope so.

Blessings,

Frozen Fire wrote:They already addressed this back when they released the album.

The "dogs searching for a new Master" are atheists/satanists who claim to find freedom by spurning God to, in reality, become slaves to their own desires.

The "what I wilt" is a play on Aleister Crowley's famous statement, the Satanist/hedonist motto "do what though wilt shall be the whole of the law." They are literally calling satanism/hedonism a God damned religion. Not in appropriate at all in my opinion. In fact I find it perhaps the most appropriate use of the term I've heard. It's also perfectly fitting that AHTDU would write it because they nail these clever turns of phrase in their work all the time. It's their thing.

Bah I should have read all the comments carefully first - you already had this spelled out 

Frozen Fire wrote:They already addressed this back when they released the album.

The "dogs searching for a new Master" are atheists/satanists who claim to find freedom by spurning God to, in reality, become slaves to their own desires.

The "what I wilt" is a play on Aleister Crowley's famous statement, the Satanist/hedonist motto "do what though wilt shall be the whole of the law." They are literally calling satanism/hedonism a God damned religion. Not in appropriate at all in my opinion. In fact I find it perhaps the most appropriate use of the term I've heard. It's also perfectly fitting that AHTDU would write it because they nail these clever turns of phrase in their work all the time. It's their thing.

First, Crowley wasn't a satanist, his religion Thelema isn't even a left hand path one(like satanism is) but a right hand path one. The RHP is about unification with God/the divine(or the absorption of the ego or self into the one/divine/monad/God)..the LHP is about separation from it(or nonaborbtion of the ego/self...isolating the ego/self). Though it's a bit more complicated than that.
He was a libertine/hedonist though....though one who practiced self control over it.

Secondly, *do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law* is not about either satanism nor hedonism or *doing whatever you want/feel like...consequences be damned*. Quite the opposite actually.
The quote us used by some satanists and by some hedonists...though often out of context(not in all cases) and hence also largely misunderstood by many non-occultists.
The full quote , from liber al vel legis(the book of the law, the *holy* book of Crowleys religion Thelema and used by the Ordo Templi Orientis or O.T.O. and Astrum Argentum or A.A. occult societies), is *do what thou wilt shall be the law, love is the law, love under will* and the dictum often also includes another separate quote from the book of the law *every man and every woman is a star*.
The meaning of this phrase has taken volumes to detail and explain. But I short it means to find out what ones true nature and purpose(or *will/wilt*, the t in wilt refers to the greek word Thelema which means *true will*)s an individual in life is...and to do that...live it...be it w/abandon...but in love(agape, all encompassing love)...under true nature/purpose(will). Every man and woman is a star refers to each individual being a unique individual point in time and space...a *star* on one own unique orbit.
Ones true will must conform to the larger will of the divine/God....and that of all creation and every other individual one in the creation.
It in fact is the ANTITHESIS or opposite of *do whatever you want(hedonism)/feel like doing consequences be damned*
It is true that Crowley sometimes failed to live up to the law himself, being a natural libertine...but one of the reasons he founded Thelema and wrote this law(which he claims he received from a god Aiwass ...associated with Horus...the Egyptian Christ) was to help him attain better Balance in himself and overcome his libertine impulses, be better self controlled. And because he genuinely believed in the divine and uniting with it.

He even opposed black magick.
https://lib.oto-usa.org/crowley/essays/black-magic.html
(He preferred constructive/creative/positive magick to destructive/curse/negative magick)

And was against abortion too. Considering it a sin against the holy ghost.
https://www.reddit.com/r/thelema/comments/ag9cgi/crowley_against_abortion/

There is more to it than this. But that is, in short, what it means.
It does not mean what most people assume it does.

That said^^^^^
A hill to die upon.
Great band. Basically the Christian version of Behemoth. And there KNOWLEDGE of the esoteric or occult and comparative mythology and archetypes is better than most Christians/revealed religionists knowledge of it. Impressive. Though their UNDERSTANDING of it is rudimentary(though still better than alot of non-occultists and revealed religionists).
When I came acrossed them a few years ago...having seen the video for *adept in divinity* I was impressed with these subject matter, and their musical skill.

Oh, and to say something like g*dd#amn , even in the judeo-Christian context is not taking the lords name in vain.
Firstly when Yeshua talks about not taking the lords name in vain...he means not making false oaths or lying in the lords name.
Secondly, the word *god* is NOT a proper name, but merely a title or descriptor(like creator, or like fireman or lawyer or mechanic,etc). A god is just a thing or being worshipped...or a synonym in some cases for creator or for divine entity or *deity*. In the biblical context it's not even a name either, in the bible *the lords name* is Yahweh/Jehovah(The O.T. ) in the n.t. Christian this includes Yeshua/Jehoshua(it doesnt include christ either since that is also not a name nor the last name of Yeshua. It is also just a title or descriptor).
But *taking in vain* means to swear a false oath in/under the name. Nothing less, nothing more.
But if one wishes to add the extra-biblical idea that modern Judeo-Christians do of using the lords name in a disrespectful or flippant manner or as a cuss word , ok. But even then it only means the actual name of the hebrew deity/god Yahweh/Jehovah and/or the Christian Yeshua/Jehoshua.

My favorite extreme metal band! Except the last album was a disappointment. 

The drummer is insane!