Arts & culture A metalhead seeking help...
I have been a huge fan of black metal just about all of my life. I descend from Norwegians and have been particularly fascinated by Windir, Ulver, Emperor, Mayhem and the works of the guys behind Borknagar. Their first album contains my favorite early black metal track, 'Dauden', which to this day lacks a transcription and translation. They have never shared as much for artistic purposes, which I have respected while nonetheless checking every once and while to see if one has popped up online. After 15 years I feel like it's never gonna happen. Can anyone here maybe tell me what one of my favorite songs is all about?
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u/notnorway123 8d ago
Hi there,
The track is written and sung in "sognamål", the local dialect.
In short, Dauden means death, or in this case, death personified. And the perspective of the song, is that death will come for us all, and that he is waiting for that day to come.
A very quick, and quite literal translation based on the lyrics in Spotify.
The Sogne fjord is dark and still
Between wild mountains
Suddenly the fjord lights up
Thunder sounds suddenly from the sky
A weak light that becomes clearer towards the shore
The light shows the way
On burial day, that is the boat we will sail
Then is the burial
When the death bells chime, we know what’s coming
Death has arrived, who has he come for?
The hour of destiny has come, death has come calling
Life will now end, now is the time for sorrow
The owl cries on the roof
Then you know there is no return
The omens gave warning that someone will be called
I know who, but I can only wait
This is the day we all fear
No one can escape this day
We come from dust, and we will return to dust
The body is dead, but the soul is free
The day has arrived, it is my judgement day
My life has ended, I have shriveled away
I fought until death, but the battle was too hard
My time has come, I will fall today
When the death bells chime, we know what’s coming
Death has arrived, he has come for me