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The title
of your album is "Amongst the catacombs of Nephren- Ka". I think
that some of the readers are not familiar with this name (Nephren- Ka). Can
you explain to us the meaning of that title and the whole Nile concept?
Nephren-Ka is a semi-fictional H.P. Lovecraft character. He appears in
several stories. Here is a short quote : ""Of the shining
trapezohedron he speaks often , calling it a window on all time and space,
and tracing it's history from the days it was fashioned on dark Yuggoth,
before ever the Old Ones brought it to Earth. It was treasured and placed in
it's curious box by the crinoid things of Antarctica , salvaged from their
ruins by the serpent-men of Valusia , and peered at eons later in Lemuria by
the first human beings. It crossed strange lands and stranger seas , and sank
with Atlantis before a Minoan fisher meshed it in his net and sold it to
swarthy merchants from knighted Khem. The Pharaoh Nephren-Ka built a temple
around it with a windowless crypt , and did that thing which caused his name
to be stricken from all monuments and records. Then it slept in the ruins of
that evil fane which the priests and the new Pharaoh destroyed, till the
delver's spade once more brought it forth to curse mankind."
Some of the lyrics on your album are writen in summerian or am I wrong? Are
they some sort of incantations?
Barra Edinazzu means "Begone !! Go to the Desert!!" It is an
ancient incantation to drive away evil spirits. There is a copy of it in the
Necronomicon. Essentially Barra Edinazzu is a very old exorcism chant. The
middle part of Stones of sorrow is a violent invocation to slave rebellion.
When it goes "Aperu Heseb semedet !" , it is a call to all
dispossessed and downtrodden workers in stone. But these are dead slaves in
the afterlife- who refuse to do anymore slave labor- and thus in the song
they are calling upon the uninscribed Ushabti to do their work for them. The
Ushabti are little carved wooden or stone statues that are to do the bidding
of the deceased. When someone is required to do labor in the afterlife, the
Ushabti would have to answer for them. It was common practice to inscribe
them with the name of the deceased and bury them in the tomb . There are many
Ushabtis, however , that bear no inscription or ownership markings . It is
these uninscribed Ushabtis that the deceased slaves are calling upon. The God
Knuhm, a God of the Stone and of workers, is also called upon for protection.
The phrase "Knumu Khufu" means "The God Khnum is My
Protector" . It is also the name taken by the Pharoah Cheops- who built
the Great Pyramid and was rumored to be a merciless tyrant who conscripted
hundreds of thousands of slaves over twenty years time to Erect his
Monumental Burial tomb-the Pyramid of Cheops. Die Rache Krieg lied der
Assyriche means vaguely, "Vengeance war chant of the Assyrians."
The lyrics are in Sumerian and it is an Invocation Chant to bring down
Locusts , Plague and Violent storms upon one's enemies. Thereare other little
bits of Egyptian and Sumerian dashed about the album. These are mostly to
communicate specific ideas- although it definitely asdds to the exotic mood
to use a few thematically important Ancient Words.
On your album cover we can see a mummy. Do you know who he/she was when
he/she was alive?
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