TITANIC

It’s late where I am, but not too late to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic. April 15, 1912, that great ship and 1,514 passengers and crew went to their graves in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. I’ll get to who reminded me of this, at the end of the post.

It seems to be true that as the Titanic sunk, the ship’s eight-member band valiantly played on, until the black water claimed them. Maybe not quite as insane as the bagpipers who led British troops across No Man’s Land in World War I, but still a vivid example of British reserve and fortitude in the face of imminent obliteration.

But I like to think it’s an example of something else, too — people dedicated to their music, realizing they’re fucked no matter what, on a ship with only enough lifeboats to hold half the people on board, deciding to spend their last hours playing, probably for themselves as much as for anyone else.

And on that cheery note, here are a batch of recent music videos that don’t have anything to do with the Titanic but are just as fuckin’ metal as that ship’s band, courtesy of the following performers: Agalloch, The Devastated, Threat Signal, and Alestorm.

This is a great video of Agalloch playing “Limbs” from Ashes Against the Grain on April 12, 2012, at the Roadburn festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands:
 

This is an official video for the title track to a new Century Media release called The Devil’s Messenger by a California band called The Devastated:
 

This is another new official video. This one is by Threat Signal, for the song “Comatose” from their current self-titled album on Nuclear Blast:
 

And what do we have here but a new video for “Death Throes of the Terrorsquid” by Alestorm from their 2011 album Back Through Time:
 

So, how did I know that today was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic? Did I see it on the news? Fuck no, I try not to pay attention to the news, because it’s too goddamned depressing. No, I found out about the anniversary from The Monolith Deathcult, and they saw fit to post about it on Facebook, because why? Because there’s a song on their Trivmvirate album that includes some lyrics that refer to the sinking. The song is called “Den Ensomme Nordens Dronning”, and this is it: