2017 – Page 16

Septicflesh, “Dante’s Inferno” (2017)

June 26, 2017 By Professor Elizabeth Coggeshall

In June 2017, Septicflesh released a video for the opening track of their new orchestral death metal album Codex Omega (Prosthetic Records, Sept. 2017): “Dante’s Inferno.” Of the song, Guitarist Sotiris V. says, “We are proud to present the first track from the upcoming album, Codex Omega. The song is appropriately entitled ‘Dante’s Inferno,’ acting as a gateway to hell… as it was inscribed on the top of the Hellgate in the famous poem by Dante Alighieri, ‘Through me you pass into the city of woe; Through me you pass into eternal pain; Through me among the people lost for aye.’ This is just the first glimpse – the entrance to our new album. Stay tuned as more will gradually be revealed with the release date of our new album getting closer…” (cited on metalunderground.com).

The track was one of the “Picks of the Week” on the blog Metal Sucks. Guest blogger Garren L. has this to say: “Septicflesh have once again demonstrated why they are the masters of symphonic death metal. I might go as far as to make the audacious claim that their new track ‘Dante’s Inferno’ has given Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy an extra layer of sinisterness. By mixing the brutality of death metal with the orchestral elements normally found as part of a film score, Septicflesh are able to portray the horrific, evil, and grotesque nature of what Dante described in his work.” — metalsucks.net

The video is available here.

Cited in Loudwire’s “1 1 Metal Songs Inspired by Dante’s Inferno” by Katie Irizarry (August 15, 2018).

Contributed by Paul Ickert (George Mason University ’19)

Vivian Lee Reach, A Choreographer’s Voyage Within Dante’s Inferno (2017)

May 31, 2017 By Professor Elizabeth Coggeshall

Vivian Lee Reach (MFA ’17, University of California, Irvine) presented her thesis concert, A Choreographer’s Voyage Within Dante’s Inferno, at UC Irvine’s Winifred Smith Hall, on April 11, 2017.

Of the inspiration for the performance, Reach explains, “In May 2015, I was introduced to Inferno by one of my past English professors as a ‘fun summer read.’ I was hooked after the first tercet. From that moment on, I decided to dedicate my time to Dante’s Inferno. I am deeply humbled by literary mentors, Giuseppe Mazzotta and David Bruce, who brought me face to face with the elaborate and structured panorama of Dante’s first canticle through their books and words of wisdom.”

Watch the performance on YouTube here.