Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Megadeath -- "Seven" (1999)


Full of greed 
You sell your soul
Full of pride 
A heavy load
You eat yourself 
Gluttony
Resent yourself 
You envy me
Everything turns into wrath
You lust yourself to death

That's six of the seven deadly sins.  Quick -- do you know which one is missing?  And no fair Googling the answer.

All sins -- both venial and mortal -- derive from the seven deadly sins.  The modern Roman Catholic Catechism lists the sins in Latin as "superbia, avaritia, invidia, ira, luxuria, gula, pigritia seu acedia", which can be translated as pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth/acedia (respectively).

I think most people's favorite sin is lust.  Here's Raquel Welch portraying lust in Bedazzled, the 1967 movie about a pitiful young man (the late Dudley Moore) who sells his soul to the devil:



Acedia is a tricky one.  One religious dictionary defines it as "a state of restlessness and inability either to work or to pray."  Today, "sloth" is the English word used to name this sin.  Other synonyms for acedia include laziness, indifference, boredom, or ennui.  Someone who is suffering from acedia not only doesn't care, but also doesn't care that he doesn't care.

Each of the seven deadly sins now also has a corresponding and opposing holy virtue.  The seven holy virtues are humility, charity, kindness, patience, chastity, temperance, and diligence.

Megadeth was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine and bassist Dave Ellefson.  Mustaine was an original member of Metallica, but was kicked out of that band due to his drinking, drug use, and general obnoxiousness.  Mustaine later admitted that he badly wanted revenge on Metallica.  He wanted Megadeth's music to be faster and heavier than Metallica's.

Megadeth's Dave Mustaine
Megadeth was given a budget of $8000 to produce their first album -- which was titled Killing Is My Business . . . and Business Is Good! -- in 1985.  The band blew about half the money on drugs, alcohol, and food, and so was forced to fire their producer and produce the album themselves.

That album featured a cover version of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," which is not a song you'd expect to find on a thrash/speed metal album.


Here's "Seven," which was released on Megadeth's eighth studio album, Risk



Here's a link you can use to buy the song from Amazon:

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