In Nick Perumov's "Chronicle of Hjorvard" Rakoth is the half-god, so-called "True Mage", who had the title Master of Darkness for using Darkness for his magic. He rose against the Young Gods accusing them of being Liars stealing mortals' freedom. After his second try he was defeated, disincarnated and bound to the world called "The Bottom of Worlds". With help of his friend, Hedin "Aware of Darkness", he returned and overthrew the Young Gods thus becoming the New God along with Hedin.
December, 1996 - the band is formed completely with coming of Black as vocalist with "clean" voice and changing bassist to Den. All music is written by Rustam and Ilya, lyrics - by Rustam. Now the band has its own face - Black's clean voice and Rustam's keys. The first song created is "Return of the Nameless" (first edition). The song becomes famous (in Obninsk) long before the first gig.
February, 1997 - the first concert together with Dissenter - techno-death band. The concert represents the fest titled "Rock against chemical dependence". Needless to say that everyone (especially some members of the band) is deadly drunk. Nevertheless the gig is extremely successful. Amazingly, public seems to know RAKOTH well although no tapes are distributed yet and no gigs were given before. RAKOTH plays own early songs "Return of the Nameless" (first variant), "Unholy Temple", "One Step Beyond" (which is unrecognizably transformed into the song "Beyond" later), "Dying Realm" and STORM's "Nagellstev".
March, 1997 - Tense relationship inside the band. Rustam claims to leave the band. Simultaneously Leshy and F. say they wanted to leave long ago. Band collapses. F., Leshy and Ilya form the band they call GORBUG and play black metal.
May, 1997 - Rustam decides to form new band and offers Black and Den to join. They plan to play doom with some other styles elements. Coincidentally, at the same time the band Dissenter falls apart and its guitarist/vocalist Dy wishes to play deeper music than death metal. Den invites him to the new band, which has no name yet. New line-up: Rustam - keys & voice, Black - voice, Den - bass, Dy - guitars. Leshy offers his help with drums. The band rehearses at Rustam's garage.
June, 1997 - Band is in search for the name. Many variants proposed (MEPHISTO, UNBORN, TEARS, DOWNFALL, IN THIS ROOM), but none satisfies. Finally, Dy proposes to use the name RAKOTH again. Taking into account that old band RAKOTH doesn't exist anymore and that the name was offered by Rustam in the beginning, the name RAKOTH is accepted.
July, 1997 - Leshy officially joins RAKOTH. The first demo "Tales of the Worlds Unreal" is recorded right in the garage.
August, 1997 - Tape is given to A. Arzamascev, the head of Arzamascev's Music Center (later - Signal Studios). He decides to allow the band to record free at his studio. Demo tape "Dark Ages Chronicle" is recorded live, with no post-mixing, during only 4 hours. The quality of recording is that high that noone believes in that short recording time and in live recording. Later, in review given in DEATHRIDER 'zine we can see: "This tape was recorded (according to legend) during only 4(!) hours…". Rustam starts sending the tapes everywhere.
September, 1997 - Solo-concert. As in the first case, the public knows the band well, so the gig goes perfectly. October, 1997 - Leshy suddenly leaves RAKOTH. He plays with Fascist (now Tuur) and Ilya (now Vuulko) in their band they renamed into Темнозорь. They play so-called "true" pagan metal.
February, 1998 - First review on "Dark Ages Chronicle" appears in VAE SOLIS web-zine. Positive one. All later reviews are positive as well.
March, 1998 - Latvian distro-label starts distributing "Dark Ages Chronicle". April, 1998 - Rustam starts his solo-project Umbral Presence in order to create something more aggressive (and personal) than RAKOTH.
June, 1998 - Another Latvian distro, Beverina Productions, starts distribution of "Dark Ages Chronicle".
August, 1998 - The band enters Signal Studios to record their new creation. By the strange coincidence they begin the recording at the same day which was chosen (a year ago) for recording of "Dark Ages Chronicle". It is 18th of August. After the week of work they finally can celebrate the birth of their first full-length (57 minutes) album, titled "Superstatic Equilibrium". During the same session Rustam records the demo for Umbral Presence, "…et germinet Chaos". Both tapes are immediately sent to Elven Witchcraft.
November, 1998 - "Superstatic Equilibrium" and "…et germinet Chaos" are now officially distributed by Elven Witchcraft.
April, 1999 - "code666" is interested in getting RAKOTH's tape. Rustam sends "Superstatic Equilibrium" to Italy.
June, 1999 - "code666" offers a deal to RAKOTH.
August, 1999 - The contract for recording of one album is signed.
November 1999 - The New Album “Planeshift” is out on code666 production (ITALY)
March 2000 - Planeshift took 100/100 on Aardschok Magazine (Holland) & 6/6 on Scream Magazine (Norway), and tons of other highly positive reviews.
April 2000 - a new Deal is signed with code666 for two more albums.
May-June 2000 - composing and arranging new songs for the next album…
... a lot of interesting things between 2000 — 2008 undescribed to fit the format yet...
September the 4th, 2008
After 2,5 years of cooperation Zafod B. the Utkinson announces the great start of his new project(s) which makes him leave Rakoth immediately. The band is still working on its new album nevertheless.
Fear
Rakoth Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And blackened gold Wings of flame, obsidian
Eyes Miracle you behold Sparkling bliss you see
In her motion Joy of living and dancing in flame
Gave the birth with all your devotion Time to
Give her a name Charming dance draws the rune
Of Earth Flame Mesmerizing, enchanting,
Femimine and proud See - her life and the fire
Speak her name aloud Smile freezing on you
Face, turning into the painful grin Burning
Invisible crown compressing your head Scarlet
And black rings dancing before your eyes With
Groan you're falling to the ground Whispering
"Why?" - "It wasn't in the Design!"... "Pain... So
This is pain... Now I know how it feels... My
Creation... It wasn't in the Design... So it must
Not be..." Charming dance drew the rune of
Earth Flame Mesmerizing, enchanting, feminine,
Divine You saw - her life and the fire were the
Same So you named her Llah forever to shine ...
New feeling - like the wave of black flame:
Wrath Melkor rises with his fists clenched and
Shouts to the sky "You, the One! Leave him be!
It's easy to control the weaker... Try me!"
"YOUR WORDS..."
The lyrics of this song depict a scene of dancing around a fire, with the singer of the song witnessing a beautiful and enchanting performance by a female dancer. The dancer, described as having scales of brass and blackened gold, wings of flame, and obsidian eyes, embodies the joy of living in the flame. The singer is inspired to give her a name, Llah, which appears to be of the singer's own invention.
However, as soon as he names her, the singer is struck by a sudden onset of pain, accompanied by a burning sensation and involuntary muscle spasms. He wonders why he is in pain, but can only hear a voice responding to him that "it wasn't in the Design." The pain he feels seems to be both physical and psychological, as he is now aware of what it feels like and utters a painful grin.
The final part of the song introduces a new character named Melkor, who seems to be challenging the "One," perhaps a reference to a divine entity, to face him instead of punishing the singer. The song ends with the singer experiencing a new emotion, which is described as a "wave of black flame" and an intense feeling of wrath.
Overall, the lyrics suggest a story of creation, naming, and pain, with the singer being punished for his attempt to name an entity that does not fit into the divine plan or Design.
Line by Line Meaning
Dancing, dancing round the fires Scales of brass And blackened gold Wings of flame, obsidian Eyes Miracle you behold
The scene is set with dancers twirling around the fires. As they do, brightly shining brass scales and blackened gold are revealed on their bodies. Obsidian wings of flame and the miracle of the dancers' eyes captivates the observer.
Sparkling bliss you see In her motion Joy of living and dancing in flame Gave the birth with all your devotion
The pure joy and ecstasy of the dancers is apparent in their movements, as if they are one with the flames. The observer realizes that this intense dedication and passion gave birth to this beautiful dance.
Time to Give her a name Charming dance draws the rune Of Earth Flame
The observer realizes that this dance needs a name to reflect its beauty and power. The enchanting movements even seem to draw a magical rune of Earth Flame.
Mesmerizing, enchanting, Femimine and proud See - her life and the fire Are the same
The dance is mesmerizing, enchanting, and perfectly feminine, and the observer sees that the dancers' lives are intertwined with the fire, becoming one entity where it's impossible to distinguish where the fire ends and life begins.
"I shall name you - Llah", - you Speak her name aloud Smile freezing on you Face, turning into the painful grin
The observer decides to name this beautiful dance Llah, but as soon as they speak the name, their smile freezes and their face twists into a painful grimace.
Burning Invisible crown compressing your head Scarlet And black rings dancing before your eyes
The observer feels an intense burning sensation at the top of their head as if wearing an invisible crown, while scarlet and black rings swirl before their eyes, making them dizzy and disoriented.
With Groan you're falling to the ground Whispering "Why?" - "It wasn't in the Design!"...
Overcome by the pain and confusion, the observer falls to the ground with a groan and whispers, "Why?" to which they realize, through some higher power or fate, this was never meant to be in the grand Design.
"Pain... So This is pain... Now I know how it feels... My Creation... It wasn't in the Design... So it must Not be..."
The observer struggles to come to terms with the pain they are experiencing but feels a strange sense of relief knowing that this was never meant to be. Their creation, Llah, was not part of the grand Design and therefore, must not exist.
Charming dance drew the rune of Earth Flame Mesmerizing, enchanting, feminine, Divine You saw - her life and the fire were the Same So you named her Llah forever to shine ...
Despite the pain and the revelation, the observer can still appreciate the beauty of the dance and feels a sense of love towards Llah, knowing that her life and the fire were always connected. They choose to name the dance Llah, forever shining in their memory.
New feeling - like the wave of black flame: Wrath Melkor rises with his fists clenched and Shouts to the sky "You, the One! Leave him be! It's easy to control the weaker... Try me!"
A new feeling of anger and wrath washes over the observer, like a wave of black flame. They are suddenly overcome with a desire to challenge the One who left them in pain and Melkor rises, shouting to the sky, daring them to try and control someone stronger than themselves.
"YOUR WORDS..."
Melkor's words linger in the air, questioning the One's authority and making it clear that he is not one to be controlled.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
yecatsmailbox
I have no idea how I found this album on Amazon in 1999. I was 12. But I remember Amazon only allowed you to listen to 9 seconds of a song back then, and I listened to this song. The sample was the first flute piece played in the song. I remembered the name Rakoth for years, periodically going back to listen to that sample again. I am shocked that in 2018, I still remember Rakoth and now I can listen to the full song and enjoy that flute. :D
Hank Williams
I first heard it from an Earache Records sampler I picked up at my local metal record store around 2000... it had the full version of this song and "The Dark Heart of Uukrul", another really good one.
Sulcus MB
Remember discovering this in my last fm days, still kinda like this song
Phreaker1997
where can i find the whole album
J. Ui Riagain
what's your favourite
type of metal? folk metal? Viking Metal? Black Metal? Melodeath?
Rakoth:Da....