Thy Catafalque was born in 1998 in a small town of Hungary playing traditio… Read Full Bio ↴Thy Catafalque was born in 1998 in a small town of Hungary playing traditional, epic black metal in the beginning by tamás kátai (Gire) and János Juhász. Just after their first and only demo KaOtic Productions decided to release their first album in 1999 entitled Sublunary Tragedies, followed by the second record Microcosmos in 2001.

Throughout the passing years the music became more and more experimental with deep touches of electronic and folklorish influences feeding from their homeland in Central Europe. Meanwhile KaOtic Productions ceased to exist, so the third album Tűnő Idő Tárlat (An Exhibition of Vanishing Time) came to sunlight as a self-financed production in 2004. By this time lyrics turned into Hungarian and music turned out to be the most diverse and atmospheric experimentum coming out from the band. Cosmic music from micro to macro, from matter to spirit and then back into the ashes.

This world is about to be painted by more vivid colours in the latest release entitled Róka Hasa Rádió released by Epidemie Records on the 12th of May, 2009 and in November 2009 by Soyuz Music. The main concept behind the album is the relationship between the ever evolving, solid and massive physical matter and the fragileness of human and all living spirits throughout distant childhood memories and scientific explanations of nature. Revolving, rotating movements of past and future, colours, sounds, long lost scents by a strange transmission from a timeless radio.

After the very well appreciated Róka Hasa Rádió album, in 2010 Epidemie Records decided to print a re-issue of previous recording of Thy Catafalque entitled Tűnő Idő Tárlat. It was originally released by the band itself in 2004 in a very small scale. Limited to 500 pieces of beautful digipak, the music is untouched while the artwork is renewed.

In 2011 Thy Catafalque signed to Season Of Mist. The fifth album entitled Rengeteg was released on 11 November 2011 in Europe and 10 January 2012 in North-America. All the instruments have been reccorded by Tamás Kátai alone this time, as János Juhász left the band in 2011. Guest musicians: Attila Bakos (Woodland Choir, Taranis) - all clean male vocals, Ágnes Tóth (The Moon And The Nightspirit) - female vocals, Mihály Simkó-Várnagy - cello.

In October, 2015 Season Of Mist releases the band's sixth album, Sgùrr in vinyl and 36-page digibook CD.

In November, 2015 Blood Music re-releases Cor Cordium (Demo), Sublunary Tragedies and Microcosmos as The Early Works in 3xCD and limited vinyl box-set edition.

Line up:
Tamás Kátai - vocals, keyboards, guitar bass, programming (Gire, Nebron, Darklight, Gort, Towards Rusted Soil)

Discography:
1999 Cor Cordium (demo)
1999 Sublunary Tragedies
2001 Microcosmos
2004 Tűnő Idő Tárlat
2009 Róka Hasa Rádió
2011 Rengeteg
2015 Sgùrr
2016 Meta
2018 Geometria
2020 Naiv
2021 Vadak

Mirkwood Sonnet
Thy Catafalque Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

To me, fair friend, you never can be old
For as you were when first your eye I eyed
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters' cold
Have from the forests shook three summers' pride
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd
In process of the seasons have I seen
Three April perfumes in three Hot Junes burn'd
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green

Ah! Yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand
Steal from his fugure, and no pace perceiv'd
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceiv'd

For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred
Ere you were born, was beauty's summer dead

Overall Meaning

The first line of the poem, "To me, fair friend, you never can be old," expresses the singer’s admiration for his friend, whom he sees as eternally beautiful. The singer is saying that no matter how much time passes, his friend’s beauty will always remain intact, just as it was when he first saw him. The second line further emphasizes this point by saying that the friend’s beauty still seems the same, even after three winters have passed since they first met. Even though three summers have come and gone, the friend’s beauty has not diminished.

The third and fourth lines refer to the natural cycle of life. The seasons are used as a metaphor for the cycle of birth, growth, decay, and death. The singer has seen three springs turn into yellow autumn, signaling the passing of time. Between these three seasons, three summers have passed, indicating the transience of life. However, the friend’s beauty remains unaffected by the passage of time. The singer has seen three April perfumes (the fragrances of spring) in three hot Junes (summer months when the weather is hot), since he first saw his friend.

The final six lines of the poem discuss the nature of beauty and time. The singer compares beauty to a dial-hand, which appears to move slowly and is unnoticed, but nonetheless keeps on moving. He suggests that his friend’s beauty may appear unchanging, but it is actually in motion, and his eyes might be deceived. To conclude, the singer implores his friend not to be afraid of aging and death, as beauty’s summer has always been dead, even before he was born. This implies that beauty was never meant to last forever, but the friendship between the two men will endure.

Line by Line Meaning

To me, fair friend, you never can be old
You, my dear friend, will never age in my eyes, because the beauty that I saw in you when we first met has not faded.

For as you were when first your eye I eyed
Your appearance has not changed since the first moment I saw you with my own eyes.

Such seems your beauty still. Three winters' cold
Your beauty still remains the same even though three harsh winters have passed.

Have from the forests shook three summers' pride
The three winters have shaken the pride of three summers, that is, the three years that have passed since we first met.

Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd
Three beautiful springs have turned into autumn, signifying the passage of time since we first met.

In process of the seasons have I seen
I have witnessed the progression of the seasons and how they have affected the world around us since we first met.

Three April perfumes in three Hot Junes burn'd
I have witnessed the fragrant and warm beauty of three Aprils and three Junes since we first met.

Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green
Since I first saw you looking young and vibrant, you still appear to be just as green and full of energy.

Ah! Yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand
Oh! But beauty passes by silently, much like the hands of a clock ticking away unnoticed.

Steal from his fugure, and no pace perceiv'd
It steals away from our sight, unnoticed and unacknowledged, as we have no awareness of its pace.

So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand
Thus, even though I think your beauty still stands just as it did, it might actually be slowly fading away.

Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceiv'd
It still changes and moves, and thus, my perception of your beauty may be a deception.

For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred
For this reason, you, who are not yet born, should hear me out.

Ere you were born, was beauty's summer dead
Before you were born, the beauty of the world had already begun to die and fade away.

Contributed by Jayce A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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