Diabolus in Musica: Introduction

2 hours ago

2 min read

You've probably heard the persistent wives tale about the musical tritone: an interval spanning three whole tones or 6 semitones. The myth goes that during the middle ages, the Catholic Church banned the use of the tritone, fearing that its harsh, dissonant sound would summon the Devil or otherwise exacerbate his influence. The myth has been repeated time and time again for decades, and is particularly popular in extreme metal which uses dissonance as a musical practice more than maybe any other.

Unfortunately for metal bands who are desperate for any connection with the Occult, this story is only just that: a story. The Catholic Church never banned the use of the tritone, and the interval got the name not for fear of demonic conjuration but because, to people of that time, it just sounded bad. The closest it ever came to being "banned" was in the form of various manuscripts used to instruct musical composition which hazard against its use. Thus, while it may have been largely unpopular, the people of that time weren't as superstitious as we accuse them of being.

But even today, most music strays away from dissonance, and the tritone and other similarly dissonant intervals are used almost exclusively to create a distinct moment of tension. This makes it a very powerful tool. If one of the key characteristics of music is the creation and resolution of tension, tritones are an incredibly effective method to do so.

This concept though, Diabolus in Musica ("The Devil in Music" in Latin) is interesting to me in broad terms, and given that we're in the month of all things spooky I think this is just the time to take a look at a few different ways that the morbid, taboo, and occult are actually used in music-- no hearsay here.

I'll be starting off next week with a look into different albums, artists, and songs inspired by the horrific exploits of serial killers.

Paul Taylor - Web Content Director

Credit to Michael Hahn for the cover image.

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