Deathspell Omega "Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice"

Si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice is the third full-length album by avant-garde black metal band Deathspell Omega. The album title is Latin for 'If you seek his monument, look around you', from the epitaph of Christopher Wren's tomb at St Paul's Cathedral. This album is the first part in a trilogy of albums released by the band, followed by 'Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum' in 2007 and 'Paracletus' in 2010. The trilogy has been described as "a theological dispute on the divine essence of the Devil, the roles and virtues of faith and the place of man therein", particularly from a Theistic Satanist perspective. One interpretation of the purpose of the album is to examine and proclaim that "Satan is pervading every part of our material and metaphysical realms and how Man’s relationship with Him should be one of reverence and devotion." The album draws on themes of putrefaction, decomposition, antinatalism, as well as the work of the French philosopher Georges Bataille.

The track "Malign Paradigm" is a tribute to the Swedish black metal band Malign, and their track "Ashes and Bloodstench". "Drink the Devil's Blood" is a re-recording of the song of the same name from the band's first album, Infernal Battles, featuring new lyrics with an Eucharistic theme.


The artwork is "both a statement on the Logos, providing metaphysical keys to a certain approach on reality, and a statement on our faith and it's concrete anchors and applications in the world as every human being can actually experience it. But keep in mind: the light that illuminates us is the very same that blinds us too." The band notes that the artwork is also linked to a lyric from "Sola Fide I" ("The heart of a lost angel is in the earth"), taken from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem "A Drama of Exile", which retells the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and Satan's role in it.

Musically, it represents a massive departure in sound from the band's previous work, both for the increase in recording and production quality as well as for the pursuit of far more avant-garde and experimental directions than the band's previous work. The album incorporates Gregorian chants, chaotic moments and significant use of dissonant and atonal riffs and chord structures. The album was also originally intentionally structured in the manner of 1970s double albums, with each LP side opening with a "prayer" (side four, which opens with "Carnal Malefactor", being an arguable exception). The album was inspired by Christian sources (often Catholic), particularly in its metaphysical discussions. The band frequently quote passages from the Christian Bible, for example 'Third Prayer' quotes Chapter 17 of the Book of Jeremiah: "Thus says the LORD, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD." "Hétoïmasia" is Greek for "preparation", which references the empty throne awaiting Christ's return.


The album title is Latin for "If You Seek His Monument, Look Around You."

- 'Sola Fide' is Latin for 'By Faith Alone.'
- 'Hétoïmasia (ἑτοιμασία) is Greek for 'Preparation,' regarding the return of Christ to an awaiting empty throne.
- 'Odium Nostrum' is Latin for 'Our hatred.'
- 'Malign Paradigm' is a tribute to the song 'Ashes and Bloodstench' by the black metal band Malign from their EP Divine Facing.
- 'Drink the Devil's Blood' is re-recorded with new lyrics.

Recording information:

The intermezzo in Carnal Malefactor is in fact an extract from "Hymn of the Cherubim", "Cherubic Hymn" or "Cherubikon", although there are many versions of it (the most famous version being that of Piotr Illitch Tchaikovsky), this one in particular is attribuited to the Chevetogne's Abbey monks, well-reknown from their recordings of church music. The text is from the bizantine liturgy's troparion with the same name.
Text in english:
"We who mystically represent the Cherubim,
and who sing to the Life-Giving Trinity the thrice-holy hymn,
let us now lay aside all earthly cares
that we may receive the King of all,
escorted invisibly by the angelic orders.
Alleluia".
Text in church slavonic:
"Иже херувимы тайно образующе,
и Животворящей Троицѣ трисвятую пѣснь припѣвающе,
Всякое нынѣ житейское отложимъ попеченіе.
Яко да Царя всѣхъ подъимемъ,
ангельскими невидимо дориносима чинми.

Аллилуіа".