Kénôse
| Kénôse | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| EP by Deathspell Omega | ||||
| Released | October 4, 2005 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 36:20 | |||
| Label | Norma Evangelium Diaboli | |||
| Deathspell Omega chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Blabbermouth.net |   |
| Stylus | B+ |
Kénôse is an EP by the black metal band Deathspell Omega, released in 2005 under The Ajna Offensive. It continues the avant-garde and progressive direction they had been exploring on 2004's Si monvmentvm reqvires, circvmspice, and is considered by the band as something of an "appendix" to that album.
Kénôse draws on a range of theological and philosophical themes.The title Kénôse means Kenosis in French, a theological term which describes "the 'self-emptying' of one's own will and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will." In particular it refers to the notion within Christology that God emptied himself of his divine characteristics in order to be made manifest as a mortal being in the form of Christ. One analysis of this term draws on The Anxiety of Influence by Harold Bloom, which defines the term in two senses:
"...a breaking device similar to the defense mechanisms our psyches employ against repetition compulsions; kenosis then is a movement toward discontinuity with the precursor. From St. Paul, who uses the term in regard to Jesus’ empties the divine out of himself to assume human form. Similarly the poet empties out the poetic afflatus of the precursor. The precursor too is emptied out."
One of the main themes of the record is a pursuit of the essence or substance of God and Christ in the light of Kenosis. The band ask whether, on Christ's death and return to immortality, God's essence remained as pure as it was before, or indeed whether he has "succumbed to the original malady": death. The lyrics form an argument against the concept of redemption; holding that humanity is irredeemable, and instead invoking plerosis, a blasphemous flowering of humanity's carnal condition in spite of God. The issue of hypostasis and hypostatic union is discussed at length, with the opening track's lyrics asking:
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