Entry #2 The Chord of the Devil

   
  During the Renaissance period, everything was about God and the Roman Catholic Church. The only music that was played during this era was music written for God. Composers could only publish their music if the Monarchy liked and approved it. The music from this period is absolutely beautiful. Everything is in perfect harmony and are composed of perfect major chords, that begin and end on a tonic (the same note).There wasn't much diversity in the chords that could be used. 

   Here is one of the most popular songs back then that is still widely known by some churches. You can here just how "perfect" everything sounds.

   Since there wasn't much distinction in the music, anything other than the norm was really terrifying to people. In fact the church decided that certain chords were simply not allowed in music. The most hated being tritones or as they called it "Diabolus in Musica" meaning "The Devil's Interval." There terms as to why it wouldn't be allowed were simply because it sounded so ugly that only the devil could produce something so disgustful.

  But as time moves on, people defy what's normal and create music anyways. By the end of the Renaissance era and the beginning of the baroque period, famous composer, Tartini had a dream where he sold his soul to the devil and the devil played him the most magnificent song he had ever heard. He recreated this in his song, "Devil's Trill" starring the infamous tritone. 

             

  This song instilled the fear of this chord into people just as rock music did to our grandparents. Things that sound this scary clearly were written by the devil and this song proved it to many people. 

  Nowadays tritones are most noted for being in the music that are grandparents considered to be the "devil's music." Metallica, Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Led Zeppelin, and many other rock bands heavily use tritones in order to create their distinctive sounds. 

Here's a song that is made up of only tritones and basically sounds like a mash up of all these bands together. 

                                          

  If you listen to the guitar riff in the theme song to South Park, the theme song from The Twilight Zone, or the bass line, the violin, and the trombones from The Simpsons, tritones are everywhere. They weave in and out of popular metal songs including, Marilyn Manson's, "The Beautiful People," "The Call of Ktulu," by Metallica, Black Sabbath's, "Black Sabbath," and many many more. 

  Tritones all give off this general eery or evil feeling. It was one of the biggest controversies of time. Whether it was the devil's or not, it has scared people for centuries. Shook those who are religious. Created endless interviews about its dark themes. Marilyn Manson is someone who's always been intrigued as a Devil Worshiper and many parents banned their children from listening to him, along with many other metal bands of its kind. You may have never heard of the "Devil's Triad" before, but it's been here for centuries and will be utilized for centuries to come.