Dante's Inspiration for Christian Rock Band RED

Links:

http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/article.php?article_id=191#_ 

http://lyrics.wikia.com/Red:Fight_Intro_%28Canto_III%29 

http://www.bandsonfire.com/resources/release-presentations/article/red-innocence-instinct-deluxe 

Through me the way to the city of dolent
Through me the way to eternal dole
Through me the way among people lost

Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence;
The highest Wisdom, and the primal Love;

"Before me there were no created things,
Only eternal, and I eternal last,
All hope abandon, ye who enter in!"

"These people have not any hope of death"

Any student studying Dante’s Inferno will recognize that these lines come from Canto 3 of Dante’s Inferno.  They are written above the gate to Hell.  With these lyrics, the Christian rock band RED begins it c.d. called Innocence and Instinct (released in February 2009).  These lyrics are found in the introduction song titled “Canto III.”  However, it is almost impossible to make out these words, which are whispered behind a slow piano song.

While working on their c.d. Innocence and Instinct, RED was reading Dante’s Inferno.  There are many references to The Divine Comedy and to Dante throughout the c.d. and its artwork.  According to band member Mike Barnes, the band was inspired by Gustave Doré’s image of the war between the angels.  Not only did these images inspire their lyrics, but they also inspired the album artwork.  The back cover of the c.d. booklet contains Doré’s illustration of Beatrice from Canto 30 in Purgatorio and the name Dante.  The inside of the c.d. case has the first fifteen lines from Canto 3 of Paradiso written in Italian.  In the music video for the song “Death of Me,” Dante’s name appears once on a sign for Dante’s Pizzeria.

The Divine Comedy also inspired some of the lyrics in RED’s songs.  The songs “Fight Inside” and “Confession” both have to do with man’s fight between right and wrong, which is a major theme throughout the comedy.  Both the references to Dante and the music itself make this c.d. worth looking into.