Planet Hell

"Planet Hell"
"Planet Hell" cover
Song by Nightwish from the album Once
Released	7 June 2004
Recorded	2004
Genre	Symphonic metal
Length	4:36
Label	Roadrunner Records (USA)
Producer(s)	Tuomas Holopainen; TeeCee Kinnunen
Once track listing
Nemo (3) "Planet Hell" (4) Creek Mary's Blood (5)

Planet Hell is a song played by the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. The song was recorded for their 2004 album Once. Though it is known as a symphonic metal song, many argue it as falling under the gothic metal category. The song begins with a male choir chanting "Ah" (in an introduction reminiscent of Dark Chest of Wonders), with orchestral background music for a full minute before the band starts playing. Planet Hell also features the vocals of the bands bassplayer Marco Hietala. It is the Nightwish song in which Hietala gets to use his vocals the most.^[1]

Religious references

The song has a number of religious references:

• "The ferryman" refers to Charon the ferryman in Greek mythology. ("Save yourself a penny for the ferryman": tradition dictated that a dead Greek would have a coin placed in his mouth to pay for passage over the River Styx, as Charon demanded payment to ferry souls across the Styx, and without payment, souls would be forever trapped upon the shores, unable to cross.)
• "The Ark" could possibly refer to one of two things: The Ark of the Covenant, or Noah's Ark. The latter seems the most plausible, as in Biblical story the Ark saved Noah and the animals from the flood brought about by God for their sins. "This world ain't ready for the Ark" could indeed be a dark message from the band stating that the Earth is in midst of destruction by humans and we are all to blame, and deserve punishment.
• "Mother Gaia" refers to the Greek goddess Gaia or Mother Earth.

In popular culture

• This song is well known amongst players of the fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game RuneScape. On June 6, 2006, (coincidentally 06/06/06 the Number of the Beast), a massive bug occurred in the game, known as the Falador Massacre, which allowed some players to attack others in areas that were meant to be safe zones. Players were attacked and lost their valuable items. One player recorded the bug being abused and it served as the main video of the event.^[2] The video he made featured the song Planet Hell as the background music.^[3] On June 6, 2016, makers of the game, Jagex, released a special event celebrating the ten year anniversary of the Falador Massacre.^[4] They remastered their own version of Planet Hell which was featured in the game as a background song.^[5]
• This song was also used as intro music by the San Antonio Spurs in 2005.

References