
Helvíti (Hell) - transcript/translation

This song, performed at a smattering of concerts before finally becoming vaguely intelligible on Neyslutrans, is a collaboration with rapper Svarti Laxness, who also wrote the lyrics (probably all of them; it’s pretty different from Matthías’ style), and describes his experiences in Hell. The lyrics are pretty intense content-wise, and there’s a bit of mild swearing and brief sexual references, if you’re actually here and care about that sort of thing.

Thanks to Hatari Doodle/Marinella who apparently got the official lyrics from Svarti Laxness, allowing me to correct the various nonsense that was in here when I originally tried to transcribe it.
Icelandic transcript

SVARTI LAXNESS:

[laughter]

 

Þegar sól er yfir sundi og döggvot er grundin,

hverfandi stundin, ég er týndur og fundinn,

djöflinum bundinn, ég er snúinn og undinn,

um stund ég fer á fund við þríhöfða hundinn

 

Skjálfandi sjálfið, síhrædda sálin,

fingurnir gæla við blákalda stálið

Brennandi bálið aftrar minni för,

sjón tekur að sortna, hjartslátturinn ör

 

Kveljandi kvöð ýtir mér áfram,

gangandi þangað til gamanið klárnar

Þríhöfða viðrinið blasir við þarna

Sýn þessi skelfir mig djúpt inn að kjarna

 

Sársauki gerir mér ókleift að standa,

liggjandi hérna án fóta og handa

Margt er um manninn hér, einn meðal margra

Allir þjást þeir, langar sálu að farga

 

En hey, þetta er bara tilvist mín

Ég er dæmdur til að dúsa í Helvíti

Og ég veit vel að tilhugsunin skelfir þig,

eins og dusilmenni sem ætlar að snerta þig

 

Hérna færðu grjót að borða, ekkert meðlæti,

Sódóma, Gómorra, orgíur og ofblæti

Hér á bæ ríkir eilíft einræði

En hvað hélstu, tík, þú ert í Helvíti

 

Þar sem hitinn er mestur, í sjöunda hring,

syrgi ég sárt þá sem lifa í synd

Sæl sólin kætir hvert einasta sinn

sótsvartur skuggi þó svertir þá mynd

 

Syndandi í sífellu, læstur í kapellu,

slægur í atferlum, í musterum fjölmennum

deilandi boðskapnum, blandandi staðreyndum

lygar uppsoðnar af svikurum margreyndum

 

Er í eilífri afeitrun, eldur í þakinu

sprengjan hún springur, þú liggur í brakinu

farinn í bakinu, sífellt með standpínu

hugur þinn fullur af ókunnum andlitum

 

Sorgin er svo mikil, söknuður tærir þig,

Minningar æra þig, sársauki nærir þig

Og þú heldur að þú eigir ennþá von?

Þú fæddist fallinn eins og vananda son (eins og vananda son)

 

En hey, þetta er bara tilvíst mín

Ég er dæmdur til að dúsa í Helvíti

Og ég veit vel að tilhugsunin skelfir þig

eins og dusilmenni sem ætlar að snerta þig

 

Hérna færðu grjót að borða, ekkert meðlæti,

Sódóma, Gómorra, orgíur og ofblæti

Hér á bæ ríkir eilíft einræði

En hvað hélstu, tík, þú ert í Helvíti

 

Svo velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

 

Ég segi velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

 

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis

Velkomin til Helvítis


[laughter]


English translation

SVARTI LAXNESS:

[laughter]

 

When the sun’s over the straits and the ground is wet with dew,

the hour is fading, I’m lost and I’m found,

bound to the devil, I’m twisted and wound

For a while, I go to meet with the three-headed dog

 

My trembling self, my constantly terrified soul,

my fingers stroking the biting-cold steel

The blazing bonfire hinders my trek,

my vision fades, my heartbeat racing

 

An agonizing duty pushes me onward,

walking on until things get ugly

The three-headed abomination standing there,

the sight of it terrifies me deep to my core

 

Pain makes me unable to stand,

lying here without feet or hands

It’s full of people here, one among many

All of them suffer, want to extinguish their souls

 

But hey, this is just my existence

I’m condemned to rot in Hell

And I know that the thought terrifies you,

like a wretch reaching out to touch you

 

All you get to eat here is rocks with no sides,

Sodom, Gomorrah, orgies and fetishism

In this place there’s an eternal dictatorship

But what did you expect, bitch, you’re in Hell

 

Where it’s hottest, in the seventh circle,

I sorely mourn those who live in sin

The joyful sun lifts the spirits every time

but a pitch-black shadow darkens that image

 

Constantly sinning, locked in a chapel,

cunning in behaviour, in temples full of people,

spreading the message, mixing up facts,

lies cooked up by experienced traitors

 

An eternal detoxing, fire on the roof

the bomb explodes, you lie in the wreckage,

your back is gone, got a constant hardon,

your mind full of unfamiliar faces

 

The grief is intense, loss corrodes you,

memories madden you, pain sustains you

And you think that you still have hope?

You were born fallen like a stillborn son (like a stillborn son)

 

But no, this is just my existence

I’m condemned to rot in Hell,

and I know that the thought terrifies you

like a wretch reaching out to touch you

 

All you get to eat here is rocks with no sides,

Sodom, Gomorrah, orgies and fetishism

In this place there’s an eternal dictatorship

But what did you expect, bitch, you’re in Hell

 

So welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

 

I say welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

 

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

 

[laughter]


Translation notes

As with most good rap lyrics, there’s a lot of cool internal rhyming and assonance and alliteration and so on going on here that don’t translate at all.

Raise your hand if you also want to know what happened with the dog.

My favorite bit is the verse with the lies cooked up by experienced traitors, which just feels very well built up and the internal rhyme is great. Same with “Sorgin er svo mikil, söknuður tærir þig, minningar æra þig, sársauki nærir þig.”

-----


Anonymous:

hey, firstly, love your blog ❤ you're a blessing to us hatari fans that don't speak icelandic. secondly, I was wondering if you ever elaborated on why "14 ár", "ógleði" and "helvíti" form a story? I've looked at the translations and tried to see it, but my reading comprehension isn't the best sadly (especially in English, aka my second language lol). I was wondering if you had already made a post about it and if you could link it, or if you were ever going to make a post at all? im really interested in seeing your point of view

I don’t think I’ve ever made a post about this, and don’t quite have a definitive take on it, but I’ve more or less settled on this:

The most straightforward way for them to form a story is of course if they feature the same characters. I remain confident in my take on “14 ár”: the Matthías and Klemens characters are in an abusive relationship, where “Matthías” is trapped as “Klemens” employs manipulation and gaslighting to guilt him into staying.

The most obvious way to go from there, then, is that these characters are the same characters in “Ógleði”. The latter is all about Klemens talking about everything crumbling, not being himself, and then Matthías commenting on how he’s so stuck in place he can’t see the chains he’s dangling in. Assuming the characters are the same, then this, to me, suggests that Matthías did finally tear himself free, and Klemens, the abuser, has been left feeling miserable, nauseous, like everything’s fallen apart, maintaining that the person who did all that wasn’t him. His misery is genuine - but now his former victim, rather than pitying and coming back to him like before, is able to look at him from the outside and see that his misery is ultimately self-inflicted, that he refuses to change and can’t even see that he’s the problem.

Then we have Helvíti, which is a lot more vaguely connected, and of course sung by Svarti Laxness rather than either Matthías or Klemens (though Klemens does backing vocals on live performances). However, the lyrics seem to be addressed to somebody, a ‘you’. I think it might make sense if this is the Klemens character, the abuser who refuses to change, who winds up in Hell, maddened by memories, sustained by pain, trying to cling to hope. Can’t quite work out much more than that, though.

