Tattoo help

I

ian.de

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Oct 6, 2007
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I've been in love with Scandinavian metal since sophomore year of high school. The music saved my pitiful depressed teenage life. It has helped me through stressful times and countless hours of boredom. I wouldn't trade the powerful emotion and feeling that I get from the music for anything. It's one of the few things my little brother and I have in common and the music has brought us closer and closer.

It's also been a one of the few entities of consistency in my life over the past few years, which is incredible when I think about how much I've changed. Usually people grow out of music phases and play certain music out until they can't stand it anymore. If anything I've delved deeper and my tastes have broadened.

I want to get a tattoo of something representing my love for the music. I don't really want anything too band specific, just something representing the culture/background/atmosphere/messages/mythology. My favorite bands are In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Kalmah, Insomnium, Amon Amarth, Swallow The Sun.

I was looking at norse symbols, runes, viking mythology, ravens, wolves, moon/stars, things like that. I'm really just looking for a brainstorm of ideas that have to do with Scandinavian melodic death metal. I haven't thought too much about lyrics, so that's a possibility. I want it on my side/oblique/rib area. Arms are out because I'm studying to become a nurse, and back and shoulders are out because they are covered in acne scars, legs and chest are cheesy.

Any ideas welcome, I just want some more input before I go to a local artist to draw something up.
 
Well, that's quite a tricky question to ask actually. a tattoo is quite personnal, since you'll be the only one having it, and that it's supposed to be stuck in your skin forever. So i'd advise you to look for yourself, through the internet, either on webpages by bands or fans to see which tattoos have been made already (the DT site has one section like that).

If you want something music connected but not to one special band, you can check the artworks, it doesn't have to be a logo, or have a name included in, and still look good and metal :headbang:

Depending on the size, you can also coordinate different ideas and mix them together, just avoid the single runes, that's totally cheesy, and the whole "Trooper with a swedish flag instead of the british one" idea :D

Thing is, there isn't much of a "common picture" for the bands you mentionned. Getting into the viking imagery is an option, but unless you get a viking ship with a band playing electric guitars on it, it won't be obviously connected to music. Then again, you like Amon Amarth and they're totally vikings, so checking their artworks and elaborating from them is an idea.

But yeah, so much talk for a small outcome, i'd say that whatever you might pick up in the end, what truly matters is that the tattoo stays meaningful to you.
 
ian.de said:
care to elaborate
Click to expand...

Sure!

Elder Futhark is the ancient runic system of writing practiced by those in Scandinavia and other places where old Norse Paganism was performed. It has recently been brought into re-use by those of the Asatru faith and some Scandinavian Metal bands.

futhark.gif


Better descriptions -

Ancient Scripts
Wikipedia
 
Five words: Don't do that to yourself.

Think again how much you've changed in the past few years, and ponder a bit how much you might change in the next few. Can you be sure you won't regret it in a few years or that it will keep meaning so much to you? Do you really need a tattoo to remind you of your love for metal or proclaim it to the world?
A suggestion i've read somewhere is to decide on a tattoo and to wait one or two years, in order to see if you'll still want to get that particular design by then, and if so go ahead.

Of course it's your body and your decision to make, i'm just trying to provide a different point of view. I sincerely wish you good luck at whatever you do. :)


edit: And for heaven's/hell's sake, don't get the Opeth "O". :p
 
I say get what you want, my idea for him was a Swedish flag with a hand raising the horns in the middle of it with "HAIL METAL" in runes or something.

Even if he does change his ways, which he most likely will, as we all do, that tattoo will just be representing something that was highly important to him at this particular stage of his life.

I mean i just whacked a decent sized amon amarth tattoo on my back, it represents 2 things, mylove for the band & metal aswel as the Norse mythology side of things, i wont look back on that and say "dam i was dumb to get that tatt". it just represents me & who i've been for a fair few years, and most likely a fair few more to come.

I mean it did take me a couple of years to get around to doing it, and fuck, it was worth the wait and the cash and the PAIN! haha.

Good luck on the hunt for your perfect tatt man! \m/
 
PaganThunder said:
I say get what you want, my idea for him was a Swedish flag with a hand raising the horns in the middle of it with "HAIL METAL" in runes or something.
Click to expand...

No offense, but that doesn't sound like a pretty tatoo at all imo. I can just say think for a long time what you want to have. I will probably never get a tatoo because I don't like to have tatoos on me.
 
what about one-ring,with evil spell on it.It's small and if you change your mind in next few years, you will find it's easy to wash.
 
A bit off-topic, but... Why do people spell it "Asatru"? The correct way would be with an O, as the word "tro" translates into "belief". Sure, I can understand the mistake as U and O is close in pronounciation, but check the facts, people... or have I missed some bigger picture here?

On the tattoo issue, I quite recently got an ankh inked. And yes, Siren, I did think it over. Some ten years or so... :)
 
@Sunjammer: Yay! Be sure to include bare chest and whatever other sexy angle you can. :D
 
Sunjammer said:
A bit off-topic, but... Why do people spell it "Asatru"? The correct way would be with an O, as the word "tro" translates into "belief". Sure, I can understand the mistake as U and O is close in pronounciation, but check the facts, people... or have I missed some bigger picture here?
Click to expand...

I think the spelling varies based on location and the very nature of having a phonetic way of writing words.
 
@ Siren: Want me to give you ever-lasting nightmares or what..? You'd never sleep with the lights turned off again... :p

@ Alasdhair: That's a plausible explanation, I'll give you that. :) Let's all spell it "kristianity" from now on! (Sorry, forgive my childishness. I couldn't resist the urge of some good old "fight fire with fire" logic...)
 
Does anyone know how to write Odin and Thor in elder Futhark?

I know I could substitute the letters for the equivalents runes, but the scandinavians that used the Elder Futhark used to call the almighty god Odin, Wotan or Wodanaz? The same goes to his son: they called him Thor, Tor, or Thorr?

I don't know if I could get to the point. I want to know how the scandinavians used to write Odin and Thor in Elder Futhark.


That's all because I want to tattoo their names in elder futhark :)
 
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