sistersofbattle Hymns for Celestine - What are the characteristics of a Sisters of Battle Hymn?

[qwstn]

I am still in high-school (senior) and in need of some inspiration. Context: A music assessment that requires a student to create a piece of music based off of a certain element (a style, genre, musical motif, etc.). My Dad has collected the Sisters of Battle, making it a fond memory of my childhood. To pay homage to this, I want to create a hymn of sorts to accompany his army. The problem I have is identifying the certain characteristics these hymns have based on the handbooks. I have limited understanding of the army and its special abilities (reading can only get me so far), so I was hoping to see if anyone could reply with any useful information and/or pieces I can base my assignment off of (pieces that you imagine are similar, official Canon music pieces composed for the army, etc.). Anything and everything is much appreciated. 

 

- qwstn :) 

 

 

[Arikel]

The imperial faith is a direct analogue to the Catholic Church of reality, meant to satirize its worst qualities. I would suggest checking out gregorian chants and traditional catholic hymns to start with.
 

For some more non-Traditional takes I would suggest looking to enigma’s first album https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCMXC_a.D. as well as music by the band Powerwolf,  the songs Incense and Iron, and Armata Strigoi would be a good start. Both groups mix traditional Catholic styles with two very different genres of music, and could give ideas on how to modernize your hymn if you wish to do so.

 

[ThePenitentOne]

I have no musical training, and no knowledge of what an actual hymn might sound like- not really a church dude.

 

But when I think of battle hymns, what I hear in my head is the choral chant establishing the rhythm- working like an instrumental refrain. It's repetitive, somewhat percussive and steady. The soloist vocals are an individualized overlay- higher, building to moments of aggression, triumph, pain, etc. Every unit in a sister's army is chanting, singing or intoning AS they fight.

 

Sinead O'Connor's Lion and the Cobra has a lot of tracks that express that shift from haunting beauty to wrath an incarnate rage. In particular, Never Get Old is exactly what I'm talking about- the chorus is doing a mono-syllable "hoo-hoo-hoo" all the way through it, there's a gaelic chant layered in at various points and then there's the lead vocal, which sings us the lyrics- the story of the song. This part is building us up to the bridge that happens at about two minutes in, where the gaelic chant comes back and the lead transitions from lyrics into emotional vocalizations.

 

There is an instrumental that comes in at the peak, but the song would work almost as well without it. The range of emotion in the vocalizations is the real power of the song. 

[Madao]

There is a very old Polish hymn

It is how I imagine the religious hymns sang by the Imperium armies for the glory of the Emperor.