The Recording Process:

Tony Garone - vocals, drum explorations, rhythm electric guitar, keyboards
Anthony Garone - lead electric guitar

Recorded at Cow Pilot Studios

After reading tablet IV, I was struck with this image of this huge monster - and I have to admit that I was rather taken by Zachariah Sitchin's take on this part of the Gilgamesh epic. He paints this picture of Huwaw/Humbaba that is extremely fascinating. I'm not sure I agree with his "interpretation" of this god, but it makes for a great inspiration. He describes a giant mechanical menace - shooting lasers from its eyes and burning the great cedar trees in the forest. Keep in mind traditional belief does not necessarily warrant this description.

I wanted Huwawa to sound like this big mechanical monster but I thought it would add a little more suspense. So I used my Alesis drum machine to come up with some interesting patterns, and fed it into my Roland JV880. I just kept changing sounds and patterns till I came up with the entire song - just the rhythm tracks.

In fact the song was in this form for weeks. I couldn't come up with any kind of melody, but I just kept listening to the drum pattern over and over. I was just taken in by this creepy underlying rumble - perfect for Huwawa/Humbaba! Eventually I came up with the electric guitar part, and sketched out the song. I had Anthony come in a re-record the electric guitar I had originally put down (because he has talent) and the song began to breath life...conversely, I added the entire beginning (the chant) AFTER I was done with the body of the song.

Months later I added the strange warbly sound in the "chorus", and the big gong sound in the "chant" section. It took me days until I came up with a mix I finally was happy with. I have never worked so intensely on a song - it's probably the song you won't like. It's not your fault, it just works out that way.

What is this song about?

After befriending Enkidu, Gilgamesh tires of the easy life of Uruk, and decides he wants to gain fame by conquering Huwawa, the god who guards the Cedar Forest. Enkidu desperately tries to discourage this, because he knows of Huwawa from his previous life roaming the forests.

Gilgamesh will not hear of this, and insists they go, but before he does, his mother Ninsun makes him promise two things. First, she prays and manages to coerce the sun god Utu/Shamash to protect her son on his perilous journey, and she makes Enkidu walk before Gilgamesh to protect him.

The god Utu/Shamash as he "rises" from Mt. Mashu to bring the golden dawn. He wears the horned crown of divinity and holds a "pruning saw" in his hand, as the rays of the sun emanate from his shoulder.

"Mountain, Mountain in the sky, break the god and make him die" is an actual quote from the epic. Gilgamesh and Enkidu chant this as they march toward Huwawa (in some translations anyway). Huwawa emits this "radiance" that the Sumerians call "melam". It is a blinding light or energy that makes Huwawa almost impossible to confront. In one of my correspondences with Dr. Pagan, I asked him to further clarify just exactly what "melam" was. Here's what he wrote:

"It is usually rendered as "splendor," "glamor," or "brilliance." The closest
parallel I can think of is the representation of holy men and saints in
European art - with shining haloes around their heads. Melam is an aura of
power, of majesty, a potent force. In the tale of Gilgamesh and Agga, the
melam of Gilgamesh is too powerful to look upon. When he climbs the ramparts
of Uruk, the enemy soldiers of Kish (who have been besieging his city) hide
their faces - they cannot bear to look upon him. His melam is too powerful.
His radiance is blinding. The root of this concept seems to be that of "a
strong presence," the idea of individuals who emanate a sense of power, who
inspire awe either through authority, wealth, physical size, spiritual
insight, or beauty".

A depiction of the face of Huwawa (I added the "melam")

As they approach Huwawa, Gilgamesh is terrified, because he suffered ominous dreams the night before. Enkidu is also afraid, but encourages Gilgamesh to fight. During the approach, Shamash tells Gilgamesh that Huwawa is not wearing all of his "melam", and may be approached without blinding Gilgamesh. As Enkidu and Gilgamesh surround Huwawa, Shamash causes the winds to blow and swirl around Huwawa, making his "melam" even less effective, allowing our heroes to capture him.

As Huwawa begs for mercy, he offers Gilgamesh all the cedar in the forest - enough to rebuild Uruk. Gilgamesh considers this until Enkidu convinces him otherwise. Enkidu beheads Huwawa, and the two return to Uruk heroes with enough timber to build a huge gate for the city.

Gilgamesh (far left) and Enkidu (holding the axe) slay Huwawa/Humbaba depicted on a cylinder seal. Note the seven "dots" above Gilgamesh - traditional explanations tell us that they represent the constellation of Pleiades and that constellation's affiliation with seven gods known as "Sebittu". The controversial scholar Zechariah Sitchin claims they represent the planet Earth, from the perspective of a traveller coming from "outside" our solar system.

The Cuneiform for "Huwawa"

Dr. Pagan explains:

The first sign on the left is hu. As you can see, sign 2 is repeated as sign 3: wa-wa.