Ominous Latin Chanting - Television Tropes & Idioms

The primary battle theme from Vision Of Escaflowne is the imposing, "O Fortuna"-inspired "Dance of Curse".
- At around the halfway mark, "Dance of the Curse" finds itself supplanted by the even more ominous and imposing "Epistle" as the primary battle theme. The fact that this is around the point where the battles get increasingly hellish and violent is probably not coincidence.
When the Church Choir in Noir starts up, rest assured that many, many people are going to die. (Specifically, the songs "Salva Nos" and "Canta Per Me")
- Canta Per Me, at least, is actually Ominous Italian Chanting.
- Les Soldats, played at the start of every episode to accompany one of the female characters reciting one of three different versions of the Noir prayer, is also particularly ominous, considering it's the Leitmotif of an Ancient Conspiracy.
- The same artist performs the theme for the dimension jumping sequences in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
The opening theme for Elfen Lied, "Lilium" is Latin with Greek touches, done in a Gregorian chant style. It sets the tone for the anime, which is similarly bleak, sombre, and spooky.
- The OP is a One Woman Wail. but the song appears during scenes sung by a male voice choir that sounds more Gregorian. There is a Theme Tune Cameo in the form of a music box, giving it yet another different sound. Also, the only Greek touch is Kyrie eleison, which can be considered adopted into Latin through frequent use.
- It's not in the style of chant; not nearly modal enough for that, not to mention that plainchant is traditionally unaccompanied. It's more a pastiche of high baroque and takes after the Kyrie of the most iconic of models: J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor.
Keroro Gunsou parodies this; ominous Latin chanting comes up whenever Angol Moa uses her Armageddon Attack (even at one one-trillionth power).
Revolutionary Girl Utena features quite a bit of strange, baroque music, but saves its Latin chanting for when the villain of the Black Rose Saga is recruiting.
Not even a (mostly) humorous series like Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu was immune, as a choral score accompanied the climactic "final" episode. For a Bilingual Bonus, it's an ode to the creator of the universe.
The Ah My Goddess movie had the world rebuilt to Latin choral music ostensibly sung by the three Norns(!).
Death Note simply loves Ominous Latin Chanting, frequently employing it to make the act of writing a name in a notebook epic. Of course, whosever name is written in the notebook will die 40 seconds later, so it is kind of an ominous moment when Light puts a name down.
- In fact, many of the epic Latin pieces in Death Note have the lyrics of a Latin requiem mass. The song that plays during the four-and-a-half-year timeskip montage, for instance, is a Dies Irae (though somehow, it doesn't include the "liber scriptus" verse).
Neon Genesis Evangelion, of course, had Händel's "Hallelujah" chorus playing during the fifteenth Angel's psychic attack on Asuka. It's sort of implied that the music is actually part of the attack.
- A rare example of Ominous English Chanting.
  - Rebuild goes even further, with both a remake of "Angel Attack" and a new song played during the attack on Ramiel containing epic amounts of Ominous English Chanting (with some of it being pretty creepy for Western audiences too, but a little of it not working quite so well).
  - Rebuild 2.0 goes absolutely crazy with this, having no fewer than seven songs (all of them played during Angel attacks) with Ominous English Chanting. This Troper wonders if the latter two Rebuild movies will continue with this escalation...
- The The Ode to Joy is sampled during Kaworu's descent. The lyrics are surprisingly suitable.
- "Escape to the Beginning" from The End of Evangelion. It only plays during the beginning of the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT! If one manages to find the lyrics (which isn't easy), they're actually quite appropriate, as well.
Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series parodies this in its eighth episode. When White Haired Pretty Boy Bakura shows up, the ominous Latin chanting theme from The Omen (Ave Satani) plays every time the shot is focused on him, becoming more intense each time. There's an especially nice flourish when he's asked what his favourite card is, and he accidentally holds up a Sephiroth card.
- More recently, O Fortuna was used to foretell the coming of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's.
- Also subverted in episode 16. "Ooga, ooga, ooga chocka, ooga, ooga, ooga chocka!".
  - That's actually a reference to the 1960s song Hooked on a Feeling, written by Mark James (and infamously covered by David Hasselhoff).
- Subverted again in episode 22, where "Sexy Back" played every time the camera focused on Bishounen Duke Devlyn.
  - And every times he talks in later episodes. He doesn't seem to be aware of it, though.
- In episode 45 just before the epic duel between Bakura and Melvin, we get some Ominous Brooklyn Chanting, followed by some actual chanting during the credits
In the original version of Yu-Gi-Oh, the summoning of the Egyptian God card "Winged Dragon of Ra" required Ominous Egyptian Chanting to do properly. The Dub replaced this with Ominous... English Rhyme?
Somewhat subverted in episode five of Cowboy Bebop: a setting of "Ave Maria" is heard in the context of an opera, but the soundtrack during the episode's violent climax is a cheerful tune sung by a children's choir. The former is, of course, in Latin, while the latter is in a vaguely Romantic nonsense language invented by the composer, Yoko Kanno.
- You thought that was cheerful?!
- The song "Green Bird" and "Blue" feature chants that may not be ominous but certainly melancholy.
The soundtrack to the film Akira contains a great deal of ominous chanting, but most of it is in barely-intelligible Japanese.
- Nemure, AKIRA, nemure...
- At the end, though, in that track they actually do use Latin as well.
The 9th episode (third part of the "King of Swords" arc) of the Yami No Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness) animated series features an elegiac choir or male and female voices singing in Italian.
Half of the Mai-Otome soundtrack consists of Latin-sounding gibberish chanting (by an all-female choir), mostly during tense, dramatic moments — and the Magical Girl Transformation Sequence. This also shows up in Mai-HiME, particularly in Mezame and its various rearrangements/remixes.
Then there's the Read or Die movie, in which the threat is Ominous German Chanting via Clone Beethoven's Suicide Symphony.
Parodied in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, as generic-sounding female chanting whenever a satirical dramatic scene comes up.
Lots of Kenji Kawai soundtracks feature Ominous Japanese Chanting, most notably in his soundtracks for Ghost In The Shell and Innocence.
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind features several eerie moments when Nausicaa as a child chanted this eerie little tune, which is still quite ominous despite it being only "Na na na". If you fail to see why, consider that at the film climax, Nausicaa has more or less become an avenging version of The Messiah; in the manga, it is far, far worse.
Princess Mononoke has Ominous Japanese Chanting in the tune "The World of the Dead", which plays when the Forest Spirit's death goop is covering everything.
Shinn Asuka's personal battle theme in Gundam SEED Destiny, "Dark Energy", uses Ominous Latin Chanting; before fans knew the real name, they called it "the Evil Monk Chorus Song". Contrast with Kira Yamato's theme, which uses the One Woman Wail.
Giant Robo: The Animation not only features Dies Irae as background music for The Reveal of the Big Bad's secret weapon, but it also has Ominous Opera Singing: the leitmotif for the various and varying flashbacks to the "Tragedy of Bashtalle" is an arrangement of "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from the opera L'elisir d'amore.
Subverted in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's theme music is a One Woman Wail version of Libera Me mixed with the Hot Blooded rap song that was earlier used as Kamina's theme in the Recap Episode and they together are called Libera Me From Hell.
Put to good use in the latest episode of Bleach when the 5th Espada, Nnoitora, releases his Zanpakuto. He yells his release phrase, and the wind starts blowing, all while the Latin choir goes nuts.
- Believe it or not, that's actually an example of Ominous English Chanting.
- It's also frickin' awesome
- If anyone cares, the song's name is "Treachery".
- Also subverted in Bleach by Arrancar's first appearances and most non Espada Arrancar's releases being accompanied by Ominous Spanish Instrumentals.
- Actually, there are also other moments featuring Ominous English Chanting. Episode 226 ended with an awesome music while Ichigo fights Ulquiorra. The song in this case is "Stand up be strong (part 1). There's "Part 2" too, of course. And another piece worth noticing is "Invasion". Noticeably, all of this music comes from the original Bleach Movie OS Ts. "Treachery" and "Invasion" were played during the final battle of "The Diamond Dust Rebellion", while "Stand up be strong" comes from "Fade to Black".
Oda Nobunaga in the Anime version of Sengoku Basara has a leitmotif, "Sixth Heaven Devil King", that is dominated by Ominous Latin Chanting.
Several dramatic instances in Gunslinger Girl were punctuated by Ominous Italian(?) Chanting, such as Henrietta's Unstoppable Rage in the first episode. Also, The Reveal Flashback depicting Elsa committing murder-suicide strikes a bonus for having some Ominous Pipe Organ at the start of the piece.
"Jigoku Rock" (from the Ironic Hell sequences) from the Jigoku Shoujo OST mixes this with... well... rock music...
This kind of music accompanies just about any scene involving Britannian royalty or the Emperor in Code Geass. In fairness, it's not actually Latin — if you listen closely, the lyrics are actually in English. Still, it certainly qualifies as ominous chanting.
The first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood starts up the chanting when Frost Alchemist Isaac MacDougal figures out that Ed and Al attempted human transmutation and ends soon after the Führer slices him up into chunks.
Akatsuki of Naruto has a theme that carries the effect nicely.
- Also Orochimaru's theme/the epic fight music, although the chanting aspect is hard to hear or doesn't kick in until well after the fight and/or plot point is over (the 2 and a half to 3 minute mark).
- When ever Hidan's Nightmare Fuel level goes up over ~~8,000~~ 9,000 some sort of ominous chanting starts. When aided by Hidan's shrieking it gives goosebumps.
What little we saw of the Negi vs Chao Lingshen battle in the Mahou Sensei Negima ~Ala Alba~ OAD was accompanied with this.
- Negima literally runs on Ominous Latin Chanting, and I do mean literally; nearly all the spells are activated by an incantation in either Latin or Greek. Supplementary materials usually give the translations of these incantations, and they actually manage to retain some ominousness even in English/Japanese.
The intro to the Umineko No Naku Koro Ni anime is rife with ominous Italian chanting. While likely unintentional, the song's name, "One-Winged Bird", immediately bring to mind a certain other famous Latin-chanting theme of ominousness.
- From the visual novel, one of the game's soundtracks, sy, DOES have ominous Latin chanting. The phrase is "Dominus mā in dictorē astent in dictorum" (my God stands against the speaker in declaration).
- Canis Latinicus, if that "is" how it is written. It should be "Deus" ("Dominus"=Lord) "meus stat in" (or better, "contra"} "dictorem in dictatione" (or better, "declaratione"). Rather a silly sentence either way, though.
Someone mentioned Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle up above and although it does have a lot of chanting in some of its tracks (specifically "a song of storm and fire," "through the gate," "ship of fools," and many others—those three are just a few examples from one out of four soundtracks for the series) the chanting isn't actually in Latin. The language is actually one Kajiura Yuki made up (Kajiuran?). Kajiura does, however, have some songs written in Spanish, Italian, and other European languages. Regardless of language, she certainly incorporates ominous chanting.
Soul Eater has a few tracks that involve ominous chanting for fight scenes, specifically against the Big Bad, although it's tough to tell what language is being chanted. "Salve Maria" sounds like it may be Spanish rather than Latin, but either way it's a creepy and depressing song (which fits well with the character it's often played for).
Pumpkin Scissors features ominous German chanting "Töten Sie sie!" ("kill them") whenever the main character activates his Lantern.
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou has this as background music whenever a fight or something juicy is going on.
"Grain," the opening theme of Monster.
Tokyo Mew Mew has not quite so Ominous chanting during the Christmas episode where Kish finally realizes that Ichigo will never be by his side.
A staple of the Genesis Of Aquarion soundtrack, particularly when Shadow Angels are involved.
Frieza gets a nice theme song in Dragon Ball Kai that includes Ominous Japanese Chanting in its intro.
Gao Gai Gar gives us Beautiful Wings of Light, the theme of Soldat J, which plays during several of his [CMoAs], including his introduction and Heroic Sacrifice.

Kingdom Hearts fanfic Those Lacking Spines played this trope for laughs when the sinister Jeffiroth made his appearance to thwart our heroes, accompanied by an orchestra and choir that had basically appeared from nowhere and a helicopter airdropping Nobuo Uematsu to direct them both in a parody of "One-Winged Angel".

John Williams' now-classic "Duel of the Fates" from the Star Wars saga is a Gaelic poem sung in Sanskrit, quite possibly making it even more awesome.
- Apparently it's a poem about trees going to war or something. When the soundtrack was released ahead of the movies, fans went looking for hidden meanings and Williams had to admit he just picked it because it sounded cool.
- Williams would do a similar one for Episode III, "Battle of the Heroes".
- Also one of the few undebatably awesome elements of the Star Wars prequels.
  - This is because it was the Molto vivace from Dvorak's New World Symphony.
The Omen used O Fortuna as the theme for the young antichrist Damien.
- No, it wasn't. Ave Satani, an original piece inspired by O'Fortuna, was the movie theme.
- Spoofed in the Jackass film, where O Fortuna plays during the intro, which consists of the cast members careening down a street in an oversized shopping cart with rocks being shot at them.
- Used well in a trailer to South Park the movie, as the boys see Cartman's mom on the cover of "Crack Whore Magazine".
- The overuse of "O Fortuna" — particularly for huge, sprawling period epic war footage — was splendidly mocked in this advertisement for the Australian beer Carlton Draught.
- Of course, in Britain, "O Fortuna" was used for an advert for Old Spice aftershave... and a parody of that advert many years later for Carling Black Label lager...
- On the other hand, "Ave Satani," another Damien theme from The Omen, is explicitly about the devil and very ominous.
Spoofed in Hot Fuzz, just like everything else. Word Of God states the words are "Donum commune communitatis," "The community that cares."
In Madagascar 2, animals chant in Swahili/distorted English as they try to coax Melman into killing himself to appease the gods. You can listen to it here.
Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky is perhaps the original instance. The Teutonic Knights are accompanied by an ominous Latin chorus, which rises in a crescendo during the battle scene. This made sense because the Teutons were evil Catholics fighting the goodguy Eastern Orthodox Russians in the highly propagandistic film. Prokofiev's film music for this sounds similar enough to "O Fortuna" that it may have inspired the use of Orff's Carmina Burana in movies. (The Orff piece was written earlier — by one year.) The chanted words: "Peregrinus expectavi pedes meos in cymbalis" themselves are snipped from Stravinsky's A Symphony of Psalms. Prokofiev, however, evidently realized no-one in the audiences would know Latin, because the words are randomly chosen from the Psalms, and literally mean, when read as one sentence: "I as a stranger awaited my feet on cymbals"
Mozart's "Dies Irae" underscores Nightcrawler's attack on the White House in X-Men 2.
Verdi's "Dies Irae" is the main opening theme to the Battle Royale film.
The Conan The Barbarian films heavily featured dramatic Latin music — despite there being no Latin in Cimmeria. See for example "Riders Of Doom." (~1:37)
Ominous Latin Chanting plays when Queen Narissa enters the real world in ''Enchanted'...and every time she uses her evil magic.
The final battle of The Matrix trilogy had some extremely Ominous Sanskrit Chanting in the background, although thematically it's rather positive ("And when he is seen in his immanence and transcendence, then the ties that have bound the heart are unloosened, the doubts of the mind vanish, and the law of Karma works no more.").
- As the Wachowskis put it, "We couldn't very well have the choir chanting 'This is the One, look at what he can do', could we?"
  - They missed a trick not using "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora though.
- A "Kyrie Eleison" or two also popped up in the freeway scene in the second movie, notably when Neo finally flies in.
  - ... which would, as stated above, be Ominous Greek Chanting.
And the Lord Of The Rings movies featured some very ominous chanting, especially Quenya chanting (which, while a "good" (i.e. Elven) languague, is definitely ominous, being based on Latin and Finnish in about equal measure) when the Nazgûl made their appearance. But anything beginning with Ash nazg durbatulûk (one ring to rule them all) is in Black Speech, the lingua franca of Mordor. The movies are also notable for the skilful use of a deep-voiced Polynesian choir during the definitely ominous Balrog scene.
- The Ralph Bakshi cartoon version of The Lord Of The Rings did something similiar in its Helm's Deep sequence. The words "Isengard" and "Mordor" crop up, but the rest of it is in made-up speak — not even one of the languages Tolkien invented.
- One of the themes commonly used in evil-is-winning battle/chase moments begins with the words "Balin! Khazad-dûm!", which is likely dwarven, and if not, is at least speaking of dwarves (Balin being a lord of the dwarves and Khazad-dûm being the dwarven name for Moria).
- Fortunately for the composer, Tolkien was quite the linguist, composing several different Middle-Earth languages to chant ominously in.
  - Understatement of the century. Tolkien actually created the languages first, then wrote the stories to test his theories on myth and language. There's even local variants for many of the languages: The regular orcs and the elite uruk-hai have slight differences in speech, and the hobbits speak a mix of the two "human" languages. The "elvish" spoken by the Ents is an archaic form, used mostly in the Silmarillion. Most of the songs, by the way, were written by Tolkien himself. He even created the melody for some of the folkier songs, albeit by just humming them and having a trained musician transcribe it.
In the James Bond movie Die Another Day, Ominous backward English Chanting is used for the BigBad's Evil space laser. The phrase, according to the composer, is "look at the size of that umbrella."
Robocop has a chorus that chants his name.
The Boondock Saints does Ominous Latin Chanting throughout the movie, sometimes backed up with techno. The most pronounced is during the Il Duce firefight, which is accompanied by the same Ominous Latin Chanting that opened the movie.
The first transformation of Johnny Blaze into Ghost Rider is backed up by the Ominous Latin Chanting.
While not actual chanting, the opening driving sequence to The Shining is backed by a very slow version of "Dies Irae".
Monty Python And The Holy Grail rather gives a group of flagellant Benedictines the "Pie Iesu" lyrics ("Pie Iesu domine, dona eis Requiem"), which have a meaning close to "Gracious Lord Jesus, grant them rest."
- ...or alternately, "Christ, give them a break!"
- This scene is a parody of the flagellants from Bergman's The Seventh Seal, who sing the "Dies Irae". This scene (the Bergman one, I mean) is probably as close to a fully justified use of Ominous Latin Chanting as we are ever likely to encounter.
The 2007 live-action Transformers film features a basso and an alto choir in counterpoint to each other being used for the Decepticon theme.
Artists X-Ray Dog and Globus and others specialize in music for film and trailers, often featuring a lot of Ominous Latin Chanting.
The Reveal for the titular Cool Boat in The Hunt For Red October is backed by Ominous Russian Chanting (complete with Bilingual Bonus) to form a Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, during the massive battle there is ominous chanting quite a bit.
- In the same film, there is also a ton of the aforementioned chanting shortly before and during the Stone Table scene.
In the finale to Dead Again, the three-way battle between Frankie, Mike, and Grace is backed by the Ominous Latin Chanting.
In the 1963 film of Lord Of The Flies, the choir approach singing "Kyrie eleison" repeatedly, in upbeat mood, accompanying a rather triumphant sounding trumpet. It sounds ominous only in retrospect (or if you know what's coming).
- Ironically, "Kyrie eleison" is part of the Catholic mass and translates to "Lord have mercy." This is more what it would sound like in the traditional Latin rite.
Much of the monolith music from Kubrick's 2001 is actually Ligeti's Requiem mass. If you're listening carefully, you'll occasionally hear a word like "Christe" come floating out of the craziness.
While not Latin, there is plenty of ominous chanting in Hindi during Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. "Kali ma shukti de! "
In Young Sherlock Holmes, the snake cult chants ominously in some dead language during their climactic ritual.
- A lot of their lyrics are merely the name of the cult, the "Rame Tep", being intoned. There's some other words strewn throughout, though.
John Boorman's Excalibur features one of the more famous uses of O Fortuna during battle sequences.
The main title theme for the Francis Ford Coppola version of Dracula featured a chorus whispering and hissing on pitch in both Latin and Romanian.
This trope (usually substituting another language for Latin, though) shows up in a number of Bollywood films, including—but not nearly limited to — Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham, and Main Hoon Na.
Koyaanisqatsi features Ominous Hopi Chanting. Both it and its sequels (Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi) feature the film's title chanted (although in Powaqqatsi it's more joyful than ominous), but there are additional Hopi chants in Koyaanisqatsi, which are translated at the end of the film, on screen, as:
- If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster.
- Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky.
- A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans.
In the opening tune, and during the climactic battle in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the enchanted armour sing the words of the 'substitutiary locomotion' spell that is animating them ("Treguna mekoides trecorum satis dee."). The effect is actually quite chilling.
Craig Armstrong's "Escape" from Plunkett And Macleane starts out as ominous and quite mournful, it being played as Macleane is about to get hanged, but soon turns into a driving and triumphant score when Plunkett gets his Big Damn Hero on and rescues him.
''Justice is dead!...Or so Jay thinks!''
Parodied in Woody Allen's Love and Death, during the battle scene. I don't know the name of the piece, but it's probably been listed here already.
Listen to the music that plays during Galaxy Quest when we see the Omega 13 in all its glory. Go on, you know you want to.
While not Latin, the piece titled "Decepticons" from Steve Jablonsky's Transformers (2007) soundtrack features some ominous chanting.
Parodied twice in Step Brothers. A short sound clip of Ominous Latin Chanting plays when Brennan sees Dale's drum set (on which Dale has a strict 'do not touch' policy) sitting in the latter's room. It plays again when Dale inspects his drum set, suspecting it to have been touched.
John Barry’s music for The Lion In Winter makes liberal use of Ominous Latin Chanting.
The soundtrack for Glory is made up of somthing that sounds like Ominous Latin Chanting, but it's also kind of pretty, so...

In the Warhammer 40 K novel Storm of Iron, the lead Chaos Titan is named Dies Irae.
Averted in the divine comedia where latin chanting is a good sign and a contrast to the wailing screams of agony that are heard in hell.

O Fortuna was also used during the series finale of the cult favourite TV show, American Gothic.
Stargate SG-1 used Ominous Latin Chanting in the 3rd season episode "Demons". However, that episode was about a group of Middle Ages humans being threatened by Sokar, so it's rather appropriate.
- In later seasons, there's plenty of Ominous Latin Chanting related to the Ori, as well as in the direct-to-DVD movies.
Ominous Latin Chanting plays every time The Janitor gives someone the Evil Eye in Scrubs. May God have mercy on the one who receives it.
- Though what is chanted in these scenes is "Koyaanisqatsi", which is a Hopi phrase, so this would be Ominous Hopi Chanting.
The Daily Show used Ave Satani for the "horrors" that were:
- Starbucks being closed for three hours.
- Dick Cheney smiling more than ten times during the State of the Union address.
- Not to mention Jon Stewart revealing his true identity as the Antichrist or possibly Conrad Bain.
- More recently, they used O Fortuna to accompany footage of Jesus on a spring.
In the revived Doctor Who, the first appearance of a massive Dalek army is accompanied by Ominous Hebrew Chanting. (The words are reported to be a translation of "What is happening?", which apart from being an appropriate response to the situation is also a Dalek Catch Phrase.)
- The words are "Mah Koreh, Mah Mah Koreh" (what’s happening, what’s what’s happening) repeated over and over again.
- A moment in the following season's finale, featuring the use of the Dalek's Genesis Arc — sending millions of Daleks against the 5 million Cybermen that have already taken over the world winds up using the prerequisite chanting as well.
- In “Tooth And Claw”, the bald monks chant "Lupus Deus est" — 'the wolf is god' — as the moon rises.
The Borg's first appearance in the "Best of Both Worlds" episode of Star Trek The Next Generation is accompanied by an awesome sounding synthesized choir (appropriate for the Borg's artificial nature).
As much mournful as ominous, the words in the opening credits of Battlestar Galactica (in all TV airings on UK television, and from season 2 onwards in the U.S.) are actually a Sanskrit prayer known as the Gayatri Mantra, considered to be the holiest verse in the Vedas, the founding texts of Hinduism. Roughly translated into English it reads:
''Oh God! Giver of life, earth and sky
That heavenly light which must be worshipped
Let us attain the radiance of God
May our thoughts bring us ever forward into light''
- Gaius Baltar's new theme is in Old English. Translated, it's a prayer to Gaius Christ, divine saviour of mankind. Okay. then...
- Baltar also listens to a hilarious Italian opera way back in the first season:
"Woe upon your Cylon heart.
There's a toaster in your head.
And it wears high heels.
Number Six calls to you.
The Cylon Detector beckons.
Your girlfriend is a toaster."
In addition to the above, also mocked on this episode of MST3K. "Featuring the Bulgarian Women's Choir edition of 'Jingle Bells'!"
- And again with Werewolf, where they take the Ominous Native American Chanting sung over the credits and sing anything that fits with the beat.
The theme for Silent Witness is sung in Latin.
In The Middleman, when Sensei Ping does the Wu-han Thumb of Death, it's accompanied by the "Dies Irae" from the Mozart Requiem (along with stock footage of stuff blowing up).
Farscape: "Into The Lion's Den", the climax (if not the finale) of the third season, had two original tracks of Ominous Latin Chanting, "Salve Me" and "Lacrimosa". Both are available at the official website, and both are Crowning Music Of Awesome.
Played with in Kamen Rider 555 in which a Corrupt Corporate Executive (though to be fair, the entire organization was corrupt too) played Ominous Latin Chanting on a personal CD player in his office whenever he was on the job. The situation didn't matter; he could be planning world domination or just relaxing after a hard hour's work, but the Chanting would still be belting out at full volume. Thanks to the show having a serious tone 99% of the time, this came off as more creepy than humorous.
The opening credits to Mr Bean had a real church choir singing the Latin for "Behold the man who is a bean", "End of part one", "Part two", and "Farewell, man who is a bean"
The theme to the darkly humorous Danish television series Riget (of which Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital is a remake) mixed genuine Latin phrases with gibberish, counting to seven in English and slow spelling of the word "rectum" [1].
- Actually, even the legitimate Latin is nonsense ("speculum et cetera"; "mirror and so forth").
An episode of Spaced features apocalyptic Latin chanting to reveal a cute dog lying with bamboo on Tim's bed, as he has a fear of both.
Even Survivor (yes, the reality show) has done this in the most recent season with a generally unliked contestant (somewhere between quirky, insane, and power-hungry) doing yoga in the rain (complete with ominous lightning and thunder) as O Fortuna plays in the background.
Warehouse13 's pilot had Ominous Medieval Italian Chanting.
In the new Discovery Channel series Wild Tropics, whenever the sharks or other dangerous predators show up the music shifts to Ominous Polynesian Chanting
Ominous Chanting is quite common on Merlin, though it's so indistinct that it's hard to tell whether or not it's Latin. Or what they're saying.
Invoked on Top Gear — for when things like a race to London City Airport between a boat and a bicycle just aren't epic enough.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer has this. Usually, though, it isn't so much chanting as speaking it to perform spells and/or do rituals.
The soundtrack for Lexx includes a fair amount of random choral chanting (although a lot of it is just oohs and aahs).

There's a German electronic music band, called E Nomine, that uses a lot of Ominous Latin Chanting in its songs, with good results. Then they combine it with the guttural voice of a chain-smoking German to make it even more sinister.
- Schwarze Sonne is a perfect example of just how epic this trope can be.
The song Kann denn Liebe Sünde Sein by the german metal band Eisbrecher has this in the beginning, but it's in German.
B-Movie sample pioneer Rob Zombie has used this technique in a couple songs, more notably in the White Zombie song "Super-Charger Heaven" (supposedly using a Latin excommunication trial).
This editor has seen it used during football games. Especially during pre-game shows while the announcers hype the teams.
Most power-metal albums, especially those with a fantasy theme. Pretty much any "Rhapsody" album starts off with a choir chanting ominous Latin gibberish.
While primarily instrumental, the band Nox Arcana employs vocal tracks on each of its albums. Almost all of those vocal tracks are in ominous Latin, as befits the band's name. Winter's Knight includes Gregorian hymns, which are neither intended nor played as ominous, but they have a somewhat spooky effect regardless. Necronomicon also has plenty of ill-boding chanting, but it's not in a human language. Blood of the Dragon is in the fantasy genre, not horror, but it still uses plenty of O Fortuna-inspired chanting throughout the album (particularly in the title track, where the influence is so obvious it's ridiculous).
In the penultimate scene of Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, a male chorus chants in a made-up demonic language ("Ha! Irimiru Karabrao!") as Mephistopheles triumphantly brings Faust into Pandaemonium. The final scene is set in the other place, where a Cherubic Choir welcomes Marguerite.
Puccini's Tosca, at the end of Act I, with the Latin prayers underscoring the nefarious schemes of corrupt chief of police and sexual predator Scarpia, though the prayers themselves culminate in the first lines of the Te Deum, which is usually considered more celebratory than ominous. More ominously, Spoletta mumbles a few lines from the "Dies Irae" during the torture scene in Act II.
Puccini's Turandot (based on a Persian fairytale) has the chorus (singing in Italian) playing the people of Beijing, reflecting the changing moods of the crowd, first as a frenzied mob screaming for blood, then cheering the Unknown Prince on as he successfully answers the princess' riddles, and pleading with slave-girl Liù, who has killed herself, to reveal the prince's name. Especially at the death of Liù, the sound of the chorus is chilling.
Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov has the chorus playing the Russian people. Many opera lovers consider the chorus to be one of the main characters, and they get their own curtain call. Their prayers, mob scenes, and laments, sung in Russian, sound spooky as well as heartrending, particularly at the death of Boris. At several points, some really ominous Latin chanting is heard.
The band Enigma combines Gregorian-esque chants with ethereal electronic sound effects.
Although in English, AFI's "Miseria Cantare" pretty much tells you that Sing The Sorrow's plot (it is a concept album) is not going to have a happy ending. Yeah, the lyrics are nihilistic, but it is the background chorus and eerie music that show you the magnitude of the unhappy life the main character of the plot is going to have.
Warszawa on the album Low, by David Bowie, has a long chanting sequence, made of Bowie overdubbing his own voice in several keys. Ominous, yes, but the actual lyrics are gibberish
Evanescence use it in the songs "Whisper" and "Lacrymosa," as well as the unreleased song "Anything for You." Whisper's lyrics translated are, "Save us from danger, save us from fear," and the other two are just from the "Lacrimosa" section of the Requiem mass.
Enya's Tempus Vernum is entirely Ominous Latin Chanting, which is essentially a list of pairs of opposites. ("Therefore, the earth and the stars. Therefore, the east and the west...")
- Not to mention Pax Deorum and Cursum Perficio. Enya seems to like this trope a lot.
- She's also very fond of Gaelic (not surprising at all, given her musical and cultural background), and for Amarantine even developed an artificial language — complete with its own script — for those moments when neither Latin nor Gaelic met the dramatic requirements.
Power/thrash metal band Iced Earth has the 16-minute epic Dante's Inferno, based on, well, Dante's Inferno. It has sections of what sounds like Ominous Latin Chanting, although songwriter Jon Schaffer has admitted that it's just gibberish invented to sound evil. Ominous Latin Chanting also shows up in the songs Damien (based on the movie The Omen) and The Coming Curse, although this editor is not certain whether these contain actual Latin words.
- Demons & Wizards also uses this: "Crimson King" starts with chanting choirs and "Chant," the outro on their first album is a (pseudo?) Gregorian chant that Hansi Kürsch made by multi-tracking his voice. Speaking of Hansi, the second album by his main band, Blind Guardian, opens with "Inquisition": Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem chanted repeatedly. (This is the same as the chanting in Monty Python And The Holy Grail.) It's fairly relevant; the first song is about John the Baptist.
Inversion: "Orchestral metal" group Trans-Siberian Orchesta's rock opera Beethoven's Last Night features some Ominous Latin Chanting, but it's generally uplifting and set to a variation of Ode to Joy. The piece has the titular composer reflecting on his life and career, and how his music has affected the world.
- The more traditional version makes its appearance in "Requiem (The Fifth)" from said rock opera, which, as its name implies, is a mash-up of Mozart's Requiem and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
AIM's Demonique combines, to wonderfully creepy effect, ominous chanting with dialogue from the movie "Halloween" and a trip-hop beat.
O Fortuna. The piece has been popularly associated with Satanism ever since it was used in The Omen.
- Which this student of Latin finds saddening, because it's the most awesome piece of musical navel contemplation you will ever hear.
- Also from Carmina Burana is "In taberna quando sumus", an Ominous Latin Drinking Song.
Mozart's "Dies Irae" from the Requiem gets almost as much play as "O Fortuna" in dramatic situations. Unlike most of the pieces on this page, though, it has the thematic weight to match its ominous tone when translated: the lyrics are describing the Apocalypse.
- In fact, the "Dies Irae" from any Requiem Mass qualifies by definition as Ominous Latin Chanting. Especially Verdi.
  - In point of fact, some Requiems (John Rutter's, for example) lack this powerful sequence - and some which have it don't really do the whole The End Of The World As We Know It theme justice. Not to mention that the original Dies Irae chant is pretty freakin' spooky all on its own. And in further, extremely picky point of fact (from a church musician) - the vast majority of the examples stated here aren't actually chant at all, being settings of the text in musical instead of speech rhythms. Mind you, "Ominous Latin Singing" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Adiemus, a classical piece by Karl Jenkins, isn't technically Latin (the composer invented all the "words" himself), but it's spine-tingling awesome.
Deathspell Omega is basically a Latin choir playing black metal.
Check the E.S. Posthumus album Unearthed and you're less likely to find a song without Ominous Latin Chanting. Of course, the reason behind their use of it is the fact that the songs are all about dead civilizations and ruined cities of the ancient world.
A Song For Europe by Roxy Music has Bryan Ferry repeating the song's last couplet in French, then in Latin.
The song "Sister of Charity" by Finnish Gothic-Rock band The 69 Eyes contains repeated Ominous Latin Chanting, made even more ominous coupled with the deep bass voice of the singer. The Latin words translate to "Between hope and fear... Charity in war".
Some Latin chants are so well known in classical music that they can be quoted in an instrumental piece without the words being used. The most ominous of these chants is the Gregorian Dies Irae. Examples of its many uses appear in the Witches' Sabbath movement of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Camille Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre and third symphony, Sergei Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain and Franz Liszt's Totentanz
Metallica's "The Memory Remains" has Marianne Faithfull singing an Ominous Chanting of "nananana" (and she's an appropriate choice, considering the song is about a White Dwarf Starlet). James Hetfield asks the audience to sing that part live.
Era, while very fond of the Latin Chanting, isn't usually Ominous. But then there's Enae Volare Mezzo, which is probably one of the sexiest sounding examples of Ominous Latin Chanting ever.
The French prog rock band Magma uses ominous chanting in many of their songs. They even made up their own language for it, called Kobian.

The Undertaker has often gotten in on the act, as many of his Pay-Per-View entrances see him preceded by torch-bearing, black-robed druids chanting in Latin. Extra points to his Wrestlemania XIV entrance, where the druids actually entered to "O Fortuna" before Undertaker made his entrance to his usual music, a particularly-chilling rendition of Chopin's "Funeral March".
Raven's entrance theme from his short WWE tenure prominently features Ominous Arabic Chanting. Raven mentioned on his website that Jim Johnston (WWE's music director, and writer/composer of about 90% of the songs used by WWE) used it to make the song sound "creepy and alien". It works beautifully.
- Ominous Arabic chanting was featured even more prominently in Muhammad Hassan's theme, but this time, it was post 9/11, and the music was deliberately chosen to, along with the entrance video that interspersed shots of Hassan and his manager, Daivari, with slow pans of various American landmarks, leave the viewer with a vaguely uncomfortable feeling. All of this played directly into Hassan's character, which was an Arab-American who was sick and tired of being stereotyped as a terrorist, and lashed out at everybody, including the audience, for doing so. In case you're wondering, yes, this was far too complex a character to be done justice in Professional Wrestling, and he eventually did get derailed into an Evil Foreigner.

In Princess Waltz, a techno version of this is the Cue Cullen to every Badass moment in the game, and it definitely gets the player geeked out of their mind for the upcoming PWNAGE!
Eternal Darkness does this with ominous whispering.
- Also comes up in incidental music during chapters set in the Forbidden City in Persia.
Appears during the start menu in Star Wars: Republic Commando. It is perhaps worth noting that this is not Latin, but is in fact the Mandalorian language, which has been expanded into what is essentially the Star Wars equivalent of Elvish.
- For example, "Ka'rta Tor" and "Gra'tua Cuun", which sound oddly like they belong in Warhammer40000.
Crops up once in the Ps2 game Primal, during the boss battle with Adaro.
In Command And Conquer: Red Alert 3 there is an Ominous Japanese Chanting when their Humongous Mecha, The Shogun Executioner is activated, to your delight, you are the one controlling it.
- Not to mention the Ominous Latin Chanting in the Grinder 2 music theme. Although it does sound like they're saying "God help us!"
Possibly oldest among the trope users in gaming: Roberta Williams' Phantasmagoria opened with a full Gregorian chant called Consumite Furore. Only barely weakened by the use of poor Midi instruments in some portions.
Tomb Raider is absolutely chock-full of this in its first three games, particularly the original game.
- Tomb Raider: Anniversary has even more (especially in its Greek section). Tomb Raider: Legend's theme tune is a Gaelic chant (although not really ominous), also a Bilingual Bonus as it is actually a Gaelic folk song.
  - It also has an "Ave Maria" Latin chant.
  - Tomb Raider: Underworld's theme tune is focused around a slowly growing chant (although its use here is more epic than ominous)
"One-Winged Angel" (yes, that one), the Final Boss theme from Final Fantasy VII, is in Latin. With the exception of the repetition of Sephiroth's name, the lyrics are taken from sections of Carmina Burana. This music was updated somewhat as a Bonus Boss fight in Kingdom Hearts. When the one and only Sephiroth made his film debut in the spinoff Advent Children, however, his theme song was given a massive makeover, complete with new lyrics (underlining the character's themes), a more operatic tone, and blazing electric guitars.
- Speaking of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VIII opened with "Liberi Fatali," or "Fated Children," splitting the camera time between a heated duel and a field of flowers. (The lyrics themselves were rather ominous and dramatic even after translation and heavily foreshadowed the events of the game.)
  - Even cooler, the initial words, "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" (which are also used at other places in the soundtrack) though sounding vaguely Latin, are actually an anagram for "Succession of Witches" plus the word "Love".
- In a Missing Moment Of Awesome, the PC version of Final Fantasy VII used only MIDI music, and therefore no Sephiroth choir.
  - Unless you paid enough for your sound card that you could load .sf2 files. At the time this was the exception rather than the rule.
  - Wait a minute, there's an Ominous Latin Chanting soundfont? Link, please.
  - Load "lb2.sf2" from the install CD or your hard drive, then play this MIDI file. It only has the 6 lines from One Winged Angel, but with the right hardware the final boss can be about as epic as the Playstation version.
- Final Fantasy X has Ominous Nonsense Chanting. The Hymn of the Fayth, though slightly more upbeat than most of these examples, is actually Japanese written in one direction then read in another direction, the explanation of which can be found here.
- Final Fantasy XI has Ominous Esperanto Chanting in its opening video.
- And is continued in Final Fantasy XIII.
Ace Combat Zero used this trope to good measure in its final battle too. But they had more or less just took the same song and lyrics from Ace Combat 5 and remixed its symphonic choir theme into something akin to a Latin Flamenco. But we're certainly not complaining. It was appropriate since Zero was the prequel of 5.
- Subverted in Ace Combat 6; the background music playing during the battle at the Chandelier is superficially similar to many cases of Ominous Latin Chanting. However, it's in plain English and sung by a boy's choir.
- Ace Combat 04 plays versions of both Rex Tremendae Maiestatis and Agnus Dei from Requiem Mass for the final mission
"Dies Irae" is Wolfgang Krauser's theme from the Fatal Fury games.
Used in some of the Warcraft III cinematics, mostly hauntingly during the return of Prince Arthas.
- Gleefully utilized in World Of Warcraft.
- Paired with more cheerful Inspiring Latin Chanting in the common theme A Call To Arms.
The main battle theme for Super Smash Bros Brawl on Final Destination features Ominous Latin Chanting, along with face-melting electric guitar solos.
- Interestingly, it's a remix of the main theme for the game, where the Latin Chanting isn't ominous at all; in fact, it's more lyrics than chanting. When you beat the Subspace Emissary mode, the theme plays again with a very loose translation of the lyrics displayed... and they're basically a thematic description of the events of the game (granted, a very loose and non-specific description).
- It's worth noting, though, that said piece was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the famed Final Fantasy composer responsible for the aforementioned "One-Winged Angel" and "Liberi Fatali." Man just loves his ominous chanting.
- The "Fire Emblem Theme" music on the Fire Emblem stage also has Latin lyrics. Translation here; apparently, it's the same choral group responsible for the main theme.
  - Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn also had Latin in its main theme, but this is not the same as the Latin used in Smash Bros.
Drakengard has instances of Ominous Latin Chanting in background music. The trope is subverted, however, as every important plot event usually uses something other than Ominous Latin Chanting to set the mood. The game's composer was fond of discordant violins.
Subverted in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter: The final boss, Mordekai the summoner, spends the entire battle chanting to himself in ominous-sounding Latin, but as the in-game bestiary will explain, having been risen from the dead, his brain has suffered significant damage, so he's constantly talking complete and utter crap to himself, in Latin!
In Fable, whenever you find yourself wandering around a graveyard, the background music will feature plenty of ominous chanting.
Medal Of Honor: Frontline is notable for its use of Melancholy Dutch Chanting in at least two missions, one of which ("Arnhem Knights") features a huge, chaotic battle; in the latter case, it is presumably to underscore the violence of the mission itself, and actually works rather well.
- Or Melancholy Dutch Cherubic Choir.
- The track "Sturmgeist's Armoured Train", however, plays this straight, combining loud and ominous "Ah-ah"'s with pounding percussion and powerful brass.
The Teaser of the Starcraft Expansion Pack features ominous opera chanting playing on an antique record player in Admiral DuGalle's quarters as he and Vice Admiral Stukov discuss the ethics of using the Zerg as a bio weapon while watching said aliens ravage a hapless human colony. It swells from Latin into Ominous French Chanting with a Bilingual Bonus of Soundtrack Dissonance—"Give everything for honour!"—as the Admiral orders his fleet to abandon the colonists to their fate.
- The trailer featured said Ominous Operatic Latin Chanting as the audio as clips from various cutscenes played.
While it may not qualify as ominous, per se, Homeworld used "Adagio for Strings" to a similar effect. It first plays at the beginning of the first mission, accompanied by cinematic views and radio communiqués of the Mothership preparing to leave its berth. It plays again on the third mission, when it returns from its hyperdrive test to discover that hostile aliens have firebombed your whole *** planet to extinction. It plays a third and last time in the final mission, when your Mothership is being swamped by overwhelming enemy reinforcements... only the latest arrivals are rebels who help carve a path for your fleet to strike at their mad emperor.
Beyond Good And Evil had ominous unknown alien language chanting in most of the battles with DomZ. While most of it doesn't mean anything, the pseudo-ArcWord "Shauni" does crop up in it from time to time.
The Halo series has ominous Gregorian chant playing during all of the main menu screens. Other examples include "The Maw" (heard at the beginning of the level of the same name), the Delta Halo theme, and "Ancient Machine"(one of the Flood themes). Several tunes also feature an Ethereal Choir.
- This isn't technically Ominous Latin Chanting though since the chanting isn't in Latin. In fact it's nothing more than "uh" and occasionally "oo". Except in a few themes (notably Destroyer's Invocation from Halo 2) in which the chanting is reversed English. Then there's the music for the live-action trailer We Are ODST which features someone singing in Welsh about cheating Death and 'plunging headfirst into the afterlife'
Freedom Fighters features a lot of Ominous Russian Chanting in the more climactic parts of the game. This makes sense in two ways: the Russians are the ones that are invading the USA, and these songs are mostly based on the Soviet Army Choirs.
The menus in Age Of Mythology are accompanied by Ominous Greek Chanting.
In the later games of the Myst series, the tribal-sounding choral pieces that open the games are all in the Myst Verse's fictional languages.
Xenosaga has a lot of Latin songs, but most of them aren't that ominous. Rather, the Latin chanting is more upbeat and action-oriented, though there are a few songs that get three out of three.
The second and third battles with Vergil in Devil May Cry 3 feature battle music that ends in a foreboding chant, though it may not necessarily be in any specific language.
- Also present when you visit the Divine Statues scattered everywhere.
- Meanwhile, in the fourth game, Ominous Chanting (and not-so-Ominous Chanting) makes up a considerable portion of the soundtrack. Considering the game's Crystal Dragon Jesus themes, this makes perfect sense.
God Of War, appropriately, featured Ominous Greek Chanting that started up whenever something suitably spectacular came into view, Kratos killed a lot of things (or just one really big thing) or Kratos solved a puzzle.
- ...So, the whole game, then?
  - ...yes.
Metroid Prime uses ominous chanting in its main menu, although there are no words. Just "Aaahhh ah-ah". It still sounds awesome. (the title theme of Prime 2: Echoes is similar, though with "Oh-oh-oh-oooooooooooooohhhhh")
- Metroid has another known ominous chanting, the Lower Norfair theme from Super Metroid, which is also used for Magmoor in Prime. No words again, just "oh, oh, oh", and also sounds awesome.
  - Metroid Prime 2 does it a little bit when Dark Samus appears. The third Prime game also does it again for her and uses it rather nicely when exploring the cliffside of Bryyo.
Descent: Freespace had "Aaaahaaahs" in its cutscenes. Freespace 2 ups the ante by having them in the music played in action situations, as well as in the briefing music right before an important battle).
Resident Evil -- Outbreak, among others in the series, has an example of this trope during the third fight against Thanatos. That it is the last boss fight in the game doesn't help either.
Kingdom Hearts employs Ominous Italian Chanting in the first game, namely during "Destati" ("Awakening") at the beginning, "Fragments of Sorrow" (End of the World's battle theme) and "Guardando nel Buio" ("Watching in the Dark", one of the final boss themes).
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Circle of the Moon use the traditional "Kyrie Eleison" chant for their menus. Symphony of the Night use another old Christian chant, "Key Largo".
Super Mario Galaxy had "Aaaaaahhhhhhh"s in all three fights with Bowser.
The Fire Temple from The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time had Ominous Arab Chanting — prompting Muslims to protest as some parts clearly resembled Islamic chants, which caused further versions of the game to have a chant-less version of the song. The Shadow Temple also has an Ominous Chant of "aaaah — uuuuuh — ooooh" (which raise the Nightmare Fuel of the dungeon even further).
- What about the ominous screaming that made up the Forest Temple's theme? That music by itself was nearly Nightmare fuel just cause it made you so on edge.
- The Song of Time was also chanted in the Temple of Time. No lyrics, just "Eeyaaah-eee-ee-yaaaah."
- The Wind Waker tacked on some disturbing chanting in its remix of Ganondorf's theme song.
- The boss theme of Beast Ganon in Twilight Princess features chanting in form of "Enyaaa" all the time.
- The intro music of Twilight Princess has Gregorian-type chanting.
- In the staircase of the Tower of Spirits in Spirit Tracks. It isn't added to the song right until you almost reached the top.
Trauma Center: New Blood features Latin chanting when the final form of Cardia is revealed. To be fair, it actually makes sense, since the lyrics are calling the virus to awaken and kill the world.
- The Ominous Latin Chanting reappears in Under the Knife 2 as well, on the Alethia missions.
- And was also in Second Opinion, on the first Savato mission (and thus, X-Missions one through six).
The theme from Zone Of The Enders: the 2nd Runner is almost entirely made-up chanting, but sounds awesome nonetheless.
In Super Smash Bros Melee, the Pokemon battlefield stage had an ominous chorus remix of the Pokemon theme.
Subverted in Universe at War: Earth Assault, where the Gregorian hymns are given to the Ancient Astronauts and Sealed Good In A Can Masari. The evil Hierarchy get heavy metal instead.
Jedah Dohma's entrance theme in Darkstalkers 3 contains Ominous Latin Chanting. This seems appropriate, as Jedah is the Antichrist.
Medieval: Total War
- Or, for a change, some ominous GREEK chanting.
Myst 3: Exile features its own language in the title song. Clips from it appear throughout the game at dramatic points.
Little Big Planet apparently contained Ominous Arabic Chanting. Unfortunately, this got the game labelled as blasphemous by Muslim leaders, and triggered a recall in order to remove the lyrics.
- It also has Nevsky's Battle on the Ice during the laughably easy final boss.
The opening theme to 11eyes has an Ominous Latin Chanting chorus in the background chanting the Seven Deadly Sins. (Superbia invidia ira acetia avarita...). This is more than just Gratuitous Latin, though. The Seven Deadly Sins extend to the Theme Naming of a very certain group of enemies that show up later in the game.
Call Of Duty: World at War features Ominous Russian Chanting in the Red Army's theme.
The Final Ship Battle in Skies Of Arcadia had this.
The whole soundtrack of Chaos Gate is this, it's awesome
Wario Land: Shake It had minor Ominous Chanting during the escape music in the haunted house levels Bad Manor and Boogie Mansion.
"Dancing Mad,"the Final Boss Battle Theme Music for Kefka in Final Fantasy VI, is the predecessor to "One-Winged Angel" mentioned above. Made extra epic with the inclusion of the most ominous pipe organ this side of Tocatto and Fugue in D Minor. And it was all done on the SNES with just a voice-synth card.
- The live version with an actual choir and (presumably) Latin lyrics properly invokes this trope.
The music for Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 2's final boss. Given the nature of the boss itself — a giant Fruit Fucker — one can only imagine what the lyrics mean…
Even Sonic the Hedgehog has this. Latin chants begin the theme that plays while the Super Hedgehogs square off against the first form of Solaris, the Big Bad of the critically panned 2006 game.
The Legend of Spyro loves this trope. Not that's a bad thing, in some cases, it works quite well, such as Gaul's theme in The Eternal Night (and the theme for the Destroyer level in Dawn of the Dragon).
Rogue Galaxy had Latin (at least, that's what I believe it is) chanting for the final boss and a block puzzle the size of Manhattan. Unfortunately, the chanting consists solely of a single phrase repeated over and over. It sounds cool, but "Hungary Bravara" doesn't actually sound too ominous.
Armored Core For Answer subverts this trope with the song "Scorcher", which plays a total of 3 times in the game (of note one of those times is For Answer's infamous Scrappy Level, the Occupation of Arteria Carpals)— it sounds like this trope at first, but it's actually English. (To be specific: "I can't go there, Find It! Pound It! I can't see clear, Stomp It! Beat It!" are the lyrics.)
Ar Tonelico is full of this. It even has an entire language used solely for this purpose.
- In fact, anything can be done with Ominous Latin Chanting: from attacking the enemies to remaking the world.
- The song "METHOD_REPLEKIA" is a good example of attacking an enemy; the moment you hear this song, their annihilation is assured to the wailing of a hundred epic bards.
Dance Dance Revolution; the song Xepher. To be precise, it's Ominous English Chanting, by a Japanese vocalist.
Justinian of Byzantium's diplomacy theme from Civilization IV, "Deus Judex Justus," certainly qualifies... unless they're singing in Greek...
- Beyond that, almost the entire Middle Ages soundtrack consists of REAL Gregorian chant.
Would you believe this trope can apply...to a boxing game? There are "aaaaahhh"s in the music when you fight Soda Popniski in Punch Out Wii.
The title theme from Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, as well as Apocalypse and Hunter from Blood Money.
- The rendition of Ave Maria from Blood Money, however, is more melancholy. Also, Soundtrack Dissonance, once 47 gets up and starts killing people.
How about "The Seal Is Broken" from the final boss fight in Blue Dragon? Not sure exactly what language the music that plays during the Destroy battle is in, but it's ominous chanting. Oh, and Nobuo Uematsu is responsible for the game's music, so...
The Ultramarines' Chant. Only one part sounds like it could vaguely be Latin-ish, the rest seems to be gibberish.
- That's clearly High Gothic, which is represented in-universe by Latin mixed with English.
- The original Dawn Of War had a track simply named "Chant," which underscored your first encounter with the traitorous Chaos Marines.
Shadow Hearts has a recurring theme known as "ICARO", a term for a shamanic song dealing with removing baneful spirits from a person, which is chanted thusly.
Not sure if this counts, but Zealot Ganados from RE 4 like to walk around chanting such things as "¡Cogedlo! ¡Cogedlo!" and "Morir es vivir, morir es vivir" in deep or breathy voiced just before, or during their attacks.
- Actually, they're speaking Spanish. "Morir es vivir" translates to "To die is to live" and "Cogedlo" means "Catch him".
The soundtrack for .hack//G.U. has a lot of Ominous German Chanting. Specific tracks include "Great Temple of Caerleon Medb:, " Wailing Capital Wald Uberlisterin", "Welcome to the World" and "Over the Mountains".
For a budget shooting game, Starfighter Sanvein has this for its "Mine" stage. However, exactly because it is a budget game, the Latin chanting is just...keyboard synths. But damn it if isn't awesome (starts at 00:27).
Much of the soundtrack to Alone In The Dark 2008 contains ominous chanting.
Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain uses ominous chants in several musics. Most prominently in the Chechen terrorist theme (first heard at the end of Krivorozhstal Mill).
Appropriately for the setting, many of the music tracks in Dawn Of War feature ominous High Gothic or Eldar chanting.
In R Type Final, the Final Boss music features an ominous Gregorian chant similar to the Halo theme. No words, of course. Also has ominous organ.
Okami has the theme of Oni Island, as well as the Geisha Spider's battle music, IIRC.
Tekken 6 has this trope everywhere, although not all of it's Latin. Azazel's Chamber and Fallen Colony are the primary examples.
Bayonetta. And It Is Awesome.

Warhammer has human magic users slowly become more and more influenced by their chosen magic discipline. In the case of White Magic users, this may make them able to sing in a chorus by themselves.
Warhammer 40000 uses this one, too, but in dramatically different circumstances. The Imperium of Man is a theocratic fascist state, whose official language is High Gothic, usually rendered as Latin in the books. Anytime an Imperial choir strikes up, whether it be members of the Ministerium trying to bolster the morale of the Imperial Guardsmen defending against an enemy onslaught, or the Adepta Sororitas singing their battle-hymn the Fede Imperialis, this trope is in effect.

Also toyed with in the now-defunct RPG World. As the heroes infiltrate the Big Bad's headquarters for the final battle, they ride an elevator that plays "creepy chanting Latin chorus" music. The lyrics are a modified version of One Winged Angel.
Similarly, Adventurers has the villain transforming into his One Winged Angel form, and the first thing he says is, "Cue the choir."
This strip of Eight Bit Theater combines this trope with Unsound Effect with hilarious results.
As with many other tropes, Order of the Stick hung a lampshade on this one when Vaarsuvius makes a Deal with the Devils. In this case, an actual choir is seen singing "Bunkus! Nonsuch! Gibberos! Gobbleygoos!" just to the side of the main action.
- According to one of the devils (well, technically he's a yugoloth, but whatever), the choir consists of dead paedophiles who are "[snipped] fresh every morning so they keep that high pitch."
Digger: Sounds of distant ethereal chanting!
- Somewhat more disgruntled ethereal chanting!
Parodied in Not Quite Daily Comic: when Malène attacks with Ominous English Chanting (Handel's Hallelujah), Amaranthe strikes back with more devastating Ominous Latin Chanting (Händel's Dixit Dominus). The Ominous Greek that settles the fight has the impact of a small nuke.
Schlock Mercenary sees Ennesby program thousands of repairbots to sing "O Fortuna" in unison. Lampshaded by Kevyn, who urges him to pick a less-frightening song.
Order Of The Stick does it here, where Varsuuvius sells/rents his/her soul to the Inter-Field Cooperation Commission.

Another movie example: Disney's The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Considering the setting it's unsurprising that a lot of the background score is based on old-world church music, but the Latin vocals only make an appearance when someone's about to find themselves in serious trouble. Some awesome Bilingual Bonus within:
- Non confundar in aeternum (Let me not be damned for eternity — during Esmeralda's execution as a witch)
- Libera me Domine de morte aeterna (Free me, Lord, from everlasting death)/ In die illa tremenda (On that terrible day)/ Quando caeli movendi sunt (When the heavens shall be moved)/ Caeli et terra (The heavens and earth)/ Dum veneris judicare (When Thou shalt come to judge)/ Saeculum per ignem (the world by fire — during Quasimodo's breaking free of the chains)
- Sit sempiterna gloria (May glory be eternal)/ Gloria, gloria semper (Glory, glory forever)/ Sanctus, sanctus in excelsis (Holy, holy, in the highest — when Quasimodo climbs the cathedral and claims sanctuary for Esmeralda)
- Quem patronum rogaturus (To what protector shall I appeal)/ Cum vix justus sit securus? (When scarcely the just man shall be secure? — when Phoebus leads the charge toward the cathedral)
- Confutatis maledictis (When the accursed shall be cast down)/ Flammis acribus addictis (Given to the searing flames — when Frollo is about to fall off of Notre Dame)
- More examples can be found in the lyrics to "The Bells of Notre Dame" (Latin chanting during Frollo's chase describes the "day of trembling" when "the Judge is come,") and Frollo's Villain Song, "Hellfire."
  - Very cleverly used in "Hellfire". At one point Frollo sings "It's not my fault, I'm not to blame, it is the gypsy girl, the witch who set this flame. It's not my fault, if in God's plan, he made the Devil so much stronger than a man." Meanwhile the Latin chorus chants "Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa", which aside from meaning "by my fault, by my fault, by my most great fault" is also used in some Catholic churches during confessions of sin.
- One of the primary "dark/ominous" motifs in the film uses the phrase Kyrie eleison ("Lord, have mercy") — technically Ominous Greek Chanting, but the effect is the same.
- And, appropriately to the movie, most of these lines come from the Requiem Mass. "Libera Me" comes from the poem of the same name; the latter two come from "Dies Irae", which is not so much ominous as outright terrifying.
  - See for yourself: "Libera Me".
Parodied in South Park; in the episode "Damien", the son of Satan's arrival in town is accompanied by a choir of voices chanting "Rectus Dominus Cheesy Poofs" — which is obviously supposed to be Canis Latinicus for "Ass Master, Cheesy Poofs" can actually be translated as "Straight master, Cheesy Poofs".
- The episode "Fantastic Easter Adventure", which spoofs both The Da Vinci Code and the Easter holiday, featured a pseudo-Latin version of "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" that memorably includes the phrase "Hippitus, Hoppitus".
- "Britney's New Look" had the characters chanting ominous Latin.
Pinky, Elmyra and The Brain had a humorous take on this when an episode had a secret conspiracy Christopher Walken look-alike. His appearance was preceded by chanting of an incongruous group of words, always ending in "Lactose!" I.E. "Rialto, Ontario, Gluteous Maximus, LACTOSE!"
The Pixar short film "Jack-Jack Attack" on The Incredibles DVD makes use of "Dies Irae".
It is also included within Hans Zimmer's score for the wildebeest stampede and Mufasa's death scene in The Lion King.
- For bonus points, this same score (titled "To Die For...") also includes excerpts of Mozart's Requiem when Simba finds his father's body. The only thing The Lion King lacks is actual Ominous Latin Chanting — there's plenty of Zulu chanting but it's hardly ominous (except perhaps the Zulu which is set to the "Dies Irae").
The opening credits of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm are accompanied by Ominous Chanting to the tune of Shirley Walker's memorable B:TAS theme. The chorus, once again, is actually chanting the last names of production team members backwards.
A Robot Chicken parody of Final Fantasy VII set at a fast food restaurant featured Sephiroth make his entrance with the background music being a parody of One Winged Angel but with the chorus chanting "HAMBURGER! HAMBURGER!"
In the Courage The Cowardly Dog episode "Mega Muriel the Magnificent", Ode to Joy plays whenever Muriel, possessed by Courage's Deadpan Snarker computer, attempts a death-defying stunt in front of a crowd of spectators. Could also be an example of Soundtrack Dissonance, considering Ode to Joy's melody is, for lack of better wording, joyous.
- On the other hand, since Muriel pulls off some pretty awesome stuff, it does fit a bit.
In Avatar The Last Airbender, the Lion Turtle's appearance is heralded by ominous chanting of some sort. He's not a bad guy though. Just old, wise, mysterious, a bit scary, and very big.
- We also hear that same chant in two earlier episode (the eigth and twentieth) though less overtly.
- It's a Buddhist prayer mantra.
An even more intense version of Mozart's "Mass in C Minor -- Kyrie" plays during the impressive storm at sea scene in The Triplets Of Belleville.
Spoofed in The Simpsons when Marge recalls that she accidentally had a single drop of wine while pregnant with Bart. As the foetus acquires spiky hair and a devilish expression, the Background Music plays an Ominous Chant of "Ay Caramba!"
The chanting's in English, not Latin, but that doesn't stop the chorus in "Plagues" and their description of what God's gonna do to the Egyptians in The Prince of Egypt from being scary as hell. When they say that the pestilence won't stop "until you break/until you yield," you believe it.
- Also in Prince of Egypt, the number "Playing With the Big Boys Now", starts with Ramses' priests Hotep and Hoi(Steve Martin and Martin Short)(?) chanting the names of various Egyptian deities. The chanting can be heard later in the background.
The title theme music to the animated Silver Surfer series had Latin-sounding singing interspersed at ominous points against the instrumental background.
Brother Bear has the equally ominous, joyful (yes, you can be ominous and joyful at the same time) and awesome "Transformation." Not Latin—Inuit!
You know what goes well with chanting? Conlang! So Atlantis The Lost Empire naturally had some ominous chanting in Atlantean.

Mozart's Dies Irae is used in this film version of Doom -- Repercussions of Evil.
- It also appears in a commercial for Rickard's Red beer, albeit with English lyrics praising the beer. Nevertheless, it's sung by an ominous red-robed choir that appears out of nowhere whenever someone orders the brand. A similar Rickard's commercial uses the above-mentioned O Fortuna from Carmina Burana.
Darla Dimple's Battle Butler Max gets an ominous chanting to accompany his wall-smashing entrance in Cats Don't Dance — as though the red-tint, and the screaming reactions from the crew wasn't enough to show that Max is one scary dude.
- If you listen closely, it sounds like the chorus may be ominously repeating what was just said. "How does the kitty-cat go?"
- And Darla herself gets some as background in "Big and Loud".
The Carol of the Old Ones, by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, is Ominous English Chanting.
The logo for Renaissance Pictures (which appears on Hercules The Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess) uses this as music, accompanying visuals of lightning bolts and a Mona Lisa-like picture being ripped in half.
The song "All That's Known" from Spring Awakening has an interesting variation on this. The chanting is in Latin—but it's the start of The Aeneid, recited by students. As the singer is rebelling against this type of education, it's quite fitting.
Yu Gi Oh The Abridged Series has its own version of Ave Satani for the Bakura Show theme song:
- It's The — Bakura Show — He Is — Evil — He's So Evil — He Once Killed — A Puppy — It Was Cute
- They also played it in his first major appearance, with each statement followed by chanting to emphasize how Obviously Evil he was.
This National Guard ad starts off with Ominous Latin Chanting, but then switches to Ominous English Chanting - perhaps the first such example.
- Let's just say that it doesn't have quite the same effect as Ominous Latin Chanting. They've been showing this ad during movie previews here in the US recently and it has been accompanied by a lot of unintentional laughter.
In the Whateley Universe story Ayla and the Birthday Brawl, Phase is playing opposition in a clear the evil lair excersise. Phase had set the simulation to begin playing O Fortuna when the blue team entered the final room. The blue team was suitably intimidated, though the teacher chewed Phase out about the theatrics afterwarfs.
Bionicle: The BIONICLE Music, played during the Toa Mata's battle against Makuta Teridax in the Mata Nui Online Game.

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