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I am watching this video of a Japanese girl covering a rock song, and she uses the word 悪魔 in an odd way (at least for me), I think it is being used as a の-adjective.

1st sentence (https://youtu.be/G--hl5yMBSo?t=7):

悪魔の時間がやってきました。The devil's time has come. (?)

or maybe something like: The time of truth has come?

2nd (https://youtu.be/G--hl5yMBSo?t=47):

悪魔のチューニングをしていきたいと思います。- I would like to do this goddamn tuning.

At this point I feel like 悪魔 would mean something close to "damn" or "damned", is it correct?

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Instead of standard guitar tuning (from lowest string to highest, EADGBE), the song she is playing ("Chop Suey," by System of a Down) uses a non-standard tuning (CGCFAD). She is referring to this non-standard tuning as 悪魔のチューニング, or "the devil's tuning."

So when she says

悪魔の時間がやってきました

it just means

"It's time for [that song that uses] the devil ['s tuning]."

And when she says

悪魔のチューニングをしていきたいと思います

she's simply announcing that she's going to retune her guitar to put it into this special tuning.

For what it's worth, in English the tuning she's using here is not commonly called "the devil's tuning," but "drop C tuning." When the term "the devil's tuning" is used in English (as here and here), it generally refers to a tuning that includes at least one tritone, the so-called "devil's interval."

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  • Thanks for the answer!! It feels to me that it is more of an "imported" term from english that went a bit far from its original meaning?! I am struggling to find examples of it online though, only thing I can find is an article in Gibsons page which might as well be a direct translation (gibson.jp/news-events/6227). Do you know if 「悪魔の何々」is a known way to refer to something non-standard? – Felipe Oliveira Sep 9 '20 at 1:18
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    I’m pretty sure she’s using 悪魔のチューニング as a direct translation of the English term, even though she seems confused about which tuning(s) it refers to in English. (Or I guess it’s possible that somehow 悪魔のチューニング has become a common term for drop C tuning in Japan, though I doubt it.) As far as I know, 悪魔の何々 is not a common way of saying something is nonstandard or unusual in Japanese. I’ve never heard it used that way, at any rate. – Nanigashi Sep 9 '20 at 3:22
  • That makes sense, it ended up being a question about music rather than Japanese language. Nevertheless, thanks a lot! – Felipe Oliveira Sep 9 '20 at 5:49
  • Is it not possible that "devil's tuning" refers to her opinion of it being an annoying/confusing/difficult etc tuning . For example "I have a devil of a time playing in that tuning"? "The tuning from hell" etc. – user3856370 Sep 9 '20 at 18:33
  • @user3856370 I suppose it's possible, but it seems extremely unlikely to me. For one thing, drop C isn't at all difficult or confusing, even for a beginning guitarist. Also, if you skip ahead and watch the part of the video where she tries to play the song, it's clear that the fingerings required by the tuning aren't giving her any particular difficulty. (Though as she's apparently just starting to learn the song, other aspects of playing it do seem to cause her some trouble.). – Nanigashi Sep 10 '20 at 0:08

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