In ancient Greek mythology, Melinoe was the goddess of ghosts and spirits. She was either the daughter of Hades and Persephone or of Persephone and Zeus. Melaina ("The Black One") is the under-earth or chthonic aspect of the Greek Great Goddess, said to bring nightmares!

This sinister characteristics of Melinoe are evoked here, via the use of an unsettling chromatic variant of the ancient Greek Phrygian Mode.