Lyrics

Ruaidhri

do lyrics matter in metal? i think they do. and i find that the most intelligent and meaningful lyrics are in the heavier types of metal(death and doom) my personal favourites are Martyr's and Quo Vadis's. i could never identify with metallica's lyrics.

Dr. Loon

I think Metallica's lyrics are sort of fantasy really. Not real life.
Lyrocs definitely matter - Guns N Roses, there's a band with some great lyrics.

cournioni

I like Fear Factory's lyrics, In Flames' lyrics freak me out. All metal lyrics are good, some of the best in music as a whole. Even though other non metallers might think differently.

Ph3n0m

Well that is true for some bands, I have a feeling there is an equal amount whose lyrics dont mean a damn thing - like pop music

The fact that some bands put a lot of thought into their music and lyrics (which in my mind are two seperate things), and again there are other bands that dont give a toss - like pop music


Whats the lesson here - unfortunately there are those who perform "rock/metal" and do it for pop reasons - gratutios amounts of money (which is good, however they arent doing because its fun anymore)



Why do bands perform - is it to generate cash or because they are actually having fun on stage?

Karl Hungus

I'd say Cradle of Filth have done some of my favorite lyrics.

I mean, how many bands have done an entire concept album based around The Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory?
Anything up until the last album had fantastic lyrics.
Check out the song "Lord Abortion" for a truly brilliant lyrical concept.

Oeneus

Originally posted by Dr. Loon
IGuns N Roses, there's a band with some great lyrics.

I think Civil War was their only song that ever had serious, meaningful lyrics. Here's proof from the other songs

"Bring it to your Shananananananakneeees!"
"Well Well Well My Michelle...Look Out!!"
"I used to Love Her, but I had to kill her!"

Okie

Originally posted by Dr. Loon
I think Metallica's lyrics are sort of fantasy really. Not real life.

That's a fair enough point...to an extent, but in fairness some of Metallica's lyrics are pretty true to life (well I think so anyway) For example "Fade To Black" from their "Ride The Lightning" album, it deals with suicide and all the reasons why the person in question has no other options left and well.....here's the lyrics, make up your own mind. The song is one of my absolute favourites.

Fade to Black

Life it seems will fade away
Drifting farther everyday
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters no one else
I have lost the will to live
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free

Things not what they used to be
Missing one inside of me
Deathly lost this can't be real
Cannot stand this hell I feel
Emptiness is filling me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness taking dawn
I was me but now he is gone

No one but me can save myself but it's too late
Now I can't think think why I should even try

Yesterday seems as though it never existed
Death greets me warm now I will just say goodbye

Ruaidhri

yeah all metallica's lyrics have stories behind them and they are pretty good,but they i cant identify with them.

Robbo

Running the risk of being shot here, but the only metal (albeit given a somewhat narrow exposure to metal) band that I ever felt had a reasonable level of lyrical coherence is Tool.

Some bands have this really tenuous grip on the English language. I spent a good bit of time listening to Fear Factory when I was 13 and I look back now at the lyrics sheet on "Demanufacture" and cringe. "New Breed", "Flashpoint" and "Replica" all read like the ramblings of a drugged horse. Some of the times it seems as if they just used a thesaurus to find a synonym for whatever word they wanted to use and just repeat that 14 times in the song.

I await the metal band that opens a song with "My parents really discombobulated my liiiiiiiiiife".

Ruaidhri

yes tool have a really amazing lyrics, and i think most metal bands like fear factory/megadeth/slayer/cnaaibal corpse have CRAP lyrics

DrunkLeprachaun

Most of the time they do, but I can think of quite a few good metal bands/songs with crap lyrics.

Karl Hungus

Anathema have some fantastic lyrics.
As do Emperor.

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Well IMO Lyrics do matter but a great riff may compensate.

As for Metallica,
"Puppets" had some meaningful songs, like Leper Messiah is about a Billy Graham type evangelist who is just interested in collecting money from his followers as oppossed to offering them salvation. Although as said, some of them are just fantasy, like "phantom lord" and "the thing that should not be".

Karl Hungus

Here's a little idea of what I like about Cradle Of Filth's lyrics.
Now, this is probably going to be the same size as the entire thread henceforth!
You don't have to read it if you don't want to.

This was when Cradle actualy done some good music.
Nothing like that woefull MTV-Rock "Born in a Burial Gown". *Shudder*

Pretty sad, in my opinion, that a band who had some of the best lyrics around goes and plops out some crap ripe for MTV.

Anyway, this is basically as song about love, murder and revenge:

"The Moon, she hangs like a cruel portrait
soft winds whisper the bidding of trees
as this tragedy starts with a shattered glass heart
and the Midnightmare trampling of dreams
But on, no tears please
Fear and pain may accompany Death
But it is desire that shepherds it's certainty
as We shall see..."

She was divinity's creature
That kissed in cold mirrors
A Queen of Snow
Far beyond compare
Lips attuned to symmetry
Sought Her everywhere
Dark liqoured eyes
An Arabian nightmare...

She shone on watercolours
Of my pondlife as pearl
Until those who couldn't have Her
Cut Her free of this World

That fateful Eve when..
The trees stank of sunset and camphor
Their lanterns chased phantoms and threw
An inquisitive glance, like the shadows they cast
On my love picking rue by the light of the moon

Putting reason to flight
Or to death as their way
They crept through woods mesmerized
By the taffeta Ley
Of Her hips that held sway
Over all they surveyed
Save a mist on the rise
(A deadly blessing to hide)
Her ghost in the fog

They raped left...
(Five men of God)
...Her ghost in the fog

Dawn discovered Her there
Beneath the Cedar's stare
Silk dress torn, Her raven hair
Flown to gown Her beauty bared
Was starred with frost, I knew Her lost
I wept 'til tears crept back to prayer

She'd sworn Me vows in fragrant blood
"Never to part
Lest jealous Heaven stole our hearts"

Then this I screamed:
"Come back to Me
I was born in love with thee
So why should fate stand in between?"

And as I drowned Her gentle curves
With dreams unsaid and final words
I espied a gleam trodden to earth
The Church bell tower key...

The village mourned her by the by
For She'd been a witch
their Men had longed to try
And I broke under Christ seeking guilty signs
My tortured soul on ice

A Queen of snow
Far beyond compare
Lips attuned to symmetry
Sought Her everywhere
Trappistine eyes
An Arabian nightmare...

She was Ersulie possessed
Of a milky white skin
My porcelain Yin
A graceful Angel of Sin

And so for Her...
The breeze stank of sunset and camphor
My lantern chased Her phantom and blew
Their Chapel ablaze and all locked in to a pain
Best reserved for judgement that their bible construed...

Putting reason to flight
Or to flame unashamed
I swept form cries
Mesmerized
By the taffeta Ley
Or Her hips that held sway
Over all those at bay
Save a mist on the rise
A final blessing to hide
Her ghost in the fog

And I embraced
Where lovers rot...
Her ghost in the fog

Her ghost in the fog

Really fantastically written.
Some of the wordplay involved is just brilliant!
Example:

Lips attuned to symmetry
Sought Her everywhere

It's said that the most beautiful people have perfectly symmetrical faces.
This part is basically saying how she was desired by others.

They crept through woods mesmerized
By the taffeta Ley
Of Her hips that held sway

Taffeta being a fabric mainly used in womens garments, the men were 'Mesmerized' by how her clothes hung on her body.


It's a pretty dense lyrical content.
Most of Cradle's songs take a time to understand.

A lot of their lyrics are based on myth, and other such things.
Themes in the old testament, and you can also draw comparisons between authors like Clive Barker, and Edgar Allen Poe. A lot of the lyrics on Dusk and Her Embrace were very Poe infuenced. I'm not going to quote any lyrics from that, they're a bit too much.

cournioni

Originally posted by Ruaidhri
yes tool have a really amazing lyrics, and i think most metal bands like fear factory/megadeth/slayer/cnaaibal corpse have CRAP lyrics

I agree with the Cannibal Corpse bit there... but how can you say the others have **** lyrics?

Fear Factory's lyrics are good. I agree what Robbo say's about repitition but you have to agree that the lyrics to "Replica" are quite good. They deal with rape and abortion.

How dare you say Megadeth's lyrics are crap?! They have wrote some of the most meaningful lyrics in music today, (eg. "In My Darkest Hour", "Holy Wars" etc. etc.)

Alright, Slayer's lyrics ain't that good at times but have you listened to "Manditory Suicide"?

Ruaidhri

Originally posted by PORNAPSTER

I agree with the Cannibal Corpse bit there... but how can you say the others have **** lyrics?

Well it was my opinion(I did say I think..Didn’t mean to step heavily on anyone’s toes..ya see lyrics mean different things to different ppl(like poetry)i never liked Megadeth's lyrics, and Dave mustane's delivery of them is extremely cheesy. now if we look at Symphony Of Destruction by Megadeth.

Symphony Of Destruction

You take a mortal man,
And put him in control
Watch him become a god
Watch peoples heads a'roll
A'roll...

[chorus:]
Just like the Pied Piper
Led rats through the streets
We dance like marionettes
Swaying to the Symphony ...
Of Destruction

Acting like a robot
Its metal brain corrodes
You try to take its pulse
Before the head explodes
Explodes...

[Chorus]

The earth starts to rumble
World powers fall
A'warring for the heavens
A peaceful man stands tall
Tall...

[Chorus]

ya see it is cheesy. now if we take some of my favorites, Martyr

Speechless - Martyr

"How low can you go in order to elevate yourself?
Judge and you will be judged."

Who are you to judge me ?
You’re worse than I could ever be
Who are you to condemn me ?
- Farther than your eyes, you can’t see

Behold the hammer of corruption
Mischief and treachery
Behold the unfair struggle
- Wealth always saves the loser

How far will you go to crush all the ants?
How far will you go to reach the giants?
- I won’t cross this line you once fled
- I won’t cross this line you’ve just stamped

You let your flaws dictate your laws
Sentencing is your role corrupted is your soul
No one to blame, you played the game
Don’t come to claim the souls you stained

Judge me not, as you don’t understand my way
- Law equals justice, for those who conspired it
Judge me not, every word is a shade of grey
- Law equals justice and freedom is but a lie

Crying over my faith I will not hate
Only in the realms of reverie
- Lies the ever seeked verity

Is life a quest for glory where I proclaimed you the king ?
"Life must be nice for the usurper..."
- Last thoughts of the innocent

i pick up and understand what he is on about here and I really like intelligent lyrics, well thought out and not the I WANT TO KILL YOU type. Françoise Mongrain wrote these, and he has a degree in philosophy. It’s really a pleasure to read them.

Saboteur

Metallica and Guns n' Roses are not Metal bands. Metallica might have been originally, but definitly not since the third CD. And most of the other bands that are mentioned on this page are total crap and not metal. Stop buying Kerrang! and start buying some decent Metal mags, that promote real Metal.

Robbo

Fear Factory's lyrics are good. I agree what Robbo say's about repitition but you have to agree that the lyrics to "Replica" are quite good. They deal with rape and abortion.

...and not the same cod-dystopia cyborg theme running through the rest of the album?

Trev M

I reckon GNR have some very good lyrics.

I think a lot of the Illusion lyrics are great.

Pantera have super lyrics in my opinion. Hollow/ This love / Walk etc.

Machine head lyrics for the most part are dire.

Sepultura area mixed bag I think.

Cant think of anyone else just right now.

Hellrazer

Have to agree with Pornapster there-I actually like Megadeth,Slayer and Fear Factory`s lyrics.Im not into that Death,Doom metal stuff although their lyrics are usually poetic works of art-Shame about the music.:D
One of the albums whose lyrics are excellent is WASP-Crimson Idol-The story of Blackie (Ball-less-remember the point)Lawless`life in one album-Excellent.
Never found Metallicas lyrics meaning ful I did always like Sepultura though.
As for this new metal sh!t-I cant stand any of it.It just seems too happy for me.

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by Oeneus


I think Civil War was their only song that ever had serious, meaningful lyrics. Here's proof from the other songs

"Bring it to your Shananananananakneeees!"
"Well Well Well My Michelle...Look Out!!"
"I used to Love Her, but I had to kill her!"

I used to love her - Axl has said in many live shows and interviews, that this is their only song that is a píss take. All their other tunes are based on an element of truth.
What's wrong with the lyric "Bring you to your knees"? It means just that - the jungle will nring you to your knees!!!?

Well, well, well, You just can't tell, well, well, well My Michelle!!!? Nothing wrong with that either - it's a phrase, Michelle is apparently some bitch they knew!!!
Makes sense to me... No??? :rolleyes:

OLDYELLAR

system of a down -know , theres quite a lot of meaning to all there songs , however for my own reasons , the lyrics to this one are very good and insightful.

pyure

lyrics are, for me, the most important aspect to any song

a song becomes infinitely better if i can to relate to the lyrics

although they're not metal, if've always been partial to nirvana lyrics, especially songs like SMTS and dumb

papashiv0

Sabbath are by far the best.

"I'm living in a room without any view, I'm living livin' free because the rent's not right due" -Hole in the sky.

Diarmuid

Well I quite like Metallica's Master album lyrics but I quite like Napalm Death's lyrics...

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/2453/slyrics.html

cournioni

I have to say that my favorite lyrics have to be Pantera (post-glam AngelWhore! ). Which is the reason why I use them in my signature

Check them out... there should be some on pantera.com