Saturday Song To Walk With Me In Hell To

Willie Adler, Mark Morton, Randy Blythe, Chris Adler, & John Campbell AKA Heavy Metal Santa

"Walk With Me In Hell" by Lamb of God


I firmly believe that "Walk With Me In Hell" is one of the best songs written in the last ten years. Yeah, I'll admit that I am obscenely biased, but I also consider the song to be Lamb of God's magnum opus. In fifty years, when music critics wonder what metal sounded like at the beginning of the century, WWMIH will be one of the songs they listen to, if only because of the stature of the band that first recorded it.

I know I've hinted at this before, but Lamb of God is the most popular and respected metal band on the planet, and it has been ever since the release of 2004's Ashes of the Wake. That record, along with Mastodon's Leviathan and Killswitch's Alive or Just Breathing, effectively killed off the commercial viability of nu-metal (Limp Bizkit, anyone?) and helped usher in a modern metal renaissance. Everybody loves Mastodon, too, but people love them for their wholly unique prog/mosh factor; they've always been viewed as "the thinking man's metal band," and they definitely take the prize for Most Beloved Metal Band By People Who Don't Really Like To Listen To Metal. Everybody listens to Killswitch for the sing-a-long factor, but that attracts almost as many fans as anti-fans, if that's a word.

People listen to Lamb of God simply because they're metal as f***. Nowadays, it seems like every band can be categorized within a smorgasbord of metal subgenres: "Oh, well they're progressive death metal." or "Dude, that band is clearly stoner sludge metal." Well, Lamb of God is just metal. That's it. Sure, you can find traces of groove, thrash, punk, and death metal, but only as pieces of the greater picture. Their straightforward approach is one of the biggest reasons they are so loved by even the hardest old-school fans; when their contemporaries began to get more melodic and add singing, Lamb of God only got defiantly more brutal. Outside of Mastodon, you'd be hard pressed to find a metal band today that is so fiercely loved by such a large group of people. For comparison's sake, they are today's Metallica, which is weird to say because that band is actually still around (or so I'm told). The only difference is that they sound more like Pantera and we don't have to worry about Lamb of God going for the cash grab and putting out the next Black Album. 

I mean, could you see Randy Blythe singing a ballad on MTV? Didn't think so.

Still unsure of how popular these guys are? Then read closely: I have a few Lamb of God shirts, but one is a clear favorite of mine. It seems like every time I wear it to a show, at least one person there says something nice about the shirt and/or band. ("nice": weird, right? at a metal show?) Last summer, I took this shirt with me on a study abroad trip to Paris. The shirt has the words "PURE AMERICAN METAL" prominently displayed on the back, and I wanted to see if I could piss off some Frenchmen, you know, because of their apparent deep-seated hatred of anything American . Well, this little social experiment backfired in the most heartwarming way possible. I was standing outside of our hotel smoking a cigarette when the concierge from the front desk walked up to me and said: "Lamb of God? They're incredible! I f***ing love them!" Any lingering doubt I had about the band's popularity died before I finished my Lucky Strike. 

There isn't a weak link in the band. John Campbell holds down the bass and doubles as one of the chillest dudes ever. Chris Adler provides a unique, heavily percussive voice through his drum kit; there's little doubt as to why he is one of the more respected drummers in metal. Just look up "ruin fill" on YouTube. Guitarists Willie Adler and Mark Morton complement each other perfectly; Willie has a faster, thrashier style of playing while Mark plays with a touch of blues and provides most of the guitar solos. Vocalist Randy Blythe is the head of the beast, and his vocals have only gotten meaner and nastier over the years. Although he may sound like he gargles with broken glass, Randy is also an incredible lyricist, so the lines he vomits forth on record and onstage are far from meaningless. 

"Walk With Me In Hell" starts out with an epic-sounding guitar intro that draws heavily upon Iron Maiden. This part then explodes into a driving groove that you can't help but headbang to, ending with Randy's ominous first line. Both verses have a good rhythm, but Randy goes full-on beast mode in the second verse with a full guttural growl. Each verse is accentuated with little guitar pieces that hint at the explosion of notes that comes with the opening of the chorus. Randy's refrain of "Take hold of my hand / for you are no longer alone. / Walk with me in Hell" during the chorus is what really makes this song special to me. Of course, there is an incredible guitar solo towards the end, but the chorus is really what sets this song apart, in my opinion. 

Despite what the title may suggest, there is no religious connotation for the song. After Google sleuthing for quite some time, all I could find is that the song is supposedly about the "destruction of codependency" and was written by Mark as a sort of love song for his wife. This fits in with the lyrical content for the rest of the Sacrament record. Whereas earlier Lamb of God albums were vitriolic proclamations against government and the war in Iraq, Sacrament covered the more personal topics of addiction, religion, and failed relationships. Personally, I take the lyrics of WWMIH to mean that we live in what can be a dark, messed up world, but no matter what, I'll be here with you. 

Watch the videos and read the lyrics. Gain an appreciation for what many believe to be the last great true metal band. 

Other than Mastodon, of course!

Music Video:

Live:

Lyrics:

Pray for blood,
Pray for the cleansing,
Pray for the flood,
Pray for the end of this nightmare.
This lie of a life can as quickly as it came dissolve.
We seek only reprieve and welcome the darkness.
The myth of a meaning so lost and forgotten.

Take hold of my hand,
For you are no longer alone.
Walk with me in hell.

Pray for solace,
Pray for resolve,
Pray for a savior,
Pray for deliverance, some kind of purpose.
A glimpse of a light in this void of existence.
Now witness the end of an age.
Hope dies in hands of believers.
Who seek the truth in the liar's eye.

Take hold of my hand,
For you are no longer alone.
Walk with me in hell.

You're never alone.

Music To Quit Smoking To

"Weak and Powerless" by A Perfect Circle & "11th Hour" by Lamb of God

Regrettably, smoking has become a problem for me. Over the past year or so, I've taken comfort in cigarettes because they offered an immediate release from the stresses and nuances of being a twenty-two-year-old stuck between the end of his college experience (sort of) and the beginning of his career. I'm not ashamed or apologetic about smoking, but I'm certainly not proud of it, either. By the way, this is the closest I will ever come to writing about "my feelings" on this blog, so if that's your thing, then read this post closely. Mercifully, I've yet to advance to chain smoking, so I figured it's as good a time as any to kick the habit. I'm almost done with a memorably long and uneventful summer, but somehow I'm smoking about half as much as I did back in May. Keeping this in mind, as well as the fact that I start school next week, it only makes sense that I take the next logical step: quitting completely. 

It also doesn't hurt that I finally got to smoke Lucky Strikes one more time.

It's August. The Summer doldrums are coming to a close and the Fall, with offerings of graduate accounting courses, football games and new Mastodon music, will be closer at the end of this post than it is right now. Any stress that comes my way will be easier to manage with the strict regimen of a full schedule (Trust me, this makes more sense than you think.) and the comfort of being able to watch Tom Brady & Co. win games and Arian Foster do "namaste" bows and rack up those fantasy points for the South Georgia 229ers.

Anyone who gives interviews in an imaginary pterodactyl language
will always have a place on my fantasy team.

Just like anything else that happens in my life, the quest to conquer the nicotine bug will be accompanied by the appropriate soundtrack. "Weak and Powerless" is a softer song built around a driving bass line and Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan's moody voice. The song is about drug addiction, and a cursory glance at the lyrics will suggest as much; also, the weird music video plays into that theme.

"11th Hour" is a haunting song about the lonely perils of alcoholism. The brooding lyrics and creepy guitar harmonics have made this song one of my favorites; only "Walk With Me In Hell" has more plays on my iTunes. It's one of several standout tracks from the seminal As The Palaces Burn, the album on which Lamb of God became Lamb of God. 

Before I post the videos and incredible lyrics, (Read the f***ing lyrics. They're probably better than anything else you or I will come across, save for tomorrow's Saturday Song and a few Jesse Leach tracks.) I'd like to reaffirm the fact that I'm serious about quitting cigarettes and that I will succeed. I honestly hope that you enjoy these songs and take them to heart (srs). Oh, and by the way, there's a reason that Lamb of God is the most popular and respected metal band out there today. More on that tomorrow. Enjoy.

Weak and Powerless Music Video:

Weak and Powerless Live (2010):

Lyrics:

Tilling my own grave to keep me level
Jam another dragon down a hole
Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren
One that pushes me along and leaves me so

Desperate and Ravenous
I'm so weak and powerless over you

Someone feed the monkey while I dig in search of China
White as Dracula as I approach the bottom

Little angel go away
Come again some other day
The devil has my ear today
I'll never hear a word you say
He promised I would find a little solace
And some piece of mind
Whatever just as long as I don't feel so

Desperate and Ravenous
I'm so weak and powerless
over you 

11th Hour Music Video:

11th Hour Live (2004):

11th Hour Live (2007):

Lyrics:

The hour of reckoning draws near
Judgment day is here and gone
Sweetly she draws me into her arms
A liquid embrace to chase the day way.
Sedate Numb Deaf and Dumb
Stumbling into solitude.
A clouded judgment day is fueled.
Take me under your black wings
Mark my words and remember me.
So sweetly she shucks away at my time
So sweetly she draws me nigh
Closer and closer towards never ending sleep
Spin the bottle
Kiss only the bottle.
The dark mistress of many, beholden to none
Slips a ring of needles around your arm in an engagement
Eternal engagement
Never consummated.
Take me under your black wings
Mark my words and remember me.
Destroyer of senses.
So take as needed for the pain
Another gray morning dawns across an ashen sky.
My sweet demoness beckons me
Ever again and again and again and again.
The dark mistress of many, beholden to none
My sweet demoness beckons me
Ever again and again and again and again and again.
Take me under your black wings.
Jacked up on the taste of self-destruction.