Hail To The King
2013 | Rock
“Watch your tongue or have it cut from your head. -- Save your life by keeping whispers unsaid. -- Children roam the streets now orphans of war. -- Bodies hanging in the streets to adore."
Trivia
- The song hit #83 on the Billboard Hot 100, #12 on Hot Rock Songs, #7 on Rock Airplay, #23 on Alternative Songs & #1 on the Mainstream Rock charts respectively.
- Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) is a heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999.
- Hail to the King is the only Avenged Sevenfold album to feature drummer Arin Ilejay, and also the first Avenged Sevenfold album without musical contributions from Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan.
THE HOT TAKES
Luke Tatum
Good lyric writing really makes my day, you know? Verse one and two here play a nice trick. In the first verse, the conquering military is portrayed thus: "Death is riding into town with armor; They come to take all your rights." Of course, that's how we would perceive any military trampling its way into our lands, burning and pillaging. But then the second time around, we get this: "Death is riding into town with armor; They come to grant you your rights." The way I see this is that we have fast-forwarded a generation or two. The people have been born into the current regime's influence, and there is no sense of "losing" rights any longer. This is the way things have always been. We should be thankful that our brave soldiers are here to defend our freedoms and give us the great society we have. Right?
Sherry Voluntary
“Death is rotting in the town with armor / Thail've come to grant you your rights”
I love this line! I think of how many people give lip service to the idea that rights do not come from government, but in practice they fight for government to modify or curtail peoples rights if they don’t like how people want to live their lives. Freedom is scary, but even more scary is the idea that there are people out there that believe your rights come from anything other than your humanity. They don’t stop to consider that any entity that can grant you rights, can also take those rights away and I don't think that's something anyone wants in actuality.
Nicky P
This song paints a grim and vivid picture of how a state functions. Much like the kings of old, the modern state functions on the same religious pretenses. Our dear leaders are to be considered infallible by virtue of a popularity contest where we pretend anyone other than ourselves can have our best interests in mind. We may have shed the idea that our kings are descendants of gods but we still operate as if they were put here by that higher power. We then allow them to use us toward violent ends that cow dissent and maintain their power. It's sad to see how little has changed and how few are capable of seeing the system for what it truly is.