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Anonymous
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Slayers song 'angel of death' is one that comes to mind for me. Slayer aren't known for particularly intelligent lyrics, but i think the horror conveyed in the lyrics of this song is unbelievable.
Now there's a thought!
- Thread starter Albie
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Anonymous
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On the contrary, I think thta a lot of Slayer's lyrics are intelligent. The criticise Christianity in a very ironic manner. Some of their "gory" lyrics may not be the best but for the most part, Slayer write fantastc lyrics IMO.fenderhwy1 said:
^^MeTaLeRo^^
Trooper
However, it´s quite contradictory the fact of Araya being a Christian, made an album named "God Hate us All" 
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Anonymous
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To be honest, Araya doesn't even write that many lyrics for Slayer.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
Most of slayers albums critic religion and God. But as Araya said in an interview, it's an act. When they go on stage and make records, that's a show for their fans, off stage they are normal people.^^MeTaLeRo^^ said:However, it´s quite contradictory the fact of Araya being a Christian, made an album named "God Hate us All"
Raven
Ancient Mariner
^^MeTaLeRo^^ said:However, it´s quite contradictory the fact of Araya being a Christian, made an album named "God Hate us All"
It's also quite contradictory the fact of Slayer being musicians, having an album like 'God Hates Us All'
As Tom Araya has frequently said, he just sings what's written for him. Still, it's songs like 'South of Heaven' that stand out for me...not a cliched picture of hell, but an almost haunting vision of a world without right and wrong...complete anarchy
'Bastard sons bagat your cunting daughters,
Promiscuous mothers with your incestuous fathers.'
I love the way Tom spits out this couplet...the delivery of the lyrics adds so much to the effect
(even if the vocals have gone far downhill)...
Albie
Keeping an open eye on the Weeping Angels.
I have never understood the beef people have with "God Hates us All". Personally, I think it's a good album - not their best, but good nonetheless.Raven said:It's also quite contradictory the fact of Slayer being musicians, having an album like 'God Hates Us All'
But that is just my opinion.
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Mot wanting this to turn into a Slayer debate either, I also want to say that "God Hates Us All" is better than a lot give credit for. "Diabolous in Musica" is just terrible but GHUA has some good tunes on it 
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Anonymous
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Thats true. I was thinking more about their recent stuff. It begins to sound a bit cliched to me. But credit to slayer, they stuck to thrash metal and have never tried to sell out or change their sound radically. (apart from diabolus in musica, which seemed like an experiment)Conor said:
Back on the topic of thought-provoking lyrics, I'm glad someone mentioned Black Sabbath, specifically Dio-era Black Sabbath. Cross of Thorns comes to mind. Incredibly thought-provoking on so many levels. There is a personal level, but also a religious level...really, a great song.
Albie said:
There was actually a court case in Britain once (Zappa vs Royal Albert Hall) attempting, among other things, to determine whether that song was "obscene" or not, and quite a bit of it focused on that particular line. Needless to say it's absolutely hilarious... (excerpts from the case can be found in chapter 7 of The Real Frank Zappa Book).
Judge Mocatta: What does it mean, "you can sit on my face"?
FZ: Somebody can sit on your face.
Albie
Keeping an open eye on the Weeping Angels.
I had a little think about that. We in the UK are the masters of the smutty innuendo and our sense of humour can be described as warped at the best of times, at the same token we also are so reserved and politically correct that things like this bother us.Shadow said:
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Rush I have been listening to these guys my whole life and they always blow me away. Their lyrics are so complex, detailed and intellegent, and they are great musicians. They actually care about the fans and the music and about making people think when they hear their songs. The writing in their songs is absolutly amazing.
Ozzy Yes, people will laugh when I say this but in my own opinion Ozzy has some songs that are masterpieces and in their own way beautiful, such as Diary of a Madman, which starts out with the accoustic playing of Mr. Randy Kickass Rhoads and then gets heavy. Killer of Giants, an accoustic scale and guitar masterpiece by Jake E. Lee and Mama I'm coming Home By Zakk Wylde, and although I prefer heavier electric guitar, those songs show just how many good musicians he has had.
and of course, MAIDEN!!!!
Ozzy Yes, people will laugh when I say this but in my own opinion Ozzy has some songs that are masterpieces and in their own way beautiful, such as Diary of a Madman, which starts out with the accoustic playing of Mr. Randy Kickass Rhoads and then gets heavy. Killer of Giants, an accoustic scale and guitar masterpiece by Jake E. Lee and Mama I'm coming Home By Zakk Wylde, and although I prefer heavier electric guitar, those songs show just how many good musicians he has had.
and of course, MAIDEN!!!!
I think you partially missed the point, powerslave. This thread is about intelligent lyrics. Your praise of Ozzy's music was solely about the music, and never mentioned the lyrics.
I'm not saying Ozzy doesn't have some good lyrics, but overall his lyrics are just middle-of-the-pack.
I'm not saying Ozzy doesn't have some good lyrics, but overall his lyrics are just middle-of-the-pack.
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Natalie said:
I was about to mention Sabbath. I really like the way they progressed from their dark, apocalyptic and down-to-earth approach on the early albums to a more mysterious and less dreadful (if still very gloomy) style on the Dio albums and beyond. Although I can't help to find truth in the lyrics of the early albums, I just feel much more comfortable relating to the later ones.
Raven
Ancient Mariner
After listening to After Forever's 'Decipher' again today, I would like to put forward Mark Jansen, former guitarist/vocalist/songwriter of AF and current vocalist/guitarist/songwriter for Epica. On his two albums with After Forever, he approaches his favourite topics of religion (Prison of Desire) and relationships (Mainly Decipher). He has some uplifting lyrics on Decipher, but it's his work in Epica that I would like to put forward here.
Firstly, I'll admit that he's not the most fluent vocalist. A lot of his lyrics can be rather clumsy, but that doesn't make them less thought-provoking; the lyrics for Seif al Din Forostar posted on the For the Greater Good of God thread, and their first album is based around the idea of organised religion (for the most part)-the dangers and fallacies of it. Other songs, such as The Phantom Agony are almost Maiden-like in their questions about how we view the world, and what we see in our dreams. I also like the lyrics from their second album. Consign to Oblivion...it's much more refined, and the Mayan theme works well.
Firstly, I'll admit that he's not the most fluent vocalist. A lot of his lyrics can be rather clumsy, but that doesn't make them less thought-provoking; the lyrics for Seif al Din Forostar posted on the For the Greater Good of God thread, and their first album is based around the idea of organised religion (for the most part)-the dangers and fallacies of it. Other songs, such as The Phantom Agony are almost Maiden-like in their questions about how we view the world, and what we see in our dreams. I also like the lyrics from their second album. Consign to Oblivion...it's much more refined, and the Mayan theme works well.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
I LOVE that album! Consign To Oblivion that is. I'm going to pay more attention to the lyrics though, because I never really noticed that. Then again I usually buy 6 cds and rotate them for the next 3 months not really listening to one until I get sick of it before starting to listen to the next one. (I've been doing this with audioslave, blind guardian, Tierra Santa and Maiden lately) So I'll enter this one back in the rotation.
Raven
Ancient Mariner
Onhell said:
It is a good album, but, as I said, some of the lyrics can be clumsily written. The latin choir on Consign to Oblivion works really well, though, better than on Epica's debut, in my opinion, although songs like 'The Phantom Agony' made great use of choirs. You should really get to listen to some more Nightwish, if you like Epica...I find that Nightwish's music is far more consistent than Epica's, especially in the guitar department (although Nightwish's guitars still aren't anything to shout home about...simple is often the most effective, but often Empuu's guitars are a bit too simplistic).
Incidentally, why is it that Mark Jansen's guitarwork is so basic in Epica? He writes (as far as I know) most of the classical arrangements, and does brilliantly with those, yet his guitars are really quite dull. His earlier work in After Forever was better. I suppose I listen to Epica for Simone's voice and the melodic element, but even still, it seems a bit strange that he would focus so much on other instruments rather than his own.
Oh, and on another side note, Mark's vocals sometimes annoy me. I don't like his grunts, but the passages where he semi-screams are very good...very aggressive.
Blimey, I got side-tracked there. Still, I love Epica, even though they do have their flaws....but they have Simone!
