Hell why not, Favorite Lyricists

[Mort Divine]

Drummer and vocalist threads, why not this I suppose.

My two favorite metal lyricists are: Martin Walkyier and Alan Averill Nemtheanga.

Martin just has this amazing ability to express the issues and thoughts of the modern person living in the modern world - with his fun little word games, puns, clever rhymes, and structuring.

I think his lyrics shine most in Great Blow For A Day Job:

Hear my tale - I'm Norman Normal, always humble, mild and meek.
In my bank a lowly banker - run-down brach on nowhere street
'till one day a stranger called - a fetid bible black he laughed,
said "Sonny I don't want your money, I don't need an overdraft.

Boy you have a great potential, don't you let it go to waste.
My offer ends - so it's essential that you hurry on (make haste!).
For a life of milk and honey sign along the dotted line...
Thirty years of girls and money - at the end your soul is mine!"

No one can dissuade me - I'm down on my knees,
my conscience says "No" - my libido "Yes please!"
If I put my pen to paper for eternity I'm damned.
If I don't I'll never be the singer in a fiddle band.
Can anyone blame me? - I don't think they'd dare,
My soul says "No way" - But my mouth cries "Oh yeah!"

Here I am - your good friend Norman, not so humble anymore.
Others age - but I look younger, stronger that I did before.
I used to drive a Fiat Panda - now a lime green Cadillac.
Guess my story goes to show not all the 'devils' own' dig black.

I know there is a price I must pay for my thirty years misspent,
when my satanic manager recoups my soul (100%).
I'll meet him at the crossroads, midnight chimes - my time has come
to party with the 'porno-queens' down by the shores of acheron.

I'll party on in acheron!

No one could dissuade me - I fell to my kness,
my conscience said "No" - my libido "Yes please!"
I have put my pen to paper and eternally am damned,
I've squandered my immortal soul by singing in a fiddle band.
Could anyone blame me? - I don't think they dare,
my soul said "No way" - but my mouth cried "Oh yeah!"

'Evil I did dwell - Lewd did I live' -
It's a small price to pay for the gift that he gives.
Was it all worth it? - I'm too drunk to tell,
I swap my cocaine for the brimstone of hell.

Alan does in some ways do the same as Martin, speak for the woes of the modern man in the modern world - but in a context of the ages gone by, and the desire for the past to rise again - which I find adds alot to his lyrics.

My favorite song of Alan's is Gods For The Godless

I have one Desire
let it be
a Pestilence upon your lands
a Plague upon all your houses
it is my wish
to Enslave all your people
The soil enriched with their Blood
To Burn your places of Worship
Our Gods shall become your Gods

All that lives on the vine is rotten
may your wines be foul
and your bread as the flesh of the dead
an ill wind to bring nought but decay
and the stench of your Slaughtered kin

The newborn, borne with fear in their eyes
and slavery in their limbs
as tools to build a new Empire
We are your cross to bear
Perhaps you shall be a martyred people
But as sure as the Night follows the Day
...a Dead People

 

[As-I-Lay-Dying]

Trent Reznor.

 

[Mort Divine]

Elaborate, list threads are gay. (Hypocrisy I know but it matters not Put some effort into this, while I do say that lyrics arn't important to the quality of the music I find that good lyrics can make good music more "human" and relate able.

 

[Orfanos]

John Arch by far.

I don't say why, try to find the lyrics of the first three Fates Warning albums.

 

[As-I-Lay-Dying]

You pretty much said what I was gonna elaborate on.
NIN are probably the biggest influence on me music wise.
Reznors lyrics on The Downward Spiral were unbelievable.

He conveyed the story that the album was about to perfection through the emotions in each different song.

Although they are unreal the lyrics on Hurt aren't his best.
His sting to Manson in Starfuckers when they hated each other are brilliant.

 

[Belligerent]

AnalCunt lyrics: Pure Genious
27. The Only Reason Men Talk To You Is Because They Want To Get Laid, You Stupid Fucking Cunt

YOU THINK YOU HAVE A LOT OF MALE FRIENDS- YOU DON'T
YOU THINK GUYS CARE WHEN THEY ASK FOR YOUR OPINION- THEY DON'T
YOU THINK YOUR BEST FRIENDS BOYFRIEND DOESN'T WANT TO FUCK YOU- HE DOES
YOU THOUGHT THE BARTENDER WAS BEATING NICE TO YOU WHEN HE GAVE YOU A FREE DRINK- HE WASN''T

YOUR NEIGHBOR HELPED YOU MOVE- HE JUST WANTS TO FUCK YOU
YOU BOSS BOUGHT YOU LUNCH- HE JUST WANTS TO FUCK YOU
A GUY BOUGHT YOU A DRINK- HE JUST WANTS TO FUCK YOU
HE ASKED YOU TO GO OUT FOR COFFEE- HE JUST WANTS TO FUCK YOU

YOU THINK YOU'RE ONE OF THE GUYS
YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL GOOD FRIENDS
YOU'RE EVENTUALLY GOING TO GET RAPED
YOU STUPID FUCKING CUNT

 

[Hell Awaits Us All]

opeth has awesome lyrics

 

[WNxScythe]

I've always enjoyed Slough Feg and Primordial's lyrics. As somewhat "cheezy" as they can be (esp. Slough Feg), it fits perfectly with the music and the delivery of them is always spot on.

 

[The Heartbreak Kid]

Nikki Sixx

 

[Belligerent]

In all reality...
Pink Floyd has some amazing lyrics. Some of my fav. of all time.
There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ships smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I cant hear what youre sayin.
When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I got that feeling once again.
I cant explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.

Ok.
Just a little pinprick. [ping]
Therell be no more --aaaaaahhhhh!
But you may feel a little sick.

Can you stand up?
I do believe its working. good.
Thatll keep you going for the show.
Come on its time to go.

 

[CAIRATH]

Walkyier hands fucking down.

It's a shame he is apparently kind of a cock and difficult to work with and has retreated from the music scene altogether (atleast as far as recording new material goes, I think Sabbat is still doing some tour or something).

 

[Hatebreeder]

I like Chuck Schuldiner's lyrics on the later Death albums, but some of the mid-period stuff showed some of the politically/socially-aware lyricism that death metal needed.

Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian is also good at compressing an entire book's worth of material into several main ideas that can be made in one song. Hooray for German bluntness.

 

[Slayed Necros]

I don't have any particular favourite writers, but these lyrics by Watain are outstanding - especially for Black Metal.

Watain - Casus Luciferi

From the vaults below the desert-temple
to the throne among the stars
In the hearts of us, your children, oh divine luminary;
Thou shineth!
Like sunbeams penetrating the foundations of the earth
thine grace ignites the seeds of creation
And in our veins is stillness, as your shadows come to life,
for they are like whispers speaking of...

...death in heaven!

Behold the black cloud of corpselike birds
Their wings are on fire
And their song has turned backwards
A morbid cacophony singing of a new dawn...

Burn my flesh, thou light of lights!
Most eminent perfection, most magnificent of sights
Mark me with thee, stainless Ar!
Most real, so clear and bright they shine both eye and star
Descend upon the dead, black sky!
By a grace of just one glance they all will die
Pour the bitter wine of salvation into our blood!
And let our scars form rivers flooding the kingdom of their god

Let the immense gates of heaven open
Let the dawn of justice come
When a thousand pale and silenced faces
turn towards the sky,
to behold in fear and wonder how the firmanent turns dark
by the sound of a lonely trumpet calling
And countless birdlike carrions fall reeking from above,
embedded in a red glow telling of...

...A burning dawn!

For this sunrise shall not wake you by the foul light of christ,
but by Satan's fire burning in your eyes
And the thundering voice of a lion over the plains of man
shall proclaim the horned phoenix' final rise
For it is not rain that falls tonight from the black, ominous sky,
but sulphur tears from the last flock of birds
And the wind carries the smell of death, from the agony in their hearts,
as they fly in nameless fear towards...

Luciferion!

 

[Zephyrus]

I don't have any particular favourite writers, but these lyrics by Watain are outstanding - especially for Black Metal.

Watain - Casus Luciferi

Wow.




I don't pay much attention to lyrics, but the lyrics I've discerned from listening to Candlemass' self-titled are pretty cool, namely "Black Dwarf", "Copernicus" and "Seven Silver Keys".

 

[Mort Divine]

Walkyier hands fucking down.

It's a shame he is apparently kind of a cock and difficult to work with and has retreated from the music scene altogether (atleast as far as recording new material goes, I think Sabbat is still doing some tour or something).

He said something along the lines of not leaving music after his father died, in a quite touching letter , but he is also working on a few short stories and a novel if I am not mistaken.

 

[Vossyrus]

Dani Filth is easily the best writer & lyricist of any band I've ever listened to. Regardless of whether people like him or his vocals he is an incredible writer. Often I find myself listening to CoF simply because of the lyrical quality.

 

[Blue_Jay]

I said it before and I'll say it again I firmly believe that Sonata Arctica has the best lyrics, better than any other metal band.

Other lyricists I like but not faves are: Helloween, Stratovarius,Slough Feg,Manowar,Ayreon, Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, and Metal Church.

 

[challenge_everything]

I said it before and I'll say it again I firmly believe that Sonata Arctica has the best lyrics, better than any other metal band.

Other lyricists I like but not faves are: Helloween, Stratovarius,Slough Feg,Manowar,Ayreon, Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, and Metal Church.

And I know I've said it before that Sonata Arctica has the most laughably bad lyrics I've ever heard. And your other choices are pretty lamentable as well.

 

[challenge_everything]

I listen to punk or prog or folk if I want good lyrics. Most metal lyricists are terrible. Maynard Keenan from Tool is easily the best of a bad lot. Lyrically quite simple, but so much depth when you think about what he's actually saying.

[Stinkfist]
Something has to change.
Undeniable dilemma.
Boredom's not a burden anyone should bear.
Constant over stimulation numbs me
But I would not want you any other way.
Just not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I said, I don't want it.
I just need it.
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Finger deep within the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Relax, turn around and take my.

I can help you change tired moments into pleasure.
Say the word and we'll be well upon our waaay.
Blend and balance pain and comfort deep within you
till you will not want me any other way.
But it's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I said, I don't want it.
I just need it.
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Knuckle deep inside the borderline.
This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to.
Relax. Slip awaaaaaaaay.

Chupa minha pica pichu
Chupa minha pica pinto

Something kinda sad about,
the way that things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything.
What became of subtlety?

How can it mean anything to me,
if I really don't feel a thing at all?

I'll keep digging
till I feel something.

Elbow deep inside the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Shoulder deep within the borderline.
Relax, turn around and take my hand.

 

[Mort Divine]

Maynard is so bad at writing lyrics, the band is good but fuck him on lyrics.