Megadeth, Holy Wars...The Punishment Due - A Classical Musician’s In-Depth Analysis
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- Опубліковано 13 гру 2022
- Is this song actually in an unusual form? Well… it all depends on context and what you’re comparing it to! Join me as I share my follow-up thoughts and look at what helps to make it work so well as a piece of music.
Here’s the link to the original song by Megadeth:
• Megadeth - Holy Wars.....
Bach Minuet and Trio:
On Piano:
(Shifts to trio at 1.22)
• J.S. Bach: French Suit...
On Harpsichord:
(Shifts to trio at 1.17)
• French Suite No. 3 in ...
Boccherini Minuet and Trio:
(Shifts to trio at 1.46)
• Boccherini - String Qu...
Spartacus:
Music only:
• Aram Khachaturian [Արա...
Ballet Performance:
• Aram Khachaturian - SP...
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.
As usual, please write here your questions only.
Can you play the harp at the end of your videos? Maybe part of the song you’ve discussed? That’d be amazing and would improve your show.
Firstly thank you for creating bridges between diverse areas of human expression. I appreciate the fact you are open but are not condiscending.
Question: can the highest level of artistic expression be achieved without the highest level of training? Many of these artists start with very poor skills, and often develop great proficiency ( in a structured or non structured manner) later in their careers. Do you think great art can exist without formal training?
Do you think a ballet set to thrash metal would work?
Do you plan to critique any Ronnie James Dio? His voice is sometimes described as "operatic", and I'd love to hear your thoughts about the lyrics. "Holy Diver" "Rainbow in the Dark" or an earlier song "Man on the Silver Mountain" are certain to get you lots of views. Thanks for an authentic channel and intelligent observations. Well done.
I think this analysis nails Dave Mustaine and megadeths fanbase for the time.
A lot of fans may see this as bit of a kicking but i think you are accurate. Holy wars is still one of the best felt metal songs ever, and felt it should be in my opinion.
There are other songs on this (rust in peace) album that may be more cohesive lyrically and musically for you.
I already recommended Lucrecia by megadeth for you on the counterpart of this video.
I suppose i am looking for you to hear what i hear in Martys solo. Marty has a touch and ear for guitar that no other has. I wonder if you would pick up on it, what scales does he use?...or not :)
Maybe with Marty we can feed you in to the world of virtuoso instrumental rock and metal. Marty, along with Vai (who writes and plays orchestral scores) are two of the most original and creative guitarists in rock and metal ever.
Here's lucrecia for you. m.ua-cam.com/video/TmyAvInKhuA/v-deo.html
And here is Steve Vai playing Lotus feet with the Holland metroploe orchestra
m.ua-cam.com/video/6CfEaSmdtGU/v-deo.html
Thank you for your work!
Its very good to hear from your perspective instead of a more lay persons view (which is still wonderful but now is rather saturated on youtube)
T
"Hot headed teenager" - best analysis of Dave Mustaine's character ever!
To think that he was already pushing 30 when he put this out!
That why this music is so good
I think will be cool if one year from now, Amy reviews classical music but from the lens of heavy metal music, to help new comers relate and understand classical composers!
She’s kind of doing that already though ;)
@@dago87able she is! But would be even better if it was a full half hour sit through dissecting a classical piece and explaining even more the similarities and influences! I figure one year from now would give enough time for the channel to build a large enough audience that would be interested
@@musichomework Sure, that’d be great indeed. I’m not sure tho if the right venue would be this channel, unless she changes it’s name ;)
to see her dressed in a leather jacket and combat boots! lol
I listened this song for first time when I was 9 years old. And its impessed me so much that it has defined my taste in music for the rest of my life. Now I'm 42 and I get goosebumps every time I listen to this song
It’s a two part song, hence the title having the ellipsis; the two songs had a lot of similar motifs and tonal qualities, and were put together because it musically made sense. The Punishment Due is only understood with knowledge of The Punisher as a character, and that fact coupled with how borderline musically indistinguishable the two sections are, causes basically everyone lyrical confusion the first few times they hear it. Holy Wars is some angry kid yelling about religious wars, and The Punishment Due is the story and inner monologue of The Punisher. If you know the story of The Punisher the lyrics to that section are actually pretty great. As for the appeal question you posed us, as someone who enjoys jazz, classical, prog rock, funk, rap, and many genres for many different reasons, thrash has a unique place in that something about the riffs and the tone and anger just clicks with some part of my brain; there’s no reason for it, it just clicks, which I think is true for all real fans of metal
Holy crap. I've been listening to it since it came out and never made a connection to The Punisher and my God, the way it all clicked into place...
Yup. This is all correct. You win today's cookie, my friend.
This comment needed to be made. Not knowing The Punisher makes the 2nd half of this song nonsense. If you know the story of Frank Castle, it’s super obvious.
Maybe I'm overthinking, but since the Punisher was a marine, I always thought it was his thoughts on how the wars around the world are non sense and how he became convinced that the only necessary war is against organized crime (my past erased, no more disgrace, no foolish naive stand).
Agreed if you don’t know anything about the punisher then your gonna be clueless about how good these lyrics actually are
I think dave might have been influenced by the ireland thing, but later on you can tell, on the holy wars video the lyrics are mostly about the conflict in the middle east. The interlude has that phrygian dominant run which alludes to the middle east
This is the most honest and informative first listen/reaction channel on UA-cam that I know of.
Everything else out their in this vein is pandering to an audience that wants to see another person enjoy what they enjoy and through them feel more justified in their musical preferences.
Perhaps in these deep dives you can delve into the harmonic interplay during the solo sections, like what scales are being used against what chord types, what notes are being emphasized in the solo section that add color, what elements of the melody or harmony are being restated in the solo and the like.
Listening to thrash as an angry teenager somehow led me to really enjoy classical piano. Your deep dive was spot on! Fun fact, these guys mostly created and performed under the influence of something .
The whole album is easily in my top 5 albums from any genre of music of all time. Maybe it's even first.
It's my first for sure.
In my Top 2 ever. Best metal for sure.
Interesting. I have to listen it sometimes at once. I somehow ignored Megadeth for 20 years knowing only the Symphony of Destruction and then I somehow found album Dystopia which is great IMHO. What are your favorite albums by the way? Mine is likely In Absentia from Porcupine Tree, Joshua Tree from U2, Automatic for People from REM, Ten from Pearl Jam, Superunknown from Soundgarden, Nevermind from Nirvana. Somehow most of them is from early 90s.
Hot Mess is the perfect way to respectfully summarize the lyrics and content that inspired them. 😂
You nailed it. It’s about the music on this one. It’s a personal favorite and as you also know a fan favorite. Excellent analysis.
Hot mess is what I always thought of the majority of metal lyrics when I first heard them in the 80's.
I think this is a function of the "garage" band path that most rock groups follow: a group of completely inexperienced, untrained, undisciplined teenagers want to create music without even the slightest clue about how to do it. This leads to the music of most songs being created not only without pre-existing lyrics, but without even knowing what the theme or emotional mood will be. They just "jam out" with improvisation hoping that something interesting will emerge that will sound "cool". Then they will develop a song around that "cool" lick or riff and iterate on it or add more elements. Only then will someone consider the lyrics and (more often than not) the group or writer will then try to determine the theme and try to cram the lyrics in.
In my experience, this is always left to the last member of the band to say "not it" when it come time to write them because at that point it could hardly be more difficult to write lyrics that flow musically and thematically. FYI: all of Rush's lyrics were written by the drummer (once he joined) and most of Black Sabbath's lyrics were written by the bassist. Again, in my experience, it is extremely common for rock lyric writers to have a journal of lyrical snippets/poetry where they record random ideas and can then copy and paste those segments together like poetic lego blocks for a song's lyrics. Jim Morrison of the Doors was famous for this method.This makes it nearly impossible for the lyrics to stand on their own but make them consistently vague enough to broaden their ability to inspire the imagination of the listener. An interesting double edged sword.
Jep, she nailed it. It's all about wonderful young anger and rebellion. There are a lot of bands in metal music who write wonderful lyrics (Opeth, I'm looking at you... although... there are counterexamples) but there are so many bands who just should have played instrumentally.
Just wanted to mention that Marty Friedman, one of guitarists in Megadeth, is really into classical music.
Wow, this is really an honest analysis. Usually creators cater to the fans and say everything they want to hear. Props to you! 😃👍
I love Khachaturian! He was a Soviet/Armenian composer whose "Eastern" textures really added another dimension to his (and Western) music. His famous 'Sabre Dance' actually was on the pop charts in the US in the late 1950. His rhythms can be exceedingly fast and almost 'rock-like.'
Will say as a big metal fan, your mention of the harpsichord is funny because I'd actually consider it one of my favorite instruments when I hear a classical piece!
Very good observations! In the case of Dave Mustaine, we are dealing with a case of arrested development. In fact many of the great metal musicians from the 8's, 90's have that same problem simply because their youth was anything but normal. Think of Mozart as an extreme comparison: he didn't have a normal childhood either, he spent most of it touring, and it showed. He too was in many ways immature.
With Dave, things are more complex. He went through severe bouts of alcoholism (and when he was drunk, he was a different, very violent person), drug abuse. He nearly died a couple of times.
He is a pocket tyrant with a nasty temper, very few musicians were able to tolerate his attitude on the long term, Megadeth's line up changed many times.
He never really got through the fact that he has been kicked out of Metallica, much of what he did revolved around that resentment for many years.
I love him. He has many luminous moments, he wrote some songs that will always stay with me and in some of those songs I even like his propensity towards excessive melodramatics..
But he also drives me nuts sometimes. The last thing that pissed me off was when he suddenly became a Newborn Evangelical Christian. I have no problem with anyone's faith, but his reasoning was basically: I tried everything else, I might as well try this thing too. And in my mind that's unspeakably superficial, faith of any kind requires a bit more than that
With respect regarding Dave's faith, his early upbringing was essentially in that lane, but through a very abusive stepfather. He then rebelled and wallowed in the occult and satanism, progressed beyond that to not giving a damn, to returning to his roots. It wasn't superficial, it was an evolution.
@@jima6545 There is no evolution to religious faith. Religious faith is stifling, repressive and completely dumb in every conceivable way.
@@DamnDealDone while I can appreciate you having an opinion, I don't agree. My views are complicated and I don't subscribe to any religion myself. Like it or not, religions provide structure and community to many that require such. Also, you might be able to apply that definition to some religions, especially ones with beginnings in the middle east, but it doesn't apply across the board.
I'm a big fan of Megadeth and I love this song, I've listened to it over and over again, and it still grabs an immediate hold of me every time.
Instrumentally, I find it engaging in a few different ways. The song starts with a lot of energy, gets my head nodding in no time, but also makes things interesting as it goes on by slowing things down only to speed up once more. It has a strangely dancable quality to it, despite being somewhat complex with its fills, flourishes and tempo changes - it makes me think of jazz music in that way. There are clearly repeating riffs and rhythms, which I find very satisfying, but they're made all the more interesting when other details and variations are sprinkled in between.
Mustaine's voice is tough for many people to enjoy, or even tolerate, and I can't blame them. He's definitely not a conventionally good vocalist, but I think his unique voice really adds to Megadeth's identity, and he usually succeeds well at bringing additional energy and detail to the songs with his vocal performances, as limited as his vocal skillset might be.
Lyrically, I think it's fair that you'd consider Holy Wars to be a hot mess. It's essentially two unrelated lyrical ideas smashed together with little internal logic. I think both ideas could've been developed into individually interesting pieces, but that unfortunately never happened. Overall, Dave Mustaine is a bit of a lyrical mixed bag. He's able to write lexically creative, thoughtful and catchy lyrics, but I don't think he succeeds every time, and sometimes only one or two of those aspects are present, rather than all three.
However, I don't dislike Holy Wars' lyrics. In fact, I'm pretty much always singing along to them whenever I listen to the song. While it's clearly messy as a whole, I think both halves are individually fairly good, incomplete as they may be. I also have a personal way of merging the two halves of the song into one coherent concept. More specifically, I view it as a three-part exploration of religious conflict, tyranny and violence:
The "first part", lasting until the acoustic bridge, introduces the stage of religious conflict, where people divide and kill each other on the basis of their beliefs and identities, believing that they're doing so with even divine authority. It warns the listener that this sort of holy war could take place anywhere, not just somewhere like Israel, as exemplified by the troubles in Northern Ireland.
The "second part", starting with "Upon my podium..." and ending with "...they die!" before Friedman's solo, depicts an oppressive religious and/or political leader. This leader believes, or at least wants his subjects to believe, that he has the authority of God, which he exercises to erase all who oppose his beliefs and quest for more influence and control. The people must do as he commands and never question him, or he will have them eliminated.
The "third" and "final part", beginning with "They killed my wife...", on the other hand, shows the conflict through the eyes of an ordinary person stuck within it, someone being oppressed by the leader from the second part. He vows revenge against the tyrannical leadership which killed his family and tried to take away his beliefs and freedom of thought in order to control and assimilate him.
This interpretation of course won't work for everyone, and isn't supported by Mustaine's comments, so I can totally understand if the song's admittedly disjointed nature puts someone off. Personally, though, I've managed to retain my enjoyment of the lyrics through this harmonization.
Your analysis of thrash metal focusing more on broader emotions over intricate intertwining of lyrics and instrumentals is fair. However, I think it's important to keep in mind that there's a lot of variation between different thrash metal bands, or even among different songs from one band. Sometimes the lyrics and the music are tightly connected, other times not so much. Sometimes song structures are simplistic, other times they're very unpredictable. There are some common lyrical themes and a musical focus on speed, catchy riffs and impressive guitar solos, but thrash metal is ultimately as diverse as any genre of music might be.
Yes, I am a lifelong metal lover and Baroque is probably my favorite style of "classical" music. I regularly listen to the Brandenburg concertos, Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel etc. Another metal band very inspired by this era of music is called "Symphony X"-the band includes a keys player and in their earlier albums they actually have some direct references to JS Bach pieces. The guitar solos are virtuosic in style, maybe inspired by romantics like Paganini as well as Bach (you'd have to tell us whether that's true lol). You might be pleased to hear they have a wonderful, melodic vocalist who writes rather poetic lyrics as well- Russel Allen, among the best in the genre imo.
I have to headbang every time I hear the harpsichord solo in the first movement of Brandenburg #5. Symphony X sounds interesting, I'll check them out.
Yeah me too and I was into Baroque classical music back in the mid 80s thanks to Yngwie J Malmsteen. Paganini, Bach, and Beethoven. I took Music appreciation at MDCC Wolfson Campus in Miami. I did a report on Paganini and this was going to the Library back in 1993. No PCs. I got a B+. Besides that I very much like Symphony X and to me they are like a modernized version of Kansas if I didn’t know any better. Kansas had musicians that were classically trained. So that’s my favorite progressive rock band.
Great breakdown! I watched your first video on this song and was pleasantly surprised when this follow up came up in my feed. I really like what you are doing here with this series!
I really thought you would see the lyrical connection between segments. Specially the very first sentence with the very last one. Before brother can kill own brother, you first have to take his thoughts away.
Yeah this is an important way in which the lyrics work together. The entire song is thematically about manipulation
Thanks for the links, beautiful pieces of music and they teach so much just by listening to them, My taste in music ranges from Bach to Death Metal and everything that sounds interesting in between. keep up the good work and yes, i love the sound of the harpsichord. Cheers!
OMG, I laughed so hard at you lyrics analysis. Holy Wars has some of the most epic riffs and solos and flows so nicely musically, but you're absolutely right, it's a hot mess lyrically and conceptually being two smashed up songs. That's a shame, because usually Dave has quite thoughtful, deep and knowledgeable lyrics that often tell a follow-able story. Then sometimes weird stuff comes out and this one of them. Almost always great music. That has a lot to do with the recording industry and having to meet deadlines that things get thrown together quickly and unfinished and Dave is not naturally a singer or songwriter in that sort of sense; he's a guitarist first and foremost. In Metallica, James handled those duties.
I was trained classically and had metal-head parents so I listen to both frequently. Love the sound of the harpsichord and particularly fond of fast string and violin pieces. Some of those have the same energy as metal music, one of my favorites being Bazzini's Dance of the Goblins. If you want to hear some really crazy metal music compositions, the band Death was hugely influential in forming the death metal and extreme metal genres. Towards the end of their career, they started fusing jazz into their sound in a way that actually works and used a fretless bass while doing it. Forewarning, the vocals get rougher though.
read the commentaries from Justin above in the comment section.
Funny you mention Death, Mark. Wasn't that a heavy garage band from Detroit? How on earth could there be more than one band called death? ha. Death is really good, too! Check em out - gonna check the metal death now. lol
how many death bands are there, i wonder
A fretless 6 string?
Thank you very much Amy for your great analysis. When you got to the lyrics section, I thought I'm gonna die :D
Hello, thank you very much for your feedback on "metal" and the classical music approach.
It shows, that you dedicate all your professionalism to your work and it is not just listening and over exaggerating a reaction.
Thank you very much, I think I will stay for a long time on your channel.
Greetings from Patagonia, Chile.
The reason I love this song so much is because it is unapologetically brash, intense and diverse. It is split into two different ideas that seemingly blend together if you're not paying attention. Those two portions contain a number of different riffs, transitions and vocal inflections that truly make the song special. I've listened to a lot of metal but that song always brings me back and I consider it among my favorite songs ever.
i love when you parallel the similarities between different genres of music. We all have styles that move us more. But I love finding parallels, and similarities. The foundations are related, but the material that they use to construct the piece may vary.
First time viewer.
Thank you for your input.
I'm a huge fan of discussion and debate.
I appreciate your honesty. It's beautiful watching certain parts hit you emotionally as a first time listener.
I would love to see you try out some Protest the Hero and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
As a classical musician and fan, I feel you'd be quite impressed and the oxytocin would be flowing at it's maximum within you.
I've recently become a big fan of yours! I think you would enjoy the wide variety of musical ideas that the band King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard provides. While a few of their albums are compilations of different genres, they tend to release concept albums that explore different musical and thematic ideas. I would love to hear your thoughts on some of their songs such as Lava (which the album this is from explores the 7 Greek modes), Nuclear Fusion (to which it's album explores microtonality), or Magenta Mountain (one of their compilation albums). Keep up the great insights and hopefully you explore what this band has to offer!
really interesting information here. I may not agree with all your conclusions but it's always nice to hear someone musically gifted break down music I really enjoy, keep up the great content :)
your videos are so satisfying intellectually ❤
That Boccherini piece is quite beautiful. I’m going to go back and listen to more Boccherini. Thanks for those links. Love the harpsichord and Bach. I will check out the ballet music later on. Great stuff.
So glad you are enjoying them! Boccherini really is not as well known as he should be!
@@VirginRock you post the best links, Dowland and Corelli etc. Boccherini is a name I know and I’m sure I’ve heard his music but I never connected in my mind, which is strange because I love late Renaissance music. I would love to go back in time and record those 16th century performances. Thanks Amy, I’m a big Boccherini fan now and I’m listening to all I can find.
this is awesome 💯💯i agree on the lyric construction part
Your honesty compliments you open mindedness. Very refreshing!
A (not too small) part of me is watching these analyses to get new classical input. Rock on. \m/
I listened to the a bit of the section of the ballet you linked, and I do hear the connection. I'm not sure I would've noticed it on my own, but it's definitely there, and it's a little weird experiencing it in this light.
As for the lyrics being a hot mess... yeah, kinda. I think it's more trying to evoke a certain broad theme, and giving you different segments linked by basic imagery and vibe, than it is even attempting to tell a single, cohesive story. But as others have said, the particular lyrics really take a back seat to the music. It's about war and sectional violence, so just think about guns and stuff blowing up as the guitars shred.
thanks for the Spartacus 👍
A classically trained musician who became a great metal guitarist is Yngwie Malmsteen. Can't wait to see you react to his classically inspired music.
That was a perfect summary and I didn't know that Ireland story! Thanks.
When you're a teenage male filled with angst and rebellion your brain is screaming out in all these directions, which is why we could relate to this songs constant nonsensical twists. I matches what our brain is doing.
This whole album is a masterpiece, but they have a lot of different styles they've delved into.I would like to hear your reaction to a tour le monde & in my darkest hour. For instrumental, conquer or die, which is more recent but mind blowing.
Hello new to the channel..love hearing perspectives on musical journeys that go outside of a person's typical wheelhouse..I'm sure I'm not the first one to suggest Radiohead for reaction and analysis.. I'd start with a song from "In Rainbows." Maybe one called Nude or All I Need.. Would love an analysis on one of the rare artists in this world that hit on an intellectual as well as emotional level.. Happy listening..xo
Yes yes yes!
Thank you for the links.
This kind of music appels to young boys (mostly) as I was in 1991. It looks cool, agressive, and provocative in a way. People who care about guitars and technics knows that Megadeth is verry good players. Not always in a melodic sense but in guitar skills. Marty Friedman is the solo player and he's good in melody too. This song is too extreme. You can find much more melody in other Megadeth albums. But this one really is iconic. Thanks for you analysis. Marco from Brazil. Megadeth Fan since 11 years old. I love classical music by the way. 😁
Dave plays the last solo.
This is very interesting, the lyrical analyses reminds me of all the times your teacher thinks you are a disturbing non-sensical child, because he judges you only by your outrage, instead of the circumstances that made you act out in the first place, which of course shouldn't even be the job of a teacher, but separates the really good ones, from the jaded. The musical analysis is very much the opposite and shows your years of experience and love for the art! A worthwhile video to watch!
For the lyrics to make sense, one has to know the punisher’s story first ,then one realizes that how everything comes together at the end
Hey! I am new to your channel, and I really enjoyed your content (this video, and your original review of the song). I had your most previous video in my recommended, and followed through to your channel and now I'm here. I really enjoyed your enthusiasm for learning about the history of that particular piece. For Megadeth in particular, while they are my most listened to individual band, I can't disagree with any of your comments. As for lyrics, I have recently come to the conclusion I have never really paid attention to lyrics, as much as I have the tonality of the vocals. That being said, vocals are normally a secondary part of what I listen to anyways. As for something more relevant to this video in particular though, through your research you've probably learned that Dave Mustain is notoriously difficult to get along with, and is quite protective of whatever vision he has for a song/album. With Rust in Peace, they had the lead guitarist Marty Friedman, who is so far above and beyond the most... "musically flexible" of the band. He ended up leaving the band not long after, and moved to Japan, and became a solo artist. If you are looking for something more intricate to the ear, and don't wish to traverse too far from what you have here, I would highly recommend giving "Lucretia" a listen from the same album, you can really hear Marty's flexibility in the leads (2:15 - 2:55), and then you can absolutely tell the difference when Dave's solo kicks in. Its honestly night and day between the two artists. Thank you again for your content, I am a new subscriber for sure.
On a side note, if you ever find yourself looking for someone in rock who is just a fascinating due to their absolutely enormous contribution to music, I would recommend looking up "Buckethead" I With a discography as large as his, its not really possible to truly grasp how much of an oddity he is. for every "I Love my Parents" he has written, he has 10 "Unemployment Blues"
This is the first reaction of yours that I've watched and I came to the second part not expecting much. UA-cam first time reaction videos almost universally have this shocked and not into it at first but praise it and appreciate it a lot afterwards script to cater to the audience, who will all be fans of the song being reacted to and it makes sense financially to tell them what they want to hear. That their taste is superb and their favorite song is the best even for someone completely foreign to it but who knows her stuff.
I have to say I am pleasantly surprised, you have definitely won me over by not following that cheap scheme. I am a diehard heavy metal fan for some 20 years and love this song very much but the two words that I too would've chosen to describe the lyrics would be "hot mess". It's not only that but you don't go on about praising the music either, you give it some credit but don't go overboard to appease the fans. It is even too little credit, of course in my extremely biased estimation. You even have the audacity to describe the lyrics as random ideas of some 15 year old with too much hormones despite having a very polite and nice tone normally, I love it. When describing the lyrics you omit or don't know about the drug aspect perhaps but they sure sound like ramblings of some modestly educated young man, stitched on to some music without much care in terms of coherence or quality.
I won't say but no actually not nor will I try to defend them by saying it's two songs in one and in the album it works or such things as some others have argued.
However, I do have a different angle. I wouldn't have the lyrics any other way. The reason why is, whether by accident or intention, these lyrics or rather the way they are, invokes some interesting thoughts and feelings. Not the lyrics themselves but the disorganized hardly comprehensible mess they are feels bewildered and helpless. Which wouldn't be terribly unusual, interesting or important by itself but the contrast they have with the music is what makes this very impactful in my opinion.
As you too have noticed, the music is very well organized. It's not just competently played but showing off skill and speed and ability to compose and in general excellence. You may disagree with "excellence" probably but for the people who wrote and played it and the audience including myself, that's what the music communicates. Precision and brilliance.
The lyrics on the other hand start off serious enough but soon after get out of control and go on rambling about some comic book character-in a hardly comprehensible fashion at that too-and then some more paranoid rambling not really even clearly related to the Punisher bit and then mention of overdose and lack of mercy killings?
You don't know that of course but we the listeners of this band's music know that the writer is capable of writing decent or even good lyrics in a normal organized way. Surely he could've written okay lyrics with coherence for this piece that they obviously have worked on quite some. But he didn't. Which makes me think this is a deliberate choice.
The striking bit for me and I believe it is communicated as a whole by the song is this helplessness (through lyrics) despite competence, brilliance and awareness(through music). It's not the paranoia and drug abuse and feelings of bewilderment that some weak pitiable person is communicating through not being able to write coherent lyrics but the portrayal of these feelings experienced by someone highly functional and capable and still not being able to overcome them.
Maybe I am reading into it too much because I want more meaning and merit for it but even if this was not the intention and the writer was just lazy and didn't care, a piece of art still gets some of the credit for the elaborate feelings and thoughts that it evokes in the audience's mind, I think.
Thank you for making an honest reaction video and much love and respect to you. Was what I sat down to write.
Thankyou for your very respectful , informative insight. Jimi Hendrix- All Along The Watchtower. Its a bob Dylan song, and jimi's version is just so excellent.
since my whole teenager-life till
now i have been into classical music and metal and i always was searching for connections. i also have been more in pop than in rock. but i am absolutly in metal, cause there i found many connections, but nobody believed me in former times. now this is completly different... i always wanted to discuss about it, but nobody wanted... cause you speak about riffs: there is a phenomenal freak-book about metal-riffs. --- Schwermetallanalysen - Dietmar Elflein (i think only in german). i was speaking with dietmar a few years ago about his book. he did an unbelievable work to show all the small riffs in one song and how they connect. this book really is unbelievable in the analyse of the famous metal songs from all genres. but one thing he forgot a little bit: the questions about chord-progressions etc. in metal-songs. my theory always was: nothing is more important for loving or hating a song, even if it's only subconscious. but there are people, the only listen to the groove as well.. that is also okay... is metal everything? jazz, blues, classical music, ethno music, folk music...? and the smallest common part is the gain at the guitar? i don't know. here in vienna we always are are little bit more in classical music i think. i grow up with the hungarian operettes from my mam and not with blues and american folk. maybe this is the reason i prefer all this european bands (with an epic style) more than the metalbands from the usa. i don't know... but i love this channel! at this channel you get new perspectives, a new sight or you get answers....
If more colorful emotional content from Megadeth. I suggest Promises. I think you would enjoy this song with it's string feature. Or A Tout Le Monde.
I love this so much. Thanks for being honest, regardless of negative or positive I got a kick out of someone intelligently deconstructing these lyrics rather than most meatless reactions.
Can't believe you got me to check out ballet. You're the only one that could have done that for sure.
Thumbs up for this channel.
Mercy killings and The taking of thoughts away is referring to the direction in which the beginning message has us headed. Even a 15-year-old could decipher that LMAO
Great analysis! Thank you for the honest approach as always.
Thrash metal music is not about evolving subjects lyrical wise.
Just taking subjects as triggers to write fast, technical and "angry" songs, hence the adolescent and uncompleted feel to the piece.
The main reason the music aspect is so organized versus the lyrics not being solid probably comes from the fact that most metal musicians/songwriters write the lyrics last, the music takes precedent over the lyrics.
Watching your analysis points out the flaws of many metal musicians, but it's that constructive criticism that will help many improve the art form.
I'm a hard rock/ heavy metal musician myself, and I record and release independent albums. While sitting here listening to your analysis, I'm laughing thinking of my own past mistakes, lyrically, for most times I write my lyrics days if sometimes hours before recording them, a few times minutes before I cut my vocal tracks. So now understanding what you are talking about, of illuminating the lyrics, hopefully I will have a stronger composition. Thank you. I look forward to watching more of your videos, I relate with what you are saying.
I think you will like Haggard, would recommend Eppur si mouve to start. Keep the awesome work!
I love it when I get made to do homework. Many thanks for engaging my brain.
It's two different songs. The Punishment Due makes sense if you know they storyline of the Punisher character
For lyrics check nirvana...poetry with disturshen
Super awesome contrast of musical differences.
Metal, and specifically this song, is very focused on conveying feeling and emotion. Although sometimes that does sacrifice lyrical intricacies
My interpretation of the connection is centered on the effect of combat on the individual psyche. The pop media references in the second section are using the living evolution of a fictional character which had existed for 20 years at that point. Comic books and their more modern descendant the graphic novel are a fluid medium. The third section seems an obvious extrapolation of the character evolution, which coincidentally did play out in the 30 years since as the Punisher character has evolved in comic books, grapic novels, books, films and streamed service series. One of the early conceits in Punisher stories was "mercy bullets" hence a twist on lyrics to mercy killings. Further, the Marvel character was based on a wildly popular paperback character, the Destroyer. The concepts relating to mental health such as narcissism and an over-developed sense of justice certainly aren't angry teenager material. This is in the end though, pop culture material, which happens to fascinate me. While I find your commentary overly dismissive and based on an extremely narrow slice of knowledge, I readily acknowledge connecting all the dots in pop media isn't an especially productive use of time and energy if it's not your cup of tea. Also, I question what one can take away from what Mustaine says in various commentary about assorted works by Megadeth. I find it best to take him with a grain of salt and dig deeper if the interest suits me. The one fault I would put on these lyrics is the unneccessary level of obfuscation regarding the overarching theme of how violent trauma damages individual mental health--but, let's keep in mind this was right at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm and the Persian Gulf War (which I participated in), giving it a further complex place in pop culture and relation to the growth of mental health awareness, especially relating to combat veterans (an essential element of the Punisher/Frank Castle archtype).
I can't wait to see an analysis of some progressive death metal band like Death, Psycroptic or Sonivinos... I know we'll have to wait a few years to get to that style😅. Meanwhile I recommend the analysis of the song(s) Cadaver/Revadac by the Japanese band Unlucky Morpheous, it starts with the song Cadaver and then continues with Revadac which is the same song but all in reverse.
Would be great if you could do some early Genesis such as The lamb lies down on broadway album, firth of fifth, suppers ready or any of their 70s stuff
What I understood the connection to be when I was younger was each section represented a perspective shift that the musical themes represent beautifully. In the 1st “act,” he doesn’t understand indiscriminate killing without mercy due to religious or governmental control. The 2nd “act,” he suffers the unjust punishment of having his family killed to control him or as revenge, so now he has changed. The music reflects this by taking a more thoughtful and emotional pace that demonstrates a shift in logic. In the 3rd “act,” now he is a fanatic that kills indiscriminately and without mercy, convinced the enemy is trying to remove his ability to think for himself. It takes on the same tense and barely controlled state of the first act. I think he used different sources of information to paint a picture of how anyone can become a fanatic or the thing they prejudged initially.
Hahaha yeah he mix those subjects the second part is about the Punisher his family was killed in the comics so he becomes a vigilante figting the mafia in persuit of revenge xD probably Dave dont know how finish the first part so he write that
Definitely do a piece on Malmsteen!
Yeah Bach and Beethoven definitely had their Heavy Metal moments. : )
Megadeth is said to be music for the musician. The riffs are fun to play so the band never gets bored and any musicians listening will find nuance to appreciate throughout.
This woman is a genius. Finally the metal community has a voice!
Go and follow "The Charismatic Voice " as well. Elizabeth is a great voice for the metal community.
It would be interesting to see you react to some Neoclassical metal instrumentals which has either metal players that are heavily influenced by classical or in some cases accomplished classical players that are writing/playing metal. A good example of both is Unlucky Morpheus does a cover of Yngwie Malmsteen's song Far Beyond the Sun in which Jill the (violinist from Unlucky Morpheus) plays Yngwie Malmsteen's guitar parts on violin (Yngwie Malmsteen influenced a lot of young electric guitar players in the 80s (myself included) to learn Paganini's 24 caprices as a way to improve there guitar technique) so you have a guitar part that is influenced by violin & then a cover version in which it is played on violin taking it full circle. Other good examples include Tony Mac Alpine who plays both piano & guitar and even included himself playing Chopin's prelude 16 opus 28 on his 1st record, Jason Becker who played with Marty Friedman (one of the guitarists on this song) before Marty joined Megadeth, the solo records from either Michael Romeo or Jeff Loomis, Vitalij Kuprij who as a teen won classical piano competitions, and there's many more 👍
I would love for you to react to Death's -Voice of the Soul. It's an instrumental from a great band.
Lets not mention the crazy riffs and epic solos
Thank you ma’am.
Well said, Amy. Well said. ❤Peace/JT
Such an interesting and unique review of this song.
Overall, I loved your commentary in this and the first video, but I do feel that you might be underestimating the coherence of the lyrics. They are indeed a mosaic of different narrative voices and ideas, but I believe there is an intentional running theme, mainly Mustaine's anger and disappointment about the Ireland experience.
The opening section is an admission of his former naivete and an indictment of brainwashed religious infighting he discovered in Ireland. Mustaine then places himself in the place of the judge or prophet and then transitions into a "Punisher" themed revenge narrative. He ends raging against the infringement of his speech.
So essentially it's a chastisement, a warning, a threat, and an apology all rolled into one. A summary of all his feelings about the incident colored through his artistic influences.
At least that's my understanding. Only Dave really knows, but I don't think I'm too far off 😉🤘🏼
A ballet? Now, *that* would be some fancy footwork!
I think harpsichord is probably very familiar to the power metal crowd.
4:08 ..I'd imagine Dave Mustaine would approve of that lyric description.
The disconnect in lyrics is in the title... the first part is Holy Wars, the second part is The Punishment Due. Megadeth used this concept for another song on the same album... Rust In Peace... Polaris.
I recently stumbled on your channel and like it a lot. I suggest you try some 1970's era Genesis , particularly "Firth of Fifth" from the album "Selling England by the Pound" circa 1973. Great classical piano intro with one of the best guitar solos. This is far removed from the pop era Genesis of the 80's & 90's. More in your wheelhouse I would say.
Would love to see you do an analysis of Animal Collective's 'Alvin Row'
Every section of the song is tied to the title witch is holy wars , parallel stories developing over the same concept witch to me they are specific and on point , metal is sanctuary to non conventional ways of expression musically ,sound or lyric wise , in this case thoughts about a specific topic expressed in a natural way, the way humans think under stress and emotional pain . Imo the song would fail emotionally if it was conveyed in a "proper" kind of way lyric wise (in fact mentioning hormones, confusion and rage is proof the song succeeded in its purpose),also i think is a blessing we sometimes have to make logical or illogical leaps in order to make sense of something and connect things together (it helps our mind develop) , and lets not forget there is so little time to include all the aspects of such a big and sad topic as holy wars....
Cool video as always. I think you would enjoy 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden.
I’d love to see her react and review any slayer song!
Preferably Angel of death 😁
I love a harpsichord.
"Next thing you know they'll take my thoughts away" and "just because I don't say it, don't mean I ain't thinking it" are actually very relevant to the topic of holy wars, when religion uses violence to try and convert people.
To a classical musicians I would recommend The Odyssey by Symphony x.. progressive metal. Incredibly well composed. A long one but great.
While the lyrics are a bit messy I think they can be at least vaguely interrelated. There are clear differences between the beginning about holy war and the Punisher part-the Punisher, Frank Castle, is a man driven by revenge after the mob kills his wife and children. But the overall theme is obviously something akin to young man’s anger at pointless killing and cruelty and I would personally interpret the ending with mercy killings as a kind of ”oh, to hell with it all” sentiment. These might not be super philosophical lyrics but I think the mood of the lyrics is pretty much the structure and the glue, a kind of ”mood logic” if you will.
A Tout Le Monde is my favorite Megadeth song and one that I think you will like
8:13 i m dying 🤣 but the guy is musically very talented
CAFFINATED....LOVE IT!!
OK so the song is two songs in one.
The ... is a motif of the band. Usually the subject will change but will tie loosely.. The looseness of the lyrical lines add the imagination to the lyrics.. The origins of the ideas aren't always the lyrics.. In Holy Wars case it was inspired by the N.Ireland experience.. Being shatter shot is kind of the point of the message.. Holy Wars is confusing and its easy to find yourself in trouble with someone.. The Punishment Due deals more with the inspiration more directly.. In the Punisher origins Frank Castles family is killed.. He becomes a assassin The Punisher for hire with a bend of using lethal means.. An anti-hero who has unethical methods... The rant as you called it.. Is the characters mindset towards punishing the wicked.. These are mercy killings..
Now if we actual do play with these ideas together more broadly then we get a picture of a more wider lens of Holy War and the mindset of some seeing it all for as a corrupted sinister plan a lie and wanting to being it down.. In an unethical lethal way as they've taken everything from him literally.. Now that... That is a rebellious message.
Metal generally not all but a good portion of the good stuff actually has these looser lyrics to allow you to impart your own messages onto them..
Some will see this about the crusades and all the murder and death on both sides.. The narrator even being pulled into it.. A biblical message.. Some will simply hear anger distrust and smart observations and that's all they need..
Some will require the knowledge of the lyrics to even remotely vibe with it.. Some others will see the left right paradigm in the song and name it for this or that reason..
The point I'm making is a lot of people will take out a lot of different things.. And that's actually the mark of a great song.. Where the message means something to you.. What feelings to they bring forward.. Take each line like a question or observation.. We could look at each line here and riff of them as they build up upon each other..
Not all Megadeth is like this song either so don't assume this is all they do.. It is considered one of their best though.
The more songs you listen to and the lyrics in said songs you'll come to understand the broadness of message that can be received from the songs..
If you are interested in doing more you could cycle though the hits.. Or you could see where the band is today and contrasting them from what you've heard here with their latest work.. They have done a sort of music video trilogy around their mascot Vic Rattlehead.. Its going to be a 6 part series.. Theyve released 5 so far so.. It would be good to see you take each in because they provide very different things each time with tying themes across each.. Its a unique project nobody has ever done anything like this with music videos and songs before.
Dave being a hot head teenager is totally accurate lol. This was more about music than lyrics.
You need to check out Slice the Cake...The Man with No Face. A twenty + minute metal composition. Written by a composer/musician from Sweden, guitars played by a guy from Australia and vocals performed by a guy from England. I think that's right...anyway and their names are slipping my brain right now! All parts are recorded in their respective countries. The three of them have only written two albums as a collaboration.
You get it with your baroque comment. I will say that fractured thoughts in metal are often intentional and that pathos is the point - to make the disaffected feel - something, anything. The genius is that it allows others to project their own ideas into it - which allows it provide meaning for a wider audience who can read into it anything they want to... sort of like the bible in that respect. Now consider that technology (amplified guitars with feedback, effects, distortion, etc) is allowing them to project the pathos of a ballet or opera that are normally supported by a full orchestra, but they are typically doing it with only 3 to 5 musicians.
Please listen to "Phantom of the Opera" from "Iron Maiden" with Paul D'ianno.
You're totally right about the lyrics. The song itself is killer though
Yeah Dave was not always known for thinking out things he says or writes for lyrics haha He gets a bit better lyric wise through his career. The band makes up for it with their musicianship and compositions. As a guitarist, his riffs were always weird to play compared to many others. I always had to look at the guitar a bit differently when learning a Megadeth song
Highly recommend Dream Theater's "Octavarium". From a group of classically trained musicians, play Progressive Metal.
Although the founding members Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci and John Myung dropped out from Berklee to focus for their band. They have also said that they felt that they couldn't learn anything useful anymore. I'm not sure how far they studied there.
@@ManWithoutThePants Yeah, I think they dropped out after their first or second year. Jordan Rudess, however, was a student of Julliard since he was 9 until graduation. I'm quite surprised that Virgin Rock has not gone farther into progressive music. That's certainly the bridge between worlds, and Dream Theater built half of that foundation over the last 30 years.
Would love to see you do one of these videos on Dream Theater or Liquid Tension Experiment
Tool wings for Marie.. you'll thank me and alot of people 💯
About Maynard's mother confined for 10,000 days, a very beutifull song
Yes it is an a tragic one.
@@elskeletor3566 worried she's going down the road of thrash metal. Hate too see her get a bad taste! She does a very good job on things like charismatic
@@jakemorrison482 Yes she does
the lyrics available online are usually posted by a regular person not part of the band, so there are many errors. As for the content jumping around, it makes perfect sense to me that Holy Wars are possible and incessant BECAUSE the processes involved take advantage of immature youth, raging formones, naiveté etc...I can see the connection is presented very loosely, but it is there. I am a new subscriber and wonder if folks are requesting your review of Faith No More? Their album Angel Dust is legendary and the vocalist, Mike Patton, is one of the best all around. I belive you would find it more enjoyable than most other heavy music and there is A LOT to chew on.
8:23 Rappel is not a mispelling of "repel". Rappel actually means to descend a vertical surface, like a cliff.
I think she is referring to his pronunciation of the word. I could be wrong, though.