So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
By the last breath of the fourth winds blow
Better raise your ears
The sound of hooves knocks at your door
Lock up your wife and children now
It's time to wield the blade
For now you have got some company
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
Oh yeah yeah
You have been dying since the day you were born
You know it has all been planned
The quartet of deliverance rides
A sinner once a sinner twice
No need for confession now
'Cause now you have got the fight of your life
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
Oh yeah yeah
Time has taken its toll on you
The lines that crack your face
Famine, your body it has torn through
Withered in every place
Pestilence, for what you have had to endure
And what you have put others through
Death, deliverance for you for sure
There is nothing you can do
So gather round young warriors now
And saddle up your steeds
Killing scores with demon swords
Now is the death of doers of wrong
Swing the judgment hammer down
Safely inside armor blood guts and sweat
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
Oh yeah yeah
Better raise your ears
The sound of hooves knocks at your door
Lock up your wife and children now
It's time to wield the blade
For now you have got some company
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
Oh yeah yeah
You have been dying since the day you were born
You know it has all been planned
The quartet of deliverance rides
A sinner once a sinner twice
No need for confession now
'Cause now you have got the fight of your life
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
Oh yeah yeah
Time has taken its toll on you
The lines that crack your face
Famine, your body it has torn through
Withered in every place
Pestilence, for what you have had to endure
And what you have put others through
Death, deliverance for you for sure
There is nothing you can do
So gather round young warriors now
And saddle up your steeds
Killing scores with demon swords
Now is the death of doers of wrong
Swing the judgment hammer down
Safely inside armor blood guts and sweat
The horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die
Oh yeah yeah
Lyrics submitted by elmoz, edited by RyanWolfeh
The Four Horsemen Lyrics as written by Lars Ulrich James Alan Hetfield
Lyrics © Word Collections Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I doubt this is written about The Four Horsemen in the Biblical sense. Like King Nothing said, this song seems more about the members of the band and their quest to rule the (music?) world. At the time of the songs (re)writing Metallica themselves say alot wrong with the music industry.
Re-read the lyrics...It seems (to me) that Hetfield is telling the story of a person's journey through the end of time. There is very little to no reference of it being about themselves anywhere.
Metallica have been known to write about stories from the bible in a lot of their songs.