This is another track from Séance Fiction, a terrific metal band that was local to me in the first decade of the 21st century. Composed as a song about a necromancer raising an army of the undead, its political implications are unstated, but obvious. Unlike modern woke fare, however, the politics are open to a wide array of interpretations.
Rise can be a song about dead people voting for Democrats in corrupt urban wards. Rise can be a song about brain-dead people voting for Republicans in the countryside. Rise can be a song about Russian fake elections or fake American elections. We can receive Rise as a song about populism, or statism, or any other -ism we please.
Or else Rise can just be a cool double-bass metal track about a necromancer and his zombie army. Whatever the listener wants, the listener gets.
Rise, rise, rise, wake up and rise
Rise, rise, rise, wake up and rise
Wake up, so energetic, eager to please
You’ll do everything that I’m asking of thee
Don’t believe the others, they were selling a lie
Now you’ll bow unto me
I’m the one who gave you life
Well, who gave you life?
Crawl out of your holes and rally now unto me
I gave you the eyes that all who worship can see
They forgot about you, and now we’ll make them all pay
Form your mind tonight, and you will do as I say
You will do as I say
And I’ll demand this of you
And I’ll command this of you
I will not stand here just to be defied
Just think of how long that you’ve lain here asleep
Now you’re moving again, and that was because of me
Just do as I say, I will keep you alive
We’ll make them all see the undead have arrived
You will not stray from me or question why
Rise
A Song About Zombies. Or Voting