The Stage is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. It is a concept album about artificial intelligence and self-destruction of society. It was released on October 28, 2016 after a live stream event on the band's Facebook page. The Stage is the first Avenged Sevenfold album to feature Brooks Wackerman on drums, who joined the band in late 2014 but wasn't revealed as Arin Ilejay's official replacement until Ilejay's departure in 2015, because the band wanted to find a drummer that would "fit in". The Stage is also the band's first album to be released Read Full BioThe Stage is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. It is a concept album about artificial intelligence and self-destruction of society. It was released on October 28, 2016 after a live stream event on the band's Facebook page. The Stage is the first Avenged Sevenfold album to feature Brooks Wackerman on drums, who joined the band in late 2014 but wasn't revealed as Arin Ilejay's official replacement until Ilejay's departure in 2015, because the band wanted to find a drummer that would "fit in". The Stage is also the band's first album to be released through Capitol Records. It is also the band's longest studio album at 73 minutes and 35 seconds, thus beating City of Evil by almost a minute. The album also features their longest song to date, "Exist", with a run-time of 15 minutes and 41 seconds.
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The Stage
Avenged Sevenfold Lyrics
So I arrived, naked and cold
A welcomed change from the abeyance of a ghost town catacomb
No need for counsel I appreciate the time I'm not alone
(Why don't you get my lawyer on the phone)
There were days these child eyes
Would overlook the ugliness and fantasize
I found my heart for the first time and I awakened in me
I left myself to navigate, and oh I felt control
(It seems these sheep have quite an appetite)
Who is the crowd that peers through the cage,
As we perform here upon the stage?
As the boy became a man
In came a calm sophistication I can hardly understand
So lost in ego, didn't notice when the time had slipped away
(Yeah, everybody's got a sob story)
Jesus Christ, was born to die
Leave it to man to levitate his own to idolize
We're simply sociopaths with no communication baby
I see your angle but we differ from our points of view
(So tell me, what's your cross to bear?)
Who is the crowd that peers through the cage,
As we perform here upon the stage?
Tell me a lie in a beautiful way
I believe in answers just not today
Hope my wheels don't abandon me now,
Seeing that I'm out here alone
I'm running out of fight
And the wind speaks a comforting voice,
Guiding me to her arms
Mother, I'm alright
It took the birth of sin to snake-rattle the mind
Before a blow to the head by the gavel of time
To wake up
Won't you wake up?
When did the walking apes decide that nuclear war
Was now the only solution for them keeping the score?
Just wake up
Can't you wake up?
(You do know this is just a simulation, don't you?)
Who is the crowd that peers through the cage,
As we perform here upon the stage?
Tell me a lie in a beautiful way
I believe in answers just not today
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: MATTHEW SANDERS, ZACHARY BAKER, JONATHAN SEWARD, BRIAN HANER, BROOKS WACKERMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
WoeIsLee
Avenged Sevenfold has gotta be one of the weirdest bands I've ever liked imo.
The peaks and valleys have just been so unique that no other band even comes close to it.
They were one of the biggest things back in the day, I always thought they were alright, not my favorite, but alright, that being said, the self titled was obviously a huge hit.
After the rev died and nightmare came out, I kinda felt like the band was done tbh, nightmare was decent, but nothing like their previous work.
And then years pass, with literally like nothing.......except one of my favorite songs from them, not ready to die, thanks to call of duty zombies.
And then.......Hail to the king comes out.......the cd that made me write this band completely off.
As a huge Metallica fan, that cd was an outright slap in the face, it was literally a blatant ripoff, and to me, it became clear as day that with the rev dying, this band was dead too. Honestly, I was done with this band after that.
But then.......youtube suggestions, one day in 2017 ish, recommended me this.......and yeaaaaa.......
I've literally never changed my opinion so drastically on a band from one cd to the next than with avenged sevenfold.
I went from being embarrassed to even listen to this band anymore after.......that cd, to.........thinking the stage is one of the best works of prog.........ever.
Their change in direction has made me like this band more than I ever have, and im actually excited for the future of this band.
morantNO1
@Jackson Daily You can have my interpretation of the songs message, if you want :)
At first we as we are watching this stageplay think we are the audience. This however get's reversed when we see that the audience also consists of puppets and even the politicians who contol us are puppets, meaning our human history of cruelty is in fact not for our own entertainment. The repeated chorus "Who is the crowd that peers through the cage, As we perform here upon the stage?" reveals that the singer himself does not know who is the actual crowd for this madness, since we are also just puppets. A possible solution is given at 6:35 "You do know this is just a simulation, don’t you?", arguing the simulation hypothesis, which states that all of reality is just a simulation, might be true. If that were the case, it would make sense of our cruel history, because we are all just puppets fated to kill each other.
This recontextualizes even death itself. Death is portrayed as the puppeteer controlling everything. In the context of the simulation hypothesis the puppeteer would also be the intelligence that designed the simulation and the red button represents stopping the simulation, whiping out what we perceive as reality entirely, which is why after pressing the red button the screen is filled with static.
However, if that theory is actually truthfull or not is irrelevant, which the singer aknowledges when the aforementioned question "Who is the crowd that peers through the cage?" is followed by "Tell me a lie in a beautiful way". Because the singer knows no one can know the answer to that question, for what cruel god we live through this nightmare we call reality, can only be a lie. He still wants someone to tell him something helping him accepting reality, giving the suffering a purpose, even though he knows it is a lie.
This of course is not the core message of the song. The core message is a wake-up call to us the audience ("Just wake up ! Can’t you wake up?"). We may be puppets right now, but that is only because of our own ignorance of the bigger picture. We are only puppets because we let those in power manipulate us by forcing our collective decisions while leaving us oblivious to the very fact we are being controlled. With the Emergence of weapons of mass destruction like the atomic bomb, violence is not viable anymore. We could ignore the violence others do all througout history, but now it affects us, even when we think we think us to be a safe distance away, as shown when the audience was also affected by the bombs gas. If we continue to be puppets, death will claim the whole world, symbolized by the sceletal hand pressing the red button.
PROcrastiDRIVE SV
This song has everything. 100% Avenged Sevenfold. I wouldn't add anything or take anything away, it's another perfect, mind blowing track.
Droup
Yeah, It's honestly like The Rev wrote the lyrics to it.
Dan Harbison
@Benjamin Dover 😪
Dan Harbison
MINDNUMBING!!
Benjamin Dover
It's missing the rev
Lostin Space103
The video was top notch, great meaning and an awesome out of the box concept
Nimrod
I still can't believe this song didn't win a Grammy
William Hall
@SPC Dewitt lol bro wishes the pyramid was upside down, with more talent than flops.... Id drop $50 in pennies down a wishing well during covid coin shortages wishing the same.
William Hall
@Butterpants1987 I'd bet they're pedos, the way they market to pre- pubescent girls.
William Hall
@Sawma BS035the Gramm*ies are* a joke, with all possible respect.