Mark Morton (guitar), Chris Adler (drums) and John Campbell (bass) started a band named Burn the Priest. The band members knew each other from the college they were all attending, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Morton left the band soon after its inception to receive his master's degree. Adler and Campbell replaced Morton with Abe Spear. For the next five years, the band practiced in Adler's house and around Virginia. In 1995, the band released its self-titled first demo. After the demo, Burn the Priest recorded two split albums with Agents of Satan and ZED respectively. After the band's first three demos, Burn the Priest added vocalist Randy Blythe to its line up.
In 1997, Morton returned to the band. The band released their first album entitled Burn the Priest through Legion Records on April 13, 1999. The album was produced by Today Is the Day guitarist and vocalist Steve Austin. Also in April 1999, Spear left the band to a pursue a career in photography. This left an open position for a guitarist. Adler's brother, Willie Adler became the band's second guitarist a year later and a deal with Prosthetic Records was signed. After being banned from playing in certain places (some venue owners believing the band possessed an "evil" name), Burn the Priest changed their name to Lamb of God.
Lamb of God decided to go by the name Burn the Priest in 2018 and they released a cover album called Legion: XX on May 18, 2018.
Bloodletting
Burn the Priest Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bitterness fuels the mode for the escape of mediocrity.
Stepping the grate, shattered nerves ground down to a glass edge carrying me away.
Bloodletting a favorite game of solitaire.
A suicide mission destined to fail, a moving ladder to climb taking me away.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
In Burn the Priest's song "Bloodletting," the lyrics have a deep and powerful message that is conveyed through poetic imagery. The first line, "Archaic methods transfer through well in the face of mass denial," suggests that old-fashioned methods still have value and are effective, even if modern society denies their worth. The bitterness that is fueling the need for escape from mediocrity is the driving force in the song, and it gives a sense of urgency and desperation to the lyrics.
The image of stepping on a grate with shattered nerves being ground down to a glass edge is particularly vivid and gives a sense of pain and suffering. This pain is not arbitrary, but rather it is serving a purpose, as the bloodletting performed in solitaire is a favorite game. This imagery speaks to a kind of self-harm that is used as a coping mechanism, and it suggests that it is almost a suicide mission that will inevitably fail. However, despite this, the lyrics express a grim determination to keep climbing this moving ladder, even if it is taking them away. This is because the singer wouldn't have it any other way, and they're willing to endure the pain and suffering that is necessary to achieve their goal.
Line by Line Meaning
Archaic methods transfer through well in the face of mass denial.
Old methods still work even if people try to deny it.
Bitterness fuels the mode for the escape of mediocrity.
Feeling bitter about mediocrity motivates one to escape from it.
Stepping the grate, shattered nerves ground down to a glass edge carrying me away.
Walking on a metal grate while feeling extremely nervous and broken, causing one to be carried away on a sharp edge like glass.
Bloodletting a favorite game of solitaire.
Bloodletting, the practice of letting blood out, is like a favorite game of solitaire for some people.
A suicide mission destined to fail, a moving ladder to climb taking me away.
Embarking on a mission that is meant to end in failure is like climbing a ladder that keeps moving and taking one away.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Despite the challenges and difficulties, one wouldn't want it any other way.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ABE SPEAR, CHRIS ADLER, DAVID RANDALL BLYTHE, JOHN CAMPBELL, MARK MORTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
G+ is terrible
Heard this song for the first time at a wedding recently, had to look it up to hear it again. Good stuff.
Y/n
G+ is terrible cool I saw that reddit post too
Skip
Reddit is cool. YTA.
Jamie Zelek
HAHAHA
Ian Sykes
Definitely TA
leoporfis
it's a TWO minute song, he just wanted to have some fun at a boring wedding. NTA
Eden Mullins
I love when they play this at weddings!
Hayley Snailey
Heard this at a friends wedding. Interesting choice.
Sidney Roja
Holy shit. My life just changed. Black Label and ODHGABFE were always my favorite Lamb of God songs and I just found my garden of eden.
Jojo Ayanami
I think I'm gonna play this at my wedding so my wife and I can body check eachother