The Blackwater Fever are an Australian blues guitar-drums band, formed in B… Read Full Bio ↴The Blackwater Fever are an Australian blues guitar-drums band, formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 2005. They were awarded Best Blues & Roots Act at the 2006 Sunshine Coast Music Festival. They issued their debut five-track extended play, Abused Blues, in January 2006 by the founding duo of Shane Hicks on vocals and guitar; and Rick DeMarco on drums.[1] The tracks had been recorded live-in-the-studio at OPM Studios, Brisbane. Hicks and DeMarco co-wrote "Blackwater", which provided the band's name, Hicks later recalled "[we were] brain storming for a band name we were having a hell of a time trying to come up with something. One of the first guitar/drums songs we wrote together was called ‘Blackwater’ and it’s about people catching a fever from drinking tainted water. Put all that together and you have our band name! We found out later that it was a term for severe malaria…. And because we were going for a dark swampy bluesy sound, we thought…. Perfect!"
By 2008 The Blackwater Fever had gained national radio exposure from youth radio station Triple J, on the Home & Hosed (October) and Roots 'n' All (November) segments,and from that station's Unearthed competition for new unsigned bands. In November 2008 they released their debut studio album, Sweet Misery, where DeMarco had been replaced by Andrew Walter on drums.

By late 2010 the line-up was a trio with Hicks and Walter joined by Jed A. Walters on bass guitar and keyboards. However their second album, In Stereo (June 2011), had been recorded before Walters had joined, "[Jed] didn't contribute to this album but he'll definitely be making a big contribution to the next one." Their third album, The Depths, appeared in March 2013 Luke Saunders of Reverb Street Press compared it with the previous two albums "[its] another intriguing step forward following the solid foundations the band laid on their dark and gritty debut, Sweet Misery (2009) and its more refined, equally accomplished follow-up, In Stereo (2011).

End Of Time
The Blackwater Fever Lyrics

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A burning halo, beneath the sea
Man I’m gonna hide, if you let me be
And I’ll simmer quiet, like a lion sleeps
Soon I’m gonna rise

A heated pistol, torn at the seams
And a shot rang out like white lightning
Over your city, on a red fault-line

Like a live fuse wire
Eras and ages, surge and recede
And I’ll hold my stride, ’til I’m on my knees

’til the end of time

Overall Meaning

The Blackwater Fever’s “End of Time” opens with the haunting lines, “A burning halo, beneath the sea, man I’m gonna hide, if you let me be, and I’ll simmer quiet, like a lion sleeps, soon I’m gonna rise.” The lyrics speak of a sense of impending doom, an apocalyptic event that is looming on the horizon. The imagery of a “burning halo” beneath the sea is particularly striking, evoking thoughts of an undersea volcano or some other kind of catastrophic event that could have dire consequences for life on land. The singer of the song seems to be resigned to his fate, seeking only to hide from the inevitable destruction that is coming, but also ready to rise up and face it when the time comes.

The second verse shifts the focus to a different kind of threat, one that is more immediate and personal: “A heated pistol, torn at the seams, and a shot rang out like white lightning, over your city, on a red fault-line, like a live fuse wire.” Here we see the aftermath of some kind of violent event, with the singer describing a “heated pistol” and a “shot rang out” – presumably referring to some kind of shooting or other act of violence. The language in this verse is dark and ominous, with the “red fault-line” evoking thoughts of a tectonic fault that could trigger an earthquake or other natural disaster. In the end, the singer seems to accept that these threats will always be present, and he will continue to “hold my stride, ’til I’m on my knees” – standing tall in the face of danger until he is finally brought to his knees. Overall, the lyrics of “End of Time” are evocative and powerful, painting a vivid picture of a world on the brink of disaster.

Line by Line Meaning

A burning halo, beneath the sea
A situation of impending doom lurking just beneath the surface, like a fiery ring of light under the sea.

Man I’m gonna hide, if you let me be
I'll avoid confronting the inevitable disaster if you allow me some space to hide.

And I’ll simmer quiet, like a lion sleeps
I'll remain calm and collected like a sleeping lion, waiting for the right moment to act.

Soon I’m gonna rise
I'll eventually rise to face the challenge at hand.

A heated pistol, torn at the seams
A weapon that is about to be broken or destroyed due to the intensity of the situation.

And a shot rang out like white lightning
A sudden and powerful action was taken that was both brilliant and blinding, like a bolt of lightning.

Over your city, on a red fault-line
The catastrophic event took place directly over your city, highlighting its vulnerability and precarious location.

Like a live fuse wire
Similar to a fuse wire, everything is about to explode and ignite into chaos.

Eras and ages, surge and recede
Time moves in ebbs and flows, like waves on a shore.

And I’ll hold my stride, ’til I’m on my knees
I'll keep moving forward, despite hardship and pain, until I am physically unable to continue.

’til the end of time
This struggle will last forever, without hope of resolution or escape.

Writer(s): Dan Bryant, Hideaki Nakama

Contributed by Maria V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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