Avenged Sevenfold wanted an album to make their fans think. With The Stage, released October 28th 2016, they brought in many powerful concepts to their music, relating to power, perception and our existence on this ‘stage’ floating through space.
One powerful song on The Stage is “Simulation”, relating to the illusion of life and what we’re creating. “Simulation” is credited as being written by all band members: M Shadows, Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance, Johnny Christ & Brooks Wackerman.
Within the lyrics of “Simulation” there are references to two well-known instances of illusion playing out in life:
- The Wizard Of Oz: In particular the fantastically acclaimed Wizard being nothing but an ordinary man behind a curtain in Emerald City. (“Toto has pulled back the green tonight, in sight”)
- The Matrix: Where the main character Neo is choosing between depth of reality or staying asleep to it. From the movie: “Take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.” (“Blue pills coat with such disdain / I wore the shades for so long“)
It’s a song to inspire questions as to what is actual reality or what we’re just being presented with and accepting without question.
“Simulation” opens relaxedly, with observations of the simulations, before lyrically and musically hitting hard when questions are asked. There is a swinging between the heavy and ‘lazy’ sound, perhaps relating to whether we are wide awake or being sedated and ‘asleep’ in terms of awareness. At the ending the song itself falls under sedation.
“Posturing the way I feel
Is truth only what we believe is real?
Marvel the sketches that paint the night, starlight
And take a breath before it’s all erased away”
Stream and enjoy “Simulation” as well as the entire The Stage album.
