I am not a fan of Heavy Metal music.  That would be an understatement.  If offered free tickets I would not attend a concert.  However I have friends who are fans of Heavy Metal.  There’s something about a song, or a band, or a composer that resonates with a chord in one’s own soul.  Perhaps what resonates, from Mozart to Iron Maiden will change over time?

The past day or so, I have caught video snippets of Russian preparations to invade Ukraine.  The images of main line battle tanks, not unlike steel battering rams, were disturbing.  The machines appear, low profile gun turrets enclosed in reactive armor, built for killing.  They will kill until the tank crews themselves are killed by an antitank missile.

War is a horrific business.  It is a human business.  We are loathe to think of ourselves as hive-like in our consciousness.  Hive consciousness is the reduction of individual agency, the abnegation of personal moral responsibility, in order to become connected by technology (communication systems, high tech weapons) so that a mission imposed by an imperious leader can be achieved.   An opponent’s survival demands hive-like, coordinated, mono-maniacal, — acting in defense of their lives.

In the West, a culture that celebrates the individual, telling ourselves stories about the sacrifice of our fathers to defend freedom for the oppressed, — we are reluctant to recognize war for what it is, a convulsion of blood lust and killing.  Veterans however know the truth: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan.

This Heavy Metal tune by the English band, Iron Maiden tells a truth about the human experience.  The frenetic guitar riffs, the lyric lines resonate.  The Wicker Man song was released in 2000, on the album Brave New World.  The song title is inspired by a British cult film of the same name.

The Wicker Man, a tribute to our proclivity for self immolation, a timely message especially for the West, for America in particular. *

The Wicker Man

By Iron Maiden

Hand of fate is moving and the finger points to you
He knocks you to your feet and so what are you gonna do?
Your tongue has frozen now you’ve got something to say
The piper at the gates of dawn is calling you his way

You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun, a newborn in the light
Say goodbye to gravity and say goodbye to death
Hello to eternity and live for every breath

Your time will come
Your time will come
Your time will come
Your time will come

The ferryman wants his money, you ain’t gonna give it back
He can push his own boat as you set off up the track
Nothing you can contemplate will ever be the same
Every second is a new spark, sets the universe aflame

You watch the world exploding every single night
Dancing in the sun, a newborn in the light
Brothers and their fathers joining hands to make a chain
The shadow of the wicker man is rising up again

Your time will come
Your time will come
Your time will come
Your time will come

Your time will come
Your time will come
Your time will come
Your time will come

Writer(s): Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson

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* Admitted this is not a ‘positive’ post.  We ought to be rid of the fantasy of recovering a lost Eden.  To be human means to take responsibility for our trial and error learning, our human predicament.  We make mistakes due insufficient information, or miscalculation, or errors in judgment.  Describe it as you will,  at all cost we must minimize the damage…