The Man of Steel

from Vanquished Kingdom by Vanquished Kingdom

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about

The Man of Steel is about some notable parts of the life and times of Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili - Joseph Stalin. Stalin gave himself that last name. It can be translated "man of steel."

In the four verses, four particular times are depicted.
Firstly, Stalin’s rise (out of mysterious roots in Georgia) as the Winter Palace (of the Russian monarchy) fell in 1917.
Secondly, the great purges when Stalin used the assassination of Kirov (“follower and friend”) as an excuse to massacre 10 million people. Stalin seemed to think everyone was guilty.
Thirdly, Operation Barbarossa in which the Germans invaded the Soviet Union during World War II. By doing so, Hitler broke a pact, but Stalin was so surprised at the news he did not react immediately, making matters worse.
Fourthly, Stalin’s death. Theories exist as to the possibility of poison in Stalin’s last glass of wine. What is sure is his high blood pressure led a blood vessel to rupture causing bleeding in his brain.

Musically, the middle section is an instrumental of the Russian folk song, 'U Vorot' ('By the Gates', also used in Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture’) which gradually accelerates . Like the song, ‘Left Bower,’ the opening and closing riff is based on playing open strings interspersed with notes around an octave higher, although every note is picked rather than using a hammer-on technique.

lyrics

Winter palace - house of Czars – revolution
Mother Russia is no more – insurrection

Stepping out from Georgian shadows
Leading Bolsheviks to fight
Abdications and arresting
Flints of change start to ignite

No one knew where to run,
No one knew what he would become
Unbreakable, unshakeable
The man of steel

Executions without trial, death by quota
Starving peasants? Fascist spies! Flight to chaos

Organised assassination
of a follower and friend
kill the killer you commanded
so the purges never end

No one knew where to run,
No one knew what he would become
Unbreakable, insatiable
The man of Steel

Adolf Hitler breaks the pact - Barbarossa!
The invasion has begun - hesitation...

Soviets were down 4 million,
Germans up 1 thousand miles.
See the Eastern Front rip open
See the corpses in their piles

No one knew where to run,
No one knew what he would become
Unbreakable, unshakeable
in the Wolf's Lair

12 years later, drinking wine, poison chalice?
Hypertension, haemorrhage, lying dormant...

From a ruthless revolutionary
to a countless murder debt
Russia's Satan or her saviour?
Either way we don't forget

No one knew where to run,
No one knew what he would become
Perpetual, perennial
The man of Steel

credits

from Vanquished Kingdom, released November 3, 2018

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Vanquished Kingdom Sydney, Australia

Vanquished Kingdom is a 4-piece band from Sydney, Australia whose strongest influence is the joyous power-driven energy and dark didactic depth of the 1980s' best heavy metal.

Formed in October 2016, Vanquished Kingdom play all original music - "meaningful Maiden-esque metal made modern."

Zac Anderson – lead vocals and guitar
Nick Vilka – guitar
Siebe Pogson – bass guitar
Jessica Kesby – drums ... more

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