Five Metal Songs of Nuclear Destruction

North Korea’s successful underground test of a nuclear weapon harkens chilling memories of the Cold War. As terrifying as the arms race was for the world, though, it was fodder for songwriters of all genres.

Not surprisingly, metal bands have excelled at painting bleak pictures of nuclear holocaust, full of accusation and admonishment. Here are five examples from the GreenBookofSongs.com® database:

Fight Fire With Fire Metallica

More than one Metallica song covers nuclear destruction. We open with this one because it’s so focused. It’s not about blame, it’s not about protest. The song is just about doom, and it won’t be pretty: “Soon to fill our lungs the hot winds of death / The gods are laughing, so take your last breath.”

Electric Funeral Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath gets graphic with a warning even warriors can’t ignore: “Buildings crashing down / To Earth’s crackling ground / Rivers turn to wood / Eyes melt into blood.” There’s no escape, and hell opens for those who destroyed the planet.

Final Six Slayer

Slayer is here to help everyone vividly imagine what Armageddon looks like. “A stream is poisoned by the dead / In the ghostly light debris of war.” And they know who’s responsible, too: “Mankind owes his pain to hell / As he brings the end upon himself.” Despite Biblical images, there’s no foisting blame on the devil for this.

When The Walls Came Tumbling Down Def Leppard

This song also wonders whether the end of the world is “the revenge of the gods” or “the aftermath of the radium bomb.” Maybe it’s both, because the result looks the same, with “tidal waves and open graves” as humanity’s fate.

One World Anthrax

After 9/11, this band’s name became anathema. But their message was actually anti-war in this Star Wars-era song. Russians are “only people like us” who “don’t love their lives less.” “Ignorance is no excuse for violence / No one wins.” Consider thrash metal the new instrument for peace!