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Album: VII: Sturm und Drang (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • The song title is a reference to the cell number Randy Blythe found himself in Prague, Czech Republic's Pankrác Prison, where he wrote this song - he told us it was "a snapshot about my mental state at the time."

    The Lamb of God vocalist spent over a month there in 2012 after being indicted on manslaughter charges related to the death of Daniel Nosek, a 19-year-old fan, during a concert. Blythe was eventually acquitted of all charges after a panel of Czech judges ruled that concert promoters were largely to blame for the fan's death. (Here's our full Randy Blythe interview.)
  • Blythe penned the track about how his experience in jail changed him. He told Rolling Stone: "You cannot have the same mentality as the normal guy living on the streets in prison. You undergo a radical mental and emotional shift when you go into prison."

    "There are aspects of your personality that you could cultivate in prison that are beneficial to your survival that would be seen as psychosis or extreme paranoia," Blythe continued. "You have to be ready for violence at any time. Anyone who is 100 percent honest in prison will get taken advantage of, maybe by other prisoners, maybe by guards. For me, being in prison was a lot of figuring out what I could get away with, how I could work outside any set of rules in order to remain as comfortable as I could. You're cultivating your psyche in your deceit. In prison, everyone is listening all the time, and if they hear you say something that they can take, they might internalize it and be like, 'This guy is talking to someone,' and he'll wind up dead."

Comments: 1

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