Make it Bleed

Album: Whitechapel (2012)
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Songfacts®:

  • In our interview, Whitechapel guitarist Ben Savage said that "Make it Bleed" is one of the songs he's most proud of writing. It was formed from a few separate riffs that the band had been toying with for a long time without ever being able to piece them together into a cohesive song. However, they finally together very abruptly and spontaneously during a recording session, and "Make it Bleed" was born.

    Savage also noted that the song is one of his favorites to play live, thanks to how dynamically it flows.
  • The song is a furious exploration of whether or not there is any meaning to life on earth when there is so much pain and suffering, and if there is any possibility of a transcendent afterlife. It also touches on weighty themes such as suicide ("This life; it's a tragedy, someone get me out, someone please help tonight; I have realized this is my last night to be alive"). It's ultimately an ambiguous, frustrated lament to the difficulty of finding meaningful things in the world.
  • This appears on the band's self-titled 2012 album, Whitechapel. The eponymous record saw an increased level of sophistication in the band's sound and songwriting, and was almost universally well received.
  • The album cover, which depicts three stars inside of a circular sawblade, is a mash-up of the band's logo and the Tennessee state flag, their home state.

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