Collections › Metal Songs

Metal Songs

207 songs · chronological · A–Z by artist
Annotations and notes by Justin A. Brummer
Entries are numbered (#1, #2 …) for reference on this page; the numbers shift when entries are added or split.
A collection of Metal songs referencing the Vietnam War
This forms part of the larger Vietnam War Song Project, an interpretive examination of over 6,500 Vietnam War songs identified, revealing how the war's significance is represented through music. The project also collects spoken-word recordings about the conflict. This unique collection of voices advances scholarship by providing insights into people’s views about the war over time as represented in music, looking at diverse communities and vibrant music scenes. It is crucial in developing our knowledge of the war and the humanities, through the use of a digital research platform.
Note: The VWSP has identified, to date, 205+ songs in the metal genre.
Citation: Justin A. Brummer, Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) — Metal Songs, vietnamwarsongproject.com/list/metal-songs, accessed 12 November 2026

Criteria & Context

The songs in this collection most often deal with: Themes Pending, My Lai, VC, Anti-War.
9-year-old Kim Phuc, as she runs down Route 1 near Trang Bang village, South Vietnam, after a US aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong troops in the area. Taken on 8 June 1972 by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut.
  • Criteria
    While metal music developed in the 60s and 70s, significant output related to the Vietnam War from the 1980s onwards, means that most of these songs fall into the post-war category. Songs included need to mention Vietnam, or specific themes especially found in the lyrics of the post-Vietnam War era, which include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), prisoners of war (P.O.W.s) and the missing in action (M.I.A.s), the plight and treatment of veterans, agent orange, napalm, and comparing Vietnam to contemporary conflicts and domestic protest. References to Vietnam War films are also present.
__________

  • Context
    Metal, its sub-genres, and sub-cultures, emerged in the late-60s and early 1970s, mainly in the US and UK, coinciding with the Vietnam War and time period of significant political and social change, often reflected in music and other cultural mediums. The 1980s and 90s saw a break-out into multiple metal sub-genres and cultures. With lyrics focusing on dark themes, war and politics, and a rejection of the mainstream and anti-establishment, metal bands often tackled political issues, including war. Growing-up in the context of the Vietnam War, the collapse of South Vietnam, and the impact of the war on veterans returning home, a fair number of metal songs focused or referenced the war, often using it as a point of comparison for contemporary events, or reflecting on the horrors of war and weapons used, especially napalm and Agent Orange.

Themes

Film poster, Apocalypse Now (dir. Francis Ford Coppola), 1979
(a) Veterans
One of the key themes found is the impact of the war on veterans, especially displayed through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - frequently referenced in post-war 1980s songs about US veterans, often connected in songs to stress, shell shock, flashbacks, nostalgia, and feelings and dreams related to an event. Songs also referenced the treatment of veterans back in the US – such as lack of govt support, unemployment, unwelcome (no parades etc.), and blamed for the war and its controversies etc. Moreover, songs referencing a disabled Vietnam War veteran appeared frequently.

(b) Violence / Anti-War / Peace
Opposition to the Vietnam War, found in metal songs, often focussed on the violence and death, especially represented through the use of specific weapons, such as chemical weapon Napalm B - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.12 (3) Also frequently referenced was Agent Orange, the defoliant / herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, which had long term negative health effects on the Vietnamese and US soldier whom came into contact with the chemical. Anti-war views are also reflected in songs about events, especially the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968.

(c) Contemporary Events
As noted above, the Vietnam War was often used as a point of comparison to contemporary events in the post-war period, including metal songs, in opposition to the government and foreign interventionist policies. This is prevalent in the 1980s in songs against Reagan, and interventions in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Grenada. In the 1990s, this is seen with the Gulf War, and in the 2000s, with the invasion of Afghanistan, and Iraq War.

(d) Films:
The core-metal period coincided with the second peak of Hollywood production of Vietnam War films in the mid-1980s, which had a major cultural impact, and its imagery and quotes are frequently found in the vivid, almost cinematic lyrics of metal songs [the first peak being around 1978-1979 with The Deer Hunter (dir. Michael Cimino) and Apocalypse Now (dir. Francis Ford Coppola). By the mid-1980s, films like Uncommon Valor (1983), Missing in Action (1984), and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) concentrated on the US soldier as hero and the Vietnamese, Chinese, and Russians as villains. This reflects the Reagan-era nationalism and the need to overcome the "Vietnam Syndrome". The second wave of Vietnam War films came in 1986-1987 with Platoon (dir. Oliver Stone), Hamburger Hill (dir. John Irvin), and Full Metal Jacket (dir. Stanley Kubrick). These films claimed to show the reality of combat in Vietnam in comparison to the stylised 'message' and 'flag-waving' films which came before. Once again, the major cultural impact of these films is represented in song references.

Note on Genres

History of Metal, magazine (1995)
Metal: "Driving and distorted riffs, aggressive drumming, vigorous vocals, and an all-around show of brute force in its early days, since branching into dozens of subgenres".

Heavy Metal: "Heavy metal was Metal's original name, but is now used as a retrospective term to refer to a specific metal subgenre. It is built around elements of Hard Rock."

US Power Metal: "American style influenced by NWOBHM that features heavily distorted guitars paired with more aggressive riffs, mid-tempo Heavy Metal rhythms.."

Power Metal: "Developed from Heavy Metal and Speed Metal; characterized by its emphasis on speed, vocal melody and harmonized lead guitars".

Speed Metal: "Originating from the NWOBHM and influenced by the work of early heavy metal bands, being faster and somewhat more aggressive than heavy metal".

Death Metal: "Features distorted, commonly down-tuned guitars; palm-muted and tremolo-picked riffs; aggressive, double-kicked percussion that utilizes various blast beats techniques; abrupt changes in tempo and time signatures; and guttural vocal styles".

Brutal Death Metal: "a subgenre of Death Metal that emerged in the early 1990s. Brutal death metal typically utilizes triggered blast beats, chunky, fast riffing, and rhythmic "slam" riffs".

Sludge Metal: "a subgenre of Metal that combines the slow, dark instrumentals and atmosphere of Doom Metal with the aggressive, harsh screams and shouts credited to Hardcore Punk".

Grindcore: "Features shortened song structures and a diverse palette of intense techniques such as blast and skank beats, tremolo and down-picking, and various harsh vocal styles"

Thrash Metal: "Features fast tempos; rhythmically focused, frequently palm-muted riffs; shredding solos; aggressive, often double-kicked drumming; skank beats; and vocal styles ranging from shouts to melodic singing".

Crossover Thrash: "Fusion of Thrash Metal and Hardcore Punk which started in the 1980s".

Industrial Metal: "Fuses Metal with elements from Industrial & Noise".

Alternative Metal: "a subgenre of Metal music that began in the late 1980s and reached its peak in the 1990s. It features rhythmic drop-tuned and mid-tempo riffs, alternation between harsh and melodic vocal stylings, and heavy influences from Alternative Rock".

Rap Metal: "a form of Alternative Metal that features rapped Hip Hop vocals".

Groove Metal: "Midtempo riffs influenced by Thrash Metal but with a greater focus on rhythmic syncopation and heaviness over speed".

Metalcore: "Combination of Hardcore [Punk] and Metal that began to take shape during the mid 1990s, emphasizing breakdowns and greater use of dissonance".

Progressive Metal: "a genre that features Metal's amplified, guitar-driven sound and fuses it with technical proficiency and Progressive Rock-inspired virtuosity".

Gothic Metal: "style that emerged from a combination of Doom Metal's down-tuned, slow riffing style and Gothic Rock's somber and gloomy atmosphere".

Black Metal: "a style of extreme Metal typified by tremolo-picked riffs, distorted, trebly electric guitars, shrieked vocals, and double-kick drumming and blast beats that also frequently features raw, underproduced sound"

Symphonic Black Metal: "a sub-genre of Black Metal that emerged in the mid 1990s..characterised by typical black metal elements, such as tremolo picking riffs, shrieking vocals and blast-beats, as well as synthesized and symphonic soundscapes".

1970s

The front page of The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), the first paper to publish the graphic photograph of dead villagers at Mỹ Lai in a mass grave, 20 November 1969 - taken by Ronald Haeberle, a U.S. Army sergeant. Time, Life, and Newsweek also ran stories that day, bringing world attention to the massacre
Key EventsOfficial peace talks continued in Paris, and Kissinger opened a secret channel with his North Vietnamese counterpart Le Duc Tho. Meanwhile, Nixon stunned Americans by announcing the US and South Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia, which sparked mass demonstrations in the US and firmly turned public opinion against the war in Vietnam. During the protest at Kent State University, Ohio, four students were shot and killed. The Congress also reacted to the Cambodia incursion, with a series of legislative restrictions on US operations in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Captain Medina was charged over the My Lai Massacre, and Lt. William Calley's trial began.
  • 21 February: Kissinger talks with Le Duc Tho begin
  • 30 April: Nixon announces the incursion into Cambodia
  • 1 May: Nixon calls protesters "bums"
  • 4 May: 4 Student killed at Kent State Ohio, by National Guardsmen
  • 24 June: Congress repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
  • 12 November: Trial of Lt. William Calley began
  • 22 December: Cooper-Church Amendment

1970

#1 Black Sabbath Hand of Doom 1970 · Album · Paranoid · Vertigo # 6360 011 · UK
Annotation
Black Sabbath, Heavy Metal band formed on 9 August 1969 in Birmingham, West Midlands, UK, fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, released possibly the only Heavy Metal songs during the Vietnam War conflict - most were released in the post-war years, particular from the 1980s. On this album was the song "Hand of Doom" (Vertigo # 6360 011) which mainly looked at drugs, but made a reference to Vietnam, the use of napalm, as well as the atomic bomb, thus a reflection of the 1960s/70s Cold War climate: "first it was the bomb, Vietnam napalm, disillusioning, you push the needle in, from life you escape" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord, yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait till their judgement day comes, yeah!
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where their bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan laughing, spreads his wings
Oh lord, yeah!
Show full lyrics (27 lines) ▾

1971

#2 Black Sabbath War Pigs 1971 · Album · Paranoid · Vertigo # 6360 011 · UK
Annotation
Also on this album is the well-known and popular anti-war song "War Pigs" which criticised the "generals...the war machines...the politicians" , that "started the war" . It noted the destruction left behind: "in the fields, the bodies burning.... death and hatred to mankind" . It also highlighted wealth disparities in those sent to fight: "why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerer of death's construction
In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord, yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor, yeah
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait till their judgement day comes, yeah!
Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where their bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan laughing, spreads his wings
Oh lord, yeah!
Show full lyrics (27 lines) ▾
Theme: Anti-War

1980s

The front cover of Time Magazine on 15 April 1985, 10 years after the collapse of South Vietnam.
The 1980s saw a revival of interest in the Vietnam War, which had subsided in the mid to late 70s following the US withdrawal. Both films and music sought to reflect on the impact the war had on American society and to ask "why did the North win?" A Reagan-era trend of nationalism grew, an attempt to overcome the "Vietnam Syndrome" - the perception that domestic controversies over the war led to the US taking a less interventionist position in US foreign affairs. This term also applied to veterans, who may have felt guilt or shame about the war, influenced by the domestic climate they returned to in the US.1

Ronald Reagan spoke about this on 18 August 1980: "for too long, we have lived with the Vietnam Syndrome..As the years dragged on, we were told that peace would come if we would simply stop interfering and go home..We dishonor the memory of 50,000 young Americans who died..we give way to feelings of guilt as if we were doing something shameful, and we have been shabby in our treatment of those who returned. They fought as well and as bravely as any Americans have ever fought in any war. They deserve our gratitude, our respect, and our continuing concern".2 Many war films of the period fitted into this climate of trying to overcome the Vietnam Syndrome, such as First Blood [Rambo] (1982), Uncommon Valor (1983), and Missing in Action (1984).

1981

#3 Black Witch Down in Vietnam 1981 · Compilation · Berliner Nächte Nr. 1 · MC-Tapes / Karo's Bastlerwerkstatt # MC-Tapes I / Karo =3 · Germany
Annotation
Cassette compilation released in Germany, contained a track by the Berlin, Germany-based Heavy Metal band Black Witch, called "Down in Vietnam" . Lyrics needed, to verify if related to the Vietnam War.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

1982

#4 Manowar Death tone 1982 · Album · Battle Hymns · Liberty # LBG 30349 · USA
Annotation
Manowar, an American Heavy Metal / US Power Metal band, formed in 1980 in Auburn, NY, with a revolving line-up, but consistently headed by the lead singer Eric Adams and the bass and keyboard player Joey DeMaio. Battle Hymn (Liberty Records # LBG 30349), the first album they recorded, included a couple post-war Vietnam related songs. Also note that their 1987 album Fighting the World, discussed below, featured the Vietnam song "Violence and Bloodshed" , which referenced P.O.W.s.

Firstly, the song "Death Tone" , narrated in the first person, told the story of a Vietnam veteran wounded in the war: "ridin' on two wheels" . The veteran complained that while others "were sittin' at home" , he "got sent to Nam" - presumably a reference to the draft. Back home he struggled to find work and needed assistance: "my social worker's got me on a chain, keeps me out of jail" . He said that his "unemployment checks run out next week" and would thus be living on the streets again. So the song portrayed the struggles of a wounded Vietnam vet, trying to re-adjust to society outside of the army and surviving / adapting to life with a major disability.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Ridin' on two wheels, chains hooked on my heels
Sittin' on leather, ridin' on steel, put my shades on
Hair blows in the wind, I give some square the finger
Now he won't look again, no he won't
Now, you were sittin' home and I got sent to Nam
I went to the big house, you just worked at job
Hear me calling, can't you hear my death tone...
Hear me ride on into the night, pull along side
If you're looking for a fight, hey, hey my social worker's got me on a chain
Keeps me out of jail, so the paper prints his name
Yes it does, and he likes it, unemployment checks
Run out next week, it won't be very long
'Til I'm back on the streets again
#5 Manowar Shell Shock 1982 · Album · Battle Hymns · Liberty # LBG 30349 · USA
Annotation
Secondly, the album included the song "Shell Shock" , which also looked at the negative psychological impact of the war on a Vietnam veteran. As the title suggested, the narrator suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The song also included references to the chemical weapon Napalm B, the Purple Heart (a US military decoration), and the military classification 'Missing in Action' (M.I.A.). The lyrics started with a man drafted into the army, who then tells the listener that "I live in Saigon, we've got a team of special forces, we deliver napalm" . As previously discussed, the US government extensively used napalm during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123 While in Vietnam, the soldier wrote a letter to his sweetheart which mentioned his fear of becoming M.I.A.: "if they tell you that I'm M.I.A., think a little less about me" . The soldier then returned home. He had received "a purple heart to show the world I'm brave" but he felt "shell shocked" . The veteran criticised the "businessmen" who "sat at home" making money, while he had to fight the war.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
I don't know, well, there's no charge for the haircut
And the bullets come free, my Uncle Sam sent a letter
Said: he's got a mission for me, now I'm a ranger, not a stranger
And I live in Saigon, we've got a team of special forces
And we deliver napalm, but if they tell you that I've lost my mind
Baby it's not gone just a little hard to find
By the time this letter gets home, I'd be gone, gone, yeah gone
And if they tell you that I'm M.I.A., think a little less about me
Each day 'Cause if I ever get back
I'll be shell shocked, whoa...
Feels funny riding in my car, used to drive a tank and shoot a B.A.R...
Now it's over and the homeland's safe
Got a purple heart to show the world I'm brave
The businessmen sat at home, well I got shell shocked
Show full lyrics (15 lines) ▾

1983

#6 Casey Vietnam - No More Wars 1983 · Casey
Annotation
Heavy Metal band Casey, which featured the members Scott [Stoney] Woodward (bass), Hardly Normal (drums), J. Carmen Dabella (guitar), Rick [Buwanna] Hopkins (vocals), only released one album, recorded in Binghamton, New York, USA. The song "Vietnam - No More Wars" (Unreel Records) focused on the impact of the war on a US Vietnam War veteran. It started out with the familiar helicopter sound-effects often heard in post-war songs, and Vietnam War films, followed by a crying baby. It contained various scenarios of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - "the bad times that made you sweat... still makes you cry" - also frequently referenced in post-war 1980s songs about US veterans, often connected in songs to stress, shell shock, flashbacks, nostalgia, and feelings and dreams related to an event. The lyrics also address the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans, returning home, and not receiving a heroes welcome, having fought an unpopular war: "left the airport, no family or friends, you're a vet of a war nobody was winning".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
A few years have passed and the war is gone
We know you tried
We still never stayed
You start your new life, but never in control...
You're right back there, ready to pray
Remember the bad times that made you sweat
The chance you took to live or die...
Stare at death... still makes you cry
No more war, none at all...
Now everything was pain, kill and hate
No more childhood feelings
Just smoke your dope now and don't be late
To kill Charlie while he's feeling
The commies know when the end is near
Your going home for a new beginning
You left the airport, no family or friends
You're a vet of a war nobody was winning
No more war, none at all...
Show full lyrics (19 lines) ▾
#7 Casey Vietnam (No More Wars) 1983 · Album · Casey · Unreel # 07243 8 31900 41 · USA
Annotation

Heavy Metal band Casey, which featured the members Scott [Stoney] Woodward (bass), Hardly Normal (drums), J. Carmen Dabella (guitar), Rick [Buwanna] Hopkins (vocals), only released one album, recorded in Binghamton, New York, USA. The song "Vietnam - No More Wars" (Unreel Records) focused on the impact of the war on a US Vietnam War veteran. It started out with the familiar helicopter sound-effects often heard in post-war songs, and Vietnam War films, followed by a crying baby. It contained various scenarios of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - "the bad times that made you sweat... still makes you cry" - also frequently referenced in post-war 1980s songs about US veterans, often connected in songs to stress, shell shock, flashbacks, nostalgia, and feelings and dreams related to an event. The lyrics also address the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans, returning home, and not receiving a heroes welcome, having fought an unpopular war: "left the airport, no family or friends, you're a vet of a war nobody was winning" .

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Unreel Records, 14 Ritchie Rd., Binghamton, NY; track A4. [From Discogs]
Lyrics
English
A few years have passed and the war is gone
We know you tried
We still never stayed
You start your new life, but never in control...
You're right back there, ready to pray
Remember the bad times that made you sweat
The chance you took to live or die...
Stare at death... still makes you cry
No more war, none at all...
Now everything was pain, kill and hate
No more childhood feelings
Just smoke your dope now and don't be late
To kill Charlie while he's feeling
The commies know when the end is near
Your going home for a new beginning
You left the airport, no family or friends
You're a vet of a war nobody was winning
No more war, none at all...
Show full lyrics (19 lines) ▾
Themes: Vet PTSD
Also in: ▤ PTSD Songs

1985

#8 Saxon Broken Heroes 1985 · Album · Innocence Is No Excuse · Parlophone # 1C 064-24 0400 1 · UK
Notes
"Broken Heroes"

- Heavy metal, draft, protest, anti-war

"Uncle Sam is waiting with the draft card / He says you've got to fight the Viet Cong"

1986

#9 Courage At Vietnam 1986 · EP · Gold and Ivory · D&S Recording # D&S 002 · Germany
Annotation
Heavy Metal group formed in Hattigen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, in the 1980s, with the members Sven Strzyso (vocals), Andreas Sieling (guitar), Manfred David (guitar), Uwe Dinsing (bass), Holger Feist (drums). The song "At Vietnam" (D&S Recording # DS 002) leans more into the Hard Rock genre, tooking an anti-war perspective, firstly focused on the combat scene and the deaths: "at Vietnam, were a million people died" . The narrator then looked at the impact on the veteran: "late at night he remembers all those things" - a reference to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - frequently referenced in post-war 1980s songs about US veterans, often connected in songs to stress, shell shock, flashbacks, nostalgia, and feelings and dreams related to an event. The lyrics also noted "napalm bombs were dropped" - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
He's starting over man
He's fighting at Vietnam
He's doing what he can, yeah
Like John, we're stop this war
At Vietnam were a million people died
At Vietnam, children bombed...
We tried to live in peace...
Can't take this bullshit anymore
At Vietnam, where a million people died...
No, no, no...
Late at night he remembers all those things
Napalm bombs were dropped...
Feeling vanished in the race
My life is too precious...
Yesterday is gone, and we're living for today
All the ladies wore black... tears at burials
Combat troops captured lands, and they still can't get enough
Shameful injustice...
Widows are crying, it's a kick into my face...
Show full lyrics (20 lines) ▾
#10 Obsession My Lai 31568/Take No Prisoners 1986 · Album · Scarred For Life · Enigma # 3212-1 · USA
Annotation
Heavy Metal / Power Metal band formed in 1983, in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, led by the vocalist Michael Vescera, released the song "My Lai 31568 / Take No Prisoners" (Enigma Records # 3212-1) in which, after a lengthy guitar intro, entered the familiar sound-effects of helicopter propellers spinning round and round, dealt with the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968 - although in the song title, the band incorrectly put the date as 15 March. The narrator presented a stark and vivid portrayal of the massacre, re-imaging the scene of destruction and mass murder, starting with drawing the line between "good and evil...heaven or hell" . Then it moved onto the platoon with "weapons all loaded" , claiming "the order's been given" - which they must follow - "our hearts say its wrong, but we have no choice" . The soldiers then proceeded with the mass murder of civilians: "woman and children, no all them dead... mission complete" . It noted the "terror stricken on every ones face" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Good and evil, they have no face
Heaven or hell, what should we call this place
Weapons all loaded, for the village we head
The order's been given
By a cold faceless voice
Our hearts say it's wrong
But we have no choice
No plan of attack, they all must lie dead
Take no prisoners
Take no prisoners
Opening fire, we know the disgrace
Terror stricken on every ones face
The strike must continue, a few still remain
Women and children, now all of them dead
Our mission complete, we must now move ahead
Has the bloodshed and screaming driven all us insane
Take no prisoners, take no prisoners...
Show full lyrics (18 lines) ▾
#11 Titan GI's Heritage 1986 · Album · Titan · Sydney # 11036 · France
Notes
"GI's Heritage", French metal
Lyrics
French
Décibels
Ondes chocs, Visions flash, te rappellent /Ces Mois d’enfer
Destruction
Sourires jaunes, armes blanches en fusion
Sous le Napalm
Le temps passe et ces images restent
A jamais gravées
Dans ton cœur comme une plaie ouverte
Par trop de sang versé
Étranger, Retour vers la patrie qui t’a trahi
Et oublié
Honte
Humilié par ces gens qui te montrent
Comme un lépreux
Ta famille a renié ses enfants
Honoré ses morts
Mais tu as le malheur d’être vivant
L’enfer est ton sort….
Cauchemar, Cauchemar
G.I.’s Héritage
Cauchemar, Cauchemar
Mémoire
Saigon
Souvenir au parfum de trahison
Je te maudis
Pentagone
Je t’ai vendu mon âme au prix de l’oubli
De ton mépris
Tant de morts au soleil du Vietnam
Viennent hanter mes nuits
Et je cherche dans les cendres du napalm
Un sens à ma vie….
Cauchemar, Cauchemar
G.I.’s Héritage
Cauchemar, Cauchemar
Mémoire
Lacheté, J’ai déjà trop vécu comme un rebelle
Les dés sont jetés
Le temps passe et ces images restent
À jamais perdues
Dans leurs consciences une plaie ouverte '
Rien qu’une mort de plus….
Cauchemar, Cauchemar
G.I.’s Héritage
Cauchemar, Cauchemar
Mémoire
Show full lyrics (47 lines) ▾
#12 Deimos Vietnam 1986 · EP · Afiando as Garras · Not On Label · Brazil
Notes
"Vietnam" Heavy metal, Brazil [From Justin A. Brummer notes from RYM]

1987

#13 Impetigo My Lai 1987 · Album · All We Need is Cheez · Not On Label · USA
Annotation
Impetigo, a Grindcore / Death Metal band from Bloomington, Illinois, released this live demo cassette in 1987, which included the Vietnam War song "My Lai" , about the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968. It featured as a bonus track on the 1990 album "Ultimo mondo cannibale" (Wild Rags Records # WRR-020). This EP was reissued on CD in 1999 (Bizarre Leprous Production # BLP 019). The band featured Stevo Dobbins (vocals, bass), Mark Sawickis (guitar), Scott Bross (guitar), Dan Malin (drums). The lyrics leaned towards protesting the actions of Calley, who had killed "some reds...like your daddy said" - thus placing it within the context of the Cold War and the 1950s/60s fear of communism.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Lt. Calley is my man, Lt. Calley, Viet Nam
Lt. Calley kill some reds, do it like your daddy said...
Lt. Calley and his friends, bring your world to an end
Lt. Calley with his bombs, Lt. Calley killed your mom
#14 Manowar Violence and Bloodshed 1987 · Album · Fighting the World · Atco # 790 563-1 · Germany
Annotation
Manowar, an American Heavy Metal / US Power Metal band, formed in 1980 in Auburn, NY, with a revolving line-up, but consistently headed by the lead singer Eric Adams and the bass and keyboard player Joey DeMaio. "Battle Hymns" (Liberty Records # LBG 30349), the first album they recorded, included a couple post-war Vietnam-related songs, called "Death Tone" and "Shell Shock" .

The track "Violence and Bloodshed" (ATCO Records # 790 563-1) featured a typical 80s theme of going back to Vietnam to rescue American soldier left behind (either M.I.A. or P.O.W.s), also frequently seen in 1980s films like Rambo: First Blood Part II. The songs is narrated in the first person from the perspective of a vigilante in the US (possibly a Vietnam veteran): "blew it 'Nam, shot up my friends, I'm back on the street" . He pledged to defend freedom and civilization. He then told the listener that "my brother's still in Da-Nang" and that he would go "back to 'Nam 'cause no one else will" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Civilization crumblin' fast, end the world with a blast
People afraid walkin' the streets, scums have their day 'til they run into me, are you ready?
Livin' in fear
Ain't livin' to me
I'm armed with a gun defending the free
They blew it in 'Nam, shot up my friends
I'm back in the street, the fight never ends
I was born with a gun in my hand, I'll die for my country but I'll die like a man
Violence and bloodshed, violence...
Now that we're back to animal law, the payback's a bitch
I'm paying all, all my life I been waitin' to see
Who's gonna win, crumbs or me, are you ready?
My brother's still in Da-Nang, puttin' an ad in the back of Kerrang
I'm lookin' for people who just wanna kill
We'll go back to 'Nam 'cause no one else will
Land of the free, home of the brave, now that's how it is
Show full lyrics (17 lines) ▾
#15 Sodom Persecution Mania 1987 · Album · Steamhammer # SH 0084 · Germany
Annotation
Sodom, a Thrash Metal band formed in 1981, in Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The group had a revolving line-up. This album featured Tom Angelripper (bass, vocals), Chris Witchhunter (drums), and Frank Gosdzik (guitar). They released a few Vietnam-related songs: "Persecution Mania" (1987) on Persecution Mania, "Agent Orange" and "Magic Dragon" (1989) on Agent Orange, "Capture the Flag" (1990) on Better Off Dead, and "Among the Weidcong" & "Napalm in the Morning" (2001) on M-16.

The song "Persecution Mania" (Steamhammer # SH 0084) looked at a mercenary who returned to Vietnam to rescue the prisoners of war (P.O.W.), as well as describing the hell of war - like the Manowar song "Violence and Bloodshed" above, this song created imagery similar to the Vietnam War film Rambo: First Blood Part II. It started with a platoon "back" in the "jungles" with the task of finding the "missing captive, locked up in contaminated camps" . The platoon encountered hostile fire, including nerve gas, but they found the prison camp and fought on in order "to do justice" for those that had died in the war. Suggested by SabbathBloodySabbath.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Command to Vietnam, back into the jungles depths
Armed to the teeth, cold blooded experience
Mercenary paid to slaughter, sector madness kill and destroy
Missing captive, locked up in contaminated camps
Only war of liberation
Let them gather fresh hope, hostile crossfire finished eight lives
Bowels bury me alive, green hell swallows a silhouette
I could get away, persecution mania, driven me mad....
Tremendous dreams, persecution mania, getting mentally ill
Persecution mania, alarmed about my life, there are traps behind every line
The combat zone in trench and fire, I know the danger every step
The nerve gas falls in black and white
But slowly I near my destination
Lost is our war to do justice
The brothers of people shot and died....
Something fierce, something evil circles in the air
Show full lyrics (17 lines) ▾
Theme: P.O.W.
#16 Inquisição Napalm 1987 · Album · Demo 1987 · Brazil
Annotation
Heavy Metal band, formed in 1983 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a somewhat revolving line-up, featuring Luiz F. Machado (guitars, 1983-89, 2006-present), João Henrique Machado (bass, 1983-89), Marcelo Marinho (vocals, 1983-84), Renato Celso (drums, 1983-84), Marco (drums, 1984-1986), Laércio Figueiredo (vocals, 1984-86), Roberto Moura (drums, 1986), Armando Pereira (drums, 1986-89, 2006-?), Sílvio Mazzei (vocals, 1986-89, 2006-present).

They released the song "Napalm" , an anti-war track, an interesting reflection of Cold War fears of nuclear destruction, referencing "Hiroshima", and of course, as in the title, chemical weapon Napalm B - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123 The Dow Chemical Company, the largest suppler of napalm to the US military, became a target of Vietnam protests (such as boycotts), particularly on university campuses.4 The song also referenced "Agent Orange" - the defoliant / herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, which had long term negative health effects on the Vietnamese and US soldier whom came into contact with the chemical.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Elements of nature
Helping to destroy
The whole world corroded
Man's mind is in chaos
Filthy politicians corrupt
People get confused
What will become of us?
So I'm going to go crazy
Agent orange
Napalm, napalm
The fire and the disease that man builds
Elements of nature
Helping to destroy
The whole corroded world
The man's mind is chaos
If we don't fight this
Filthy corruption
We will end up like Hiroshima
Seven feet below the ground
Agent orange
Napalm, napalm
The fire and the disease that man builds
Portuguese
Elementos da natureza
Ajudando na destruição
O mundo todo corroído
A mente do homem é um caos
Políticos imundos corrompem
O povo se confunde
O que será de nós?
Assim vou ficar louco
Agente laranja
Napalm, napalm
O fogo e a doença que o homem constrói
Elementos da natureza
Ajudando na destruição
O mundo todo corroído
A mente do homem é um caos
Se não combatermos a essa
Imunda corrupção
Acabaremos como hiroshima
A sete palmos abaixo do chão
Agente laranja
Napalm, napalm
O fogo e a doença que o homem constrói
Show full lyrics (47 lines) ▾
#17 Wehrmacht Napalm Shower 1987 · Shark Attack · New Renaissance # NRR23 · USA
Annotation
Crossover Thrash and Thrashcore group, formed in 1985 in Portland, Oregon, USA, featuring Tito Matos [aka Tape Head Tito] (vocals), Marco Zorich [aka Marco Sharko] (guitar), John Duffy (guitar), Shann Mortimer (bass), Brian Lehfeldt (drums). They released the song "Napalm Shower" (New Renaissance Records # NRR23) about general war destruction, a reflection of Cold War fears: "one flick of the switch, and we're all dead" . It referenced the weapon used most widely by the US government in the Vietnam War, as also noted in the title of the song: "napalm spreads on, our city is gone" . Chemical weapon Napalm B is a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
One flick of the switch, and we're all dead
One nation destroyed, it moves on ahead
Bombs destroy everything here, no time to live
Or cry a tear, beg for your life, down on your knees
War-mongers hate! Kill as they please
Fallout is arising, people vaporising, the blast is so bright
It takes out your sight, cars over-turned
Houses are burned, nature is lost, to total chaos
Deathly air, everywhere, decaying flesh, here and there
Napalm spreads on, our city is gone
Evert the task, what more could you ask?
It's just too late, we agree with fate
Our governments fucked, and we were all shucked
Theme: Napalm

1988

#18 Expect No Mercy Vietcong Invasion / Charly's Back in Town 1988 · Album · Watch Your Ears and Save Your Neck We Are Back to Our Second Attack! · Metal Enterprises # ME 513 · Germany
Annotation
Heavy Metal / Power Metal group, formed in 1981 in Siegen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Members included Michael Cloud (vocals, 1986-present), Simon Simonson (guitar, 1987-present), Jörg Vitt (bass), Mike Külpmann (drums), Eberhard Stettner (vocals, 1981-86), and Frank Thoms (guitar, 1981-86). The song "Vietcong Invasion / Charly's Back in Town" (Metal Enterprises # ME 513) imagined that the Vietcong - (or "VC") - the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) (NLFSV or NLF), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam - was invading the US: "blew up the Statue of Liberty... slaughter in America" . The narrator defended the country with the veterans: "we fought with veterans, born to kill like us" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Vietcong invasion started secretly
First we blew up the Statue of Liberty
New York City lights are blasted, a deadly night
Jungle of the city
Time is right to fight
Slaughter in America
Slaughter in America
Charly's back in town
Side by side, we fought with veterans
Born to kill like us
They gave us tanks and guns
We went down the bunkers where the rockets lie
None tried to stop us and we made them fly
Slaughter in America
Slaughter in America
Charly's back in town
We burned out and we bombed out farms in Iowa
We poisoned desert mountains
Cities in Nevada
The White House was wiped out with Washington DC
And then we got the USA finally on the knee
Slaughter in America
Slaughter in America
Charly's back in town
Show full lyrics (25 lines) ▾
Themes: VC Vet
#19 Virus Force Recon 1988 · Album · Metalworks # JD-OTT10022 · UK
Notes
"Force Recon" - Thrash Metal, Brighton, UK
Lyrics
English
Into the battle no one can win
Blood and madness the slaughter begins
Black figures surround me
Enter the fire fight
Fighting in a war
Were the U.S. might
Force Recon
Die viet cong
Into the battle no one can win
Blood and madness the slaughter begins
Charlie hunts me day and night
Bodies on the wire /I have got the will to live
Death is my despire
Force Recon
Die viet cong
Too many flashbacks /I know I'm not alone
This is too fucking much
When do we go home?
Show full lyrics (19 lines) ▾
Theme: Marines
#20 Sarcophag Vietnam 1988 · EP · Minuta za mrtvite · Not On Label # none · Serbia
Notes
The song "Vietnam" - thrash metal released in Macedonia, Former Yugoslavia.
Notes
Self-released demo cassette. Recorded at Kaj Tocakot studio, Prilep, Macedonia. English Translation: 1. Vietnam 2. Cursed 3. The Bloody Passenger 4. One Minute for the Dead 5. Slavery. Thrash. Opening track of the self-released demo cassette 'Minuta za mrtvite' (One Minute for the Dead).

1989

#21 Sodom Magic Dragon 1989 · Album · Agent Orange · Steamhammer # SPV 08-7596 · Germany
Annotation
This album contained a couple Vietnam-related tracks. The song "Magic Dragon" , which dealt with the Vietnam War, describing a combat situation: "no Vietcong can move in sustained fire, orders are clear - win the war...let sheets of fire hail down the base" . Also on this album the title song, "Agent Orange" (Steamhammer # SPV 08-7596), dealt with the defoliant/herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, which had long term negative health effects, and featured in many post-war songs: "spray down the death... cancer creeps into their innocent souls... poisoned till the end of their lives" .
Covers & answer records
Sodom, a heavy metal band formed in 1981, in Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The group had a revolving line-up. They released a few Vietnam-related songs: "Persecution Mania" (1987) on Persecution Mania, "Agent Orange" and "Magic Dragon" (1989) on Agent Orange, "Capture the Flag" (1990) on Better Off Dead, and "Among the Weidcong" & "Napalm in the Morning" (2001) on M-16.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Operation 'Ranch Hand'
Spray down the death
Down on their farms
Assault against the population
Suppress by military arms
Only you prevent the forest
Legalize the war
They are deprived of their power
Eradication without law
Agent Orange...
A fire that doesn't burn
All the marks erased long ago
Scars are healed up
Cancer creeps into their innocent souls
Memorials of flesh and blood
Have survived unlawfully punished
Poisoned till the end of their lives
Physical deformity
What medicine will help?
Still births will rise
Agent Orange...
A fire that doesn't burn
Grieved weak hearts are crying
Waiting for the end
In this condition they are dying
Newborns of the damned
Preserved in test tubes for generations
Vicious circle of transmission
There's no way for reparations
Must live with chemical agent called
Agent Orange...
Show full lyrics (32 lines) ▾
Themes: Combat VC
#22 Sodom Agent Orange 1989 · Album · Steamhammer # SPV 08-7596 · Germany
Annotation: see “Magic Dragon” above (same release).
Lyrics
English
Operation 'Ranch Hand'
Spray down the death
Down on their farms
Assault against the population
Suppress by military arms
Only you prevent the forest
Legalize the war
They are deprived of their power
Eradication without law
Agent Orange...
A fire that doesn't burn
All the marks erased long ago
Scars are healed up
Cancer creeps into their innocent souls
Memorials of flesh and blood
Have survived unlawfully punished
Poisoned till the end of their lives
Physical deformity
What medicine will help?
Still births will rise
Agent Orange...
A fire that doesn't burn
Grieved weak hearts are crying
Waiting for the end
In this condition they are dying
Newborns of the damned
Preserved in test tubes for generations
Vicious circle of transmission
There's no way for reparations
Must live with chemical agent called
Agent Orange...
Show full lyrics (32 lines) ▾
#23 Skinny Puppy Tin Omen 1989 · Rabies · Nettwerk # W1-93007 · Canada
Annotation
The Industrial Metal / Industrial Rock song "Tin Omen" (Nettwerk # V-15511) mentioned the Kent State shootings. Released by Skinny Puppy, a Canadian group formed in Vancouver in 1982, the song title referenced the Tiananmen Square protest in China, in June 1989, in which military troops and tanks turned on the civilians demonstrators, resulting in hundreds of deaths, including many students. Skinny Puppy got this record out in November 1989, and used Kent State as a comparison: "Ohio Kent State was nothing so great" - thus seeking to highlight the massive scale of death in the Tiananmen example. The narrator went on to say that the National Guard wanted "away" with "flower power" , and wanted to "kill this way of life" . Featured on the album Rabies (Nettwerk # W1-93007).
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Every truncheon hit
Misguided
The people's army divided
United stance
Amped out war dance
What a ride
Inner thought of non-violent rebellion
Outside dare to die stand and fight
Show faith return all the weapons
Government says use them right
Fixed action set in motion
Doubting amnesia potion
What to hide red carpet ride
Guess it right
Ahaha, the joke's on
Dark corner the square
Ahaha, you bathe once a week
Distorted, the viewpoint, seldom seen
Way back in '68
Ohio, Kent State
Was nothing
So great /Have of have not
Forcing the point
Shot in the back
Take it back
Down trod soldier away
Flower power
Within
Kill me
Kill this way of life
(All good people are asleep and dreaming)
And be known one by one
They'll be coming down
Altogether
Sister machine gun
Automatic high
What a ride
What a trip
Tripped over the candlestick
Tanks arrive
Fire wall
Got to keep the camera alive
Tell the world
Tell the world what's going on here
Warning shots are fired
At the stomach chest wound
Coed falls
Amped out
Amped out
Amped out
Amped out
Changing guns for brooms
The guards change to cleanup crews
Hahaha, the joke's on you
Dark corner the square
Hahahaha, you bathe once a week
Distorted viewpoint, seldom seen
Way back in '68
Everything was so great
No way
Wrong date
Keep up the trade
Balanced charade
Close circuit truth
Used to remove
Keep the camera alive
(All good people are asleep and dreaming)
What a head trip
Show full lyrics (69 lines) ▾
#24 Grinder Agent Orange 1989 · Album · Dead End · No Remorse # NRR 1007 · Germany
Annotation
Thrash Metal group, formed in 1984, in Frankfurt, Germany, and disbanded in 1991. Members included Adrian Hahn (vocals, bass), Andy Ergün (guitar), Lario (guitar), Stefan Arnold (drums), Andi Reichert (bass) David Hoffman (bass, guitar). The song "Agent Orange" (No Remorse Records # NRR 1007) combined the issues of the the defoliant / herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, which had long tern negative health effects, and the My Lai massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968.

The vivid lyrics conjured the familiar images used to portray the Vietnam conflict, including the helicopters and jungles: "caged into the chopper, crossing the green" . It recalled the reasons for fighting: "patriotic to fight for stars and stripes, heroic left his home to invade a land" . However, there are no more "war games" , as they are in the "hell of Vietnam" . The soldier is then "trying to forget Operation My Lai" , and noted "it's been hard to watch 'em die" , also the narrator also expressed a cold side: "didn't really mind to hear some Viet Cong's women cry" . Back in the US, the veteran cannot hide from the crimes committed: "cruelties censored, war can't be ignored" . He wanted to be "out of sight again... where mortality's unseen" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Caged into the chopper
Crossing the green
Camouflage confusing his eyes
His company down under
Shots from nowhere
Loyalty'll be denied in time
Followed the call of pride
Patriotic to fight for stars and stripes
Heroic left his home
To invade a land
Where he doesn't belong
Agent orange cleared his sight now
A different face stared at him somehow
Gas changed the conflict
Sort of deranged
Hope and honour
Have fallen with the green
Deprived of the green filter
No more cruelties censored
War can't be ignored any longer
Wishes he was out of sight again
The green is gone
Shelter's slain
The hidden heroes
Delivered to the pain
It's in his face
Where they run, where they fall
It's in his mind
Unable to close the scar
Heroic image uncovered
Escaping from it's challenging disguise
Into the green
Into the green
Where mortality's unseen
Into the green
Where war games are so
Easy to play
Soon it was done
The hell of Vietnam
Unveiled it's violated grace
His company down under
Strategic demands
Raged like a tropic disease
It's been hard to watch 'em die
Trying to forget Operation My Lai
Though he didn't really mind
To hear some Viet Cong's women cry
Agent orange cleared his sight now
Loyalty was kicked away somehow
Turned the chopper
Left the violence
Into the green
Where war is as once
Deprived of the green filter
No more cruelties censored
War can't be ignored any longer
Wishes he was out of sight again
Into the green
Into the green
Where mortality's unseen
Into the green
Where bravery's what it means
Invisible, in the green
Show full lyrics (64 lines) ▾
#25 Lååz Rockit Holiday in Cambodia 1989 · Album · Annihilation Principle · Enigma # 7 73338-1 · USA
Notes
"Holiday in Cambodia" cover, and "Chasin Charlie" .
Lyrics
English
Nineteen
To the day
Such an age
What a waste
Come with me
My uncle says
To a land where no one cares
You'll see such a different light
Learn to live
Learn to fight
Gamble
With your life
Every day and every night
Keep your cool
Shoot others dead, watch your back and watch your head
Murder here's
The way of life
You must see this
To survive
He rules the night we own the day
Come play the game
Chasin' Charlie
To see the sun all that I pray
Come play the game
Chasin' Charlie
Such a sin
Welcome to a graveyard zoo
Execute
Chasin' Charlie
Chasin' Charlie
Chasin' Charlie
Chasin' Charlie
Nineteen
Such an age
War machine
For our rage
Stay with me
My uncle says
It's your country
That's at stake
Serve your nation
Serve with pride
Fight for those
Who fought and died
Bad dream
Come to life
Justice
Out of sight
Charlie's out there
Every night
Calling you to
Come and fight
Grab your sixteen
Chase him down
Drive him back
Into the ground
He rules the night we own the day
Come play the game
Chasin' Charlie
To see the sun all that I pray
Come play the game
Chasin' Charlie
Welcome to a graveyard zoo
Execute
Chasin' Charlie...
Show full lyrics (66 lines) ▾
Theme: Cambodia
#26 Lååz Rockit Chasin Charlie 1989 · Album · Annihilation Principle · Enigma # 7 73338-1 · USA
Annotation: see “Holiday in Cambodia” above (same release).
Theme: VC

1990s

Time Magazine, 30 April 1990 - "Vietnam - 15 Years Later"
The trend of using Vietnam as a case study to criticise US foreign policy and interventions continued in the 1990s. While the number of songs decreased compared to the 80s period, artists continued to focus on the impact of the war on veterans and society, and the use of Agent Orange and Napalm.

1990

#27 GWAR Slaughterama 1990 · Scumdogs of the Universe · Metal Blade # 3984-17003-2 · USA
Annotation
Crossover Thrash band GWAR formed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1985. They mainly produced comedic material, with references to science fiction, horror films, and controversial political themes. They also featured obscene and graphic language. The group has had multiple changes to the line-up, with the Canadian Dave Brockie being the constant member. This is a concept album about the scumdogs i.e. the band GWAR, who came to earth to establish a reign of terror.

This included the song "Slaughterama" (Metal Blade Records # 3984-17003-2), about the band taking part in a reality TV game show involving the brutal slaughtering of hippies, introduced as having a "Grateful Dead life" (a reference to the band Grateful Dead). These hippies "tried to tell us 'give peace a chance'" , a reference to the famous 70s anti-war song by the Plastic Ono Band. The song moved onto the killing, with the narrator screaming "I blew your head clean off" . He then revealed his experience in this area, with reference to the Kent State demonstration: "good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State" . The narrator revealed his pleasure derived from hippie hunting, and promised the viewers that they would be back next week with another edition of the show, in which they killed off those "full of existential despair" and those who did not care with a "pathetic life" . Although it is supposed to be comedic, the group sought to criticise the ideals and lifestyle of the hippies, essentially describing them as hypocrites.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
With a battle cry go forth which is, 'give the people what they want'
And what the people want could only be the senseless slaughter
Of the gutter-slime that litters this nation for cash and prizes
Yes, this is the show where people bet their lives to win something big
'Cause when your life is shit, then you haven't got much to lose on
Slaughterama! This next geek is guilty of the following, a Grateful Dead life
In which he's been allowing, tried to tell us 'give peace a chance'
Met the National Guard and he shit in his pants, it's not you imagination
It's not a bad trippie, yes that's him, it's the big smelly hippie!
Hello Mr. Hippie, nice to meet you, hey, got a little shit between your toes
How's things at the ol' manure factory? How's little Tofu? What!?
She grew another head? Well, you gotta lay off that LSD you know
Kinda makes your offspring goofy-looking, so, how do you hide money from a hippie?
Put it under the soap, I'm sorry but that answer wasn't in time
You're gonna have to put your mouth on this, whoa!
I blew your head clean off
Good thing I was such an expert shot with the National Guard back in Kent State
There's nothing like hippie hunting....We've killed everyone worth killing
Hope you do the same, we'll be back next week for another edition of Slaughterama
It's full of existential despair, it's full of people who just don't care
Don't feel sorry for them, they've chosen there own pathetic life
Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾
#28 Sodom Capture the Flag 1990 · Album · Better Off Dead · Steamhammer # 008-76261 · Germany
Annotation
On this album, the song "Capture the Flag" (Steamhammer # SPV 084-76262) referenced "Hamburger Hill": "departure to conquest the Hamburger Hill" - also the name of a Vietnam War film: Hamburger Hill (see Vietnam War Films) - about a battle that took place in Vietnam by the Ap Bia Mountain, near the Laos border. It also referenced "a game like Russian roulette" - as famously portrayed in the 1978 film The Deer Hunter - and thus this is another example of the impact of Vietnam War films on music representation in the post-war period.
Covers & answer records
Sodom, Thrash Metal band formed in 1981, in Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The group had a revolving line-up. They released a few Vietnam-related songs: "Persecution Mania" (1987) on Persecution Mania, "Agent Orange" and "Magic Dragon" (1989) on Agent Orange, "Capture the Flag" (1990) on Better Off Dead, and "Among the Weidcong" & "Napalm in the Morning" (2001) on M-16.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Departure to conquest the Hamburger Hill
At the risk of our life
Embitters resistance, deadly traps
Rapid fire - Got no chance to dive
Capture the flag
A game like Russian roulette
Who will survive?
The mine barrier in front of us
Overpowered in running fight
#29 The Plague Vietnam 1990 · Album · There's No Cure · Not On Label · USA
Notes
"Vietnam". Thrash metal
#30 Poison Something to Believe In 1990 · Capitol # PRO 79272 · USA
Notes
Something to Believe in (Poison)

Post-war, 1990s. Vietnam veteran. PTSD, mistreatment of vet. Kills himself on Christmas eve.
Glam rock, power ballad.

Will I see him on the TV preachin' 'bout the promised land
He tells me to believe in Jesus, and steals the money from my hand
Some say he was a good man, but Lord I think he sinned, yeah
Twenty-two years of mental tears, cries a suicidal Vietnam vet
Who fought a losing war on a foreign shore
To find his country didn't want him back
Their bullets took his best friend in Saigon
Our lawyers took his wife and kids, no regrets
In a time I don't remember, in a war he can't forget
He cried "Forgive me for what I've done there
Cause I never meant the things I did"
And give me something to believe in if there's a Lord above
And give me something to believe in Oh, Lord arise
My best friend died a lonely man, in some Palm Springs hotel room
I got the call last Christmas Eve and they told me the news
I tried all night not to break down and cry
As the tears rolled down my face, I felt so cold and empty
Like a lost soul out of place
And the mirror mirror on the wall sees my smile it fades again
Sometimes I wish to God I didn't know now
The things I didn't know then road you gotta take me home
I drive by the homeless sleeping on a cold dark street
Like bodies in an open grave, underneath the broken old neon sign
That used to read JESUS SAVES, a mile away live the rich folks
And I see how they're living it up, while the poor they eat from hand to mouth
The rich is drinkin' from a golden cup
And it just makes me wonder why so many lose, so few win
You take the high road and I'll take the low road
Sometimes I wish to God I didn't know now
The things I didn't know then and give me something to believe in

1991

#31 Jewel The Vietnam Requiem 1991 · Album · Revolution in Heaven · Classic Trash # CTRCD 9101 · Netherlands
Annotation
Heavy Metal band, formed in 1986, Haarlem, Netherlands, and disbanded in 1992, shortly after this, their only album. The final song "The Vietnam Requiem" was split into eight parts, which included documentary clips, included quoting Lyndon B. Johnson, US president (1962-1968). It referenced many well-known themes and episodes, including combat conditions, search and destroy, the Tet Offensive, the My Lai massacre, missing in action (M.I.A.), killed in action (K.I.A.), medals (the Purple Heart and Silver Star), and the treatment and impact on the veteran. Sections 1-6 focused on the combat zone: "Hueys sliding up to combat zone... lock and load and on patrol" .

Sections 7-8 focused on the post-war negative impact of the war, on those that fought: "it’s all over now...our youth was blown away" . It also contained descriptions of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - frequently referenced in post-war 1980s songs about US veterans, often connected in songs to stress, shell shock, flashbacks, nostalgia, and feelings and dreams related to an event: "it left scars in their minds... back home, still in the jungle"

The veteran also recalled various place names, familiar sayings, and infamous events: "Khe Sanh, My lai, didi mow" - Khe Sanh was a reference to an area of Vietnam that played a critical role in the war, including The Battle of Khe Sanh, and the US Khe Sanh Combat Base - the city and province are frequently referenced in song, most famously by Australian band Cold Chisel, with the song "Khe Sanh" (1978). My Lai was a reference to the massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968. "Didi mow" - this was a phrase adopted by US military personnel during the Vietnam War, from the Vietnamese "đi đi mau" ("get lost") - popularised in the movie The Deer Hunter (1978).1 The song concluded with another reference to a Vietnam War film - Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) - once again showing the huge impact of films on culture.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
I. The arrival: Da Nang 1965…. 365 and a wake up
II. Ignorance and heavy combat
Fear expressions, 19 here in Nam
I don’t know where I belong and don’t even know where I am
New guy, madcap, steppin’ on a booby-trap
Yelled it out, we shut him down, he couldn’t take the pain
Left out in the jungle, to serve the U.S.A.
We sang 'God bless America' and shot our hope away
III. Second tour:
Saigon ‘66, ready for take off
Hueys sliding up to combat zone
Basically grunts digging foxholes
Lock and load and on patrol
Into the bush we gotta lose some of the best of our platoon
P.F.C.’s face shot off during the monsoon rain
The dead will be anonymous to us in memory
We’ll settin’ up an ambush and waitin all to see
Bang, Victor Charlie
It seems we’re gone lose our minds
Slowly running out of ammo, right behind the enemy line
We fought to survive… and prayed to stay alive
IV. Tunnel warfare:
Fire in the hole
I’m down in the dark with a tunnel rats mark
A flashlight and a gun aside
Slide through the mud and gather my guts
Thinkin’ it’s gonna be alright
But the feeling is gone, I am afraid and alone
And think about home
Cu chi ‘67, the other side of heaven
The start of 'Cedar falls'
To drive the Viet Cong to the walls
Down it’s hot and sweaty, dangerous and tricky
Vermin on the floor… and bamboo behind the door
Crawling like a madman, soon maybe a dead man and I’m afraid
That’s what I’m gonna be
My bloods running fast and the pumpin’ sound of my heartbeat is loud
Like there’s yellin’ a crowd
V. Search and destroy mission:
Out from the ground, into villages around
Search and destroy, look for decoy
Zippo raid, ace of spades, cover your back, air attack
Left out in the jungle, inside the enemy’s mouth
The N.V.A. is marching, he chews and spits us out
VI. Tet offensive: (instrumental)
VII. The disillusion:
Vietnam, after 1972
It’s all over now and put back behind
For those who fought there it left scars in their minds
Khe Sanh, My lai, didi mow, get away
Silver star, purple heart, body-bag or M.I.A
Back home, still in the jungle, we’ve served the U.S.A.
We sing 'God bless America'
Our youth has blown away
VIII. The awakening: Good morning Vietnam
Show full lyrics (56 lines) ▾
#32 Cornucopia of Death Black Tie Viet Nam 1991 · EP · Nip It in the Bud · Not On Label · USA
Notes
The song "Black Tie Viet Nam"

- thrash metal
#33 Out of Darkness Savior 1991 · Demo · Demo · Not On Label · USA
Notes
"Savior"
Lyrics
English
Cursed by the earth that is soon to devour me
I cannot see one foot in front of me
Sent to fight for a nation's recovery
Defending the right of democracy
Cursed by the wind in a war we cannot win
Fighting an enemy we cannot see
A nightmare of demons stalk my mind
Serenity is a place I cannot be
Am I a savior of a nation?
Who is the savior for me?
America, the land of opportunity
When I came home people spit on me!
America gave up on our soldiers
Vietnam is still not over for me
I risked my life for this country, to die for democracy
A war fought for nothing
The dead that shouldn't be
Fouled by the government
To fight where we should not have been
For all those who died and those waiting to come back again
POW's and MIA's that are still not free
Napalm everything, hidden mines, killing mercy
People protest, why are they still protecting me?
A generation wiped out for an eternity
Burning villages, who is the enemy? Killing V.C.
God almighty, help me fight what I cannot see
Lifeless bodies barricade the path in front of me
POW's/MIA's only some free
Wasted are the days waiting for amnesty
The government thinks that the war is over
But not for those who were there
I see it every night in my mind
Every night I'm still there
Am I the savior of a nation?
Who is the savior for me?
Show full lyrics (36 lines) ▾

1992

#34 Ministry N.W.O. 1992 · Album · ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ [Psalm 69] · Sire # 9 26727-2 · USA
Annotation
Industrial Metal group, formed in 1981 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and currently in Los Angeles, California, USA. The song "N.W.O." (Sire Records # 9 26727-2) (standing for "New World Order" ) was inspired by the First Gulf War and a protest against police violence of other issues of the day - the official video featured clips of riots and police beatings, including in the manner of the killing of Rodney King. The song contained audio clips of Dennis Hopper's character saying "it's alright" from the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now (1979), and a clip from a George H. W. Bush speech claiming a "new world order" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
It's alright, It's alright
It's alright, It's alright
All the locals hide their tears of regret
Open fire 'cause I love you to death
Sky high, with a heartache of stone
You'll never see me 'cause I'm always alone
How to love without a trace of dissent
I'll buy the torture, you pay for the rent
Tied high with a broken command
All alone to the promised land
I'm in love with this malicious intent
You've been taken but you don't know it yet
What you will know must never live to be found
'Cause it's the subject of the eyes of the clown
What we are looking at is good and evil
Right and wrong
A new world order
Show full lyrics (18 lines) ▾
#35 Alice In Chains Rooster 1992 · Album · Dirt · Columbia # CK 52475 · USA
Annotation
Grunge band, which also incorporated elements of Alternative Metal, formed in 1985 in Seattle, Washington, USA. The song "Rooster" (Columbia Records # COL 659057 2), off the 1992 album "Dirt" (Columbia Records # CK 52475), written by guitarist Jerry Cantrell, was named after his father's nickname while serving in the US army during the Vietnam War. Cantrell said in the linear notes of the 1999 compilation "Music Bank" that "it was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused. This was all my perception of his experiences out there". The song referred to a soldier in combat in Vietnam: "the bullets scream... my buddy's breathing his dyin' breath" . Of particular interest, is the reference to the treatment of US veterans back home, including the so-called "spitting-image", an area of controversy, which presented a narrative of US veterans being spat on by anti-war protestors.1 The narrator said: "they spit on me in my homeland" . Thanks koeeoaddi_there
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids, household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Here they come to snuff the rooster...
You know he ain't gonna die
Walkin' tall machine-gun men
They spit on me in my homeland
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death
My buddy's breathing his dyin' breath
Oh God, please, won't you help me make it through?
Show full lyrics (15 lines) ▾
#36 Rage Against the Machine Wake Up 1992 · Album · Rage Against the Machine · Epic # Z 52959 · USA
Annotation
Rap Metal group Rage Against the Machine formed in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA, featuring members Zack de la Rocha (vocals), Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass), and Brad Wilk (drums). Known for their political protest songs, they released a few Vietnam War-related tracks: "Wake Up" (1992), on the album "Rage Against the Machine" , which referenced Martin Luther King Jr.'s opposition to the war, the single "Vietnow" (1996), which compared current problems with Vietnam, and "Sleep Now in the Fire", on the album "The Battle of Los Angeles", which referenced Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War.

The song "Wake Up" (Epic Records # Z 52959) focused on racism within the American government and counter-intelligence programs by the FBI. Interestingly, this included looking back to the Vietnam War era, referencing Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous anti-Vietnam War speech: "you know they went after King, when he spoke out on Vietnam" - on 4 April 1967, MLK delivered his most controversial speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" at Riverside Church in New York, in which he took a strong position against the war, opposing the policies of President Johnson. He shortly followed this up with the speech "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam", delivered at Ebenezar Baptist Church Atlanta, Georgia, on 16 April 1967, featured on the record "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam", released by Black Forum Records (# BF-451), a spoken-word sub-label of Motown Records. In 1971 this posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. King's opposition to the Vietnam War can be traced back to 1965, although most of his public speeches on the issue took place in 1967 and 1968, when he took part in many anti-war demonstrations, which caused tension between King and President Johnson.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Come on, although ya try to discredit...
The needle, I'll thread it, radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66...
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover...
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy...
Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown, cause
All these punks got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot
Show full lyrics (17 lines) ▾

1993

#37 Wicked Lady War Cloud 1993 · Archival · The Axeman Cometh · Kissing Spell # KSCD9307 · UK
Annotation
Early Heavy Metal / Hard Rock band, formed in 1968 in Northampton, Northamptonshire, UK. They disbanded in 1972. They recorded the anti-war song "War Cloud" (Kissing Spell Records # KSCD9307) - recorded in the Vietnam War era, but not released until 1993, and thus an archival album. The song noted that "soldiers play their deadly games of war" , and that "peace in our time won't come easy" . It contained a reference to the atomic bomb, a reflection of the Cold War period: "when the bomb drops we're all gone" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Released in 1993 - but song recorded 1969-1972, unreleased at the time.
Lyrics
English
Listen closely while I tell you
You must listen while you can
Take the future in the palm of your hand
See the sun shine on this land
While the soldiers play their deadly games of war
We must plan for what will come
Hold your woman close as darkness fills your mind
After this what will we find?
Peace in our time won't come easy
The life you cherish will be gone
The fools that lead us must remember
When the bomb drops we're all gone

1994

#38 Biohazard Remember 1994 · Album · State Of the World Address · Warner Bros. # 9 45595-2 · USA
Annotation
Biohazard, an American New York Hardcore band, which incorporated elements of Rap Metal and Crossover Thrash, formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 1987. The album State of the World Address featured Billy Graziadei (guitar, vocals), Evan Seinfeld (bass, vocals), Bobby Hambel (guitar), and Danny Schuler (drums). The song "Remember" (Warner Bros. Records # 9 45595-2) released in 1994, referenced issues that frequently appeared in the post-war era (especially in the 1980s). Firstly, it sought to overcome the Vietnam syndrome. As suggested in the title, the narrated wanted people to remember those who "served in Vietnam" . He declared that "from our generation to you...respect is long overdue" to the Vietnam veterans. Secondly, the lyrics looked at the treatment of veterans back in the US: "they spit on you now, we'll spit back for you" . Thirdly, it turned to the psychological impact of war on the veterans - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - "explosions shake the dreams in your head at night in bed...he still sees blood...try to numb the pain" . Finally, the song also referenced prisoners of war, suggesting that they could still be in Vietnam, and that they have sadly missed out on their children growing up: "P.O.W-M.I.A., your kids are now full grown, with the love and pride you should have known" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Here's a dedication
To the men and women who served in Vietnam
From our generation to you and your family
Respect is long overdue
Memories of blood, red, white, blue
Orange skies at night, southeast Asia knew
You were called to serve and you did it well
For us you've made a round-trip through hell
Wars within wars, within wars, within wars
To survive you made your own laws
Every day and night to stay alive
You kept your head down and your powder dry
Memories of families
We remember!
Now you live asking God why
He didn't take you when your brothers all died
Explosions shake the dreams in your head at night in bed
Don't wake him up or you'll end up dead
Try to understand his pain
He still sees blood stains that remain
In his heart and mind, try to numb the pain
Memories of families
It's God I've known
Take me home
People think they understand
Watching TV back on quiet land
They spit on you now, we'll spit back for you
Our hearts, our voice, gift of our hands
What can they do for you
And those who served and those who died
We pay respect to the families who still cry
We remember!
Memories of families
We remember!
Your kids are now full grown
With the love and pride you should have known
Back when your country brought you home
Still now you fight the tears and face your fears each day
But the horrors of fact won't go away
For 2300 MIA's or POW's to this day
We remember and pray for you
Show full lyrics (42 lines) ▾
#39 Nailbomb Point Blank 1994 · Album · Roadrunner # RR 9055-2 · USA
Annotation
Industrial Metal / Thrash Metal group, formed in 1993 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and disbanded in 1995, comprised Max Cavalera (vocals, guitar, bass, samples) and Alex Newport (vocals, guitar, bass, samples) - the front cover of this album (Roadrunner Records # RR 9055-2), as well as its name, are from the photograph called "Point Blank Persuasion", taken in Tam Ky, South Vietnam, on 9 November 1967, showing a U.S. soldier pressing an M16 rifle to the head of a woman "Viet Cong suspect" - it's used to provide the listener with a preview this nihilistic, protest album, or as described by Max Cavalera in an interview, it "represented the music of the album because it’s very aggressive, very war-like, but also black ‘n’ white with a punk kind of feeling".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Album line: the Vietnam reference is the cover photograph and the title, not a track (13 tracks, none about the war by title). Roadrunner RR 9055-2 CD / RR 9055-4 cassette, 8 March 1994. [From Rate Your Music]
Lyrics
English
Max Cavalera said in an interview with Revolver, 10 October 2017 about the front cover:
"We weren't protesting a war or anything. We were just protesting. It was like a "fuck you" to everything. Now, I sort of look at Point Blank as a protest album. Maybe it was subconscious. At the time we didn't even know that's what we were doing"
In another interview with Vandala in March 2018, he also discussed the front cover:
"We got in touch with Alternative Associated Press and they sent us a bunch of black ‘n’ white pictures from a lot of war pictures. One of the war pictures was that one of the lady with a gun pointed at her head. We thought that represented the music of the album because it’s very aggressive, very war-like, but also black ‘n’ white with a punk kind of feeling. We just wrote Nailbomb (logo) with military letters. I think it’s great, but it’s really shocking and really brutal. But we found out later that the lady in the picture never died. The soldier never shot her Which is one good thing about that picture is that she never died right there
#40 P.U.S. Vietnam 1994 · Album · Sin Is the Only Salvation · Eldorado # 584.046 · Brazil
Notes
"Vietnam"
#41 Aardvarks My Lai 1994 · EP · Eyes · Not On Label · Germany
Notes
Mi Lai. Thrash metal. Germany, Europe

song
Theme: My Lai

1995

#42 Iron Maiden The Edge of Darkness 1995 · Album · The X Factor · EMI # 7243 8 35819 1 7 · UK
Annotation
Influential Heavy Metal brand, formed on 25 December 1975 in Leyton, East London, UK. With a revolving line-up, it was primarily lead by songwriter and bass player Steve Harris - born 12 March 1956 in Leytonstone, London, UK. The song "The Edge of Darkness" (EMI # 7243 8 35819 1 7) partly takes its name from the Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness (first published in 1899) and later used by film director Francis Ford Coppola for his portrayal of the Vietnam conflict and the insanity of war in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. Iron Maiden include lines from the film: "for a week I have been waiting, still I am only in Saigon...I feel the jungle call me on... The colonel's gone rogue and his methods are unsound... your mission - exterminate with extreme prejudice" . The album did fairly well in the UK, reaching # 8 in the charts. In the US it reached # 147 in the Billboard 200 album chart.1
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
I've looked into the heart of darkness
Where the blood-red journey ends
When you've faced the heart of darkness
Even your soul begins to bend
For a week I have been waiting
Still I am only in Saigon
The walls move in a little closer
I feel the jungle call me on
Every minute I get weaker
While in the jungle they grow strong
What I wanted was a mission
And for my sins they gave me one
They brought it up just like room service
'Cause everyone gets what they want
And when that mission was all over
I'd never want another one
I know, captain, that you've done this work before
We've got a problem, you can help us all I'm sure
The colonel's gone rogue and his methods are unsound
You'll take a PBR upriver, track him down
There's a conflict in every human heart
And the temptation is to take it all too far
In this war, things get so confused
But there are some things which cannot be excused
He's acting like a God, an insane lunatic
Your mission, terminate with extreme prejudice
The route is dangerous and your progress may be slow
Here is the file and it's all you need to know
Oh
Oh
Here I am, the knife in my hand
And now I understand why the genius must die
Now I stand alone in the darkness
With his blood upon my hands
Where sat the warrior, the poet
Now lie the fragments of a man
I've looked into the heart of darkness
Where the blood-red journey ends
When you've faced the heart of darkness
Even your soul begins to bend
Show full lyrics (41 lines) ▾
#43 My-Laï My-Laï 1995 · Album · Attila's Horses · Not On Label # REF 7778777.2 · France
Annotation
Heavy Metal group, formed in 1991, Reims, France, slow the music up for the song "My-Laï" (# REF 7778777.2) - also the name of the band - in which the lyrics recalled the event of the My Lai massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968 - "it was in 1968...in a Sunday morning...let us put a life away" . The narrated "wanted to know the truth" of why Calley committed the crime.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
It was in 1968
Half seven, in a Sunday morning
Let us put a life away... near the end
My Lai... faces proud, tell me why...
I can tell who is right...
They came away...
Started to fire...
Started to shout, to kill...
The murderous Calley had a right to plea insanity...
I want to know the truth...

1996

#44 Tortoise Corpse Vietnam 1996 · Standard of Misery · Communique # CMG CD0112 · UK
Annotation
Thrash Metal band, formed in 1988 in Swansea, United Kingdom, included the members Steve Hamill (bass), Ivan Hoe (drums), Tim Hamill (guitar), and Tony Calvert (vocals). The song "Vietnam" (Communiqué Records # CMG CD012) provided a cinematic combat narrative: "we drop behind enemy line" (the "drop" , presumably a reference to helicopters), noting the military strategy commonly used during the conflict: "to search and destroy" . Another term frequently used during the Vietnam War was "Charlie" to describe the enemy forces: "Charlie's expecting guests... Charlie lies in wait" . The narrator described being the last one of his platoon left, he pondered "how can I escape?... in this dark hell-hole... danger very near... feel death within my hands" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Soldiers... trained to kill
We drop behind their lines
To search and to destroy
To meet our deadline
Stranded... there's no escape
We fight to survive
Charlie's expecting guests
I'm the only one left alive
Shots cry out - Fear of my life
Nowhere to run - Warfare's dalk reality
Faceless foe - playing with death
How can I win - welcome to insanity
Jungle... weaves in it's spell
How much more can I take?
The sentence living hell
How can I escape?
Daylight... filters through the trees
In this dark hell-hole
Charlie lies in wait
Death is in control
Nightfall...brings it's terror
Injecting me with fear
Lying motionless
Danger very near
Time ticks away so slowly
I'm still on the run
Insanity is threatening
Hold tight cradle my gun
Madness... Invades my mind
Penetrates with fear and pain
Enemy held within
My sweat's falling rain
Heartbeat's ready to explode
Across forsaken lands
My tortured images
Feel death within my hands
Show full lyrics (37 lines) ▾
#45 Witch Meadow Soldier of Fortune 1996 · Album · Down Eternity's Hall · Not On Label · USA
Lyrics
English
Back in 1975, the Vietnam War came to an end
When the soldiers came home they no
Longer fit into society
Many were placed in jail
But others, the most dangerous of them all...
Well, they became...
They became
Soldiers of fortune
Locking up the rage inside
A young marine trains on
Uncle Sam has lost his mind
When he gave that boy a gun
Never taking second best
Sent him and the job got done
Pinned those medals across his chest
But his war still lives on He turns his back on peace
And all he knows is war
Killing all he sees
Soldier of fortune
He hates the thought of peace
This madman knows no law
The world's his enemy
Warrior marches on
He'll make you beg and plead
And then he'll take your life
He prays upon the weak
Soldier of fortune
See what you have done to me
I fought so that
You could keep your liberty
And now I'm home
And you're neglecting me
You took my pride
And my sanity
Soldier of fortune
He turns his back on peace
And all he knows is war
Killing all he sees
Soldier of fortune
He hates the thought of peace
This madman knows no law
The world's his enemy
Warrior marches on
He'll make you beg and plead
And then he'll take your life
He prays upon the weak
Soldier of fortune
Show full lyrics (48 lines) ▾
#46 Rage Against the Machine Vietnow 1996 · Single · Epic # EPC 664777 2 · USA
Annotation
The song "Vietnow" (Epic Records # EPC 664777 2) used Vietnam to attack the "lies" on right-wing AM radio shows, directly referencing conservative politician Ollie North. Also contained in the lyrics was a reference to Sgt. Stacey Koon, one of the 4 LAPD policemen videotaped beating African-American Rodney King in 1991: "comin down like bats from Stacey Koon" . Also note the reference to US involvement in sending contras into Nicaragua: "undressed and blessed but the lord, the same devil that ran around Managua with a sword" - Mangua is the capitol city of Nicaragua. The song also featured on the 1996 album Evil Empire (Epic Records # E 57523). A live version also featured as the b-side on a 1997 single: The Ghost of Tom Joad / Vietnow (Live) (Epic Records #ES7 3705).
Artist background
Rap Metal group Rage Against the Machine formed in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA, featuring members Zack de la Rocha (vocals), Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass), and Brad Wilk (drums). They released a few Vietnam War-related songs: "Wake Up" (1992), on the album "Rage Against the Machine", which referenced Martin Luther King Jr.'s opposition to the war, the single "Vietnow" (1996), which compared current problems with Vietnam, and "Sleep Now in the Fire", on the album "The Battle of Los Angeles", which referenced Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Turn on the radio
Nah, fuck it, turn it off
Fear is your only god on the radio/ Nah, fuck it, turn it off
Turn it off, turn on the radio...
Your savior, my guillotine, crosses and kerosene
Merge on the networks, slangin' nerve gas
Up jump the boogie, then bang, let 'em hang
While the paranoid try to stuff the void
Let's capture this AM mayhem
Undressed and blessed by the Lord
The power pendulum swings by the umbilical cord
Shock around the clock, from noon 'til noon
Men grabbin' they mics and stuff 'em into the womb
Terror's the product ya push
Well, I'm a truth addict, aw shit, I got a headrush
Sheep tremble and here come the votes
Thrown from the throat, cages and scapegoats
Undressed and blessed by the Lord
The same devil that ran around Managua wit' a sword
Check out the new style that Ollie found
A tune with a bullet to shut down the devil sound
Shut down the devil sound
The program of Vietnow
Shut down the devil sound...
Flex the cerebellum, fire, uh
Somebody gotta shell 'em, these evil angels' lists
Hittin' the AM playlist, paid to say this
That one's inhuman, illegal, single, woman
The one without a movement
The transmissions whippin' our backs
Yeah, comin' down like bats from Stacey Koon and
Terror's the product ya push
Well, I'm a truth addict, aw shit, I got a headrush
The sheep tremble and here come the votes
Thrown from the throat, cages and scapegoats
One caution, the mic's a detonator, unwound (Unwound)
To shut down the devil sound
Shut down the devil sound /Check the heads bow in Vietnow...
Is all the world jails and churches? ...
Fear is ya, fear is ya
Fear is your only god...
Show full lyrics (42 lines) ▾

1997

#47–50 My Lai 3.16.68 1997 · EP · Divot # DVT007 · USA
All 4 songs from this ep in the archive are in this collection
Notes
"3.16.68"
"Ruthless"
"15 Minutes"
"Short Horn Champion"

Catalogue songs

My Lai themed EP.
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#47 My Lai 3.16.68 1997 · EP · Divot # DVT007 · USA
Notes
"3.16.68"
"Ruthless"
"15 Minutes"
"Short Horn Champion"

Catalogue songs

My Lai themed EP.
#48 My Lai Ruthless 1997 · EP · 3.16.68 · Divot # DVT007 · USA
Notes
A2 of the "3.16.68" 7" EP (Divot DVT007), a My Lai-themed EP, 1997.
Theme: My Lai
#49 My Lai 15 Minutes 1997 · EP · 3.16.68 · Divot # DVT007 · USA
Notes
B1 of the "3.16.68" 7" EP (Divot DVT007, 1997), a My Lai-themed EP.
Theme: My Lai
#50 My Lai Short Horn Champion 1997 · EP · 3.16.68 · Divot # DVT007 · USA
Notes
B2 of the "3.16.68" 7" EP (Divot DVT007, 1997), a My Lai-themed EP.
Theme: My Lai

1998

#51 Master Return To Vietnam 1998 · Album · Faith Is In Season · Pavement # 76962-32276-2 · USA
Annotation
Death Metal band formed in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1983, led by Paul Speckmann. The song "Return to Vietnam" dealt with the Bosnian War (1992-95), comparing the contemporary conflict with the Vietnam War: "they're marching off to war, in the Bosnian freeze...return to Vietnam, the parallel is the same" - this type of interpretation was often seen in the post-war period during various events, such as the Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979), 80s interventions under Reagan & Thatcher, the First Gulf War (1990), and the invasions of Afghansitan and Iraq in the 2000s.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Their killing for ideals, to build your perfect world
Their marching toward their death, with the flag unfurled
Support the national pride, to reach their ignorant goals
Their fighting to survive, the fight for all control
Step into seclusion, hide beneathe the brush
It's the code of honor, nothing to discuss
Your fates in the hands of those who pull your strings
Are they drunk with power, or lonely human beings
Mesmerize the chosen, critisize desertion
Publicize the moment, just coersion
Soldiers fill the streets, they're marching off to war
In the Bosnian freeze, a massage to explore
Old men make mistakes and soon the young men pay
Sacrifice the day with their lives Return to Vietnam, the parallel is the same
The object is to win or lose this deadly game
Show full lyrics (16 lines) ▾

1999

#52 Biohazard New World Disorder 1999 · Album · King Recordings # 314 546 032-2 · USA
Annotation
Biohazard, a New York Hardcore band (a sub-genre of Hardcore Punk), which incorporated elements of Rap Metal and Crossover Thrash, formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 1987. The album State of the World Address featured Billy Graziadei (guitar, vocals), Evan Seinfeld (bass, vocals), Bobby Hambel (guitar), and Danny Schuler (drums). Note that this group released the song "Remember" on the album State of the World Address (1994).

On this album featured the song "New World Disorder" (King Recordings # 314 546 032-2), which made a reference to the film Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by the political liberal and dove Francis Ford Coppola. Captain Kilgore (Robert Duvall) of the Air Cavalry attacks a Vietcong held village while playing Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" on the loud speakers of his helicopter. Once on the ground, Kilgore strips of his shirt and scarf and prepares to go surfing with explosions and gunshots all around. As fighter jets bomb the forest behind the Vietcong village, Kilgore says happily "I love the smell of napalm in the morning….smells like victory".
Charlie Don't Surf by The Clash on Sandinista! (1980)
Napalm Beach" by The Five on Napalm Beach / Excite Me (1981)
Beach Party Vietnam" by The Dead Milkmen on Eat Your Paisley! (1986)
Rambo Rat" by The Queers on Grow Up (1990)
The War in Vietnam" by New Scene on Technomakinita 2 (1991)
Back to Nam EP" by Commando Alan Jamming Nam (1994)
Wa Wa Zat!!" by David Lee Roth on DLR Band (1998)
Vietnam" by Big Red on Big Redemption (1999)
New World Disorder" by Biohazard on New World Disorder (1999)
Napalm in the Morning" by Sodom on M-16 (2001)
Hysteria" by Knives Out! on Black Mass Hysteria (2012)
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Armageddon, a new death is dawnin'
I like the smell of napalm in the morning
Four riders of the apocalypse descend from the north
A fear in my eye, I behold a pale horse
Also in: ▤ Punk Songs ▤ Punk SongsDozens of songs are influenced by Apocalypse Now either in title or lyrics, especially the quote "smell of napalm in the moring". Here are a select few
#53 October 31 For There Is War 1999 · Album · Meet Thy Maker · R.I.P. # D & L 09 · USA
Lyrics
English
War
Inside his mind it's '69
Somewhere in Vietnam
Yes, in his head there's millions dead
From guns, grenades, and bombs
For he's the one that feels the thunder
A prisoner of the times
Just trapped alone in a mental shock
And wanting just to die
As evil unfolds before the eyes
The horror of killing another man
One nation under God
For all around him there is pain
So is the wage of sin
The memories on the battlefield
Are buried deep within
For now the future's only past
And broken is this man
Eternally his life was lost
While fighting for his land
As evil unfolds before the eyes
The horror of killing another man
One nation under God
War! Forever there is war! For there is war!
He can thank the USA
For the way he feels today
For there is war! There is war
I see them all around me
They're all living just to die
Just trying to make their way
And moving on
But nothing stops the torment
Of those days in Vietnam
As the battle in their minds
Is raging on /Shellshocked mindless madmen
For deep inside there is war
They had the strength of courage
And they had the will to fight
But in the end they learned
Just how to die
And as they live the terror
Of a time so long ago
It's now too late /To save their wasted lives
And so again the music plays
The battle hymn of war
For there is war
And every night within the dark
Those nightmares comes again
For there is war
War
So here's the lesson to be learned
Amongst this grief and pain
And that's in life there's nothing
Worth the hell of war again
So leave the courage to the fire
And vengeance will stay free
And liberty will carry on
For all eternity
As evil unfolds before the eyes
The horror of killing another man
One nation under God
War
Forever there is war
For there is war
Show full lyrics (65 lines) ▾
#54 Rage Against the Machine Sleep Now in The Fire 1999 · Single · The Battle of Los Angeles · Epic # 491993 2 · USA
Annotation
The song "Sleep Now in the Fire" (Epic Records #669136 2) referenced Agent Orange: "the agents of orange, the priests of Hiroshima, the cost of my desire, sleep now in the fire" . Agent Orange was the defoliant / herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, which had long term negative health effects on the Vietnamese and US soldier whom came into contact with the chemical. It is frequently referenced in post-war songs. Also note the reference to the bombing of Hiroshima. Featured on the album The Battle of Los Angeles (Epic Records # EK 69630). The song reached # 62 in Billboard Hot 100 Airplay (US), # 26 in US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, and # 43 in UK Singles (The Official Charts Company).1

Artist background
Rap Metal group Rage Against the Machine formed in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA, featuring members Zack de la Rocha (vocals), Tom Morello (guitar), Tim Commerford (bass), and Brad Wilk (drums). They released a few Vietnam War-related songs: "Wake Up" (1992), which referenced Martin Luther King Jr.'s opposition to the war, "Vietnow" (1996), which compared current problems with Vietnam, and "Sleep Now in the Fire", which referenced Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Yeah
The world is my expense
The cost of my desire
Jesus blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire
So raise your fists and march around
Just don't take what you need
I'll jail and bury those committed
And smother the rest in greed
Crawl with me into tomorrow
Or I'll drag you to your grave
I'm deep inside your children
They'll betray you in my name
Hey, hey
Sleep now in the fire
Hey, hey
Sleep now in the fire
The lie is my expense
The scope of my desire
The party blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire
I am the Niña, the Pinta, the Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer
The agents of orange, the priests of Hiroshima
The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire
Hey, hey
Sleep now in the fire
Hey, hey, hey
Sleep now in the fire
For it's the end of history
It's caged and frozen still
There is no other pill to take
So swallow the one that makes you ill...
Show full lyrics (35 lines) ▾

2000s

Poster from 10-part, 18-hour documentary series from directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, which presented over 80 first-hand accounts of the Vietnam War, with extensive documentary footage. Released in 2017, it received significant media attention

2000

#55 Lamb of God O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E. 2000 · New American Gospel · Metal Blade # 3984-14345-2 · USA
Annotation
The song "O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E." (Metal Blade Records # 3984-14345-2) addressed police violence, making a minor reference to the protests at Kent State and outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (1968). The Groove Metal group formed in 1994 in Richmond, Virginia, under the name Burn the Priest. Written by Randy Blythe, the title stood for Officer Dickhead Gets a Black Fucking Eye. Blythe explained the song in an interview with Revolver Magazine: "one time I was out in the Bay Area, in San Francisco...a bunch of us were squatting...But the cops came and busted in and threw us in a paddy wagon...then 5 or 6 cops just started kicking the living shit out of me. I was so scared...then, when they yanked me up, I remember looking at one female officer....reading her name...and saying, I remember you. I remember your face. I'm gonna find you". So the narrator described getting beaten up by the San Francisco police: "face down on the cold floor...feel youth crushed" . He then mentioned several events involving police or army violence: "Auschwitz, Kent State, Chi-Town 68, Tianamen, Waco" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Hate
Falling three feet to the ground
Face down on the cold floor of a well-oiled SF pigsty
I met my one true love
Feel youth crushed somewhere between concrete and boot
Another victim of the lower hate
You are not my god
You think this is funny, don't you pig?
How the helpless freak squirms
Beneath our state sanctioned soles
But what is he laughing at?
There was nothing padded about a wagon full of mace
Rotator cuff hyper extends behind my back
Ribs cracking beneath a rain of sticks and heels
Falling down like the rain outside
Oh yeah bitch, I'm gonna remember
Your face, your name, your number
And when I crawl out of this hole
I'm going to make you all mine
Auschwitz Kent State Chi-Town 68 Tiananmen Waco
Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾
#56 Fat Tortoise Butcher Charlie's in the Bushes 2000 · Album · Luciferngully (The Softer Side of Satan) · Not On Label · USA
Lyrics
English
Seclusion
Rice and revolution
The time is now to strike back with no remorse
Walk on the mine, the Vietnam kind
Watch Charly die from the force
Strategy, just what I want to be
Laughing as I kill the weed
Set fire to the farm
Burning all the Charlie’s bloody and disgusting
Can’t do the world very much harm
Charlies in the bushes in the bushes burn him out
Goddamn in the bushes
Charlies in the bushes with a gun in the bushes
Goddamn in the bushes
Intrusion
Beaten to contusion
Beat him down and set fire to the fort
Lean on the spine, the V.C. kind
Watch Charly die from the force
Strategy, you know that I like to be
I’m kicking as he tries to breathe
Get back, I think I’ll scalp him for the war
Breaking all these necks and watching Charly die
Can’t do my mind very much harm
Show full lyrics (25 lines) ▾
Theme: VC
#57 Various Artists Wizards of Gore: A Tribute to Impetigo 2000
Annotation

Multiple covers of "My Lai" by Impetigo

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#58–61 Various Artists Wizards of Gore: A Tribute to Impetigo 2000 · Album · Razorback # RR06 · Brazil
All 4 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#58 Lymphatic Phlegm My Lai 2000 · Album · Wizards of Gore: A Tribute to Impetigo · Razorback # RR06 · Brazil
#59 Morgue My Lai 2000 · Album · Wizards of Gore: A Tribute to Impetigo · Razorback # RR06 · France
#60 Demisor My Lai 2000 · Album · Wizards of Gore: A Tribute to Impetigo · Razorback # RR06 · Singapore
#61 Gore Beyond Necropsy Jane Fonda Sucks 2000 · Album · Wizards of Gore: A Tribute to Impetigo · Razorback # RR06 · Japan

2001

#62 Sodom Among The Weirdcong 2001 · Album · M-16 · Steamhammer # SPV 085-72442-P · Germany
Annotation
Sodom, a heavy metal band formed in 1981, in Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The group had a revolving line-up. They released a few Vietnam-related songs: "Persecution Mania" (1987) on Persecution Mania, "Agent Orange" and "Magic Dragon" (1989) on Agent Orange, "Capture the Flag" (1990) on Better Off Dead, and "Among the Weidcong" & "Napalm in the Morning" (2001) on M-16. This thrash metal album was war-themed (Steamhammer # SPV 085-72442 CD), with several tracks focused on Vietnam. This included the song "Among the Weidcong" about "aggressive jungle war" .

The track "Napalm in the Morning" - a reference to the surfing scene in the film Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by the political liberal and dove Francis Ford Coppola. Captain Kilgore (Robert Duvall) of the Air Cavalry attacks a Vietcong held village while playing Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" on the loud speakers of his helicopter. Once on the ground, Kilgore strips of his shirt and scarf and prepares to go surfing with explosions and gunshots all around. As fighter jets bomb the forest behind the Vietcong village, Kilgore says happily "I love the smell of napalm in the morning….smells like victory".
Notes
Dozens of songs are influenced by Apocalypse Now either in title or lyrics, especially the quote "smell of napalm in the moring". Here are a select few:
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Seems like dead men want to leave their graves
Point to anything they love to hate
Broken skulls reflection all around
Execution, blood beneath the walls
Aggressive jungle war, breaking through the lines
Slaughter according to your evil rites
Your death will be methodic, gonna lose my way
Among the weirdcong
Machine gun fire, chain reaction, shredded brains
Among the weirdcong...
Antipathy to the gloating face
Dissection till your soul will leave again
Impact shock absorbs my energy
Bullets cutting through the rotten meat
Aggressive jungle war, breaking through the lines
Slaughter according to your evil rites
Your death will be methodic, gonna lose my way
Among the weirdcong
Machine gun fire, chain reaction, shredded brains
Among the weirdcong....
Emotions died, extinguished deep inside
Impurity made blood turns into wine
When I saw my friends impaled to death
Dishonoured and condemned their strength
Aggressive jungle war, breaking through the lines
Slaughter according to your evil rites
Your death will be methodic, gonna lose my way...
Show full lyrics (28 lines) ▾
#63 Sodom Napalm In The Morning 2001 · Album · M-16 · Steamhammer # SPV 085-72442-P · Germany
Annotation: see “Among The Weirdcong” above (same release).
Lyrics
English
I love the smell of napalm in the morning... it smells like victory"
Decease is just an irony of fate
Multiple rites, I'm gonna lose my way
Paraphiliac body control
To slay the phantom from my soul
You're gonna die
Unholy evil prophets rise
Fire's raining from the endless skies
Can you hear the final thunder roaring?
Napalm in the morning
Napalm in the morning
Skin peeling off to drop your timid mask
You wish that death redeems you fast
Creation of the fire seems the perfect nude
Your carbonized torso just a part of you
You're gonna die...
Charlie close to me
Smell of gasoline
Physically abused
See the hollow face
That burned down and raped
Your petition refused
Screaming for your life
Suffocation cries
Religion's been lost
Dancing in the flames
That's your destiny
Surrendered to the gods...
Time-bomb warrior
Flanking all around
Fighting back their lies
You're my soul insane /Blood stops feeding veins
Goddamn monkey's bite
Ashes dung the ground
Infuriate mauled
Recrudescence of wounds
There's no time to waste
Smash'em without grace
Hell is coming to you
To you"
"Charlie Don't Surf" by The Clash on Sandinista! (1980)
"Napalm Beach" by The Five on Napalm Beach
Excite Me (1981)
"Beach Party Vietnam" by The Dead Milkmen on Eat Your Paisley! (1986)
"Rambo Rat" by The Queers on Grow Up (1990)
"The War in Vietnam" by New Scene on Technomakinita 2 (1991)
"Back to Nam EP" by Commando Alan Jamming Nam (1994)
"Wa Wa Zat!!" by David Lee Roth on DLR Band (1998)
"Vietnam" by Big Red on Big Redemption (1999)
"New World Disorder" by Biohazard on New World Disorder (1999)
"Napalm in the Morning" by Sodom on M-16 (2001)
"Hysteria" by Knives Out! on Black Mass Hysteria (2012)
Show full lyrics (53 lines) ▾
Theme: Napalm
#64 Voorhees Kent State Bulletbelt 2001 · Album · Crystal Lake's Legacy · Six Weeks # SW 49 · UK
Notes
- Kent State Bulletbelt
#65 Vilently Ill Kent State Slaughter 2001 · Album · Group Hug · Knot # KM-16 · USA
Notes
- Kent State Slaughter
- Thrash

2002

#66 Magellan The Great Goodnight 2002 · Album · Hundred Year Flood · Magna Carta # MA-9045-2 · USA
Annotation
Progressive Rock / Progressive Metal group Megellan, formed in 1985 in Vacaville, California, USA, and disbanded in 2016. The line-up featured the brothers Trent Gardner (lead vocals, keyboards, trombone) and Wayne Gardner (guitar, bass, backing vocals). The song "The Great Goodnight" (Magna Carta Records # MA-9045-2), was a 34 minute track, about Jack Elroy, who died in Vietnam - the brother of the band members.1 The narrator recalled being only four when he went away to war: "I don't remember you, I have seen your pictures" . The narrator noted that his brother had "been gone only 6 weeks" , when the army informed the family of his death - they received his Purple Heart medal, and letter from the president: "on this day in May 1966 for wounds received in action" . The song represented the impact of death on a family: "mom... she took it worse than anyone, she really believed he would make it" .
Sources
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
I was only four, I don't remember you, I have seen your pictures...
Brother...in this great goodnight, a black frame still protects
Those two letters from the President, they start out:
On this day in May 1966 for wounds received in action
Still hanging here after all of this time
Right next to your purple heart in this great goodnight....
I love this black and white of you playing the harmonica
You were only 19 but to this kid you were probably more like 43...
You'd been gone only 6 weeks when the Army brass came
To the door knocking, breaking the news, breaking our hearts
When they broke the news to mom, she really believed
He didn't have to go...
But instead you had your final day in Vietnam...
She took it worse than anyone
She really believed he would make it back home
'He didn't have to go to Vietnam'...
Show full lyrics (17 lines) ▾

2003

#67 Evil Blood Vietnam Combat Fever 2003 · Archival · The Best of... Djinn '83-'86 · Darkness # DRCD-666-1 · Croatia
Annotation
Speed Metal band, formed in 1982 in Split, Croatia, part of the Former Yugoslavia (1918-1992), released two war-related tracks: "Vietnam Combat Fever" and "Kill With Napalm" . Lyrics needed..
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Theme: Combat
#68 Evil Blood Kill With Napalm 2003 · Archival · The Best of... Djinn '83-'86 · Darkness # DRCD-666-1 · Croatia
Annotation: see “Vietnam Combat Fever” above (same release).
Theme: Napalm
#69 War Plague P.O.W.M.I.A. 2003 · EP · Government Issued Murder · Pagan Flames # PFEP 002 · USA
Annotation
Thrash Metal group War Plague, formed in 2002 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Its members were: Markymetal (vocals, guitar), Bazooka Joe (vocals, guitar), and Tripwire (vocals, drums). The song "P.O.W.M.I.A." (Pagan Flames Productions # PFEP 002) propagated the myth that many US soldiers remained in Vietnam as P.O.W.s, as seen in a spate of early 80s films, such as First Blood [Rambo] (1982), Uncommon Valor (1983), and Missing in Action (1984), and represented in dozens of songs in the post-war period, containing the line: "an end to America's involvement in Vietnam cannot come before we have achieved the fullest possible accounting of those missing in action" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Pagan Flames Productions, PO Box 11653, Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-1653, "2006 Pagan Flames Productions"; sides titled "Side War" ("One Mission (To Kill, Combat, and Destroy)", "Advance", "Feeding Worms") and "Side Plague" ("P.O.W.M.I.A.", "War Head", and the bonus track "And War Did Rage", demo version, written by Joe Robidoux); plain white labels with the War Plague crosshair logo.

"All songs written recorded and produced by Mark", mastered at Ultrasound 2002-2003, cover art by Mark, layout by Syntax Imagery; contact [email protected].

The front cover painting shows a helmeted skeleton riding a shark-mouthed fighter plane, gripping two pentagram-marked bombs, over a burning landscape; the back prints all the lyrics beside a drawing of a sniper, with the slogan "This is cold violent noise". The "P.O.W.M.I.A." lyric quotes "An end to America's involvement in Vietnam cannot come before we have achieved the fullest possible accounting of those missing in action." [From the record sleeve and labels]
Lyrics
English
Nuclear winter, bio terror
Missing in action
Under the radar
Installations
Ammunition
Propaganda
Prisoners of War
Mortals drown in blood
'An end to America's involvement in Vietnam cannot come before we have achieved the fullest possible accounting of those missing in action'
Vultures
Conquest
Torment
Ovens on
Icons dethroned
Air raid
Ground attack
Troops engage
Sacrifice
Take by force
Cross the enemy lines
'We are once again fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution but from annihilation'
Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾
#70 Six Feet Under American the Brutal 2003 · Album · Bringer of Blood · Metal Blade # 3984-14444-2 · USA
Annotation
Death Metal band formed in 1993 in Tampa, Florida, USA, with a revolving line-up, apart from founding vocalist Chris Barnes, former member of Cannibal Corpse. The song "American the Brutal" (Metal Blade Records # 3984-14444-2) was a protest about the Iraq War (2003-2011), referencing the Vietnam War: "I think of my best friend and his stories of Vietnam and now I got a cousin fighting in Iraq" . The narrator explained why the Vietnam War is often used for contemporary comparison in songs: "when I want to know the future I look into the past" . Like protest songs of the 60s/70s, the narrator pointed the finger at the politicians: "Mr. President I'm not here to do your dirty work" , and questioned the justification for the war: "I don't fuckin believe em... worth dying not for oil" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
I'd rather died than to live in this fucked world
Mr. President I'm not here to do your dirty work
Alone, I think I'm fighting a losing battle
Worth dying not for oil
NO WAR Amerika the brutal
Listen it's a fucking joke and they make you believe it on the TV
That's how they deceive you
I watch and I listen and I question their reasons
You know what, I don't fuckin believe em
NO WAR Amerika the brutal
When I want to know the future I look into the past
I think of my best friend and his stories of Vietnam
And now I got a cousin fighting in Iraq, and I want her coming back
I'm not afraid to speak my own mind
I don't use the first amendment to hide behind
I'm guaranteed that freedom, I'm born with that right
And for that I'm ready to fight
I'd rather die than to live in this fucked world
Fake president, I'm not here to do your dirty work
Alone I think I'm fighting this losing battle- worth dying?
NO WAR Amerika the brutal
Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾

2004

#71 Magrudergrind My Lai Massacre 2004 · EP · Owned!! · Punks Before Profits # PBP017 · USA
Annotation
Grindcore group, formed in September 2002, in Washington, DC, USA, and currently based in Brooklyn, New York, USA, its original line-up included Avi Kulawy (vocals), Chris Moore (drums), Marc Levin (guitar), and Mourice Alvarado (guitar, backing vocals). They released the song "My Lai Massacre" (Punks Before Profits Records # PBP017) - the lyrics are difficult to decipher, but presumably it's a reference to My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Theme: My Lai
#72 Rabid My Lai 2004 · Insance for Brains! · Not On Label · USA
Annotation
Rabid, Death Metal group formed in Moravia, New York, USA. They released the track "My Lai" - a cover of the Impetigo song, from the 1987 EP "All We Need Is Cheez", about the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968. As noted under that listing, the lyrics leaned towards protesting the actions of Calley, who had killed "some reds...like your daddy said" - thus placing it within the context of the Cold War and the 1950s/60s fear of communism.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Lt. Calley is my man, Lt. Calley, Viet Nam
Lt. Calley kill some reds, do it like your daddy said...
Lt. Calley and his friends, bring your world to an end
Lt. Calley with his bombs, Lt. Calley killed your mom
#73 Megadeth Blackmail the Universe 2004 · Album · The System Has Failed · Sanctuary # SANCD297 · USA
Lyrics
English
The stage is set
Who will be the first to blink?
We can't go to war
Remember that "Vietnam thing"
Peace at any price
With a gun to your head, bang, bang
Weakness runs in your family
What runs in mine is death

2005

#74 Embrace The End Fathers Right Hand (My Lai) 2005 · Album · Counting Hallways to the Left · Abacus # CR13 · USA
Annotation
Deathcore metal group formed in 1999 in Sacramento, California, USA. Released in 2005, the hardcore metal song "The Fathers Right Hand (My Lai)" (Abacus Recordings # CR13) told the story, through violent lyrics, of a Vietnam veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): "reliving the horror each night, a victim lost forever" - possibly of My Lai, based on the song title. It also alluded to drugs use: "Even through morphine eyes...now carry this addiction" . Both drugs and PTSD are themes frequently found in post-Vietnam War songs.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Through every star-spangled eye the line becomes blurred
With finger on the trigger reliving the horror each night
A victim lost forever, a burning effigy of who you once were
Quench this ineffable thirst to be whole again
Blind leading the blind, raped and castrated
The blind leading the betrayed, the pain of chasing phantom limbs
Even through morphine eyes you can still see what's inside
Now carry this addiction, a monument to a heroic heart
To be whole again, all this time...bleed me of this agony
#75 Toxocara The Blood Road (Ho Chi Minh Trail) 2005 · Album · Imminent Repulsion (Suffice to Prevent) · Sevared # SR-024 · Netherlands
Annotation
Brutal Death Metal band formed in 2003 in Groningen. Netherlands. They disbanded 2012. The song "The Blood Road (Ho Chi Minh Trail)" (Sevared Records # SR-024) reimagined the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Đường mòn Hồ Chí Minh, also know as the Annamite Range Trail), a network of road and trails, from North to South Vietnam, via Laos and Cambodia, to provide manpower and resources to the Viet Cong: "walk the blood road... assembled in the deepest jungle" , while the US dropped bombs: "bombings never end... 1 million tons of bombs" .

Note the rare reference to Robert McNamara, US Secretary of Defense under the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson (1961-1968). He commissioned the famous "Pentagon Papers", a top-secret study on the history of US involvement in Vietnam in 1967, leaked to the New York Times and other newspapers by Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg in June 1971, which increased the credibility gap and support for withdrawal from Vietnam: "McNamara Line would not have stopped us to reach the final end" - the McNamara Line was a strategy by the US to prevent the infiltration into South Vietnam.1 This is an interesting reference to a specific strategy, the only mention identified in a song to date.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Inconceivable, never to interrupt
Nurtured by blood
Accompanied, killed by disease
Walk the blood road
Pitfalls , mass hysteria worthy
Tempted by pride
For those who walk the trail of death
The blood road never ends
To kill, hail and sacrifice
Our nation to the grave
Six weeks of intense suffering
No mercy is our slave
Underneath the winds of death
Bombings never end
McNamara Line would not have stopped us
To reach the final end
Assembled in the deepest jungle
1 Million tons of bombs
With anger, fulfilled with pride
We walk the Blood Road!
Insane we walk through the valley of death
Searching, destroying finding none
Death is just what us awaits
When we cross the Blood Road
Pitfalls , mass hysteria worthy
Death is just what us awaits
For those who walk the trail of death
The blood road never ends
Show full lyrics (29 lines) ▾
#76 Arterial Pressure Vietnam 2005 · Album · Human Brain · Sin/Con Pasiones # SCP-PA-05 · Spain
Annotation
Thrash Metal group, formed in 2004 in Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain, consisting of Alex (vocals, guitar), Juan Diego (drums), Víctor V. (guitar), Cristian (bass), Pedro (guitar), Carlos (guitar), and Víctor (bass). The song "Vietnam" (Con Pasiones # SCP-PA-05) used the historic example of Vietnam to present an anti-nationalist / anti-patriotic position, with the narrator declaring that they will not fight for a government that did not look out for them: "we will never fight for you.... won't fight for those who fail me" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Lying in the floor
But he isn't dead yet
Cries for his fear to kill
Can't control situation
It's an important decision
Save you life but others will die
Dying for those who fail you
Those who won't give their life for you
Your decisions take them to hell...
Won't fight for those who fail me
Won't give my hand to victory
Don't waste my time
War finish with death
Death finish with you
Enemies become my friends
Time to burn my memory
New era it's coming out for me
I know they'll return
We will never fight for you
I know it's the right way
Won't fight for those who fail me
Won't give my hand to victory
Don't waste my time
Show full lyrics (24 lines) ▾
#77 Janus Kadaverstern 2005 · Album · Nachtmahr · Trisol # TRI 255 CD · Germany
Annotation
Gothic Metal group, formed in 1995 in Rödermark, Hessen, Germany. It members were: Dirk Riegert [aka Rig] (vocals), and Tobias Hahn [aka Toby] (programming, piano). Note: this group is different from the more well-known progressive rock group Janus, also based in Germany, but from the UK, who also released a Vietnam War song ("Napalm Sticks to Kids"). The song "Kadaverstern" (Trisol Music Group # TRI 255 CD) referenced the My Lai massacre while recalling "Treblinka", a Nazi extermination camp: "Treblinka is daily for me, Soweto and My Lai... the war is never over" . As noted elsewhere, the My Lai Massacre was the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
I died for you
And must rise again in every cage
My eyes shone
And no one looked
At that moment
I died for you
Very slowly, but the chimney
Smoked only briefly
No moon to cry
I just hissed at naked neon tubes
Treblinka is daily for me
Soweto and My Lai
Golgotha is daily for me
And the war is never over
And the war is never over...
I died for you
So that you survive your sick life
How can you bear
That you gave me
No chance from birth?
German
Für euch bin ich gestorben
Und muss in jedem Käfig
Wieder auferstehen
Mein Auge hat geleuchtet
Und keiner hat
In dem Moment hineingesehen
Für euch bin ich gestorben
Ganz langsam, doch der Schornstein
Hat nur kurz geraucht
Kein Mond um dran zu heulen
Ich hab nur
Nackte Neonröhren angefaucht
Für mich ist täglich Treblinka
Soweto und My Lai
Für mich ist täglich Golgatha
Und nie der Krieg vorbei
Und nie der Krieg vorbei...
Für euch bin ich gestorben
Damit ihr euer krankes Leben
Überlebt
Wie könnt ihr bloß ertragen
Daß ihr mir von Geburt an
Keine Chance gebt?
Show full lyrics (46 lines) ▾
#78 The Arson Project Good Morning Vietnam 2005 · EP · Not On Label · Sweden
Annotation
Notes
1
Sources
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#79 Sabaton Into the Fire 2005 · Album · Primo victoria · Black Lodge # BLOD019CD · Sweden
Annotation
"Into the Fire"
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Sent from home overseas
And into the unknown
Barely landed in the jungle
Sent on first patrol
Sundown darkness falls
Dig in for the night
Ambushed in the dawn they came
The jungle's alive
I feel my fire starts to burn
The heat controlling my mind
Berserk a savage running wild
Within me the beast starts to roar
Now I'm ready to strike
A creature of the night
Into the fire
A flame of napalm strike
Sarge's down I'm in charge
VC's everywhere
Overrun yet order air-strike
Condemned us all to burn
Napalm from above
Burning friend and foe
Chaos on the battlefield
The jungle's on fire
This place it's driving me insane
Napalm it's burning us all
This fight no man will live to tell
Within me my blood starts to boil
From above the air-strike came
And it burned the world below
Napalm falling from the sky
And it leaves no man alive
I feel my fire starts to burn
The heat controlling my mind
Napalm it's burning us alive
Within me the beasts final roar
Show full lyrics (37 lines) ▾
#80–88 Sói Đen Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) 2005 · Album · Not On Label · Vietnam
All 9 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#80 Sói Đen Vết tích chiến tranh 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
#81 Sói Đen 1975 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).
#82 Sói Đen Blackwolf 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).
#83 Sói Đen Lâu đài sói (The Castle of Wolf) 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).
#84 Sói Đen Lòng tự hào 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).
#85 Sói Đen Người chiến binh 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).
#86 Sói Đen Nhạc khúc hòa bình 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).
#87 Sói Đen Vầng trăng sầu 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).
#88 Sói Đen Ði tìm ánh sáng 2005 · Album · Chiến tranh và hòa bình (War and Peace) · Not On Label · Vietnam
Annotation: see “Vết tích chiến tranh” above (same release).

2006

#89 Throwing Shrapnel Hanoi Circa 1973 2006 · EP · Black · Not On Label · USA
Annotation
Death Metal / Sludge Metal group, formed in February 2006 in Framingham, Massachusetts, USA, featuring Brian "DOOM" Cadyer (bass, vocals), Sean Michael "SMC" Coale (guitar), David "Lil' Davey Shrapnel" Ewing (drums), Kyle Wilkinson (vocals, 2006), Keith "Mutiny" Shuman (vocals, 2006-07). They released the song "Hanoi Circa 1973" , presumably about the Vietnam War. Lyrics needed.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Theme: Hanoi
#90 Misery Index Unmarked Graves 2006 · Album · Discordia · Relapse # RR 6675 · USA
Annotation
Death Metal band, formed in 2001 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, with a revolving line-up, lead by Jason Netherton. The song "Unmarked Graves" (Relapse Records # RR 6675) referenced multiple conflicts and war crimes / massacres, including the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968: "From Nanking to Mỹ Lai, from Srebrenica to Algiers... their spirit lives in defiance of it all" . It also referred to multiple genocides throughout history, such as Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) in North America, the Srebrenica massacre (1995), part of the Bosnian War, and The Darfur genocide (2003-present), part of the War in Darfur.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
From El Mozote to Amritsar
From Nanking to Mỹ Lai
From Srebrenica to Algiers
From Wounded Knee to Sabra-Shatila
From Tiananmen to East Timor
From Warsaw to Darfur
From Guernica to Halabja
Their spirit lives in defiance of it all

2008

#91 Dead Vertical 13 Years In Vietnam 2008 · Album · Infecting the World · Rottrevore # RR-009 · Indonesia
Annotation
Grindcore group from Jakarta, Indonesia, with a revolving line-up. Its original members included Iwan (vocals, guitars), Bony (bass, drums) and Andriano. They released the song "13 Years In Vietnam" (Rottrevore Records # RR-009) which provided a combat description: "Charlie is open fire... see the blood, see the death" - "Charlie" was a term frequently used during the Vietnam War to describe the enemy forces.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Feel depress, feel the rush
See the blood, see the death
Going suffer, going awol, foolish honor
Foolish battle
Charlie is open fire
Feel depress, feel the rush
See the blood, see the death
Going suffer, going awol, foolish honor
Foolish battle
Charlie is open fire
Action...action is useless
Action...action is zero
Action...action is useless
Action...action is zero
Show full lyrics (15 lines) ▾
Themes: Combat VC
#92 A Punto Welcome Vietnam 2008 · Album · Lo nuestro en común · Art Beat · Argentina
Notes
Welcome Vietnam. Metal
#93 Arterial Pressure Back in Saigon 2008 · Album · Shadow's Embrace · Not On Label · Spain
Notes
"Back in Saigon", metal. Spain
Lyrics
English
I care for you as you do for me in the battlefield
There’s no mistakes with charlies inside they only eat rice
We took PBR up the mekong against our fear
I’ve been told no t to get out of the boat
Fragging seargeant......no more lies
Agent orange, tastes good
Punjis around so stay alert
Napalm burns, leave my bones
Death aroun smells like blood
Fire burnt skin, smells like toasted
Planes leave bombs, bombs leave horror
M-16 starts to fire
I cannot believe this hell
In this jungle the heat strikes we have no water
Thirst and mosquito we are worn out
Today the seargeant failed to us he’s fainted
He should be a leader but no one leads here
Fragging seargeant......no more lies
Agent orange, tastes good
Punjis around so stay alert
Napalm burns, leave my bones!
The edge of the knife has kissed my neck
I saw his eyes, he was horrorized
Endless pain turns me insane I think of home
In your arms I’d never die alone
Fragging seargeant......no more lies
Agent orange, tastes good
Punjis around so stay alert
Napalm burns, leave my bones
Show full lyrics (30 lines) ▾
Theme: Saigon
#94–99 Vothana Vòng hoa chiến thắng / Crown of Victory 2008 · Album · Painiac · USA
All 6 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#94 Vothana Intro 2008 · Album · Vòng hoa chiến thắng / Crown of Victory · Painiac · USA
#95 Vothana Bước chân Việt-Nam / Vietnam March 2008 · Album · Vòng hoa chiến thắng / Crown of Victory · Painiac · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#96 Vothana Giai cấp trên / Higher Order 2008 · Album · Vòng hoa chiến thắng / Crown of Victory · Painiac · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#97 Vothana Giận dũ, và chuyên chế / Wrath & Tyranny 2008 · Album · Vòng hoa chiến thắng / Crown of Victory · Painiac · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#98 Vothana Outro 2008 · Album · Vòng hoa chiến thắng / Crown of Victory · Painiac · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#99 Vothana Ý chí mạnh mẽ / Strong Will 2008 · Album · Vòng hoa chiến thắng / Crown of Victory · Painiac · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#100 Carne Humana My Lai 2008 · EP · Intracorporal Exposiciòn · Costa Rica
Notes
- My Lai (Impetigo Cover)
- Carne Humana

2009

#101 Debustrol Vietkong 2009 · Album · Rwanda · Sokol's Power Voice # 8595158300536 · Czech Republic
Notes
"Vietkong". Metal
Theme: VC
#102 Delta Force II Personal Vietnam 2009 · Album · Roku # ROKU-034 · Finland
Annotation
Post-war Crossover Thrash band, formed in 2002, in Jyväskylä, Finland. The group disbanded on 15 October 2016. This album featured the song "Personal Vietnam" (Roku Records # RNR-DF2), narrated from the perspective of a Vietnam veteran, "I remember Vietnam, the war was hard" . It contained references to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - frequently referenced in post-war 1980s songs about US veterans, often connected in songs to stress, shell shock, flashbacks, nostalgia, and feelings and dreams related to an event: "part of a mere dream, part of the nightmare tormented" . The song also referenced the Viet Cong - (or "VC") - the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) (NLFSV or NLF), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
Band credits (pseudonyms): Vocals Majuri Harmageddon; Guitar Vivian 'Wildchild' Danger; Bass Subcomandante Hevimake; Drums Allu Witchhunter. Recorded by Riku Rubiini; drums recorded/mixed/mastered by Arttu Sarvanne. A 2009 CD (Not On Label, release 2103074) compiles all Delta Force II material, tracks 1-17 from the Personal Vietnam LP recorded 2009. Title track of the Roku Records LP, narrated by a veteran haunted by nightmares of the war. Co-released by Hockey Champ Records (HCR-006), Roku Records (ROKU-034), Nightstick Justice Records (HIT-009) and Raakanaama (RNR-DF2).
Lyrics
English
Viet Cong corridors is really familiar to me...
I remember Vietnam
The war was hard
And the party was wild, hangover mornings in the jungle...
I remember Vietnam
I remember Vietnam
A lot of buddies went, a lot went to booze
Part of a mere dream, part of the nightmare tormented
I remember Vietnam
I remember Vietnam

2011

#103 Gutalax Sucking a Cock of a Vietnam Veteran 2011 · Shit Beast · Bizarre Leprous # BLP102 · Czech Republic
Annotation
Goregrind group (a sub-genre of Metal), formed in 2009 in Křemže, Jihočeský kraj, Czech Republic, released the track "Sucking a Cock of a Vietnam Veteran" (Bizarre Leprous Production # BLP102), which is largely instrumental.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

2012

#104 Knives Out! Hysteria 2012 · Album · Black Mass Hysteria · Razor to Wrist · USA
Annotation
Alternative Metal group, formed in 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, consisting of Todd Smith [aka El-Creepo!] (vocals), Jasan Stepp (guitar), Tom Maxwell (guitar), David Cullen (bass), and Tommy Sickles (drums). The anti-war / protest song "Hysteria" (Razor to Wrist Records), about atomic destruction, contained the line: "bombs away, I love the smell of napalm in the morning... red skies and mushroom clouds" . This was of course a passing reference to the film Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by the political liberal and dove Francis Ford Coppola. Captain Kilgore (Robert Duvall) of the Air Cavalry attacks a Vietcong held village while playing Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" on the loud speakers of his helicopter. Once on the ground, Kilgore strips of his shirt and scarf and prepares to go surfing with explosions and gunshots all around. As fighter jets bomb the forest behind the Vietcong village, Kilgore says happily "I love the smell of napalm in the morning….smells like victory". Thus, another example showing the impact of Vietnam War films on US culture.
Notes
Dozens of songs are influenced by Apocalypse Now either in title or lyrics, especially the quote "smell of napalm in the moring". Here are a select few:
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
In this after-school special
The children never make it home
Hysteria
Red skies and mushroom clouds
Hysteria
Nowhere to go from here
21st century Armageddon is near
21st century Armageddon is here
Panic, panic, panic
Relentless black mass hysteria
Panic, panic, panic
Armageddon till the break of dawn
Godspeed you tortured soul
Broken, bruised and beaten
Riding a headless horse
Into a non-stop suicide
Go write your eulogy in blood
All over the bathroom walls
Constantly cursed and denied
Please have mercy on me, master....
Bombs away
I love the smell of napalm in the morning
Floating in limbo
Hysteria
Red skies and mushroom clouds
Hysteria
Nowhere to go from here
Do you remember what you said
When you were speaking to the dead
Please have mercy on me, master
You're my only friend
And the walls are closing in
Sinking deeper into hopeless oblivion
Shy away the snake
Your virtue is far more poisonous
And deadlier than he ever was
Death valley summer swelter...
Goodnight, sleep well my love
There's nothing left to die for
In death I am eternal
And one day it will arrive
To shine a homeward beacon
To be reborn into the light"
"Charlie Don't Surf" by The Clash on Sandinista! (1980)
"Napalm Beach" by The Five on Napalm Beach
Excite Me (1981)
"Beach Party Vietnam" by The Dead Milkmen on Eat Your Paisley! (1986)
"Rambo Rat" by The Queers on Grow Up (1990)
"The War in Vietnam" by New Scene on Technomakinita 2 (1991)
"Back to Nam EP" by Commando Alan Jamming Nam (1994)
"Wa Wa Zat!!" by David Lee Roth on DLR Band (1998)
"Vietnam" by Big Red on Big Redemption (1999)
"New World Disorder" by Biohazard on New World Disorder (1999)
"Napalm in the Morning" by Sodom on M-16 (2001)
"Hysteria" by Knives Out! on Black Mass Hysteria (2012)
Show full lyrics (56 lines) ▾
#105 Eyehategod New Orleans Is the New Vietnam 2012 · Single · A389 # A389-110 · USA
Annotation
Sludge Metal group Eyehategod, formed on 20 April 1988 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, founded by Jimmy Bower (guitar) and Joey LaCaze (drums), and a somewhat revolving line-up of bass players and drummers. The song "New Orleans Is the New Vietnam" (A389 Recordings # A389-110) used Vietnam as a comparison to contemporary problems, both in the local environment: "downtown mess, uptown wreck... east bank mess, west bank wreck" , as well personal frustrations: "put down, burned up... this shit don't quit" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Uptown mess, downtown wreck
Frostbite sweat, your guilt on fire
Downtown mess, uptown wreck
Frostbite sweat Your guilt on fire
Shoes don't fit, I don't fit
Shoes don't fit, I don't fit
East bank mess, west bank wreck
Frostbite sweat, your guilt on fire
Shoes don't fit, you don't fit
Shoes don't fit, this shit don't quit
You don't fit, we don't fit
You don't fit, you don't fit
Put down, burned up, burned up
Burned up, turned back, crept up
Put down, burned up
Put down, crept up, burned up
Broke down, step down
No way, back door, pissed off
Show full lyrics (19 lines) ▾
#106 Xzibit Napalm 2012 · Single · Open Bar # OBE-290 · USA
Notes
Rap metal

Napalm (feat. Travis Barker)
Lyrics
English
Yeah, you thought that this was over
Thought you got away with murder
Watch me murder my deserters
This is congress secret service
Got your epirdermis calling
From the toxins in the water
Use the oxygen to slaughter
This is big business, baby, blood money bringing benefits
Still suffer from the ideology of Willie Lynch
Now it's all making sense, lets breed ignorance
Cause ignorance is bliss, watch the bliss make us filthy rich, bitch
I'm okay now, bring the napalm
I'll fly over and blow you away
No more sunshine, no more playgrounds
I'll fly over and blow you away now
There's no glamour, no guts, no glory
When I fly over, and blow you away
Blow you away now
The fuck can you say now?
I'm loading my napalm
The last shall be first, got dammit planet here we go
Camouflage cowboy, saddle up; rodeo
HIV, Polio, positive identity
Ashes of evil because we can't believe the trinity
Homeland Security, false is superiority
Fuck your intentions and big plans for my community
I ain't afraid to die, fuck you gon' do with that?
I'm coming to find you and wipe you off the fucking map
You might also like
Meaning of life
Up out the way
What’s the Difference Dr. Dre
I just wanted to live my life like the common man
Have a family, a picket fence with a couple friends
Maybe even walk the dog when the night is right
Such a pretty picture, we dancing under flashing lights
And we wouldn't have a worry, not in the world at all
Watch my favorite sitcom and go outside and mow the lawn
I come inside just in time to see our baby walking
And bringing flowers ain't special because I do it often
I'll be working a 9 to 5 'till I'm old and grey
Then just wither away the dust, watch it float away
And it'll be complete my life because I lived it right
Never lifted my voice in anger just to pacify
I guess it's all eventual how all these chips should fall
How can you appreciate walking if you have never crawled?
Matter of fact, why am I talking, I should be standing tall
Instead I'm in a world full of shit steaming, screaming fuck 'em all
Aerosol arsonist, tagging up the Apocalypse
The narcoleptic masses so I bang completely opposite
All you need is confidence, I don't need no compliments
The system sets the standards, destruction of the obvious
This is for the populous, population genocide
Patriotic duty look alive but never sympathize
Take 'em by surprise, strike 'em early when they rise
When they open up they eyes, but they still so fucking blind
But hey, hey
Show full lyrics (58 lines) ▾
Theme: Napalm
#107 Rezet Combat Shock 2012 · Album · Civic Nightmares · Twilight Vertrieb # 784-2712 · Germany
Notes
"Combat Shock" - agent orange, PTSD
Lyrics
English
Agent Orange, bombs
Sanity is lost
Lost deep inside the war field
In a blood red Vietnam
Hand grenades explode, my rifle to reload
Firing, shooting, slaying
Aiming at my victim’s throat
Deaf because of pain, I’m gonna go insane
Can’t decide what’s right or wrong, firing again
They tell me to stop, to unload the gun
But everything’s too late
‘Cause now I’m shooting everyone
They tell me to leave
Cut my hair and achieve
Something in my life, cause all they know is I’m a thief
They tell me to stop, to unload the gun
But that is too late
I’m shooting everyone
Fire in the hole
‘Cause Frankie is gone insane
And he’s out of control
Combat shock is coming
And no one will escape
Combat shock
The fight has begun
After the war and the work that I’ve done
Combat shock
The work as a man
Who was put in danger in Vietnam
Combat shock
A stranger back home
Feel so guilty, feel so alone
Combat shock
Eternal war in my head
‘Til I’m dead
So you were brave enough to die
Made a thousand families cry
And now you’re coming back to yours
Although you’re wondering why
Your baby; a deformed thing
No job, no life
Nothing will be the same
It’s all connected with gore
Show full lyrics (44 lines) ▾
Themes: Combat PTSD
#108 Yacøpsæ Helden von Nordvietnam 2012 · Single · Apokalypse / Helden von Nordvietnam · Righteous Fuck # RFR 02 · Germany
Annotation
Grindcore group Yacøpsæ, formed in August 1990, in Hamburg, Germany, with the following membership: Stoffel (guitar, vocals), Pattex (drums, 1990-92), Emu (drums, 1992-2018), Frank (bass, 1996-?), Manuel (bass, 2016-present), and Thore (drums, 2018-present). They released the song "Helden von Nordvietnam" (Righteousfuck Records # RFR 02), a cover of Razzia, a Deutschpunk group from Hamburg, formed in 1979, which released the song "Helden von Nordvietnam" (Weird System Recordings # 001) on the various artist compilation Waterkant-Hits.

Note the front cover of this single featured the famous picture of the "Execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém".14 The song was a tribute to the "heroes of North Vietnam and the partisans from the Viet Cong" - the Vietcong (or "VC") - the National Liberation Front (NFL), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam. The song noted the US military's use of napalm: "on the run from napalm and gas" - chemical weapon Napalm B - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
They never shied away from danger
In the fight against troops from the USA
They were born in the jungle and many lost their lives there
We remember the heroes of North Vietnam and the partisans of the Viet Cong
But from Ba Donh to the Red River, terror swept down from the air
Fleeing napalm and gas, their children became fodder for the bombs
We remember the heroes of North Vietnam and the partisans of the Viet Cong
But they made the last move
Even when the jungle no longer bore any leaves
And they didn't stop shooting until the Yanks left their country
We remember the heroes of North Vietnam and the partisans of the Viet Cong
German
Sie scheutten niemals die Gefahr
Im kampf gegen Truppen de USA
Im dschungel waren sie geboren und viele haben dortinr leben verloren
Wir gedenken der Helden von NordVietnam und den Partisanen vom vietcong
Doch von Ba Donh bis Zum Roten, Fluss fegte der terror aus der luft
Auf der Flucht vor napalm und gas wurden ihre kinder zum bombenfrass
Wir gedenken der Helden von NordVietnam und den Partisanen vom vietcong
Doch sie machten den letzten zug
Selbst als der Dschungel kein laub mehr trug
Und sie hielten nicht auf zu schiessen, bis die Amis Ihrland verliessen
Wir gedenken der Helden von NordVietnam und den Partisanen vom vietcong
Show full lyrics (25 lines) ▾

2013

#109 Black Spring Monolith My Lai 2013 · EP · Rebirthing the Goat · Germany
Notes
- "My Lai"
- Doom metal
- Germany
Theme: My Lai

2014

#110 Decaying Fall of Saigon 2014 · Album · One to Conquer · Hellthrasher # XXXVII · Finland
Annotation
Death Metal group, formed in 2010 in Helsinki, Finland. Members included: Matias Nastolin (bass, guitar, vocals), Olli "Otu" Suurmunne (guitar, 2010-11), Benjam Lahdenpää (drums, 2011-present), Otso Polenius (guitar, 2011), Henri Hirvonen (guitar, 2011-present). This album contained two Vietnam War-related songs. The first, the song "Fall of Saigon" (Hellthrasher Productions # XXXVII), which kicked off with machine gun sound-effects, recalled the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975: "red flags will dominate... the war is over, the republic has fallen" . The narrator also recalled the US presence and objective: "halt the red disease, Cold war at its peak, stop the communists" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
The tide is about to be turned
South is on a brink of collapse
Rapid advance toward the capital
Red flags will dominate the scenes
It was a just warning
That war had been done
US operations on foreign soil
To halt the red disease
Cold war at its peak
Stop the communists
Interest of the west vanished
At the fall of Saigon
Hastily retreating on a large scale
The republic was caught off guard
Total fall on all fronts
Foreign aid cut to meaningless
It was a just warning
That war had been done
US operations on foreign soil
To halt the red disease
Cold war at its peak
Stop the communists
Interest of the west vanished
At the fall of Saigon
The war is over
The republic has fallen
Show full lyrics (27 lines) ▾
#111 Decaying Ho Chi Minh Trail 2014 · Album · One to Conquer · Hellthrasher # XXXVII · Finland
Annotation
The second, the song "Ho Chi Minh Trail" looked at the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Đường mòn Hồ Chí Minh, also know as the Annamite Range Trail), a network of road and trails, from North to South Vietnam, via Laos and Cambodia, to provide manpower and resources to the Viet Cong: "this supply route reigns supreme" . It noted the North Vietnamese tactic compared to the US: "focused on guerrilla warfare... B-52s sweep the sky, the US air force" . It referred back the First Indo-China War against the French: "origins are from a previous struggle... during the First Indochina War" , arguing that it provided experience for the US conflict, and that North Vietnam started to achieve its objective: "the South Vietnamese morale collapses... public opinion in the States is in turmoil" . The narrator also looked at the Tet Offensive, which is marked as a major turning point: "after the Tet Offensive, Westmoreland's army starts losing the hold" . The song contained excellent examples of strategy and tactics, and reference to actual events and issues related to the Vietnam War.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Along the lines of southern Laos
NVA, focused on guerrilla warfare
With countless tons of ammunition
Thrown straight into combat
Moving vehicles and manpower
This supply route reigns supreme
Fuelled by something worth fighting for
A solid way to avoid a plain defeat
Determined to strike it down
But the trail is always shifting
Maintenance during the day and night
Tireless work force is unleashed
Carpet bombing on a daily basis
B-52s sweep the sky
The US air force, throttle set on full
Fulfilling a task which seems pointless
The origins are from a previous struggle
Baptized in battle
During the First Indochina War
First-rate engineering by VC
The group 559 assigned
Perfected all the concealment
Paved roads and vast bunker networks
"Build roads to advance, fight the enemy to travel"
Soviet supplies are in a firm use
Anti-aircraft defenses set up to the task
While the South Vietnamese morale collapses
The trail is steadily upgraded
The public opinion in the States is in turmoil
And the vague truce is shattered
After the Tet Offensive
Westmoreland's army starts losing the hold
Cannot maintain warfare with the lack of funds
The tide had changed
Keep up the pressure and continue on building up
Pushing forward to end the conflict
It is time to force Saigon down to its knees
Moving vehicles and manpower
A solid way to avoid a plain defeat
With countless tons of ammunition
Thrown straight into combat
Carpet bombing on a daily basis
On the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Show full lyrics (44 lines) ▾
#112 Space Eater Daisy Cutter 2014 · Album · Passing Through the Fire to Molech · Pure Steel # PSRCD088 · Serbia
Notes
Metal. Daisy Cutter. May be other songs on the album, such as P.O.W.
Lyrics
English
Watch your doom in the sky
Descending with serenity
Dread wiped from your face, all in radius erased
Feeble civilians scream in agony
Thousands of pounds of metal attack
Heated corpses shattered by the blast
Daisy Cutter
Trees turn to torches, and all living scorches
Feel the smell of your own flesh burnt by fuel
An infernal view through smoke and dust
Announces victory in this duel
Survivors suffocate in gas, smoke and dust
Bones of the slain remain to combust
I flew here in a chopper
From across the water
To cut your daisies low
And make you die all slow
Now i sit in my cell
My mind creates hell
Flash before my eyes
These memories never die
The cruelty of my deeds drives me insane
Hundreds of innocents slain by my hand
Show full lyrics (24 lines) ▾
#113 Space Eater P.O.W. 2014 · Album · Passing Through the Fire to Molech · Pure Steel # PSRCD088 · Serbia
Annotation: see “Daisy Cutter” above (same release).
Theme: P.O.W.
#114 Nocturnal Breed Napalm Nights 2014 · Album · Agonia # ARCD123 · Norway
Notes
"Napalm Nights" - metal, Norway
Lyrics
English
Hordes of bombers coming inn
Lungs filled with fire - At war again
Midnight in the firing line
Death-baptism - Jumping the mines
Hanoi Hannah screaming out her lies
VC's like insects swarming in like tides
The jungle-rot eating flesh alive
"Agent orange - Fire at will"
Running - Praying - And dying
Deployed into this jungle Hell
Searching - Blasting - Through fire
As we climbed with mad abandon
Every god-damned hill
Sundown in paradise through melted eyes
Pouring molten lava from the skies
Arc-lite over Ho-chi-minh
Senses sharpened - Like knives to win
It's been our fate since we came to base
To pick the Joker and not the Ace
From Da'Nang to the D.M.Z
"Through the endless rain"
The first and only - The last of many
In the A'Shau-Valley we rot - Cored from bone
Napalm Nights
Now bring the morphine to blur out this Hellish sight
Napalm Nights
Peeling the melting skin off your burning children
"Release the napalm"
Storms of napalm coming inn
Carpet bombing - At war again
Striking first and strike them fast
Skin burnt to crisp - And bones to black
Mekong Delta-style - Bagged and tagged
Rolled in napalm and burning rags
We'll take this hill - Now raise that flag
The magic dragon - The napalm roar
Bullet benediction - Here the reaper call
I saw the death-card Joker
On that faithful final night
As re-enforcements came in the cloak of napalm
Upholding the banner
This yellow fever will not stop
We're stuck up here - On Hill-937
Coming in fast and low
Like a carpet of certain death
A blast of napalm winds and iron-ashes
Running for the choppers
G.I's on the Huey-skids
As the Việt cộng came swarming out of their fox-holes
Through crotch-rot and jungle-death
Bugs and Charlies' everywhere
It never broke our backs as we ran with the Hellhounds
Come in Whiskey-company
Scorched flesh and skin burned black
For every limbless marine and fire-walker
We salute you
Show full lyrics (57 lines) ▾
Theme: Napalm
#115 Sgt. Rock My Lai 2014 · Compilation · Demos Cassette Collection 1987 · NoVisible Scars # Scar 037 · USA
Notes
My Lai - thrash, metal
Theme: My Lai
#116–122 Vothana Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người 2014 · Demo · Not On Label · USA
All 7 songs from this demo in the archive are in this collection
Notes
- Vietnamese
- Metal
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#116 Vothana Intro 2014 · Demo · Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người · Not On Label · USA
Notes
- Vietnamese
- Metal
#117 Vothana Cųőc Phòng 2014 · Demo · Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#118 Vothana Outro 2014 · Demo · Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#119 Vothana Tâp Nơp 2014 · Demo · Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#120 Vothana Vinh Quang 2014 · Demo · Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#121 Vothana Đoàn Kêt 2014 · Demo · Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#122 Vothana Đây Vê Phía Trươc 2014 · Demo · Cầu Nguyện Cho Cuôc Sống Của Người · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Intro” above (same release).
#123 Cranial Crusher My Lai 2014 · Album · Cranial Attack · Obskure Chaos Distro · Brazil
Notes
- Cranial Crusher - My lai
- Thrash metal
- Brazil
Theme: My Lai

2015

#124 Woodlark La Drang 2015 · Album · Dinosaur · Not On Label · Germany
Annotation
Power Metal group, formed in 2012, featuring Einar McCarthy (vocals), Achim Schreiner (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards), and Jade Parlova (drums, percussion). On facebook, they described themselves as "AOR & Progressive Rock/Metal from Argentina & Germany". The song "La Drang" was an instrumental, but presumably a reference to Vietnam War battle "Battle of Ia Drang", one of the first major battles between the US and the North Vietnamese, 14 - 18 November 1965.1.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#125 Jasons Thåm Sát Mÿ Lai 2015 · Album · Inferno · Mob Rules # MR-2 · Japan
Notes
- Thåm Sát Mÿ Lai
- Japanese metal
Theme: My Lai

2016

#126 Victimized Vietcong 2016 · Album · Born Corrupt · Not On Label · Colombia
Annotation
Thrash Metal band, formed in 2005 in Bogotá, Colombia. The song "Vietcong" - a reference to the "VC" - the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) (NLFSV or NLF), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam - the narrator seemed to use the Vietcong as a reference point to compare with a contemporary situation, possible imprisonment: "behind a prison wall... crying for a revolution" . The album was recorded through 2015 at S.O.S Studios, Bogotá, Colombia and mixed in 2016.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Don't change my nation, I will decide my way
Taking my own choices, is my own way to resist
I won’t fall for a pressure, behind a prison wall
There’s not enough frustration, believe me I’m not alone
There's only you conviction, beyond the walls
Crying for a revolution, this is my home
There's only your conviction, release you voice
Crying for a revolution, the only choice
I know what ́s this feeling and I know what it means
This pain is under my skin
I know what it takes and I know what it feels
This pain is under my skin
There's only you conviction, beyond the walls
Crying for a revolution, this is my home
There's only your conviction, release you voice
Crying for a revolution, the only choice
Breaking all the limits, I'll defend my seed
Taking my own choices, is my own way to resist
There's only you conviction, beyond the walls
Crying for a revolution, this is my home....
Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾
#127 The SlayerKing My Lai 2016 · Album · Sanatana Dharma · Finisterian Dead End # FDE008 · Greece
Annotation
Doom Metal group, formed in 2013 in Athens, Attica, Greece, with the members Efthimis K (vocals, bass), Kostas K (guitar), and Anna E (drums). The song "My Lai" (Finisterian Dead End # FDE008) is presumably referencing the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968 - although the lyrics do not appear to be specifically about that, more being used as a comparison.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Forever and a day
It takes to come to me
And I keep tell myself
You are my destiny
My Lai
I wonder if I am wrong
A Pyrrhic victory
But all that hope sustains
The man I’ve always been
My Lai
Theme: My Lai

2017

#128 Devil's Witches Black Cauldron 2017 · Album · Velvet Magic · Forbidden Place # FPR019 · UK
Annotation
Devil's Witches, aka James Abilene, Heavy Psych / Doom Metal artist, based in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, released the song "Black Cauldron" (Forbidden Place Records # FPR019), which included the line "My Lai massacre only 9 years old, just a victim of the war you sold" - a reference to My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Guns shot by your hands making bodies cold
My Lai massacre only 9 years old
Just a victim of the war you sold
Come close see my body alive with flame
Promises you will never kill again
Come gaze into my black cauldron
#129 Whom Gods Destroy When the War Comes Home 2017 · Album · Far Reaches · Not On Label · Canada
Lyrics
English
Nine soldiers, one jungle
Twelve sleepless nights
War-torn lands, blood rivers
No end in sight
Come darkness I remember
Flashes all around
Black devils spit lightning
Thunder from the ground
Fire raging, bush blazing
Smoke stings my eyes
Flesh burning, men screaming
Bodies baked alive
Time after time it comes back in the night
See the blood and blackened bones
I've returned from the battle but it's still inside
When the war comes home
The war comes home
Ten years now, wounds long healed
So I tell myself
Celebration, fireworks fly
And I'm back in hell
Guns sounding, hearts pounding
Charlie's got us down
Innocents cry, dead children
Village on the ground
Time after time it comes back in the night
See the blood and blackened bones
I've returned from the battle but it's still inside
When the war comes home
The war comes home
Father, please forgive me, for I know that I've done wrong
These images still haunt me like the ghosts of Viet Cong
Shall I pull this trigger, blow them straight out of my head?
It's one more for the body count, just one more soldier dead
Time after time it comes back in the night
See the blood and blackened bones
I've returned from the battle but it's still inside
When the war comes home
The war comes home
Nine soldiers, one jungle
No one came home
Show full lyrics (42 lines) ▾

2018

#130 Yakisoba My Lai 2018 · Album · Yakisoba / Botched Anastomosis J-Pouch · Gorenoise Shit · Italy
Notes
Yakisoba - My Lai (Impetigo Cover)

2020

#131 Khar Sulde C-123s Spraying Agent Orange Using the Call Sign Hades 2020 · Album · The Black Banners of Cosmic War · Crown & Throne # CT030 · USA
Annotation
Black Metal group, formed in Austin, Texas, USA, in 2020, featuring Emelia McKay, Rusty Kelley, Zach Fogle. The song "C-123s Spraying Agent Orange Using the Call Sign Hades" (Crown & Throne Ltd. # CT030) is presumably a reference to Agent Orange, the defoliant / herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, which had long term negative health effects on the Vietnamese and US soldier whom came into contact with the chemical. It is frequently referenced in post-war songs. Lyrics needed.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#132 Horresque My Lai '68 2020 · Album · Chasms Pt. I - Avarice and Retribution · The Crawling Chaos # TCCR-027 · Germany
Annotation
Black Metal group, formed in 2015 in Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Members included: M.R. [Marco Reitz] (vocals), S.D. [Stefan Dietz] (guitar), R.P. [Rüdiger Plein] (guitar), M.H. [Matthias Hoffmann] (drums, 2015-17), and T.S. (bass, 2016-present). The song "My Lai '68" (The Crawling Chaos # TCCR-027), originally released on the 2016 demo EP "Demo 2016", was another metal track dealing with the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968.

The narrator provided a description of the day of the massacre: "Saturday morning, darn muggy... gearing up to kill" . It then quoted the excuses later given by the perpetrators of the massacre: "I simply did my job, we didn’t know at all, they should not have been there" , as well as doing the killings for "the fallen comrades" . The song concluded with a vivid account of the actual killings: "Herding... mocking... spreading their entrails" , noting that they were civilians: "piles of mutilated corpses solely elderly, women and children" . This song provided a brutal and stark representation of the massacre.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Saturday morning
Darn muggy as usual
Orders are clear
Ransack and cleanse
Gearing up to kill
Obliterate for the just cause
Finally wreaking vengeance
For all the fallen comrades
“I simply did my job”
“We didn’t know at all”
“They should not have been there”
Herding them together in groups
Forcing them to get rid of both: All dignity and their clothes
To start the degrading shows
Humiliation, Dehumanization
Mocking before murder
Spreading their entrails all over the place
Without making a difference between adult and infant
The trophies of their glorious victory
Several hundred dead
Piles of mutilated corpses solely elderly, women and children
Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾
#133–137 Suppurated Fetus Hamburguer Hill (Demo) 2020 · EP · Treze Listras Rex · Brazil
All 5 songs from this ep in the archive are in this collection
Annotation
Death Metal, formed in 1988 in Blumenau, SC, Brazil. They Disbanded 1991. Members included: Sabbaoth (vocals, guitar), Abyssus (bass), and Maleficarum (drums). This was a Vietnam War-themed demo EP, on the São Paulo, Brazil record label Treze Listras Rex - the title of which came from the famous "Battle of Hamburger Hill", which is also the title of a well-known film, Hamburger Hill (1987). Titles included the song "Ho Chi Minh Trail" - a reference to Ho Chi Minh Trail (Đường mòn Hồ Chí Minh, also know as the Annamite Range Trail), a network of road and trails, from North to South Vietnam, via Laos and Cambodia, to provide manpower and resources to the Viet Cong. Other tracks were "Khe Sanh" and "Camboja" . .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#133 Suppurated Fetus Ho Chi Minh Trail 2020 · EP · Hamburguer Hill (Demo) · Treze Listras Rex · Brazil
Annotation
Death Metal, formed in 1988 in Blumenau, SC, Brazil. They Disbanded 1991. Members included: Sabbaoth (vocals, guitar), Abyssus (bass), and Maleficarum (drums). This was a Vietnam War-themed demo EP, on the São Paulo, Brazil record label Treze Listras Rex - the title of which came from the famous "Battle of Hamburger Hill", which is also the title of a well-known film, Hamburger Hill (1987). Titles included the song "Ho Chi Minh Trail" - a reference to Ho Chi Minh Trail (Đường mòn Hồ Chí Minh, also know as the Annamite Range Trail), a network of road and trails, from North to South Vietnam, via Laos and Cambodia, to provide manpower and resources to the Viet Cong. Other tracks were "Khe Sanh" and "Camboja" . .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#134 Suppurated Fetus Khe Sanh 2020 · EP · Hamburguer Hill (Demo) · Treze Listras Rex · Brazil
Annotation: see “Ho Chi Minh Trail” above (same release).
Theme: Khe Sanh
#135 Suppurated Fetus Camboja 2020 · EP · Hamburguer Hill (Demo) · Treze Listras Rex · Brazil
Annotation: see “Ho Chi Minh Trail” above (same release).
Theme: Cambodia
#136 Suppurated Fetus Dong Ap Bia 2020 · EP · Hamburguer Hill (Demo) · Treze Listras Rex · Brazil
Annotation: see “Ho Chi Minh Trail” above (same release).
#137 Suppurated Fetus Shua Valley 2020 · EP · Hamburguer Hill (Demo) · Treze Listras Rex · Brazil
Annotation: see “Ho Chi Minh Trail” above (same release).
#138–147 Kjøttkvern Vietnam 2020 · Album · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
All 10 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#138 Kjøttkvern Hendelse 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
#139 Kjøttkvern Finne Og Ødelegge 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
#140 Kjøttkvern Drap Av Uskyldige 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
#141 Kjøttkvern Vietnam-Syndromet 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
#142 Kjøttkvern Dyret 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
#143 Kjøttkvern Jungelen 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
Themes: Jungle VC
#144 Kjøttkvern Metamorfose 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
#145 Kjøttkvern Napalm 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
#146 Kjøttkvern Torturerer 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
Themes: P.O.W. VC
#147 Kjøttkvern Uttak 2020 · Album · Vietnam · Scars of Eternity # SOER-075 · Russia
Annotation: see “Hendelse” above (same release).
#148 Stonewielders Quarantine Is the New Vietnam 2020 · Single · Not On Label · Germany
Notes
Sludge Metal group, formed in 2018 in Bielefeld, Germany. Its members were Timm (guitar, vocals), Björn (bass), and Tobias (drums, vocals). The track "Quarantine Is the New Vietnam" (digital release-only) is a part-cover of "New Orleans Is the New Vietnam" (2012) by Eyehategod, updated for the COVID-19 crisis.
#149 Necrotic Cave Napalm Strike on Charlie 2020 · EP · Screams From the Tomb · Not On Label · Russia
Notes
"Napalm Strike on Charlie"

"Get them... yeah... haha... anyone who runs is a VC... anyone who stands still is a well disciplined VC... haha / No need to cry / War is just for fun / I am so in love with my killing gun / Uncle Sam never lies / Oh my fucking Jesus Christ... / Napalm strike on Charlie"
Themes: Napalm VC
#150 Complot! Da Nang 2020 · EP · Complot! / Primitive Warfare · Iron Bonehead # IBP455 · Canada
Notes
Complot! - Da Nang
Theme: Da Nang
#151 Lamb of God On the Hook 2020 · Album · Lamb of God · Epic # 19439744202 · USA
Lyrics
English
Hippocratic hypocrites
Breaking oaths and cashing checks
Wrote an ocean’s worth of ink
Scripting a nation's disease
A systematic business plan
To broker death, increase demand
So flood the ghetto and starve the hills
Kill them all with crack and pills
Kill them all
Kill them all
Vietnam, Iran-Contra, Park Avenue, OxyContin
#152 Sodom Waldo and Pigpen 2020 · Album · Genesis XIX · Steamhammer # SPV 243582 CD · Germany
Annotation
Notes
"Waldo and Pigpen" - about rescue story in Plei Trap Valley1
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
We were young boys in old men's bodies
Beheaded but still alive
Baptized in foreign blood
Dead for sure before we died
Darkness fulfilled the yearning dreams
They slipped the sucking baby from the breast Rolling in, straight ahead, the chasm just in front of me
Streaming flames, a thousand suns, the sky is full of greed
Bellowing bombs pick up the slick, there is no place like war
The cannons spurt, the angels cry, staring down the hallowed ground
Surrounded by the goddamn brute, a war you never understood
Receiving fire from the western side
No time to breathe, no warning signs
Condemned for all eternity
Don't want to die in bits and pieces
The fire destroys, but darkness remains
Into the open eyes of the living dead
Waldo and Pigpen
Waldo and Pigpen
Their diaries painted in blood
Waldo and Pigpen
Waldo and Pigpen
Revived from crimson mud
Show full lyrics (23 lines) ▾
#153–159 Vothana Commando 2020 · Album · Not On Label · USA
All 7 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#153 Vothana Trong sức nóng của trận chiến (In the Heat of Battle) 2020 · Album · Commando · Not On Label · USA
Theme: Combat
#154 Vothana 30 năm chiến tranh (30 Year War) 2020 · Album · Commando · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Trong sức nóng của trận chiến (In the Heat of Battle)” above (same release).
#155 Vothana Bên cạnh hoặc dưới chân chúng ta (At Our Sides or Beneath Our Feet) 2020 · Album · Commando · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Trong sức nóng của trận chiến (In the Heat of Battle)” above (same release).
#156 Vothana Bạo chúa đến (Black Tyrant) 2020 · Album · Commando · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Trong sức nóng của trận chiến (In the Heat of Battle)” above (same release).
#157 Vothana Con dao cắt cổ họng của bạn (The Knife That Slits Your Throat) 2020 · Album · Commando · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Trong sức nóng của trận chiến (In the Heat of Battle)” above (same release).
#158 Vothana Khoảng trống (Void) 2020 · Album · Commando · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Trong sức nóng của trận chiến (In the Heat of Battle)” above (same release).
#159 Vothana Toàn quyền tối cao (Total Supremacy) 2020 · Album · Commando · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Trong sức nóng của trận chiến (In the Heat of Battle)” above (same release).

2021

#160 Nagasaki Sunrise The Fall of Saigon 2021 · Album · Distalgia · Monolith # 013 · Portugal
Annotation
Speed Metal / Burning Spirits group, which formed in Lisbon, Portugal in 2020. Members go by the following names: Speedfaias Nagasaki (bass), War Tank Nagasaki (drums), Iron Fist Nagasaki (guitar), and Gasolizna Nagasaki (vocals). The song "The Fall of Saigon" (Monolith Records # 013) recalled the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975, from the perspective of the North: "no sleep 'till Saigon... warheads in position" . It referred to it as "requiem for Vietcong" - the Vietcong (or "VC") - the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) (NLFSV or NLF), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
At 900 hours
ARVN tanks deploy
Kill the commander
T-54 is destroyed
Invisible enemy
Invisible enemy
Invisible enemy
No sleep 'till Saigon
Frequent wind is over
Requiem for Vietcong
Black April fire
The fall of Saigon began
Invisible enemy...
No sleep 'till Saigon
Pacific Rim is charged
Warheads in position
Blasting the serpent's Nest
Can you handle the truth?
Can you handle the blast?
Invisible enemy...
The Fall of Saigon...
Show full lyrics (22 lines) ▾
#161 Church Crusher Operation Ranch Hand 2021 · Album · Worship That?..Never!.. · Mutilation Throne · USA
#162–168 Vothana Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) 2021 · Album · Not On Label · USA
All 7 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#162 Vothana Lực Lượng Tấn Công / Strike Force 2021 · Album · Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) · Not On Label · USA
#163 Vothana Cuộc Hành Quân Của Cái Chết / March of Death 2021 · Album · Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Lực Lượng Tấn Công / Strike Force” above (same release).
#164 Vothana Máu Đổ Ra Đường Phố / Bloodshed Spills Out Into the Streets 2021 · Album · Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Lực Lượng Tấn Công / Strike Force” above (same release).
#165 Vothana Mồ Chôn Tập Thể / Mass Graves 2021 · Album · Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Lực Lượng Tấn Công / Strike Force” above (same release).
#166 Vothana Sống Cuộc Sống Nguy Hiểm / Live Life Dangerously 2021 · Album · Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Lực Lượng Tấn Công / Strike Force” above (same release).
#167 Vothana Xung Đột Và Đấu Tranh / Strife and Struggle 2021 · Album · Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Lực Lượng Tấn Công / Strike Force” above (same release).
#168 Vothana Đầu Cuối Cùng / Beginning of the End 2021 · Album · Hành động bây giờ, tương lai đảm bảo (Action Now, Assured Future) · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Lực Lượng Tấn Công / Strike Force” above (same release).

2022

#169 Xentrix Ghost Tape Number 10 2022 · Album · Seven Words · Listenable # POSH654 · UK
Annotation
Thrash Metal group, formed in 1985 in Preston, Lancashire, UK, with a revolving line-up, released the song "Ghost Tape Number 10" (Listenable Records # POSH654), probably a reference to "Operation Wondering Soul", a propaganda campaign employed by the US during the Vietnam War - in which the US played a tape on the South Vietnamese loudspeaker system throughout rural areas, with voices acting the sounds of slain VC soldiers, to encourage desertions and defections, a type of psychological warfare.1 Narrated from the perspective of the VC, a soldier noted "beware the voices taunting me... weaponised beliefs deployed as spiritual warfare" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Honest ground to kill zone of trick and deviation
Strategise the sky, rain down to penetrate the mind
Settle now to listen back at misdirection
Reaching out, a threat of voices haunt the same
Beware the voice the speaks to me
Some other void can never be
Affect the host psychology
Beware the voices taunting me
Hard to avoid but never seen
It's hell out here now my body's gone
I'm never coming back, m condemned to wonder on
Here with me all are fallen men
Signed off, the haunted cry
This message ends
From ghost tape number 10
Liars down adorns a lesson deception
Weaponised beliefs deployed as spiritual warfare
Summoning retreat from each and all direction
Demoralised, they'll need they're bodies found to be saved
Beware the voice the speaks to me
Some other void can never be
Affect the host psychology
Beware the voices taunting me
Hard to avoid but never seen
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It's hell out here now my body's gone
I'm never coming back, m condemned to wonder on
Here with me all are fallen men
Signed off, the haunted cry
This message ends
From ghost tape number 10
Show full lyrics (32 lines) ▾
#170 Shadow of Jupiter Daisy Cutter 2022 · Single · Origins / Daisy Cutter / Termination · Not On Label · USA
Annotation
Doom Metal group Shadow of Jupiter from Chicago, Illinois, USA, comprised of John Piotrowski (vocals), Colin Peterson (guitar), Scott Brakebill (bass), and Adam Kazragys (drums). They released the single "Daisy Cutter" (digital, self-release) - the title was the nickname for the BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system (a conventional bomb), used by the US during the Vietnam War to flatten sections of a forest, creating a helicopter landing zone.1 It also featured on the album Porta Coeli. It described the destruction the weapon caused: "Daisy cutter lays them all to waste... children wander roofless in rags".
Sources
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Notes
On the album Porta Coeli . Metal Daisy cutter - (1) The Womb of Dawn will bear a sun / Blinding light has split the void / Cells divide and multiply / She knows / Daisy Cutter / Jesus Christ this is not a drill, bestow your favor clearly on our flock / If the holy spirit moves within you, Inflict everlasting grief for thee / Oh, kind and merciful Savior / Let their children wander roofless in rags / Bottoms of their feet split wide open, snow beneath them soaked with their blood / Assail their path May their steps be heavy, in kind their throats be cracked and dry / To us you giveth, yet they’ [From Justin A. Brummer notes from RYM] Lossless Digital (Digital file, Streaming); 2022. [From Rate Your Music]
Lyrics
English
The Womb of Dawn will bear a sun
Blinding light has split the void
Cells divide and multiply
She knows
Daisy Cutter
Jesus Christ this is not a drill, bestow your favor clearly on our flock
If the holy spirit moves within you, Inflict everlasting grief for thee
Oh, kind and merciful Savior
Let their children wander roofless in rags
Bottoms of their feet split wide open, snow beneath them soaked with their blood
Assail their path May their steps be heavy, in kind their throats be cracked and dry
To us you giveth, yet they’re all forsaken
Beg for death to only be denied
Eternal beam of warmth and Light
Lay waste their homes with tides of fire
Blessed Lord who smiles upon us
Smite their hopes & Blight their lives
Clear the rulers off their crumbling
Thrones
Daisy cutter lays them all to waste
The hope, the power and the glory are yours
In Daisy Cutter’s holy name…Amen
Termination
The tomb we walk concedes we’re done
Gaping black engulfs our stone
Cells mutate and eat their own…she knows
Show full lyrics (27 lines) ▾
Genre: ♪ Metal
#171–177 Vothana Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over 2022 · Album · Not On Label · USA
All 7 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#171 Vothana Cầu xin cho cuộc sống (Pray for Your Life) 2022 · Album · Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over · Not On Label · USA
#172 Vothana Bài ca không quên (Unforgotten Song) 2022 · Album · Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Cầu xin cho cuộc sống (Pray for Your Life)” above (same release).
#173 Vothana Cơn giận dữ tiếp diễn (The Fury Rages On) 2022 · Album · Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Cầu xin cho cuộc sống (Pray for Your Life)” above (same release).
#174 Vothana Dao đào rãnh, nắm chặt thay (Trench Knives, Clenched Fist) 2022 · Album · Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Cầu xin cho cuộc sống (Pray for Your Life)” above (same release).
Theme: Trench
#175 Vothana Mayday, Mayday, Máy Bay! 2022 · Album · Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Cầu xin cho cuộc sống (Pray for Your Life)” above (same release).
#176 Vothana Quân lệnh cuối cùng (The Final Command) 2022 · Album · Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Cầu xin cho cuộc sống (Pray for Your Life)” above (same release).
#177 Vothana Đe dọa bạo lực (Violent Threat) 2022 · Album · Trò chơi kết thúc / Game Over · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Cầu xin cho cuộc sống (Pray for Your Life)” above (same release).

2023

#178 Abbinormal Ho Chi Minh Trail 2023 · Album · Grind Hotel · Ad Noctem · Italy
Annotation
Deathgrind group, formed in 2017, Milan, Lombardia, Italy. Its members included Marco Comini (bass), Luca Cacciatore (drums), Max Maestrelli (guitar), and Eric Vieni (vocals). This album contained the song "Ho Chi Minh Trail" - the title being a reference to the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Đường mòn Hồ Chí Minh, also know as the Annamite Range Trail), a network of road and trails, from North to South Vietnam, via Laos and Cambodia, to provide manpower and resources to the Viet Cong.. .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#179 Sarcoptes Massacre at My Lai 2023 · Album · Prayers to Oblivion · Transcending Obscurity # TOR163 · USA
Annotation
Symphonic Black Metal group, formed in 2005 in Sacramento, California, USA, featuring Garret Garvey (vocals, drums), Sean Zimmerman (guitar, bass, keyboard), and Steven B. (guitar, vocals). The song "Massacre at My Lai" (Transcending Obscurity Records # TOR163) took an anti-war position, through the recalling of the My Lai Massacre: "just another footnote in the history of man’s crimes" - this was the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968. It provided a detailed description of the event: "the command was simple, leave none alive" and the killing of civilians: "screams... endless, children cried, herded for slaughter... new born and the elders" .

The second section told the story of Varnado Simpson (7 October 1948 – 4 May 1997), who admitted to murdering around 10-20 people, including women and children at My Lai, although in various interviews he gave a slightly different account on the numbers. In 1977 his son was accidentally killed by a stray bullet. Simpson said: "I looked at him, his face was like the same face of the child that I had killed...this is punishment". He said that he suffered greatly from PTSD, and in 1997, he committed suicide.123 So, in the lyrics, the narrator considered the guilt and thoughts of Simpson, with a description of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - frequently referenced in post-war 1980s songs about US veterans, often connected in songs to stress, shell shock, flashbacks, nostalgia, and feelings and dreams related to an event: "nights are without rest... drugs won’t stop the nightmares... unpunished by the laws of men, yet imprisoned in your mind" . It noted the death of his son: "a stray bullet... are the sins of the father visited upon the son" . It concluded with his suicide: "you pulled the trigger and none mourned your death" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
At the break of dawn
Fires rained from the sky
The command was simple
Leave none alive
The screams seemed endless
As the children cried
Herded for slaughter
They watched their mothers die
Whence comes this madness
Born of impotent rage
The daughters ravaged
And the monk was slain
What devilry
Works in the hearts of men
To twist their minds towards evil
In so short a span
Horror on hell’s doorstep
Massacre at My Lai
In a hail of gunfire
Bodies trampled in the mud
Beneath the weight of the dying
Suffocating on blood
With sordid pleasure
They struck down all in their path
The newborn and the elders
None exempt from their wrath
The soldiers took turns
But not content with violations
With knives and bayonets
They worked ghastly mutilations
The homes were turned to cinders
The animals lay still
Only a remnant of mourners
For the five hundred that were killed
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Tet
Sarcoptes
The Fall of Constantinople
Sarcoptes
The Alcott
The National
Returning from the war
A withered shadow of a man
You live upon regret
The actions were so simple
The training came to fore
As your “mind just went”
Faces of the dead
Staring in the dark
Fingers clawing at your flesh
Everyday seems endless
The years just melt away
The nights are without rest
Unpunished by the laws of men
Yet imprisoned in your mind
When you took the lives of the innocent
Was it your own self that died
The drugs won’t stop the nightmares
Your pleas can’t stifle the screams
“These are the photos of those I’ve killed
On display as tokens of my guilt”
When the fifes and drums are played
And the calls for war begin
Know that this has happened once
And will happen yet again
Just another footnote
In the history of man’s crimes
Nineteen hundred and sixty eight
In the village of My Lai
Returning from the war
A withered shadow of a man
You live upon regret
The actions were so simple
The training came to fore
As your “mind just went”
Faces of the dead
Staring in the dark
Fingers clawing at your flesh
Everyday seems endless
The years just melt away
The nights are without rest
A stray bullet
Or the hand of God
Are the sins of the father
Visited upon the son
Shuttered in the dark
Far from the haunt of men
You pulled the trigger
And none mourned your death
At the break of dawn
Fires rained from the sky
They did their duty
And left none alive
What devilry
Works in the hearts of men
To twist their minds towards evil
Since the world began
Horror on hell’s doorstep
Massacre at My Lai
Show full lyrics (100 lines) ▾
#180–185 Just Before Dawn Battle-Sight Zeroing 2023 · EP · Into It # IIR 067 · Sweden
All 6 songs from this ep in the archive are in this collection
Annotation
Death Metal group formed in 2012, its members included Anders Biazzi (guitar, bass), Brynjar Helgetun (drums), and Jonny Pettersson (guitar, vocals). The group is based in Stockholm, Sweden.1. They released this Vietnam-themed EP, with six relevant tracks (Into It Records # IIR 067). The opening song, "Kill Zone 2" , focussed on the killing: "six feet under, where the Cong belongs... here in the kill zone" . The track "Mac V Sog" dealt with the P.O.W. issue, describing a rescue attempt, similar to many Vietnam War films in the 80s: "Yankee dying breed, prisoners of Viet Cong, desperate to be freed" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#180 Just Before Dawn Kill Zone 2 2023 · EP · Battle-Sight Zeroing · Into It # IIR 067 · Sweden
Annotation
Death Metal group formed in 2012, its members included Anders Biazzi (guitar, bass), Brynjar Helgetun (drums), and Jonny Pettersson (guitar, vocals). The group is based in Stockholm, Sweden.1. They released this Vietnam-themed EP, with six relevant tracks (Into It Records # IIR 067). The opening song, "Kill Zone 2" , focussed on the killing: "six feet under, where the Cong belongs... here in the kill zone" . The track "Mac V Sog" dealt with the P.O.W. issue, describing a rescue attempt, similar to many Vietnam War films in the 80s: "Yankee dying breed, prisoners of Viet Cong, desperate to be freed" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Misty jungle combat
Soldiers in need
Fugitives of war
A Yankee dying breed
Prisoners of Viet Cong
Desperate to be freed
A Mac-V team has risen
For a rescue to succeed
Hold your Carbine
Prepare for worst
We take no prisoners
Attack and burst
M16
Bullet shell rain
US murder squad
Unbearable pain
We come at nightfall
For Cong to bleed
A squadron of killers
Called for a special deed
A force with one task
For Charlie to concede
Failing is no option
Mission complete
Flamethrowers - Incinerate
Bazooka fire – devasted
M16
Bullet shell rain
US murder squad
Unbearable pain
English
Deep beneath jungle soil
A labyrinth was created
Dug by thousands of soldiers
To Undermine the red-neck suppression
Concealed with a trap door entrance
Under leaves in dark woods
To surprise the US Doughboys
As a family of rats they stood
Blind maze, underground, jungle rot, never found
Buried Congs, sudden death, these are the tunnel rats
Sneak attack, foxhole, slit throat, burned soul
Charlie´s here, combat, these are the tunnel rats
A complex underground network
Beneath skeletal remains
Afraid for the gateway to open
In the ever pouring rain
Determined Vietcong no fear of death
Crawling in a claustrophobic death bed
Waiting patiently and for sudden death
Of a US army green beret
Blind maze, underground, jungle rot, never found
Buried Congs, sudden death, these are the tunnel rats
Sneak attack, foxhole, slit throat, burned soul
Charlie´s here, combat, these are the tunnel rats
Show full lyrics (57 lines) ▾
Themes: Combat VC
#181 Just Before Dawn Mac V Sog 2023 · EP · Battle-Sight Zeroing · Into It # IIR 067 · Sweden
Annotation: see “Kill Zone 2” above (same release).
Lyrics
English
Misty jungle combat
Soldiers in need
Fugitives of war
A Yankee dying breed
Prisoners of Viet Cong
Desperate to be freed
A Mac-V team has risen
For a rescue to succeed
Hold your Carbine
Prepare for worst
We take no prisoners
Attack and burst
M16
Bullet shell rain
US murder squad
Unbearable pain
We come at nightfall
For Cong to bleed
A squadron of killers
Called for a special deed
A force with one task
For Charlie to concede
Failing is no option
Mission complete
Flamethrowers - Incinerate
Bazooka fire – devasted
M16
Bullet shell rain
US murder squad
Unbearable pain
Deep beneath jungle soil
A labyrinth was created
Dug by thousands of soldiers
To Undermine the red-neck suppression
Concealed with a trap door entrance
Under leaves in dark woods
To surprise the US Doughboys
As a family of rats they stood
Blind maze, underground, jungle rot, never found
Buried Congs, sudden death, these are the tunnel rats
Sneak attack, foxhole, slit throat, burned soul
Charlie´s here, combat, these are the tunnel rats
A complex underground network
Beneath skeletal remains
Afraid for the gateway to open
In the ever pouring rain
Determined Vietcong no fear of death
Crawling in a claustrophobic death bed
Waiting patiently and for sudden death
Of a US army green beret
Blind maze, underground, jungle rot, never found
Buried Congs, sudden death, these are the tunnel rats
Sneak attack, foxhole, slit throat, burned soul
Charlie´s here, combat, these are the tunnel rats
Show full lyrics (55 lines) ▾
#182 Just Before Dawn Tunnel Rats 2023 · EP · Battle-Sight Zeroing · Into It # IIR 067 · Sweden
Annotation
The song "Tunnel Rats" focused on a task performed by US soldiers, and its allies, whereby they performed underground search and destroy missions, entering into North Vietnamese or Viet Cong tunnel complexes. The narrator described the locations: "beneath jungle soil...complex underground network" . The US soldiers entered and faced attack: "sneak attack, foxhole, slit throat" . It commented on the VC: "determined Vietcong, no fear of death" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
Deep beneath jungle soil
A labyrinth was created
Dug by thousands of soldiers
To Undermine the red-neck suppression
Concealed with a trap door entrance
Under leaves in dark woods
To surprise the US Doughboys
As a family of rats they stood
Blind maze, underground, jungle rot, never found
Buried Congs, sudden death, these are the tunnel rats
Sneak attack, foxhole, slit throat, burned soul
Charlie´s here, combat, these are the tunnel rats
A complex underground network
Beneath skeletal remains
Afraid for the gateway to open
In the ever pouring rain
Determined Vietcong no fear of death
Crawling in a claustrophobic death bed
Waiting patiently and for sudden death
Of a US army green beret
Blind maze, underground, jungle rot, never found
Buried Congs, sudden death, these are the tunnel rats
Sneak attack, foxhole, slit throat, burned soul
Charlie´s here, combat, these are the tunnel rats
Show full lyrics (25 lines) ▾
#183 Just Before Dawn Hill 937 2023 · EP · Battle-Sight Zeroing · Into It # IIR 067 · Sweden
Annotation: see “Tunnel Rats” above (same release).
#184 Just Before Dawn Into An Ambush 2023 · EP · Battle-Sight Zeroing · Into It # IIR 067 · Sweden
Annotation: see “Tunnel Rats” above (same release).
Theme: Combat
#185 Just Before Dawn Tail-End Charlie 2023 · EP · Battle-Sight Zeroing · Into It # IIR 067 · Sweden
Annotation: see “Tunnel Rats” above (same release).
Theme: Combat
#186–194 Just Before Dawn A War Too Far 2023 · Album · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
All 9 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Annotation
As above, Death Metal group formed in 2012, its members included Anders Biazzi (guitar, bass), Brynjar Helgetun (drums), and Jonny Pettersson (guitar, vocals). The group is based in Stockholm, Sweden.1. This is the second Vietnam War-themed album the group released in 2023, titled "A War Too Far" (Raw Skull Recordz). This follows up on the album "Battle-Sight Zeroing".
Notes
1| Innocence Lost
2| Operation Arc Light
3| La Drang
4| A War Too Far
5| The Odyssey of Echo Company
6| The Gulf of Tonkin
7| We Few
8| Phase Line Green
9| When Sanity Cracks
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#186 Just Before Dawn A War Too Far 2023 · Album · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation
As above, Death Metal group formed in 2012, its members included Anders Biazzi (guitar, bass), Brynjar Helgetun (drums), and Jonny Pettersson (guitar, vocals). The group is based in Stockholm, Sweden.1. This is the second Vietnam War-themed album the group released in 2023, titled "A War Too Far" (Raw Skull Recordz). This follows up on the album "Battle-Sight Zeroing".
Notes
1| Innocence Lost
2| Operation Arc Light
3| La Drang
4| A War Too Far
5| The Odyssey of Echo Company
6| The Gulf of Tonkin
7| We Few
8| Phase Line Green
9| When Sanity Cracks
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#187 Just Before Dawn Innocence Lost 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
#188 Just Before Dawn Operation Arc Light 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
Theme: B-52
#189 Just Before Dawn La Drang 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
#190 Just Before Dawn The Odyssey Of Echo Company 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
Theme: Combat
#191 Just Before Dawn The Gulf Of Tonkin 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
#192 Just Before Dawn Phase Line Green 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
#193 Just Before Dawn When Sanity Cracks 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
Theme: PTSD
#194 Just Before Dawn We Few 2023 · Album · A War Too Far · Raw Skull # RSR 064 · Sweden
Annotation: see “A War Too Far” above (same release).
#195 Panzerkrieg 666 My Lai Massacre 2023 · EP · Wolfpack · Not On Label · Germany
Annotation
Black Metal band formed in December 2021 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, comprised of HvS [Chris Neumann] (all instruments), and MvM [Daniel-Sebastian Meisen] (vocals). The song "My Lai Massacre" (digital, self-release) was another metal song to look at the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968. It took the perspective of a soldier: "we take orders" . It described in blunt, brutal words the massacre: "kill and rape" , and the indiscriminate killings: "infants, women and men" . It described the massacre as a "play area for madmen" , but that in war "we all behave like swine" .
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English
We take the orders, it's me or them
Trained to kill and rape
They all look the same
Pinkville massacre
Infants, women and men
Play area for madmen
An exercise and game
Rape and murder
A massacre untold
In these proxy wars we all behave like swine
Such a satisfaction
It really makes me smile
What a contradiction
In the greenest hell
Ineffable perversion
What are we fighting for
Helicopter landing
It's just search and destroy
It's just search and destroy
Rape and murder
A massacre untold
In these proxy wars
We all behave like swine
We salute with honor and pride
Rape and murder....
Show full lyrics (26 lines) ▾
#196 Slasher Dave Vietnam Summer 2023 · EP · Bellyache # BR-076 · USA
Annotation
Notes
"Vietnam Summer" - P.O.W. clip at beginning, then instrumental1

Mix of Traditional Doom Metal and Psychedelic Rock
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Theme: P.O.W.
#197 Wizard Cage Operation Medina 2023 · EP · Wizard Cage · Not On Label · USA
Notes
"Operation Medina" - My Lai massacre
Lyrics
English
Children clutching guns
God what have we done
Mothers stripped from sons
Killer dead at 21
Born injected hate
Now it's too late
War pig's dead end fate
Torture and annihilate
Heart filled with napalm
Human soul is gone
Worshipping the bomb
Sayin' "Take me to Vietnam"
Found your way this far
A silver star align
Burning gas wound scar
Operation Medina
Oh you're so cold
You believed everything they told
You sold your soul
Tortured mothers for a medal of gold
Oh no
Murder for the name
And Murder for the sport
Now you know the game
21 but not a name
500 unarmed
Babies' heads are torn
Murder is the law
God bless America
Poisoned children's minds
Living filth of human kind
You've lost your mind
Villages for an M-1 carbine yeah
Bush wack no fighting back
Spill blood all on the track
Gotta get up gotta gotta get up
Your time has come
Maimed bodies on the blood stained streets
One breath and our guns you will meet
Gotta get up gotta gotta get up
Your time has come
I Know, You Know, it's so futile
Your time has come
Your time has come
War torn mothers
Of army dreamers
Grieve for the pleasure
Of our leaders
Show full lyrics (49 lines) ▾
#198 Wizard Cage Take Me to Vietnam 2023 · EP · Wizard Cage · Not On Label · USA
Annotation: see “Operation Medina” above (same release).

2024

#199 Eraser Vietnam Flashback 2024 · Album · Harmony Dies · Rødel # RR#65 · Italy
Notes
Vietnam Flashback
#200–203 MG 08 7.62 2024 · Album · Not On Label · Canada
All 4 songs from this album in the archive are in this collection
Show the full entries ▾ · Release page →
#200 MG 08 Patrol 2024 · Album · 7.62 · Not On Label · Canada
Theme: Combat
#201 MG 08 F-4 Phantom II 2024 · Album · 7.62 · Not On Label · Canada
Annotation: see “Patrol” above (same release).
Theme: Air Force
#202 MG 08 Going Home 2024 · Album · 7.62 · Not On Label · Canada
Annotation: see “Patrol” above (same release).
#203 MG 08 Tiger Force 2024 · Album · 7.62 · Not On Label · Canada
Annotation: see “Patrol” above (same release).
#204 Disarmageddon Tunnel Rats 2024 · Album · No Liberty · Not On Label · South Africa
Lyrics
English
Crawling below in their labyrinth of dirt
The Viet Cong live underground
Planning their tactics to try infiltrate
The battalions of red, white, and blue
Hiding within their maze
In tunnels beneath the graves
How long could they survive?
The raining napalm strikes
Tunnel Rats
Mounted machine guns, sentries alert
Guarding their weapons and intel
Breached by the rats, in their tunnels of traps
The resistance starts to breakdown
Covertly they place the bombs
Detonating all their comms
The VC start to crack
As the Tunnel Rats attack
Tunnel Rats
Show full lyrics (19 lines) ▾
#205 Trencheard Welcome to My Lai 2024 · EP · Nāve Zinātnes Vārdā · Not On Label · Latvia
Notes
- Welcome to My Lai
- Black metal from Latvia
- Digital, self release on bandcamp
Lyrics
English
I killed a son in front of his father
Beginning this absolute slaughter
The captain said "shoot the enemy"
The captain said "show no empathy"
The captain said "go fire away"
The captain said /Gangraping women, burying their infants
Burning their village, earased from existence
The captain said "shoot the enemy"
The captain said "show no empathy"
The captain said "go fire away"/ The captain said "welcome to My Lai"
What have I done
I question myself
Massacred hundreds
For the red, white and blue
Blood soils the earth, the bodies have bled
Corpses in ditches, hundreds lay dead
The captain said "shoot the enemy"
The captain said "show no empathy"
The captain said "go fire away"
The captain said "welcome to My Lai
Show full lyrics (21 lines) ▾
Theme: My Lai

2025

#206 Sodom Battle Of Harvest Moon 2025 · Album · The Arsonist · Steamhammer # SPV 257472 CD · Germany
Annotation
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
#207 Warfield Soul Conqueror 2025 · Album · With the Old Breed · Napalm # NPR1320DP · Germany
Lyrics
English
Just after dusk, night warning, darkness all around
The ascension of the supernatural death ensemble
Creeping along with songs for the Vietcong
Mind hunt through the jungle temple
Break the guerilla tactic, ancestral cult solution
Strain mental burden, conquer their heads
Messages of sanity enforce the withdrawal of the enemy
To rule the nation with their folklore tales
Departed comrades on the ground
Intеrnalize the hideous sound
Soak in thе horrors that will be
No proper prayers for the dying
No absolution of the soul
Death signalized by exploited owls
Tormented souls on the loose cause permanent grief
The aftermath of spiritual belief
Wailing, roaring, moaning ghosts
Echoing death tapes, count to ten
Introducing the afterlife, restless, far from home
Urging to venerate the faith of their own
Gruesome, lifeless, floating tombs /Carry the spirits of the dead
Departed comrades on the ground
Internalize the hideous sound /Soak in the horros that will be
Buried in careless haste
Gone to die in nameless graves
Aimless wandering in pain and suffering
Departed comrades on the ground
Internalize the hideous sound
Soak in the horros that will be
Buried in careless haste
Gone to die in nameless graves
Aimless wandering in pain and suffering
Show full lyrics (33 lines) ▾

Lyric theme data

Lyric content themes tagged on the songs in this collection — parent themes with their sub-themes (number of records). Click a theme for its definition and all records carrying it.

Show all 30 themes ▾

Key stats

205 songs · 127 releases · 111 artists · 80 labels · 1970–2025 · 2 more list entries have no record page yet and are not counted here

Time period
  • 2020 is the peak year, with 29 songs.
  • 2020–23 holds 68 of the 204 dated songs — nearly one in three in four years.
  • 3 were released during the war years (to 1975); 202 came after.
  • One record is undated.
Artists
  • 111 artists for 205 songs. The most represented is Vothana, with 34.
  • One of the artists is still unidentified beyond the record: no line-up, no biography.
Songwriters
  • By performer: 196 men, five mixed groups and four not identified (recorded for 205).
  • 16 named songwriters. The most often credited are Chris Witchhunter and Frank Blackfire and Sodom, with two each.
Labels
  • 64 of the 80 labels appear exactly once; Scars of Eternity has the most, with ten.
  • 21 sit on a major or well-known imprint — Epic, Metal Blade, Liberty, Vertigo, Atco, Bizarre Leprous, Capitol, Columbia. The other 184 are on independent, regional or private labels.
  • 66 are private pressings with no label at all.
Locations
  • 86 of the 205 are American. Minnesota leads with 34, then California seven and New York seven.
  • Minneapolis accounts for 34 records, more than any other city; Los Angeles has four, Birmingham two.
  • Then 23 German, 17 Swedish, eleven from Russia, ten Brazilian, ten British, nine Vietnamese, and 20 other countries.
Themes
  • By perspective: 202 post-war; three peace, protest and anti-war.
  • 113 distinct sub-themes across 205 songs.
  • Themes Pending is the single biggest subject — 55 songs, one in four.
  • Next come My Lai (30), VC (26), Anti-War (23) and Combat (22).