Metallica: Creeping Death Meaning

Song Released: 1984

Creeping Death Lyrics

Slaves
Hebrews born to serve, to the pharaoh
Heed
To his every word, live in fear
Faith
Of the unknown one, the deliverer
Wait
Something must be done, four hundred years

So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 4th 2009 !⃝

   Besides being totally awesome (METALLICA OWNS!!!!), It is about The bokk of Exodus in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is about the Jewish people being slaves in Egypt, and Moses, sent by God ("I'm Sent here by the Chosen One") asks the pharaoh to let them go. He says no, so God curses Egypt with Ten Plagues. a coulple are mentioned throuought the song, like the water of the Nile turning to Blood (" Blood Running red and strong down the nile"). And, James is singing as the Angel of Death, the Tenth Plague, God sent to kill every first born son in egypt ("Let it be done To kill the First born pharaoh son"). Cliff Burton heard this story, and said "Woah... It's like CREEPING DEATH." There You Go Biatches!!!!!!!!

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   Unforgivin

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   Oct 31st 2007 !⃝

   This song is easily the story of the Exodus from the Old Testament. The members of Metallica were raised christian, mostly Catholic or Christian Science, and according to Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield often used the Bible for lyrical insperation. In general, the song portrays the events of the first passover and the preceding plagues inflicted on the Egyptians to pressure the Pharoah into releasing the Isrealites from bondage, culminating with God sending the destroying angel, refered to as "Creeping Death" who comes to kill the firstborn children in Egypt. In order to escape this, the Isrealites are instructed to carry out the first passover and to sprinkle blood from the passover lamb above their doorway (lamb's blood painted door, I shall pass.) As they frequently do, Metallica is using the story of the first Passover as a metaphor for a desire to escape from a corrupt and decadent society and create a better one, much like the Isrealites left Egypt to create their own nation. Most of the songs on this album have similar meanings.
3. anonymous

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   Feb 26th 2016 !⃝

   Running red and strong, down the Nile
   Plague
   Darkness three days long, hail to fire this song is about the the Exodus obviously the Dark period in Egyptian history a ruthless Pharaoh but the creeping death is about a comet or something that hit the earth that caused major cataclysms the Chinese depicted it in the symbol of a Dragon the Destroyer

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. anonymous

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   Oct 3rd 2015 !⃝

   I thought they also said it was about the bubonic plague wiping out an almost entire population of Jewish people's

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

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   Sep 1st 2013 !⃝

   Oh, my goodness, you guys, this is obviously about Exodus! (A part in the Bible.) I just love Metallica. I don't have a certain religion, but I do think this song is about the Bible, hence, the Pharaoh (Did I spell that wrong? If so, my mistake, sorry. -.-( Great job, you guys.
6. anonymous

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   Feb 27th 2013 !⃝

   it's talking about everyone of us born into the world are slaves. we represent the Hebrew slaves. Pharaoh ruled the land hence our worldly minds led us astray pharaohs son represents human worldly intelligence. we were never taught to follow our hearts. it's the worldly mind that led us astray. the destroyer came sent by the chosen one whom the Hebrews had faith in to destroy every thing the mind tells us to put our trust in. watch the news one thing is evident every body loses eventually. the lambs blood on the doorpost represents our heart which has been pricked by thorns and torn apart and is the only entrance out of Egypt or slavery to pharaoh the mind, and into the promised land. listen to nothing else matters. listen to sad but true he's clearly speaking about mans lying deceitful mind ruling over us but to human eyes it's us not clearly seen it's pharaoh, satan serpent or whatever metaphor you wanna use. it's a parable. If anyone else has ears to hear email me at biggzakk79@gmail.com
7. anonymous

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   Feb 3rd 2013 !⃝

   This song is told from the point of view of the Angel of Death, from a section in the Bible. The Angel delivers death to people, and the Black Plague.
8. anonymous

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   Apr 14th 2012 !⃝

   After watching The Exodus Starring Charlton Heston as Moses, Lars and James thought the visual of Death Creeping across the ground as a fog was awesome and inspired them to write the song. (They said so, or so I saw in an interview) The song tells the events from the Angel of Death's perspective. "I shall pass"
9. anonymous

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   Mar 4th 2011 !⃝

   For yalls information, Passover was called that because that is what the angel of death did when it would see the rams blood painted doors. Its says, "Rams blood painted doors, I shall pass." Meaning the angel of death passed over the dwellings with the bloody doors. Hense the celebration of Passover.
10. Metallicamaniac666

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    Nov 28th 2009 !⃝

    Actually for those who did not know there are two versions to this song because b4 Kirk joined he was in a nd called exodus and he took the guitar part and the lyrics from Paul Baloff and yes it is about the plagues in exodus chapter 7-11 but it mainly focuses on the killing of the first born men as in the chorus and the bridge right b4 the solo where james is singing "Die,by my hand. I creep across the land, killing first born men."
11. anonymous

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    Oct 5th 2009 !⃝

    This song is obviously about the enslavement and freedom of the Isrealites by the Egyptian pharaoh. It speaks of the plagues on Egypt after 400 years of enslavement. Metallica only mentions a few plagues, the Nile turns into blood, three days of darkness, and hail. Other plagues mentioned in the Bible but not in the song is frogs, knats, locusts, disease, boils, etc. The main plague in the song is the last/10th plague, the death of the first-born son. The angel of death, known in the song as creeping death, flies over every house that does not have lamb blood smeared on the door and kills the first-born/eldest son of the family. After this plague the pharaoh finally gave in to Moses' request to free the Israelites. So really it is not talking about the Exodus, the Exodus is about their travels after Egypt. It also never talks of Passover. Passover was the dinner they ate in preparation for the 10th plague. The only reference would be the blood "painted" on the doors.
12. anonymous

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    Oct 13th 2008 !⃝

    It's about the book of exodus in the bible. Cliff and James were watching The 10 Commandments and came up with the idea for the song.

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