Get Damned

Get Damned is the third studio album from the Metalcore band The Agony Scene, which was released under Century Media Records on October 23, 2007.^[1] The original release contained only 11 tracks. The cover art that is most commonly displayed is not the true "cover", to say; it is merely a cardboard slip-cover. The small, inverted coffin (superimposed with a ↓/downward-facing arrow) is a cut-out window in the outer sleeve, which exposes a portion of the art beneath it. Once removed, the true cover is revealed: a skull (minus the jaw bone), which is impaled with skewers throughout. The coffin and arrow we see through the slip-cover window is etched into the middle of the skull's forehead. There is no text on this "skull" version of the cover. The inverted coffin/arrow seems to be a symbolic representation of the album, as it is re-printed in a multitude of places, including the front cover, back cover, liner notes, and on the CD pressing, itself.

In early 2008, a "Special Edition" of the album was released to a European-only audience which contained all tracks from the original release, plus two additional bonus tracks.^[2] Both bonus tracks are cover songs. These tracks are unavailable from the U.S. version of the iTunes Store.

Track listing

"Barnburner" - 3:05
"Predation" - 3:27
"Dances with Devils" - 3:02
"Adversary" - 3:28
"White Nights" - 4:15
"Rapture" - 3:21
"Deliverance" - 2:46
"Rattle Me Bones" - 2:29
"The Opposition" - 3:03
"Will to Bleed" - 3:08
"Old Scratch" - 4:29
* "Do What You Want" - 1:08 (Bad Religion cover, *only available on Special Edition release ^[2])
* "Kill the Poor" - 3:02 (Dead Kennedys cover, *only available on Special Edition release ^[2])

Reception

Get Damned was received with fairly weak reviews compared to previous efforts. In contrast to their self-titled The Agony Scene release and their 2005 effort, The Darkest Red, Get Damned took on a much more "punk" feel, particularly in the drumming style. As a result, their sound seemed to fit more easily into the Punk Metal genre than their established Metalcore foundation. This attribute was likely a result of the replacement of existing drummer Brent Masters (who wrote and recorded drum tracks from The Agony Scene's first two studio albums) with newcomer Ryan Folden in 2006. With a new member bringing their unique style into the mix, the structure and overall "feel" of Get Damned was quite different upon first listening. The resulting polarization of opinions in reviews and comments made by fans and other listeners of the album was quite obvious.

Legacy

This album would prove to be the last from The Agony Scene. Shortly after its release, they unexpectedly pulled out of their European supporting tour with Himsa, citing "major personal situations". The band quietly broke up in Spring of 2008, without much publicity other than a statement from the band's frontman Mike Williams.

Extra facts and trivia

1) The title of the opening track, "Barnburner" shares a few meanings. One idiom for the phrase means something that is "impressive or successful". Another meaning of the word comes from an old, famous story where it is said that a Dutchman had a rat infestation in his barn. Rather than treat the immediate problem and try to kill the rats, he set his entire barn on fire. Also see the entry for Barnburners and Hunkers.

2) The track "Rattle Me Bones" shares its title with a 1980s board game, where one would spin a wheel and attempt to remove the piece of treasure indicated from a pirate's skeleton—without causing too much movement as to trigger the spring-loaded mechanism, which would cause him to shake violently. See the external links section for a more in-depth preview of the game. Coincidence? Tribute?

3) The track "White Nights" is a reference to a practice of the followers of Jim Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple, a religious group. The location, now commonly called Jonestown was the site of a mass suicide in the 1970s which resulted in nearly 1,000 deaths, including hundreds of children.

The term itself, "White Nights", refers to the rehearsed, or "practice" runs where the members of the group would enact the planned suicide by drinking a mixed liquid that they were told may or may not be laced with poison. This, a form of Russian Roulette, was made to desensitize the members to the idea and the act of drinking poison and taking their own lives—ideally, so that when Jim Jones decided it was time, there would be less hesitation and insolence to his orders to take their own lives.

Throughout the song, there are several audio clips that are taken from a recording made while the actual mass suicide was taking place. The entire recording, as well as a transcript of it, was released to the public by the FBI, and can be freely downloaded. It is commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Death tape",or the FBI's internal moniker: "Q 042".

Referenced below are the audio clips/quotes used at the end of the song, from the song "White Nights":

"I tell you, I don't care how many screams you hear; I don't care how many anguished cries. Death is a million times preferable to ten more days of this life. If you knew what was ahead of you – if you knew what was ahead of you, you'd be glad to be stepping over tonight."

"Adults, adults, adults! I call on you to stop this non-sense. I call on you to quit exciting your children when all they're doing is going to a quiet rest. I call on you to stop this now. If you have any respect at all..."

"...no more pain I said, Al, no more pain."

"All we're doing is laying down our life. We're not letting them take our life. We're laying down our lives... not taking their lives, we just want peace."

"...take our life from us, we laid it down, we got tired. We didn't commit suicide. We committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world..."

[End of recording]

Further information and links to the audio recording and transcript can be found under Death tape.

External links

Feature on the "Rattle Me Bones" board game

FBI's transcription of the Death tape

Download link for the Jonestown recording (Open source)

References

↑ - Allmusic.com's entry for the Original release of Get Damned.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 - Allmusic.com's entry for the Special Edition of Get Damned.