At Least They're Committed

We hadn’t heard Buried Alive before going to the Uproar Tour and when the masses of youth began writhing, stomping and dancing for joy as Synyster Gates’ guitar began its first sorrowful notes, we were excited, but not sure what to expect. The song is mellow by apocalyptic standards and M. Shadows’ voice is filled with resignation and dread. And when the guitars start running and tripping and crawling in desperation at the 4 minute mark, we wondered if it had segued into another song. It hadn’t. Oceans of fair-skinned children dressed in black fist pumped, jumped and twirled as the vocals and guitars followed the story. The song plays out in my head in reds and black and gangrenous hues of gray, green and blue steeling across the skies; the blood, the fire, the flight, the fight, and at 4:58, good and evil burst from the earth and snatch away the righteous and devour the bad. Screams, betrayal, blood, regrets, lies, it’s all there. It’s all there as Shadows cries out, “This is now your life, strike you from the light. This is now your life, die buried alive.” I look around me, dear God, for a sign, a tremor, a quake that heralds 4:58. I’m no longer searching for Danny Aiello, I’m waiting for 4:58.