“Kingslayer” is the sixth track on Bring Me The Horizon’s 2020 album ‘Post Human: Survival Horror.’ The record also features the Japanese metal band BABYMETAL, and the band’s Su-Metal, on the vocals of the track.
Bring Me The Horizon released their third EP album ‘Post Human: Survival’ horror on October 30, 2020. This is the first part of the four-part EP series to be released. The album gained quite traction with singles such as “Parasite Eve” and “Ludens.”
In an interview with NME magazine, Oli Sykes talked about the idea behind the song; “it is an ode to someone who’s ‘willing to do what’s right even if it’s illegal.'”
Listen to “Kingslayer” by Bring Me The Horizon
“Kingslayer” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Verse 1
Oli addresses all the people who seem lost in this world without a choice and without a voice. The song takes a political tone, especially vocalizing against the Trump administration. And within this administration, people have lost their voice and made to feel feeble. Oli asks the question from the people if they want to end this?
Trump administration has been under heavy scrutiny for careless handling of the COVID-19 pandemic which has lead to over 230,000 deaths in the country, and the highest in the world as of now. Amongst this issue, there are also many other social issues such as racial discrimination, poverty, and economic issues that are blamed on the administration.
Pre-chorus
In these lyrics, a very aggressive Oli Sykes calls people to action. He screams at the people to wake up and undo the mistake they did with this administration. The album released just days before the 2020 Presidential Election in the United States of America on November 3, 2020.
Oli Sykes reminds everybody that as long as you try to protect the corrupt or incompetent administrators, you are just being a puppet of their invisible strings. These invisible strings could come in the form of patriotism, which always makes decision making tough.
Chorus
The chorus of the song is performed by Su-Metal of BABYMETAL band. The lyrics call out for a fictional ‘kingslayer’ to rescue everybody from these uncertain and dark times. The phrase ‘kingslayer’ is a reference to someone or something that brings in a change in a positive manner. He is the ‘hero’ that takes down the ‘bad guy’ in the story. However, when it comes to politics and human society in the 21st Century, all humans are kingslayers, but only together!
Verse 2
Su-Metal mixes in her native language, Japanese, into the lyrics of the song. The lyrics talk about how most people are ‘corrupted’ in the system that assures their salvation. The human way of life has been altered so much from 50 years back, that it almost seems quite artificial now. We are becoming coded programs, coded by the illusions of the systems, to serve the systems. It’s almost as if the people have been infected with a virus. This is also a reference to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which is a Coronavirus.
The outro of the song keeps on calling people the wake-up, and make-up their act. It’s not enough for an individual to change their ways, but if all individuals follow through, there will be a new Kingslayer born.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics and further meaning breakdown on Genius.