Damage Inc.

Hey there, reader who i hope exists out there and is actually reading this. Hi! Anyways lets get down to what i really like talking about, music!

I am a big Metal fan and the greatest Metal band without doubt, in my opinion, is Metallica. Who hasnt heard a Metallica song? Well anyways I would like to take one of their songs and post the song and lyrics so that people who have and who have not can understand the genius that is Metallica. This time, the song is Damage Inc. by Metallica of the 1986 album, Master of Puppets. The lineup of the band for this song was James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Cliff Burton, and Lars Ulrich. The song's beginning is one of the most different, weird, beginnings that this album has. One could very much be confused when listening to this song because of how it starts out. To describe the sound, I would say that it is similar to horns or something like that. But, now with the power of the internet we can go back in time and ask the great Cliff Burton.

 CLIFF: On this album it's the intro to a song called "Damage", done all on bass. It's about eight or 12 tracks of bass, a lot of harmonies and volume swells and effects and stuff. I would hesitate to call it a bass solo, it's more just an intro, but it is all bass.

After this sweet, psychedelic intro we got from Bass Virtuoso Cliff Burton we are prepared for a great ride. As the bass intro begins to dies down; a stronger, sharper and way more aggressive playing starts with both guitars of Hammett and Hetfield accompanied by the drums of Ulrich. The sharp, hacksaw-like rhythm progressively builds up into a non-stop frantic battle-cry. The drums incessantly create a rhythm that pounds into the listeners gut, heart, and mind. The guitars pierce through the mind as they play away into a powerful rhythm. The bass follows very rapidly, almost deafened by the other instrument's power. This frantic song is similar that to a march of a devastating army. This army becomes the image that dominates the rest of the song. The army rips away through any obstacle that dares not move from the dark army. One can use the already seen images of a terrible army that was seen not so long ago in a history class. The army is that of a greyish color with dark black boots in a death march that eventually becomes into a full-on stampede of death. A grayish blob that destroys everything suddenly becomes the norm in the scene. Hetfield's voice then introduces us to this army. Who they are. What they do. Their main purpose. Everything that they are. The lyrics start to present this image that has already been instilled to us by pure imagination. The lyrics manage to paint the picture in great detail. It talks about a force like no other. 


"Dealing out the agony within

Charging hard and no one’s gonna give in
Living on your knees, conformity
Or dying on your feet for honesty
Inbred our bodies work as one
Bloody, but never cry submission
Following our instinct not a trend
Go against the grain until the end

Blood will follow blood
Dying time is here
Damage incorporated
Slamming through, don’t fuck with razorback
Stepping out ? You’ll feel our hell on your back

Blood follows blood and we make sure
Life ain’t for you and we’re the cure
Honest is my only excuse
Try to rob us it, but it’s no use
Steamroller action crushing all

Victim is your name and you shall fall


Blood will follow blood
Dying time is here
Damage incorporated
We chew and spit you out
We laugh, you scream and shout
All flee, with fear you run
You’ll know where we come from

Damage incorporated

Damage jackals ripping right through you
Sight and smell of this, it gets me goin’
Know just how to get just what we want
Tear it from your soul in nightly hunt
Fuck it all and fucking no regrets

Never happy ending on these dark sets
All’s fair for Damage Inc. You see
Step a little closer if you please

Blood will follow blood
Dying time is here
Damage incorporated"

An incorporation, a force that destroys everything that tries to live. This "something" represents ultimate evil in our world. The violent riff goes along with the savage lyrics that profess violence. Every time that the song reaches a climax, the marching sound starts again to build up. This army seems to not have an end, only short periods of "breaks" only to frantically continue the attack. The song reaches its half-time, here the voice Hetfield talks about this army as if he is one.  He sends a message to those who dare stand against this power; only death. At the end of their motto, he whispers a "Go!". After this whisper, a wave of a violent sounds commences. Hammett's guitar sends off the the strongest attack. This maniacal guitar solo rips away through everything, like a death ray it consumes everything. Meanwhile, the stampede continues. Hetfield resumes with the introduction, he finishes strong just like the beginning of the song. With one last message to us all, who they are, "Damage Inc."


Damage Inc. is one of Metallica's greatest song from the album Master of Puppets. The music, the arrangements, the sounds, the lyrics, the tone, the space and time produce a vision of a world comparable to ours. Master of Puppets is an album filled with resentment towards the powers that seek to dominate society. Master of Puppets, as the title indicates, is an album dedicated to that something that seems to makes us do what it wants. It can be argued that it might be the government, or it may as well be one to another, whatever; it is up to the listener to take out the meaning of such album. Damage Inc. is the song, the hymn, the battle-cry of that something that seems to tear us apart. It makes us "conform" to its rules. We fall to our knees only to live subject to its rules. We dare not stand up for if anyone does, they will know their name. "Damage Incorporated". The only business that this industry provides us with pain and malevolence. They, Damage Inc., are destined forever to work amongst blood and bile to only handicap. The lyrics continue to point out the industry's business. Blood will follow blood. One after the other, this something is in charge of taking lives and in doing so gains great pleasure. 
"Blood will follow blood

Dying time is here
Damage incorporated
We chew and spit you out
We laugh, you scream and shout
All flee, with fear you run
You’ll know where we come from" 

To them, this is simply a hobby. This is what they live for, what they were made for, and they profit. There is simply no way of defeating this force. When I listen to this song, in its entirety, I experience a great deal of things. I smell, feel, hear, and see the music and words. I see a movie in my head that lets me experience this as  I was in it myself. Damage Inc. exists for the only purpose of human suffering. They do what they most like, They live for nothing else, they care for nothing, they are evil in its pure form.

What do you think about this song?

How does it make you feel?

What do you think this Incorporation is?

What?