What does Nightmare mean?

Avenged Sevenfold: Nightmare Meaning

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Album cover for Nightmare album cover

Song Released: 2010


Get "Nightmare" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Nightmare Lyrics

NIGHTMARE!
Now your nightmare comes to life.

Dragged you down below
Down to the devils show
To be his guest forever
Peace of mind is less than never

Hate to twist your mind
But God ain't on your side
An old acquaintance severed
Burn...

  1. anonymous
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    Jun 14th 2012 !⃝

    I think its about a man who sinned very much and paid the price for it.

  2. anonymous
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    May 17th 2012 !⃝

    One interpretation is that the person who is being sung to has somehow become part of a cult or religion that is "evil".

    "Dragged you down below
    Down to the devils show
    To be his guest forever"

    The victim is now viewed as some sort of villain, the use of "dragged" implies that they were pressured into their actions, and the passage appears to be an allusion to hell.

    "Flesh is burning
    You can smell it in the air
    Cause men like you have such an easy soul to steal (steal)

    So stand in line while they ink numbers in your head
    You're now a slave until the end of time here"

    these also support that the sung-to is, in fact, a victim of pressure from cleverer religious persons. the last line in the first passage further implies religious origins, and implies that the victim's soul (or perhaps allegiance) is easily earned because he is gullible or needy. The second passage also implies that a group has claimed ownership of the victim and that he can no longer escape what he's become involved in.

    "You've been lied to
    Just to rape you of your sight
    And now they have the nerve to tell you how to feel (feel)"

    This passage supports the idea that the victim is somehow being tricked into performing immoral actions, and that they are being "brainwashed" by some sort of group, which is a common stereotype of many cults or religious gatherings.

    There is more evidence than these, though it is only a single possibility and more evidence is not necessary to establish it as a possibility.

  3. anonymous
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    Mar 8th 2012 !⃝

    I think this song was about hell and scary it is but I don't think they are saying that if you're not christian you are going to hell. But the video was definitely dedicated to the Rev because it was based on the most notable scene in the movie "Jacob's Ladder" which was one of the Rev's favorite movies because of how creepy it was. The part where we see the Rev's drum set from the City of Evil tour was similar to when Jacob sees his sons bike which reminds Jacob of his son. So the time when you see his drum set from the City of Evil Tour with spiders on it was supposed to remind them of the Rev's death and how tragic it was. The part at the end also reminds them of the Rev when it shows the drum set he used during the tours after the release of their self-titled album, and the one Mike Portnoy uses during concerts with avenged sevenfold, there is a kind of holy light in the shape of the Rev in the seat of the drum set, that I just talked about.

  4. anonymous
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    Feb 24th 2012 !⃝

    This song is totally about the situation after the rapture...
    the people who are left over...will have to go through this unbelievable torture..
    the demons (people controlled by the devil, the one who sold their souls to the devil) will make people stand in line and force them to have the mark 666 on their forehead as they have power like the government holds. The one who accept this mark will end up in hell with the Satan and those who does not accept will be tortured mercilessly.
    [Fight (Fight! ). not to fail (fail! )
    Not to fall (fall! )
    Or you'll end up like the others]

    lines referring to torture
    Down(Down! ), feel the fire(fire! )
    Feel the hate(hate! )
    Your pain is what we desire
    Lost (Lost! ), hit the wall (wall! )
    Watch you crawl (crawl! )
    ..............
    No one to call
    Everybody to fear
    Your tragic fate
    Is looking so clear

    while the people left over fight for their life...
    they will hear voices of God, Jesus and the Holy-Spirit...ensuring them they can still win the fight against 666..
    .....
    And I know you hear their voices
    (Calling from above)
    And I know they may seem real
    (These signals of love)
    .....
    But our life's made up of choices
    (Some without appeal)

    ...this refer to the situation before the rapture where there were two options...
    1. to commit sins and being tortured for not accepting the number of the beast.
    2. live holy and being ruptured before the torture.

  5. anonymous
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    Feb 11th 2012 !⃝

    It's about somebody being forced to a mental ward. Watch the video, because M. Shadows is singing as he's dragged through a mental hospital.

  6. anonymous
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    Jan 6th 2012 !⃝

    If u also watch the start of the video, Shadows has a tattoo of the Rev on his arm...

  7. anonymous
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    Dec 18th 2011 !⃝

    About mental illness from drug abuse

  8. anonymous
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    Dec 16th 2011 !⃝

    no.1 rated interpretation,i see were youre coming from with the apocolypse idea,but i think its more along the lines of a man/woman that killed themselves and is going to hell. why? because of the part that says,"nothing stops the madness turning haunting yearning PULL THE TRIGGER!".i think its from the angels point of view because of what the chorus is about. if you liked my interpretation, please rate it.

  9. anonymous
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    Dec 12th 2011 !⃝

    i agree with you n.1, but the part were he sings,"nothing stops the madness,turning,haunting,yearning,pull the trigger says to me that its about a man who shoots himself and is living the nightmare of going to hell.

  10. anonymous
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    Nov 29th 2011 !⃝

    Jimmy Sullivan WROTE the song. This is about people "living life to the fullest" and never caring where there sins will lead them. Well, it leads to hell. Standing in line inking numbers in there head, waiting for the mark of the beast. i am the ginga ninja!

  11. anonymous
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    Nov 5th 2011 !⃝

    this song is a stiff warning.heaven or hell.

  12. anonymous
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    Oct 9th 2011 !⃝

    Well plenty of people have gotten the literal meaning right. Yes, it is about hell, particularly someone who did not accept Christianity. Like many A7X songs, there are some references to the final book of the Bible, "Revelation". So while there may be different scenarios within the song, it always ends the same way, the person winds up facing eternal damnnation. Likened to a real life, never ending Nightmare. While the song was written before Jimmy's passing, the band has indicated that they retooled many songs on the album's lyrics in order to better fit how they felt after his passing. The Rev suffered from chest pains and other symptoms of Cardiomegaly, aka enlarged heart. While I would assume his drug use was fairly heavy, a couple of the drugs (specifically Nordiazepam and Oxymorphone) are medications that your average junkie would not use or even know about, pointing towards the conclusion that he was being treated medically as Oxymorphone is almost exclusively used for chronic pain, and broke the cardinal rules of drug use (medicinal or otherwise) particularly opiates and benzodiazipines- don't mix the two in high doses and whatever you do, don't drink alcohol. He was a victim of pain, frustration, and flat out ignorance (not an insult, he wasn't a Damn pharmacist). Anyway, that should answer any and all questions. I hope Jimmy is in heaven rocking out with Keith Moon, John Bonham, Buddy Rich... you get the idea. RIP Jimmy.

  13. anonymous
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    Oct 1st 2011 !⃝

    the song is not about not being a christian its about paying for all the bad things you did in your life.

  14. anonymous
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    Sep 8th 2011 !⃝

    So Far Away and other songs were dedicated to the REV, not this song. A real fan would know that. He didn't predict his death. The song is about the bad decisions you make in life and the consciousnesses of it. It isn't what happens if you aren't a christian.The song isn't religious, its the only song that wasn't for the Rev's passing.

  15. anonymous
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    Aug 26th 2011 !⃝

    I think that this song is actually about revenge. Person 1 kills 2 and 3 avenges 2 by killing 1 (dragged ya down below, down to the devil's show, to be his guest forever, piece of mind is less than ever!)
    Also before 1 dies, he somehow kills 3 (burn the world ur last endeavour)
    The corus is person 3 (you shoud have known the price of evil, and it hurts to know that u belong here yea, ohhhhh its ur fuckin nightmare. 1's nightmare is someone coming to avenge the soul that he had taken.
    Of course, 1 cant sleep well cuz he knows that 3 (his nightmare) is after him.
    When 1 dies, he is the he created a person who only wants vengeance (victim of ur own creation)
    I think that 1 is killed someones father (2) and 3 is the son who everyone tells that his father died naturally (so sedated as they medicate ur brain and while u slowly go insane they tell ya...)
    :) rip the REV foREVer :'(




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