Why are these metal bands convinced that the world is secretly ruled by extraterrestrials called reptoids who are breeding with humans in their hidden caves?
Art by Marco Hasmann, from the cover of Vivid Interpretations of the Void.
If you believe reptoid "expert" David Icke, our planet is secretly ruled by extraterrestrials who walk on two legs, appear human, and live in tunnels and caves…when they're not crossbreeding with humans to produce leaders like the Egyptian pharaohs, every U.S. president, and the Queen of England. Icke believes the reptoids are the same race, the Anunnaki, discussed in Babylonian creation mythology, and they are prominently featured in his books The Biggest Secret, Children of the Matrix, Tales From the Time Loop and Infinite Love is the Only Truth, all of which are sold as nonfiction.
This wouldn't interest me in the slightest were it not for Icke's curious popularity within the heavy metal scene. As a journalist covering metal, I've encountered multiple artists citing his books in their album liner notes, and/or writing songs about reptoid mythology. Here some greatest hits of reptoid rock.
High On Fire, "Cyclopian Scape" (from Death is This Communion, 2007)
I'm not sure how seriously High On Fire frontman Matt Pike takes reptoid mythology. I've interviewed him a couple of times, and I get the feeling he just thinks it's a funny and awesomely metal thing to write about. Here are the lyrics to "Cyclopian Scape":
Reptile race crossbred down through the golden age
Human haze
Lemurian throne taken and usurped by the alien drones
Controlled and honed
Atlantean keys sunken and destroyed by catastrophe
Left wandering
Bloodline kings slither down through society's reptoid dreams
Cataclysm to the elder tribes
Anunnaki have survived
Continents underwater shrine
Ocean vaults holding time
Say ye grace unto the serpent line
Unveil curse and their lies
Contemplate the lengths they'll go to rule
As their fangs dig into you
Embryonic Devourment, "Eating the Flesh of Gods" (from Fear of Reality Exceeds Fantasy, 2008)
The death metal band Embryonic Devourment seem to take reptoid mythology much more seriously-it's the subject of both their albums, 2008's Fear of Reality Exceeds Fantasy and 2010's Vivid Interpretations of the Void. There's no way you're gonna be able to decipher the lyrics of "Eating the Flesh of Gods," the opening track from Fear of Reality…, by yourself, so here they are:
We live by prophecies of fate employed by the reptilian beings inside flesh
Humans from advanced machines they try to keep ties in royal bloodlines
Manipulated by the gods into using military for resolve
We are being played like a filthy game upon a Republican's chessboard
The smell from the conjured bodies resonates the nostril valves
Lizards going mad creating humans for power
We are merely a sacrifice rooted from a small seedling
We are merely a food source for reptilian god breeding
I am brought into a dim light cave
To be shown a special food that's been kept secret amongst the keepers of ancient knowledge
All our members bow and nod for we are eating the flesh of gods
Hungry lizards devour flesh
To get blood that is so pure
So they can see…
Enlightened scenes I now see clearly as I ingest god skin
Its tough chewy scale-like substance
The taste burns my tongue and boils my throat
For the next few days I am sick with a surging power
I am conducted to a different frequency wave
What is this new found power
I feasted upon the reptile race
The Faceless, "Legions of the Serpent" (from Planetary Duality, 2008)
Technical death metal band The Faceless made reptoid mythology the subject of their 2008 album Planetary Duality, making things most explicit on "Legions of the Serpent." Again, the traditional ultra-guttural death metal vocals make things difficult for the casual listener (though the jazzy elements within the extreme metal sound may draw in some non-headbanging, listeners from the world of prog rock), so here are the lyrics:
Bring forth the commencing days
An infernal Saurian nemesis appears
The keepers of Earth
Inferior minions of draconian descent
Enforcing the rules of the ancient covenant
Blazing orbs of the Sun
Beating on a helpless Earth
The serpentine order shall no longer hide
The dimensional door brings the Gods to their side
Warm blooded sacrifice to appease the thirst of the creatures who've hidden so long
A servant of the omni-dimensional
Tall and strange bloodthirsty sentinels
Sent to possess the hybrid creation
Dimensional domination
Keepers of the doorway between worlds
Patrons of destruction
Planters of ignorance
Breeders of malevolence
Sorcerers of possession
There are numerous other examples-Agent Steel put the song "Hybridized" on their album Alienigma in 2007, and the band Nutrition has released three EPs to date for free download from their MySpace page, all about reptoid conspiracy theories. There's also a Chicago-based band simply called Reptoids, but their lyrics seem to be about more conventionally metal topics. And while stoner rock hero Scott "Wino" Weinrich (of St. Vitus, The Obsessed, The Hidden Hand, Spirit Caravan, Shrinebuilder, etc.) hasn't actually written about the reptoids, he approvingly cited Icke's earlier, more conventionally conspiracy-minded book And the Truth Shall Set You Free in the liner notes to The Hidden Hand's 2003 debut album, Divine Propaganda.
Sure, you could laugh at all this and take it as proof that metalheads are gullible and prone to believe in crazy bullshit…but what if that's just what the reptoids want you to think?