Rats… 🐀 | 5ive Songs

On the 7th edition of 5ive Songs, we select five songs that are associated with those utterly filthy rodents better known as rats 🐀.

On 5ive Songs, we (I) keep things short and sweet – no extra calories or needless fluff.  There’s a topic, five songs, and a short blurb that doesn’t exceed a paragraph.  Yes, it’s a playlist, but it’s a miniature playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  On this edition of 5IVE SONGS, we select five songs that are associated with those utterly filthy rodents better known as rats 🐀.

1. The Acacia Strain, “Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat”

D • Rise • 2020

“The whole planet is crawling / We have cut off our food supply / Teaming with vermin and blight / A mindless hive.” Wow… Rats don’t have a positive connotation – understatement. Even Templeton is questionable in Charlotte’s Web. The Acacia Strain certainly have nothing the slightest bit positive to say about the rodents, likening them to humans on “Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat.” The vocals are coarse, shouted, and the exemplification of unclean.  The energy ‘is on 10,’ if not 11, as a sketchy picture of the state of humankind is masterfully conveyed.  “Feed a Pigeon Breed a Rat” might be hellish AF, but this metalcore joint goes hard!

2. Ghost, “Rats”

Prequelle • Loma Vista • 2018

Grammy-winning Swedish metal collective Ghost returned amped-up on “Rats”, the promo single for their fourth studio album, Prequelle. Regarding “Rats,” Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge shared with Revolver,  “It’s actually not technically about rodents.  It’s about something spreading as wildfire and completely destroying things quicker than you know.” Rats” commences with a pummeling, hard-hitting groove from the start.  The rhythmic guitars sound athletic, while Cardinal Copia (Forge) delivers clear, commanding vocals. In addition to the compelling lead vocals, the vocal harmonies are quite impressive.  Harmonically, “Rats” has some truly distinct moments.  As for the chorus, Ghost keeps things short and simple: “Them rats!”  The heat is turned up on this hard-rocking gem.

3. Hamilton Leithauser, “Stars & Rats”

The Loves of Your Life • Glassnote • 2020

“Stars are burning behind the clouds / Rats are running the sidewalks down.” Interestingly, that’s the only time that Hamilton Leithauser mentions rats on “Stars & Rats,” The Loves of Your Life. As usual, the rats are unloved because, honestly, who wants to see those rodents ‘running the sidewalks down’? Like ewwwwww! Otherwise, the record has nothing to do with rats, and honestly, Leithauser pays more mind to the ‘stars’ portion of the title (“I’m farther away now, but your star is bright” and “So, I stared past the star-filled morning”). Can’t say I don’t blame him. Rats are gross!

4. The Black Dahlia Murder, “Dawn of Rats”

Verminous • Metal Blade • 2020

“Dawn of Rats” is as energetic, intense, and unholy as anything else gracing Verminous, the ninth studio album by the death metal collective The Black Dahlia Murder.  TBDM, led by aggressive vocalist Trevor Strnad have been going strong since their formation in 2001.  Listening to the hard-hitting “Dawn of Rats,” it’s clear this is band that’s flexing as it approaches two decades of existence. “Dawn of Rats” is definitely a fitting way to close Verminous. Add to it the disgusting rat sound effects that appear at the end of the song… ewww!

“When the silken robes of sodomy
Fell vacant at your feet
Did your God cough into his sleeve?
Did he toast with you?
To their innocence
So, fleeting and so sweet?
The dawn has come of your defeat
We the rats must have our feast.”

5. Motionless in White, “Rats”

Graveyard Shift • Roadrunner • 2017

“Sick to the bone / Slave to the flesh / Better put on my Sunday’s best / I’ve been a bad little boy…” Sounds like it! Just in case you were curious, “Rats” by Motionless in White appears on the same album as the unapologetic “LOUD (Fuck It)”, Graveyard Shift (2017).  Once again, the rodents don’t stand a chance! “Roses are red, and my heart is black / We creep about the floor to indulge like rats.” Those poor, filthy creatures! Chris Motionless describes the album opener as “So fucking dirty and filthy and, there’s something about it that really, like, sets a really interesting tone…” He describes the lyrics as being “Essentially about sexual liberation.”  The chorus builds on the ‘filth’: “So we feed ourselves to submit to the shadows / Cause we just dance under our pretty perfect halos.”

Rats… | 5ive Songs [Photo Credits: Brent Faulkner, Glassnote, Loma Vista, Metal Blade, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, Rise, Roadrunner]