Holy Wars...The Punishment Due

"Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" is a progressive thrash metal song which is opening track of Megadeth's fourth album Rust in Peace. The song has an unusual structure, shifting at 2:26 after an acoustic bridge by Marty Friedman to a different, slower and heavier section called "The Punishment Due", and returns towards the end back to "Holy Wars", after a solo played by Dave Mustaine. The entire song is generally referred to as simply "Holy Wars". "Holy Wars" is about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back in 80s, while "The Punishment Due" is based on the popular Marvel comic book character, The Punisher. "Holy Wars" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d4ui9q7eDM The song is the last song played during the encore of all recent Megadeth shows and is a fan favorite. The song is the 3rd most popular Megadeth song in Last.fm, but because of so much miss-tagging the song can only be seen in charts on 13th place mostly.

[Holy Wars] [Instrumental] [Verse 1] Brother will kill brother Spilling blood across the land Killing for religion Something I don't understand Fools like me who cross the sea And come to foreign lands Ask the sheep for their beliefs "Do you kill on God's command?" A country that's divided Surely will not stand My past erased, no more disgrace No foolish naive stand The end is near, it's crystal clear Part of the master plan Don't look now to Israel It might be your homeland Holy wars... [The Punishment Due] [Verse 2] Upon my podium as the know-it-all scholar Down in my seat of judgement, gavel's bang, uphold the law Up on my soapbox, a leader out to change the world Down in my pulpit as the holier-than-thou-could-be-messenger of God [Verse 3] Wage the war on organized crime Sneak attacks, rappel down the rocks, behind the lines Some people risk to employ me Some people live to destroy me Either way they die... they die! [Verse 4] They killed my wife and my baby With hopes to enslave me First mistake... last mistake! Paid by the alliance To slay all the giants Next mistake... no more mistakes! [Guitar Solo & Instrumental Shift] [Verse 5] Fill the cracks in with judicial granite Because I don't say it don't mean I ain't thinking it Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away I know what I said, now I must scream of the overdose And the lack of mercy killings Mercy killings Mercy killings, killings, killings, killings Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away