Waking the Demon

"Waking the Demon"
Song
A-side	"Waking the Demon"
B-side	"Say Goodnight (Acoustic)"

"Waking the Demon" is a song by Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine. The song is released as the third and final single from their second album Scream Aim Fire. The video for the song was written and directed by Max Nichols (son of Academy Award-winning director Mike Nichols). It was nominated for the Kerrang! Award for Best Single.

Song concept

The lyrical meaning of the song is revenge. Matt Tuck, lead singer and guitarist, said:

"Waking the Demon is about finding someone's inner demon. Most of us in the band got pushed around in school so the song is about getting tormented, day in and day out for years, and then one day - 'snap!' - fight back!"

There are two videos of the song, the unedited version is where towards the end of the guitar solo, there is blood on the werewolf's hands and mouth. In the edited version, no such scene takes place. Some releases of the video edit the screaming vocals in the verses into singing with only Jason screaming backing vocals in the verses (identical to the radio version).

On April 9, 2008, Bullet for My Valentine released a special trailer for their upcoming video, Waking the Demon. The video was released on April 16, 2008 via MySpace video. The song began to be played on radio stations in the U.S. on April 21.

On April 7, 2009, Waking the Demon was released as a downloadable song for Rock Band. It is one of the hardest songs available for lead guitar and drums, and utilizes the album version of the song with screamed lyrics.

Music video

The video is about a teenage heavy metal fan that gets bullied in high school by a group of jocks. The leader of the group is dating a very beautiful girl who seems a little sympathetic for the boy, but is not brave enough to stand up for him. There are numerous shots of the band playing in a moonlit forest. Throughout the video, the jocks repeatedly attack the boy, including beating him in the locker room and dumping a Strawberry shake on him in class, while in off scenes the teenager is crossing off dates in his calendar in his locker. He circles the last date, the 28th, which is labeled, "Full Moon". That night, he is watching the bullies' leader, waiting by the forest for his girlfriend, as his girlfriend lured him to the forest by asking to meet him there so that the teenage boy could get revenge on him. The teenager throws a balloon filled with cottage cheese at the jock's car to get him to chase him deeper into the forest. The song breaks down as the bully chases the boy through the forest. As the guitar solo starts, the teenager falls down on his knees and the moon comes out of the clouds, turning him into a werewolf. The bully approaches the now changed boy, and is presumably killed by the werewolf, since blood is shown on his mouth and hands, and the next day at school, there is a new sign displaying the original bully as missing. He is now picked on by a new jock and the girlfriend of the old bully runs up and hugs him, hinting that now she's going out with him after news that the leader went missing. As the new bully walks off with the girl, she looks at the teenager, giving him a look of "I'm on your side" and he sees her eyes glow red (revealing that she also is a werewolf like himself). He smiles knowing that her new boyfriend will be the next victim, and crosses out the first day of the next month waiting for the full moon to come again.

Track listing

iTunes Single

1. "Waking the Demon" – 4:07
2. "Say Goodnight" (Acoustic Version) – 3:14

Promotional single

1. "Waking the Demon" (Radio Edit) – 4:08

Personnel

Bullet for My Valentine

• Matthew "Matt" Tuck- lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Jason "Jay" James - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Michael "Padge" Paget - lead guitar
• Michael "Moose" Thomas - drums, percussion

Production

• Produced by Tony Petrossian
• Music video directed by Max Nichols

Release history

Country	Date	Format
United States	21 April 2008	CD single
United Kingdom	16 June 2008	iTunes
Japan		EP
South Korea

Charts

Chart	Peak Chart Position
U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks	39