Text written by WikiBrother Gabriel Brandino , from @moshinhell
The Agonist was the former band of Alissa White-Gluz , now in Arch Enemy .
And besides being a great vocalist, she was always an excellent writer, and it was there that she wrote one of the most socially critical metal songs, "Business Suits And Combat Boots".
The song begins with the line: "Does destiny guide you, or do you intend to change it?"
This prologue already introduces us to what comes next in the song.
"Fuck your ripped designer clothes"
Trendy shades and salon hair
Leaps to help where nature has failed
Artificial teeth and nails
When she says "flayed designer label," she's probably criticizing clothing made with animal fur.
And the criticism extends to all those who try to conform to a beauty standard and become artificial: "The hornet's nest is expanding."
Here, the analogy could be a comparison of a wasp with a bee, which is its relative, and while the bee plays an important role, the wasp ends up being nothing more than a predator.
And this comparison probably applies to the frivolous people the song refers to.
"The path to the future lies in corporate sponsors raising their children."
Corporations can be, for example, the TV programs themselves. A simple cartoon character can influence a child's life more than their own parents.
"Physical failures are a mental void"
This suggests that, without generalizing, a large portion of the physical problems people feel they have are problems created by some form of alienation.
"Then pay your surgeons."
"It's your parents you should be grateful to."
Thanking parents can also be an allusion to the earlier part of the song, where it is implied that parents abdicate their responsibility for raising their children, allowing corporations to take over, creating insecure adults.
"Go on existing in a distorted society."
Where youth is a crime and a waste of money spent on sweatshops
In fact, young people are no longer concerned with things "of their age," but rather with showing off or with their social status in a society that judges them for things they never managed to build.
"Now the KKK has found a new mask."
Fuck your self-proclaimed supremacy
You hide your face and your shame!
The film alludes to the masks used by the Ku Klux Klan (a white supremacist group), drawing a parallel between the fact that in the past this group hid behind masks, and today's masks are millions of plastic alternatives, causing you to lose your identity.
"Identify right from wrong when all the facts are merely opinion."
The "fact" mentioned in the song refers to beauty standards, and how everything is a matter of opinion.
But it seems that being yourself is wrong, and you should always follow the herd.
