Black Masks & Gasoline
Black Masks & Gasoline, to me, is a story about two people on the cusp of a revolution together; the "she" character, and the "i" character (aka the narrator). and in that way, it's kind of a love story. shameless plug: if you like songs about people finding love even when the world is crumbling around you, check out my nineteen eigty-four spotify playlist about this exact thing :0
Analysis
⟶ the chorus is spoken from the narrators POV, and essentially asks the question "why do you care so much about the world if the world doesn't care about you?" this idea of "the world not caring" is kind of the whole theme of the song; like in verse 4, it goes One day I'll turn these thoughts into screams / At a world that turned its back down on me and in the first verse where it goes This life has taken its toll / She just doesn't know / How much more she can give
⟶ there's a few small bits in this song that i really like, like the "rotting nation" phrase in the bridge, or in the last verse I have an American Dream / But it involves black masks and gasoline
Gallery
Heaven Knows
⟶ Heaven Knows is one of the few songs pre-SSOTCC that has a music video. and even fewer featuring the appearance of (the short-lived) shaggy blonde hair Tim era,, gone but never forgotten
⟶ this song features one of my favorite Tim McIlrath screams ever, which is during the second verse: You're still searching for these answers / They're not inside your wrist! which is also a fan favorite in Rise Against spaces
⟶ i like how Tim calls them Neon grids of cities, instead of just cities
Dead Ringer
Halfway There
Like the Angel
Voices Off Camera
Blood-Red, White, & Blue
Broken English
⟶ the first riff of this song follows almost the exact same chords and has an extremely similar progression to another Rise Against song, Survive
⟶ i love how they blend these two idioms in the second verse (Let the blind lead the blind / 'Cause it's eye for an eye in your so called life) into one that both makes sense (and rhymes)
⟶ ive seen interpretations that the song is a post-9/11 anthem. and i think that interpretation is taking the lyrics too literally. it'd be odd for a song called Broken English to make a bush-esque american anthem whilst not bringing up the post-9/11 hysteria at all would be kinda crazy