Analytical Activity

Disturbed: “Another Way to Die”

"Another Way To Die"

The indulgence of our lives has cast a shadow on our world.
Our devotion to our appetites betrayed us all.
An apocalyptic plight.
More destruction will unfold.
Mother Earth will show her darker side and take her toll.

It's just another way to die.

There can be no other reason why.
You know we should have seen it coming.
Consequences we cannot deny will be revealed in time.
Glaciers melt as we pollute the sky.
A sign of devastation coming.
We don’t need another way to die.
Can we repent in time?

[Pre-chorus:]
The Time bomb is ticking and no one is listening.
Our future is fading.
Is there any hope we’ll survive?

[Chorus:]
Still, we ravage the world that we love.
And the millions cry out to be saved.
Our endless maniacal appetite.
Left us with another way to die.
It's just another way to die.
Can we repent in time?

Greed and hunger led to our demise.
A path I can’t believe we followed.
Black agenda’s rooted in a lie.
Will we repent in time?
Species fall before our very eyes.
A world that they cannot survive in left them with another way to die.
Are we dead inside?

[Pre-chorus]

[Chorus x2]

Can we repent in time?
It's just another way to die.
Can we repent in time?

The song “another way to die” is of a band named “Disturbed”. It comes with the central theme of world’s environmental problems that are created by human while stating some of the consequences. Overall, the tone of the song is quite sad and remorseful to what human did. The tone and the theme can be recognized while just read through the chorus.

By looking at the preposition used within the song, the author always uses “we” to refer to people in the song. This can be interpreted that it refers to human because human are responsible to most of the world’s environmental issues. Looking further on, “greed and hunger led to our demise” can also be used support this interpretation because “greed” is one of the characteristic that only human can have. Therefore, the main audience is human in general. The aim of this song is to review to what is caused by human’s action while trying to internally persuade people to resolve the problem as “can we repent in time?” question is asked. The effect of this rhetorical question, referring to the main theme, is for the audiences to realize what is happening now. The sentence “It’s just another way to die” is supporting the mood of sadness and regretful. By combining these two together, the effect becomes more powerful toward the audiences. Meanwhile these two sentences are repeating many times within the song, so the effect of repetition is adding more emphasis to the consequences of the main theme.

The author uses rhyme such as die, why, deny, and time, which create reflection to overall theme of the song. By looking in a sentence, it shows that some of the sentences are arranged to provide time frame of the conflict. For example, “another way to die” followed by “no other reason why” followed by “consequences we cannot deny will be revealed in time”. These sentences are arranged to express or abbreviate the larger theme into small point that the audiences can follow easily, and it makes audiences wanting to read or listen further. Meanwhile, metaphor is also used within the lyrics to express the idea of the theme in another perspective such as “The time bomb is ticking”. “The time bomb” in this case refers to the effect of global warming that is currently harming us which again emphasize the main theme. The sentences “Black agenda’s rooted in a lie” may also refer to the government who acted that they are trying to deal with the issue, but actually do not do anything. Therefore, it can be seen again that every human needs to step in a help in order to solve the problem.

Overall, the song is dealing with world’s environmental problem. The author uses rhetorical devices supported by general ideas in order to successfully create an effect to the audiences.