Dissident Aggressor

Slayer's version of the song completely skipped out on the difficult vocal parts simply because Tom Araya just couldn't do it and the guitar work is more drab and boring in the Slayer version than the Priest version. To say it's 'better' is silly.

This song has strange lyrics, especially for a Priest song. I think it has something to do with the Berlin Wall as well. It's probably about someone trying to escape communist East Germany and migrate to West Germany, but the walls up and he's fighting for his life to get past it. 'Hooks to my brain are well in' = the hooks of communism? Ideologically and physically, he's trying to escape the snares of the system he's been living in.

Either the guy is fighting some people to get out or there's a riot happening, or maybe his mind is trying to escape his communist prison. That's my interpretation anyways.

P.S. The Berlin Wall was put up in 1961 thus making the fact that Priest was from the 70s utterly irrelevant.

This song is about being a Berlin Wall guard. Look up the word Dissident add that up with Im Berlin. It is either that or the embodiment of Communism. That or the wall itself.

There's no question in my mind that Dissident Aggressor is about someone trying to escape East Berlin. The "impregnable wall" was still up in 1978 when JP wrote this song. "Hooks to my brain are well-in" reminds me of the Greek hero, Sisyphus, as he tried to push a boulder up a hill. Nevertheless, I bet our hero may have still been an armed and dangerous man if he made it to Western Europe:"Stab, Bawl,Punch, Crawl..." Analysis of a favorite song was the narrative prompt for my analysis of this song in my Developmental English textbook; five years ago, it was part of my lesson plan..........Enjoy the 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall!!!

slayer did a fucking awesome version i guess its about berlin and the berlin wall??

But this tune is 70s.

gotta be about WWII then

The slayer cover is good, but come on. Better? Even if it's superior musically, vocally it will never be matched.... By anyone!

I never heard the version by Slayer. And you know what? I don't need to. Does that sound ignorant? Maybe. All I know is that NO ONE sings like Halford. The Priest version is the only version.

And, I'm hip to covers. There's a version of the Maiden song, "Fear of the Dark" that is on one of the tribute albums. It was performed by Chuck Billy, Craig Goldy, Ricky Phillips, and Mikkey Dee for the tribute album Numbers from the Beast.

I love Maiden. But this version of "Fear" is the best.

@ DreadCalm and @ SevDelta I agree...Halford aces Araya on vocals. Both versions are great, but the Priest version has one of the best openings in metal history. As for the lyrics, perhaps what's being referred to was the people of Berlin when the Wall was put up. Maybe Priest was suggesting that the city was an embattled city, because it was torn apart by ideology.