"... lyrics about the singer's experience in a prison in the Czech Republic, where he had been charged with manslaughter for allegedly pushing a fan offstage and causing injuries that led to the fan's death. Blythe was ultimately found not guilty, but he still spent over a month incarcerated. It was during that time that he began writing "512" – in Pankrác Prison cell number 512 – and began contemplating how the experience was changing him."
"I couldn't even see the sun to tell what part of the day it was. It was just steadily lessening levels of gloom."
Those thoughts, he says, inspired the "512" lyrics, "The time is slipping by no peace in sight/But the teeth of time still hold their bite." It's a metaphor for the one hour a day he was able to see a clock.
"I was in my cell 23 hours a day," Blythe says. "One hour a day, I would go to this little area where we would walk and, on the way out, I could see this clock that was above the courtyard. I'd check the time as I walked in and out to make sure time was still moving. I had no watch, no nothing. It's a weird mental trip."
Interview with Randy:
"... lyrics about the singer's experience in a prison in the Czech Republic, where he had been charged with manslaughter for allegedly pushing a fan offstage and causing injuries that led to the fan's death. Blythe was ultimately found not guilty, but he still spent over a month incarcerated. It was during that time that he began writing "512" – in Pankrác Prison cell number 512 – and began contemplating how the experience was changing him."
"I couldn't even see the sun to tell what part of the day it was. It was just steadily lessening levels of gloom."
Those thoughts, he says, inspired the "512" lyrics, "The time is slipping by no peace in sight/But the teeth of time still hold their bite." It's a metaphor for the one hour a day he was able to see a clock.
"I was in my cell 23 hours a day," Blythe says. "One hour a day, I would go to this little area where we would walk and, on the way out, I could see this clock that was above the courtyard. I'd check the time as I walked in and out to make sure time was still moving. I had no watch, no nothing. It's a weird mental trip."
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lamb-of-god-on-how-prison-inspired-raging-new-song-512-20150608