Gematria (The Killing Name)

Lead singer Corey Taylor explained this song to Kerrang! July 19, 2008. "This song is not about my disgust of America, but more about its people," he said. "I love my country, I love the people that defend my country. I love the people that still exercise their right to disagree and voice their discontent, but there are a lot of people who are disguising politics as religion and dictating taste and turning it into policy, and that hurts me. Obviously you have to have both sides in a democracy, but it just seems like the scales have tipped so f--king far on the one side its untrue."

The time is now Continue, we're in you And we will burn your cities down America is a killing name It doesn't feel or discriminate Gematria is a numerological system that assigns a numerical value to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The numerical values of the letters can then be used to find hidden meanings in words, phrases, and names. It is thought to have originated in the ancient Near East, and was adopted by the Jewish people in the first centuries BC. Gematria is used in Jewish mysticism, and it is also used in the study of the Hebrew Bible. "Gematria (The Killing Name)" suggests that America represents death for those who are not American. The line, "We will burn your cities down" may reference the US. foreign policy following the September 11th attacks.

As of April 2023, out of the 12 tracks on All Hope Is Gone, Slipknot have only played five live. Corey Taylor laments this song is one of the seven the band won't perform. "There are certain odiums around the way that song was created and recorded, which is why some of the guys in the band are like 'f--k that, we'll never play it," he said on the All Things Music podcast. "[The reason] isn't even sentimental. It's resentment. But for me man, it's such a f---ing burner that I just love that song. But it'll never happen."