"The Conjuring" is a song by the

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

band

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...

from their 1986 album '' Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?''. Written by

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...

during a time when he dabbled in

black magic Black magic (Middle English: ''nigromancy''), sometimes dark magic, traditionally refers to the use of Magic (paranormal), magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes. The links and interaction between black magic and religi ...

during his teenager years, the song's lyrics have been described as referencing a Satanic ritual and, according to Mustaine, contain "instructions for hexes".

Overview

The song is composed in E minor. It is one of several Megadeth songs referencing the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

, or

. Others include "Bad Omen", "

Good Mourning/Black Friday "Good Mourning/Black Friday" is a song by American thrash metal band Megadeth from their 1986 album '' Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?'', written by Dave Mustaine. Despite not being released as a single nor having a music video filmed, the song ...

", and most explicitly, "Five Magics" from their 1990 album ''

Rust in Peace ''Rust in Peace'' is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on September 24, 1990, by Capitol Records. It was the first Megadeth album to feature guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza. The songs " Hang ...

'', which directly mentions wizardry, sorcery,

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

, and

magic Magic or magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces ** ''Magick'' (with ''-ck'') can specifically refer to ceremonial magic * Magic (illusion), also known as sta ...

. In an interview, Mustaine said, "I used to do black magic when I was a kid, and I put a hex on a dude and his leg kind of got messed up. The other one was, I put a sex hex on this girl and the next night she was in my bed, so I think that it worked."

Live performances

From 2001 to 2018, a period of 17 years, the song was not performed live by Megadeth. This was due to Mustaine's Christian beliefs being at odds with its subject matter. In 2011, several months before the 25th anniversary of the release of the album ''Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?'' Mustaine reiterated his reluctance to perform the song. In 2016, however, after the band's drummer

Chris Adler Christopher James Adler (born November 23, 1972) is an American musician, best-known as a founding member and the longtime drummer of Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Lamb of God (band), Lamb of God from 1994 to 2019. He was also a Grammy A ...

asked if they could "re-record

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

with different lyrics", Mustaine admitted in an interview that he "wouldn't mind doing the song again", as long as "it didn't hurt anybody". On June 12, 2018, Megadeth performed "The Conjuring" live for the first time in 17 years at the

Home Monitoring Aréna A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be pe ...

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conjuring, The 1986 songs Fiction about curses Megadeth songs Satanism in popular culture Songs written by Dave Mustaine