Chelsea Grin’s “Leave With Us” Lyrics Meaning
As explained by Stephen Rutishauser, Chelsea Grin’s lead guitarist who also co-wrote “Leave With Us”, the lyrics were in part inspired by the Heaven’s Gate movement. Heaven’s Gate was a Christian-like sect whose members, to make a long story short, ending up perishing in a mass-suicide ritual.
As such, this group is often presented as a quintessential example of religious fanaticism – or as Stephen puts it, “being wooed by shiny but inevitably empty promises”.
Owing to this, the intro of the song samples of Marshall Applewhite, the late leader of Heaven’s Gate, sounding off in that regard, i.e. speaking as if the apocalypse is nigh and as such encouraging his adherents to “evacuate” while the opportunity is ripe.
And as with Applewhite and co., the vocalist of this song sounds as if he’s seriously into ufology and other such disciplines, i.e. ideas that teach there is actually a way to escape the planet Earth. Or another, more comprehensive way of interpreting what’s being put forth is “Leave With Us” serving as a criticism of certain staple Christian belief systems, so to speak, such as there actually being an “end of all suffering”.
But as usual when it comes to these religious-themed pieces, there are various ways in which the lyrics can be interpreted. For instance, if you don’t know the sentimental backdrop behind this song as detailed as highlighted above, it can be literally taken, if you will, as Chelsea Grin encouraging the listeners to “leave with” them, i.e. giving themselves over to being enraptured by the band’s music.
“As it paints across our sky
Why stay and suffer with your kind?
Won’t you?..
Won’t you join and leave with us?
Here, before your eyes
This holy moment
Can you feel it?
Can you feel it?”
The Team behind “Leave With Us”
Besides Stephen Rutishauser, the other writers of this song are two of his bandmates, David Flinn and Tom Barber.
The producer of the track is Jeff Dunne.
Date of Release
“Leave With Us” can be found on Chelsea Grin’s album “Suffer in Heaven”, which a label known as ONErpm made public on 17 March 2023.
