The Conjuring (song)


"The Conjuring" is a song by American thrash metal band Megadeth from their 1986 album Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?. Written by Dave Mustaine during a time when he dabbled in black magic, the song's lyrics have been described as referencing a Satanic ritual, and according to Mustaine contain "instructions for hexes".

Overview

The song is one of several Megadeth songs referencing the occult, witchcraft, or black magic. Others include "Bad Omen" and "Good Mourning/Black Friday", and most explicitly "Five Magics" from their 1990 album Rust in Peace, which directly mentions wizardry, sorcerery, alchemy and magic.

Abandonment

Since 2001 the song was not performed live by Megadeth, due to Mustaine's Christian religious beliefs being at odds with its subject matter. Several months before the 25th anniversary of the release of the album Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? in 2011, Mustaine reiterated his reluctance to perform the song. In 2016, however, after the band's drummer Chris Adler asked if they could "re-record 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 in Plzeň, Czech Republic.