Bat Country


"Bat Country" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, released in August 2005 as the second single from their third album, City of Evil. Avenged Sevenfold won 'Best New Artist Video' at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards for "Bat Country" and the single was certified platinum by the RIAA and silver by the BPI. For these reasons, "Bat Country" is often believed to be the band's most commercially successful song.

Background and composition

"Bat Country" is a heavy metal, alternative metal and hard rock song. It takes stylistic cues from punk rock and pop, drawing comparisons to My Chemical Romance. The song's main thematic influence comes from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with the title itself being a direct quote from the book in which Raoul Duke is on his way to Las Vegas while being affected by various drugs. The character hallucinated huge bats and manta rays in the sky, and gasps to his companion Dr. Gonzo, "We can't stop here. This is bat country."
The following quote, also included at the beginning of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is referred to twice throughout the song and is shown at the beginning of the music video.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." – Samuel Johnson

Also referenced in the song is a lyric derived from the final words spoken about Dr. Gonzo at the end of the film adaptation. The lyric is used at the end of the second breakdown of the song, as the final lyric of the song.
"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." – Raoul Duke

Shortly after the writing of the song, Thompson committed suicide.

Reception and legacy

Throughout 2008, "Bat Country" was in the top 40 of the UK Rock Chart, and shared the chart with up to three of the band's other songs. The song was on and off the charts throughout 2008, and eventually peaked at number 9 in December of that year.
The song was ranked at number 20 on Loudwires Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs. It also was rated as number 9 on Ultimate Guitar's list of Top 25 Best Songs With Guitar Duels. In 2020, Louder Sound and Kerrang! both rated it as the fifth greatest Avenged Sevenfold song. In 2023, Guitar World ranked the song's guitar solo at number 16 on its list of The Greatest Guitar Solos of the 21st Century...so far.

In other media

The song appeared in the video games Madden 06, NHL 06, SSX On Tour, Saints Row 2, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Rocksmith 2014, and Asphalt Legends Unite. It also appeared in the movie Big Momma's House 2 and both the TV shows Bones and About a Boy.

Personnel

Personnel listing as adapted from album liner notes.
Avenged Sevenfold
Production