The Reckoning" was a getting kicked around by the band for a few months and I went crazy when I first heard that riff!!! I think the line, "with everyday of pain, we're closer to The Reckoning," came really quick.

Up until 3 years ago my life had been disaster, a real train wreck!! But you know, everyone loves to stare at a train wreck. So, what better topic to write lyrics about?! All the things I've done in my life, you know something's gonna give, and it ain't gonna be pretty. I'm glad those days are behind me, but it sure made for a great track.

Now here is David Ellefson: I brought the verse riff to the band during our writing sessions in mid 2007. It's a riff I spun out of a something I had for my Metal Bass instructional DVD's I released a couple years ago, and was always hoping I could find a home for in a song at some point. Once I sped the riff up and synced it with the kick drum pattern, I then came up with a pretty simple moving chord structure for the chorus riff. Dale came up with his melody and lyric pretty quickly once that chord progression was in place.

The break in the middle is something that I thought would be cool to give the song a nice release of tension after the solo climax. It wasn't really intended to be a bass break but in rehearsals I stepped up and played a riff I had written and it seemed to work. I like that type of arrangement where the tune hits a strong bridge that really takes you away from the rest of the song. That way, when the chorus comes back in, it really hits you with an impact.

Our guitarist Steve Conley rounded out the melodies and shaped the rest of the song with some cool turnarounds and of course his solo, that is very melodic. Steve has a great knack for putting the finishing touches on our songs and works well with our producer Ryan Greene in the studio on those things, too.

"The Reckoning's" composition style is something I really like and has become the crux of the "heavy, but melodic" F5 sound.