This song is the opener on Megadeth’s 2004 comeback album, The System Has Failed.

It’s about the escalation after a terrorist attack on the president of the U.S.A. The president is missing and some of the most important government gentlemen are now deciding how to act. Inspired by the events of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, Mustaine describes how the misjudgements of these government men lead to the U.S. starting a global nuclear war which causes the world’s end.

This isn’t the first time Megadeth has written a song about the potential of a nuclear holocaust. Rust in Peace’s title track and, most notably, So Far, So Good…’s “Set the World Afire” are two songs in which Mustaine also warns the world about the calamities nukes could cause.