The great chain of being (scala naturae) is a concept found in Christianity which explains a hierarchy within all life. At the top of the chain is God, angels rest a level below, the human life follows with animals a tier lower. We then get to plants before the final link: minerals and other Earthly matter. In the song “The Great Chain of Being,” however, Stu sings about someone or something attacking this order of life. They describe themselves as a “rock with eyes to the sky” that has fallen out of a woman’s coat pocket. In the great chain of being they sit at the lowest level, however they aspire to disrupt the hierarchy by ascending to the highest plane of being, re-making the chain entirely. While it could be read as a story of rebirth, it could also be seen as commentary on climate change where Earth will ultimately reign supreme over religion and belief. Beside the song’s layered meaning, “The Great Chain of Being” is one of the band’s earliest metal songs with stylistic similarities to stoner metal bands like Sleep and Kyuss, though Stu is reluctant to give it such a label.

Stu explained “The Great Chain of Being” to Guitar World. “That type of music [stoner rock] is something we listen to a lot on tour, especially whilst driving. It definitely started to seep into our subconsciousness. [“The Great Chain of Being”] is like a road song to me. We were trying to finish the five albums in a year, trying to make things varied and trying to experiment with recording as well. I think the recording is slowed down on the tape machine. We were messing around a lot at this point, and it was the fifth record of the five. We thought, ‘Let’s just try everything’. I think it allowed us to be super free and be open. In a lot of ways, each song just felt lower-stakes, therefore you can take more risks — which was the point of the five records, just to see how many risks we could take. Obviously not everything is going to pay off, but some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written came out of that year.”
The song was played by the entire band: Ambrose (synthesizer), Cavs (drums), Cook (guitar), Eric/Mu (drums), Joey (guitar), Lucas (bass) and Stu (guitar/vocals/synthesizer). It was recorded by Stu at Rada Studios and Flightless HQ with the final mix being done by Michael Badger. “The Great Chain of Being” was released as part of Gumboot Soup on December 31st. The song was later referenced on the PetroDragonic Apocalypse song “Flamethrower” which adapts the phrase “I disrupt natural order.”