The song is a fast, uptempo song inspired by a "classic metal" sound.[5]
In an interview with the band's lead singer M. Shadows about the song's meaning he said,
I wanted to be more vague. Sometimes, I feel like my lyrics meander a little bit, and our songs are so big I need to write more words than are necessary. I wanted to leave these lyrics more open-ended. I felt that the term "Carry On" was perfect not only for the characters but for AVENGED SEVENFOLD moving forward. I stuck with that. I just wanted to write some epic lyrics you could think about when you were driving down the street or on your horse.[5]
In popular culture
The song plays at the end of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, showing the band as well as two characters from the game, Raul Menendez (voiced by Kamar de los Reyes) on guitar (guitar played by 'Scarlett') and Sergeant Frank Woods (voiced by James C. Burns) on drums, as the song plays a montage of cutscenes and gameplay elements. It is also used in the reveal trailer for the game's Zombies mode.
Record Store Day release
For Record Store Day 2013, the band released the song on a 12" picture disc. The A-side has the album artwork, while the B-side has the band's Deathbat logo in black on a white background.. The numbers '75' and '60' are written above the wings.
