[citation needed][4] On "Lexicon Devil," he reinvented his on-record persona as the much darker Darby Crash,[5][6][7] who sings his fascistic mission statement in the self-mythologizing "Circle One",[4][8] the guitar frenzy which opens the side B:[6][9][10][11] I'm Darby Crash A social blast Chaotic master The EP's title track is an apocalyptic manifesto full of fractured images,[12] whose lyrics were written by Crash in the first person in the name of Adolf Hitler, who proclaims himself a "lexicon devil" in the song,[nb 1][nb 2][citation needed] which is featured here in its slower and tamer first version.

[nb 3][9][12] "Lexicon Devil" might also fit Paul Beahm's new punk persona,[12] since Crash was an aspiring cult leader[4][16] obsessed with the idea of the mind control through the rhetoric, that is, using the power of words.

– Chris Desjardins, frontman of L.A. punk band the Flesh Eaters[19]The record closes with "No God", a Nietzschean rant[4][6][19] which borrows the intro from "Roundabout" by Yes.

[22] Geza X was supposed to lend him one for the recording sessions, but had forgotten;[23] instead he strung together some effect pedals[13] and the guitarist plugged directly into the studio's mixing board.

[13] In order to promote their EP at the time of its release, the band proposed an advertisement displaying Nazi iconography accompanied with the darkly humorous slogan "Six million Jews can't be wrong",[nb 10] but Slash deemed it potentially controversial and refused to print it.

[7][13] Conceptually linked to the lyrical content of the record, which is a reflection of the messianic and apocalyptic obsessions of Crash,[4][7][10][17] the cover art for Lexicon Devil is notorious for its contentious imagery.

1935 portraying a glorified Adolf Hitler;[7][13][26] while the back cover,[27][28] in ideological contrast, reproduces an anti-fascist political cartoon[13] by Arthur Szyk from 1942[29] which portrays Hermann Göring, the Grim Reaper, Benito Mussolini, and Hirohito, who are humorously featured as alter egos of Crash, Lorna Doom, (the) Drummer (Nicky Beat at the time), and Pat Smear, respectively.

In October 1978, a faster second version of "Lexicon Devil", this time with Bolles on drums, who gave the song a harder and more manic drive, was recorded for the Germs' first and only studio album, (GI), released in 1979.