So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
An Island lies in the sea of stars
So far from time
The wisemen came foretelling my heart
I'll reach for the sun
Deep inside my eyes you see the tears of long ago
Telling tales of loneliness before
Standing by my side you feel the fears of once before
Telling tales of emptiness and more
Strangers in the night
Rising up to fight
They're rising up to bust the demon's spell
Freedom Call, the cry of barren souls
The surveillance of mankind will fall
Freedom Call, the cry of barren souls
Under surveillance we never will fall
I spent all my life to get salvation from afar
I've seen stairs, arisen from below
Strangers in the night
Rising up to fight
They're rising up to bust the demon's spell
Once upon a time, our world was in decline
On a storytellers night, I felt the breeze of life
And I saw the rays of light, across the burning sky
When the master sent the sign, reflecting all devine
So far from time
The wisemen came foretelling my heart
I'll reach for the sun
Deep inside my eyes you see the tears of long ago
Telling tales of loneliness before
Standing by my side you feel the fears of once before
Telling tales of emptiness and more
Strangers in the night
Rising up to fight
They're rising up to bust the demon's spell
Freedom Call, the cry of barren souls
The surveillance of mankind will fall
Freedom Call, the cry of barren souls
Under surveillance we never will fall
I spent all my life to get salvation from afar
I've seen stairs, arisen from below
Strangers in the night
Rising up to fight
They're rising up to bust the demon's spell
Once upon a time, our world was in decline
On a storytellers night, I felt the breeze of life
And I saw the rays of light, across the burning sky
When the master sent the sign, reflecting all devine
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It's about the two sides fighting for liberation and freedom and the other side also fighting for liberation and freedom, and both are fighting each other.