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.
I'm the result of an ageless redemption
A body with a heartless convention
A face with a smile that's been shut down for years
Facing the facts of my generation, 'cause
I'm a sinner, a winner, my blood is getting thinner
I might as well get another life cause I've been there
I know what's been said and I know what's been done
Don't you tell me I'm the only one, cause I
I will be there looking for something
Coming straight out of nothing, just killing time
Facing those walls so black, so vile
I really am waiting for nothing
Coming straight out of something, just killing time
Facing those walls so black, so vile
Now put your trust in a solid machine
Filled with words that have never been seen
A plague to insatiable souls left to die
Charged with mankind's raw energy
I rumble, I stumble
My memory starts to crumble
I can't refuse what's haunting my dreams
Have I stumbled?
On my way to a created perfection
I penetrate the gates of rejection
There's no determination, echoes of a failed gallery
There's yet extermination, inside us all screaming
A body with a heartless convention
A face with a smile that's been shut down for years
Facing the facts of my generation, 'cause
I'm a sinner, a winner, my blood is getting thinner
I might as well get another life cause I've been there
I know what's been said and I know what's been done
Don't you tell me I'm the only one, cause I
I will be there looking for something
Coming straight out of nothing, just killing time
Facing those walls so black, so vile
I really am waiting for nothing
Coming straight out of something, just killing time
Facing those walls so black, so vile
Now put your trust in a solid machine
Filled with words that have never been seen
A plague to insatiable souls left to die
Charged with mankind's raw energy
I rumble, I stumble
My memory starts to crumble
I can't refuse what's haunting my dreams
Have I stumbled?
On my way to a created perfection
I penetrate the gates of rejection
There's no determination, echoes of a failed gallery
There's yet extermination, inside us all screaming
Lyrics submitted by Disposition_987
Rejection Role Lyrics as written by Sven Morten Ragnar Karlsson Peter Leo Rickard Wichers
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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The protagonist is feeling lost and disconnected from the world around him, struggling with feelings of sin and weakness. He is searching for something, but doesn't know what it is and is just passing the time. He is haunted by dreams of 'created perfection' and feels rejection from society.