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.
Watch the gears grind off their teeth, the screeching halt machine
Digging heels in disbelief
Two reactional identities, opposing policies
A bait-and-switch routine
Double-takes and double-speak
Still scripting the façade
Asphyxiate and choke the truth
All hail the money god
Repeat, echo, refrain
It's all the same
So deafening
Repeat, echo, refrain
A consequence
We asked for this
Repeat, echo, refrain
No, never again
The American scream
A coup d'état on full display, a liar's sick charade
A traitor's grand parade
Narcissistic masquerades for those without a say
Systematic disarray
Divide and conquer and close them in
And bury secrets deep
Make America hate again
And bleed the sheep to sleep
Repeat, echo, refrain
It's all the same
So deafening
Repeat, echo, refrain
A consequence
We asked for this
Repeat, echo, refrain
No, never again
The American scream
(Scream)
You try to pick the lesser of
But evil doesn't come in twos
Bellicose and balkanized
A sinking ship of fools
So kiss the hangman as you drop
The rotting corpse of decency
Just another casualty of the American scream
Scream
(The American scream)
Repeat, echo, refrain
It's all the same
So deafening
Repeat, echo, refrain
A consequence
We asked for this
Repeat, echo, refrain
No, never again
The American scream
Never again
Digging heels in disbelief
Two reactional identities, opposing policies
A bait-and-switch routine
Double-takes and double-speak
Still scripting the façade
Asphyxiate and choke the truth
All hail the money god
Repeat, echo, refrain
It's all the same
So deafening
Repeat, echo, refrain
A consequence
We asked for this
Repeat, echo, refrain
No, never again
The American scream
A coup d'état on full display, a liar's sick charade
A traitor's grand parade
Narcissistic masquerades for those without a say
Systematic disarray
Divide and conquer and close them in
And bury secrets deep
Make America hate again
And bleed the sheep to sleep
Repeat, echo, refrain
It's all the same
So deafening
Repeat, echo, refrain
A consequence
We asked for this
Repeat, echo, refrain
No, never again
The American scream
(Scream)
You try to pick the lesser of
But evil doesn't come in twos
Bellicose and balkanized
A sinking ship of fools
So kiss the hangman as you drop
The rotting corpse of decency
Just another casualty of the American scream
Scream
(The American scream)
Repeat, echo, refrain
It's all the same
So deafening
Repeat, echo, refrain
A consequence
We asked for this
Repeat, echo, refrain
No, never again
The American scream
Never again
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
Checkmate Lyrics as written by John Campbell David Randall Blythe
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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Lyrically, vocalist Randy Blythe delivers a knockout blow to the United States' political "systematic disarray." "A liar's sick charade," he calls it, and "the American scream."
@EternalTearsOfSorrow Make America HATE again....