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.
As the mirrors burst into fragments which deny to shine
I knew that I would curse my convictions that felt so divine
I've built a monument to reform my ceasing faith but all was vain
Cause every brick and stone got shattered by the wraith
That I let in to wake the question
Which longs for more than confirmation
I rotate around the failures I can't ignore
And still I ban myself from vanished dreams that I adore
My intents are the catalyst that feeds the flame
Bound to my painful fate I became the shade I used to defame
Am I condemned to be aimlessly
Visions of a new relapse show me the depths of my collapse
And walk on crumbling trails that eyes can't see?
I've tried to seek for sense in this
Your empty words won't teach me bliss
Empty words won't teach me bliss
I've put my heart and blood in this sacral temple grave
But every step towards the setting sun intensifies the feel
That I've spent a lifetime running
To safe me from what tries to take my pain away
So I rotate around the failures I can't ignore
And still I ban myself from vanished dreams that I adore
My intents are the catalyst that feeds the flame
Bound to my painful fate I became the shade I used to defame
Am I condemned to be aimlessly
Visions of a new relapse show me the depths of my collapse
And walk on crumbling trails that eyes can't see?
I've tried to seek for sense in this
Your empty words won't teach me bliss
Will I find what hides from me impatiently
The voices in my wrecked soul redeem the doubts I can't control
To experience the shame inside of me?
I'm here to reap what I have sown to earn a world I call my own
Your empty words won't teach me bliss
I knew that I would curse my convictions that felt so divine
I've built a monument to reform my ceasing faith but all was vain
Cause every brick and stone got shattered by the wraith
That I let in to wake the question
Which longs for more than confirmation
I rotate around the failures I can't ignore
And still I ban myself from vanished dreams that I adore
My intents are the catalyst that feeds the flame
Bound to my painful fate I became the shade I used to defame
Am I condemned to be aimlessly
Visions of a new relapse show me the depths of my collapse
And walk on crumbling trails that eyes can't see?
I've tried to seek for sense in this
Your empty words won't teach me bliss
Empty words won't teach me bliss
I've put my heart and blood in this sacral temple grave
But every step towards the setting sun intensifies the feel
That I've spent a lifetime running
To safe me from what tries to take my pain away
So I rotate around the failures I can't ignore
And still I ban myself from vanished dreams that I adore
My intents are the catalyst that feeds the flame
Bound to my painful fate I became the shade I used to defame
Am I condemned to be aimlessly
Visions of a new relapse show me the depths of my collapse
And walk on crumbling trails that eyes can't see?
I've tried to seek for sense in this
Your empty words won't teach me bliss
Will I find what hides from me impatiently
The voices in my wrecked soul redeem the doubts I can't control
To experience the shame inside of me?
I'm here to reap what I have sown to earn a world I call my own
Your empty words won't teach me bliss
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
Holograve Lyrics as written by Lukas Kiep
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this is about past regrets & the burdens we carry along with words we wished me said and battles that we will always fight till infinity.