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.
So what's it gonna be?
Dead or breathing
Bled out for all to see
Self loathing glory
If it bleeds, it dies
No icons survive
The ones that I love are the weakness inside of me
So what's it gonna be?
Dead or breathing
Bled out for all to see
Self-loathing glory
Kill the love, sever me
Bury me with all my greed
Left to choke, left to bleed
This lonely grave here begs for me
Burn it and leave
Your love I'll never need
Killing your dream
Your love I'll never need
Blinded by the afterglow
Of all the failures burning my soul
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Dying just to be alone
Could never change what I always was
When it all looks the same, this disease I feel it
If it bleeds, it dies
No icons survive
The ones that I love are the weakness insidE
Burn the wreath
There's no one losing sleep
Take from me the nihilist I feed
The nihilist I feed
Dead eyes see straight through me again
Despise your reflection in my lonely skin
You dug this grave on your own just to die in it
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Blinded by the afterglow
Of all the failures burning my soul
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Dying just to be alone
Could never change what I always was
When it all looks the same, this disease I feel it
Blinded by the afterglow
Of all the failures burning my soul
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Kill the love, sever me
Bury me with all my greed
Left to choke, left to bleed
This lonely grave here begs for me
Burn it and leave
Your love I'll never need
Killing your dream
Your love I'll never need
Dead or breathing
Bled out for all to see
Self loathing glory
If it bleeds, it dies
No icons survive
The ones that I love are the weakness inside of me
So what's it gonna be?
Dead or breathing
Bled out for all to see
Self-loathing glory
Kill the love, sever me
Bury me with all my greed
Left to choke, left to bleed
This lonely grave here begs for me
Burn it and leave
Your love I'll never need
Killing your dream
Your love I'll never need
Blinded by the afterglow
Of all the failures burning my soul
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Dying just to be alone
Could never change what I always was
When it all looks the same, this disease I feel it
If it bleeds, it dies
No icons survive
The ones that I love are the weakness insidE
Burn the wreath
There's no one losing sleep
Take from me the nihilist I feed
The nihilist I feed
Dead eyes see straight through me again
Despise your reflection in my lonely skin
You dug this grave on your own just to die in it
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Blinded by the afterglow
Of all the failures burning my soul
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Dying just to be alone
Could never change what I always was
When it all looks the same, this disease I feel it
Blinded by the afterglow
Of all the failures burning my soul
As it all fades away, this disease I feel it
Kill the love, sever me
Bury me with all my greed
Left to choke, left to bleed
This lonely grave here begs for me
Burn it and leave
Your love I'll never need
Killing your dream
Your love I'll never need
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
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Vocalist Karl Spiessl on this track: “Lyrically, I wanted to articulate the way that greed is like a disease. That everyone you idolize or look up to isn’t what they portray, everyone you love will let you down. Watching people try to put on the persona as something non authentic in the desire to be seen as what they want but not what they are. Everyone dies and in that moment of being stripped to their core you can see the so-called glory of someone who hates the real themselves so much.” – ‘Bled out for all to see, self loathing glory’