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.
The helm of awe and terror
Protector of the realm
Savior of all its bearer
In battles never fell
Behold the eye of conjuring
The demon's hell unleashed
Ascension lost in wandering
Our spirits facing east
Gomorrah's decadence, a feast of pain
Sodom a sanctuary across the plains
The common knowledge burned, to hell was sent
Dying for dissidence, the punishment
No gods, no masters
No lords above
Psalms to a broken idol
The elegies we sing
Praying to lust so carnal
Pleasure temptations bring
Silent and stoic faces
We curse the crimson sky
Our blood is slowly boiling
Knowing that we may die
Fractured and battered lives, we fed the curse
This chaos cavernous, deep in the earth
The books of nevermore, they are the past
Crossing the Rubicon, the die is cast
No gods, no masters
No lords above
No gods, no masters
No lords above
We're past the point of no return
Religion's flame watches the world burn
Unchain your life from Christianity
Unleash thy destiny, oh
No gods, no masters
Shall tell me how to live
No gods, no masters
Shall tell me how to live
No gods, no masters
No lords above
No gods, no masters
No lords above
Protector of the realm
Savior of all its bearer
In battles never fell
Behold the eye of conjuring
The demon's hell unleashed
Ascension lost in wandering
Our spirits facing east
Gomorrah's decadence, a feast of pain
Sodom a sanctuary across the plains
The common knowledge burned, to hell was sent
Dying for dissidence, the punishment
No gods, no masters
No lords above
Psalms to a broken idol
The elegies we sing
Praying to lust so carnal
Pleasure temptations bring
Silent and stoic faces
We curse the crimson sky
Our blood is slowly boiling
Knowing that we may die
Fractured and battered lives, we fed the curse
This chaos cavernous, deep in the earth
The books of nevermore, they are the past
Crossing the Rubicon, the die is cast
No gods, no masters
No lords above
No gods, no masters
No lords above
We're past the point of no return
Religion's flame watches the world burn
Unchain your life from Christianity
Unleash thy destiny, oh
No gods, no masters
Shall tell me how to live
No gods, no masters
Shall tell me how to live
No gods, no masters
No lords above
No gods, no masters
No lords above
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS Lyrics as written by Robb Flynn
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Sodom & Gomorrah are two of the Old Testament’s most infamously sinful cities and are mentioned in verse 2 of this track. Genesis 19 tells of how God destroyed these cities for their wickedness. The New Testament uses these cities as examples of behavior that God’s people need to avoid. This song's theme is centered around this power struggle.