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.
Death awaits
Eyes wide open
Can't seem to accept my fate
At the gates
Too late to decide if I should
Run or stay
Run away
Run away
I can't remember when it cracked but
Here we are now
When did the world fade to black?
(When did it all fade to black)
Is it a virus or a stroke?
Have I just been lost in my own head for too long?
Dancing shadows behind my back made me
Paranoid
What if I learned to live like the rest of them
Catch my breath
Kill the blaze till there's nothing left
Gotta deal with it, things will never be the same
What if I was the problem, what if I changed?
Find my place, get a fresh start or seal my grave
Cloud of despair rain, above my head
A forever nightmare wide awake
Agony
All along the path I'm walking
Irony
The more I hurt, the more I like it
And when the sun goes down on the horizon line
Watch for the signs
Death awaits
Mountains of locusts as far as eye can see
Is it a worldwide plague or do they follow me?
I am both the hunter and the prey
What if I learned to live like the rest of them
Catch my breath
Kill the blaze till there's nothing left
Gotta deal with it, things will never be the
Same
What if I was the problem, what if I changed?
Find my place, get a fresh start or seal my grave
Cloud of despair rain, above my head
A forever nightmare wide awake
Death awaits
Eyes wide open
Can't seem to accept my fate
At the gates
Too late to decide if I should
Run or stay
Run away
Run away
I can't remember when it cracked but
Here we are now
When did the world fade to black?
(When did it all fade to black)
Is it a virus or a stroke?
Have I just been lost in my own head for too long?
Dancing shadows behind my back made me
Paranoid
What if I learned to live like the rest of them
Catch my breath
Kill the blaze till there's nothing left
Gotta deal with it, things will never be the same
What if I was the problem, what if I changed?
Find my place, get a fresh start or seal my grave
Cloud of despair rain, above my head
A forever nightmare wide awake
Agony
All along the path I'm walking
Irony
The more I hurt, the more I like it
And when the sun goes down on the horizon line
Watch for the signs
Death awaits
Mountains of locusts as far as eye can see
Is it a worldwide plague or do they follow me?
I am both the hunter and the prey
What if I learned to live like the rest of them
Catch my breath
Kill the blaze till there's nothing left
Gotta deal with it, things will never be the
Same
What if I was the problem, what if I changed?
Find my place, get a fresh start or seal my grave
Cloud of despair rain, above my head
A forever nightmare wide awake
Death awaits
Lyrics submitted by EternalTearsOfSorrow
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I think this is about facing the inevitable that we all must face our own mortality. We must all prepare to meet our maker one day, there's no escaping that fact.