Change (In the House of Flies)

The song is a narrator who was an abuser comparing his actions towards his victim as that of a cruel child torturing bugs.

I watched you change Into a fly

I think there are two different ways of looking at this: either the narrator focuses his bullying and abuse on a person, and in doing so that person becomes less and less of a human being in his eyes, or that the narrator has begun to notice that his victim isn't such an easy pushover anymore. If we go with the later meaning, then the victim has progressed from a maggot to a fly (maggots are the juvenile versions of flies). Maggots are considered gross, useless creatures, more so than flies, so we see that the narrator still has a dehumanized view of his victim, but instead of a creature that is utterly powerless and easily crushed underfoot( maggot), it is now a creature that has some level of agency in escaping the narrator.

I looked away You were on fire He let his attention wander for a bit and then refocused it on the victim, and found to his surprise that the person was becoming new and different--and possibly even dangerous. This reminds me of a schoolyard bully who picks on a kid, forgets about the kid for a few weeks, and starts again only to find that his victim isn't so easy to bully anymore. Alternatively, any relationship in which the abuser takes the abused for granted, and then has a sudden moment of realization that, somewhere along the way, the power dynamics of the relationship has shifted; the abused isn't so easy manipulated anymore, and starts to fight back (whether physically, verbally, or emotionally).

I took you home Set you on the glass I pulled off your wings Then I laughed

The narrator is comparing himself to a sadistic child, who takes pleasure in harming another creature and who has no conscience about it. I take this to mean that the narrator is saying that he was pointless abusive and cruel to the victim.

I watched a change in you It's like you never had wings Now you feel so alive I watched you change

The victim goes from being passive and scared, to feeling more self-confident, and thus more likely to fight back against the narrator.

I look at the cross And I look away Give you the gun Blow me away

The chickens have come to roost for the narrator. The balance of power has shifted, and now it's the former victim who can inflict abuse on the narrator. The narrator doesn't feel angry about this; rather, at some point he realized how harmful his actions were, how much damage they caused his victim, and he feels that he fully deserves whatever the former victim dishes out to him.