According to one interpretation, the entire A Thousand Suns album is about nuclear warfare. Take, for example, The Radiance, which outright quotes J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" due to being the head scientist of the Manhattan Project.
Also, Burning in the Skies could refer to the aftermath of a nuclear war, while The Catalyst is a plea for help and a warning against what could happen. (God save us everyone, when we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns...)
Lastly, Fallout could easily refer to the radioactive fallout or psychological fallout of a nuclear strike.
I think that this all strongly suggests that Iridescent is about a survivor of the nuclear war feeling remorse, sorrow, and remembering the moment the bomb exploded.
"And in the burst of light that blinded every angel/
As if the sky had blown the heavens into stars"
That stanza refers to the detonation of the bomb. The entire song is remembering life before the war, and the nuclear strike.
It almost seems like the song reflects what is going through the singer's mind as he dies. He remembers the war that resulted in his death, and going to a place where there is no war, no death, no pain.
His dying words are "let it go" it being the life of suffering he endures after the nuclear war. It's a powerful, sad and yet uplifting song.
According to one interpretation, the entire A Thousand Suns album is about nuclear warfare. Take, for example, The Radiance, which outright quotes J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" due to being the head scientist of the Manhattan Project.
Also, Burning in the Skies could refer to the aftermath of a nuclear war, while The Catalyst is a plea for help and a warning against what could happen. (God save us everyone, when we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns...)
Lastly, Fallout could easily refer to the radioactive fallout or psychological fallout of a nuclear strike.
I think that this all strongly suggests that Iridescent is about a survivor of the nuclear war feeling remorse, sorrow, and remembering the moment the bomb exploded.
"And in the burst of light that blinded every angel/ As if the sky had blown the heavens into stars"
That stanza refers to the detonation of the bomb. The entire song is remembering life before the war, and the nuclear strike.
It almost seems like the song reflects what is going through the singer's mind as he dies. He remembers the war that resulted in his death, and going to a place where there is no war, no death, no pain.
His dying words are "let it go" it being the life of suffering he endures after the nuclear war. It's a powerful, sad and yet uplifting song.