I've figured it out

[Nnamster]

Ghost Reveries story....

The Grand Conjuration - The story begins with a man falling under the control of Satan (a conjuration is the act of summoning one or more spirits).

Ghost of Perdition - After falling under the control of Satan, the man kills his mother. I think by suffocation using a pillow. ("Holding her down..Fading resistance").

Beneath The Mire - After killing her, he buries her beneath the mire. ("And left my woes beneath the mire").
In this song, he talks about how he actually could have resisted Satan's calls for him to kill his mother, but he didnt. ("Willingly guided into heresy", "I thought of myself as a leader")
But after doing this, he expected to be left alone. But Satan still haunts him. ("Can't sleep to the scraping of his voice")

Harlequin Forest - He realizes he can no longer stay in his home if he wants any hope of avoiding Satan. As he is escaping, he hears Satan's hounds searching for him. Sorta like bloodhounds for hicks. (And further away from my home, Baying behind me, I hear the hounds).
To escape them, he hides in the darkness. ("Nocturnally helpless, And weak in the light, Depending on a prayer")

Baying of the Hounds - This song goes into more detail about the hounds looking for him, and he reflects on throwing his dead mother into the mire.

Hours of Wealth - Somehow he manages to escape Satan and hide from him. And he also feels regret for what he had done. ("Found a way to rid myself clean of pain, And the fever that's been haunting me, Has gone away").

He is hiding in a town that he has been too before, but he never really got close to the people there. "I seem to recognize, All the people passing by,
But I am alone, And far from home, And nobody knows me")

Atonement - He reflects on the damage he has done. ("Suddenly, I can't justify, What I had become")

Notice that the "had" is in past tense. So this is definetly where the story ends.


Try listening to the songs in that order if you want.

 

[OpethNZ]

i thought it was all about a cowboy losing his viriginity to another cowboy

 

[i aint play this]

Rifl

 

[all_sins_undone]

lul

 

[extolfan]

i thought it was all about a cowboy losing his viriginity to another cowboy

that is a possibility since no song is of specific interpretation.

I think the songs can mean different things to different people.

I have a certain way of interpreting the songs and it works for me

 

[opeth_353]

lmfao.. okay.. i just laugh at these threads now. Nothing else you can do really! People are so determined to prove that the album is a concept.

 

[neuroticandroid]

didn't we already make it abundantly clear that GR is NOT a concept album? concept albums have one constant theme (still life, the wall, for example) or are tied together by a singular musical concept (catch 33 by meshuggah). just because a couple songs on ghost reveries have similar subject matter does NOT make it a concept album, got it? k, thx.

 

[Endar]

Ghost Reveries story....

The Grand Conjuration - The story begins with a man falling under the control of Satan (a conjuration is the act of summoning one or more spirits).

Ghost of Perdition - After falling under the control of Satan, the man kills his mother. I think by suffocation using a pillow. ("Holding her down..Fading resistance").

Beneath The Mire - After killing her, he buries her beneath the mire. ("And left my woes beneath the mire").
In this song, he talks about how he actually could have resisted Satan's calls for him to kill his mother, but he didnt. ("Willingly guided into heresy", "I thought of myself as a leader")
But after doing this, he expected to be left alone. But Satan still haunts him. ("Can't sleep to the scraping of his voice")

Harlequin Forest - He realizes he can no longer stay in his home if he wants any hope of avoiding Satan. As he is escaping, he hears Satan's hounds searching for him. Sorta like bloodhounds for hicks. (And further away from my home, Baying behind me, I hear the hounds).
To escape them, he hides in the darkness. ("Nocturnally helpless, And weak in the light, Depending on a prayer")

Baying of the Hounds - This song goes into more detail about the hounds looking for him, and he reflects on throwing his dead mother into the mire.

Hours of Wealth - Somehow he manages to escape Satan and hide from him. And he also feels regret for what he had done. ("Found a way to rid myself clean of pain, And the fever that's been haunting me, Has gone away").

He is hiding in a town that he has been too before, but he never really got close to the people there. "I seem to recognize, All the people passing by,
But I am alone, And far from home, And nobody knows me")

Atonement - He reflects on the damage he has done. ("Suddenly, I can't justify, What I had become")

Notice that the "had" is in past tense. So this is definetly where the story ends.


Try listening to the songs in that order if you want.

Hey, good hypothesis. Even though it would be strange that Opeth would deny GR is a concept album and change the order of the songs... But it's surprising how your hypothesis makes sense.

Hey what a luck I've fallen on an intelligent thread. Humm, let's say an intelligent first post in one thread.

 

[Risquit]

Actually, it is pretty much a concept album except for Isolation Years. Mikael said that.

 

[~random~]

Concept albums have already been argued about. Then Oinkness said something gay and everything went off topic again.

 

[Katabasis]

Yeah, Risquit's right.

Mikael has said on several occassions that it's basically a concept, but Isolation Years falls outside of its parameters.

Although your interpretation of the story is a little different from mine... I don't have much time now, but basically I saw Ghost of Perdition as the 'Rosemary's Baby' part of the story, where an essentially evil being is born from an innocent woman. (I wonder if the reference to 'Rosemary' in Isolation Years' is hearkening back to this?).
Then enter the protagonist who subsequently sees the shit state of society and finds solace in his 'Master' (ie: Satan) ("So you take comfort in him", "I would devote myself to anyone, I would accept any flaws" -TBotH).
During this time, he sees his own supremacy ("You are everything") and the folly of the rest of mankind ("they are nothing"), his own isolation ("Never shall I speak to anyone again" - HoW, etc) the glory of his dark lord ("Majesty" - TGC), etc, etc.
There's also the sense of anxiety, chased by the hounds, and a period of reflection, where the character enters 'the mire' (TBotH, BTM, Atonement, HoW). After a time, he emerges: "Once I am sure of my task I will rise, Again..."
OK, so this is a very bastardised version of the story, but basically you've got
1) Evil kid being born
2) Disillusion with mankind
3) Finding the Devil and - since the protagonist is at such a low point - Satan is embraced.
4) Sinking beneath the (metaphorical) mire
5) Reflecting, atoning, stripping away of what is past
6) Rising again (for all you college boys out there, somewhat similar to the symbolism involved in the mystery cults)
7) Possibly, The Grand Conjuration is the final summoning of this master, or the final subsumation of the protagonist into him.

Mixed in with those 7 stages/themes is anxiety, regret, paranoia, etc (Hounds, etc).

I'm too tired to make that much clearer, but that's the basic gist I get.

 

[Midwinter_melancholY]

owned

 

[dcat]

^ Indeed

 

[Nnamster]

Yeah, Risquit's right.

Mikael has said on several occassions that it's basically a concept, but Isolation Years falls outside of its parameters.

Although your interpretation of the story is a little different from mine... I don't have much time now, but basically I saw Ghost of Perdition as the 'Rosemary's Baby' part of the story, where an essentially evil being is born from an innocent woman. (I wonder if the reference to 'Rosemary' in Isolation Years' is hearkening back to this?).
Then enter the protagonist who subsequently sees the shit state of society and finds solace in his 'Master' (ie: Satan) ("So you take comfort in him", "I would devote myself to anyone, I would accept any flaws" -TBotH).
During this time, he sees his own supremacy ("You are everything") and the folly of the rest of mankind ("they are nothing"), his own isolation ("Never shall I speak to anyone again" - HoW, etc) the glory of his dark lord ("Majesty" - TGC), etc, etc.
There's also the sense of anxiety, chased by the hounds, and a period of reflection, where the character enters 'the mire' (TBotH, BTM, Atonement, HoW). After a time, he emerges: "Once I am sure of my task I will rise, Again..."
OK, so this is a very bastardised version of the story, but basically you've got
1) Evil kid being born
2) Disillusion with mankind
3) Finding the Devil and - since the protagonist is at such a low point - Satan is embraced.
4) Sinking beneath the (metaphorical) mire
5) Reflecting, atoning, stripping away of what is past
6) Rising again (for all you college boys out there, somewhat similar to the symbolism involved in the mystery cults)
7) Possibly, The Grand Conjuration is the final summoning of this master, or the final subsumation of the protagonist into him.

Mixed in with those 7 stages/themes is anxiety, regret, paranoia, etc (Hounds, etc).

I'm too tired to make that much clearer, but that's the basic gist I get.

That's a fascinating take on the story. Especially the "Sinking beneath the (metaphorical) mire" part.

 

[Atrophy]

Of course no one makes mention of how there are similarities between several of GR's songs and Dante's Inferno (Maybe a stretch?) Seventh Circle, Middle ring I believe, the suicides (Canto XIII sounds about right) The suicides are turned into trees who can only speak when breaking off branches. And then the wasters (in the same circle) Are chased by hounds through this forest. A stretch...?

 

[Leandor]

Very interesting thread, I agree with Nnmaster

:Smokin:

 

[Benighted Joe]

i thought it was all about a cowboy losing his viriginity to another cowboy

LEWL!!!

 

[SextoyAddiction]

You just now figured it out?

 

[prowlergrig]

That's a fascinating take on the story. Especially the "Sinking beneath the (metaphorical) mire" part.

lol it's pretty obvious that the mire is a metaphor

 

[the_3_toed_sloth]

Yeah, Risquit's right.

Mikael has said on several occassions that it's basically a concept, but Isolation Years falls outside of its parameters.

Although your interpretation of the story is a little different from mine... I don't have much time now, but basically I saw Ghost of Perdition as the 'Rosemary's Baby' part of the story, where an essentially evil being is born from an innocent woman. (I wonder if the reference to 'Rosemary' in Isolation Years' is hearkening back to this?).
Then enter the protagonist who subsequently sees the shit state of society and finds solace in his 'Master' (ie: Satan) ("So you take comfort in him", "I would devote myself to anyone, I would accept any flaws" -TBotH).
During this time, he sees his own supremacy ("You are everything") and the folly of the rest of mankind ("they are nothing"), his own isolation ("Never shall I speak to anyone again" - HoW, etc) the glory of his dark lord ("Majesty" - TGC), etc, etc.
There's also the sense of anxiety, chased by the hounds, and a period of reflection, where the character enters 'the mire' (TBotH, BTM, Atonement, HoW). After a time, he emerges: "Once I am sure of my task I will rise, Again..."
OK, so this is a very bastardised version of the story, but basically you've got
1) Evil kid being born
2) Disillusion with mankind
3) Finding the Devil and - since the protagonist is at such a low point - Satan is embraced.
4) Sinking beneath the (metaphorical) mire
5) Reflecting, atoning, stripping away of what is past
6) Rising again (for all you college boys out there, somewhat similar to the symbolism involved in the mystery cults)
7) Possibly, The Grand Conjuration is the final summoning of this master, or the final subsumation of the protagonist into him.

Mixed in with those 7 stages/themes is anxiety, regret, paranoia, etc (Hounds, etc).

I'm too tired to make that much clearer, but that's the basic gist I get.

Indeed, this is a good, brief summary of what ive said for a long time. Congratulations on being one of the few non-idiots posting in relation to GR!