Lyric meanings on Paradise Lost

[eternal sanctum]

What's with all the name calling? I honestly thought that fans of Symphony X would be a little more mature than fans of Slipknot.

 

[Kenneth R.]

If you read any of the other threads, you'd find that neither are in my top 10. Actually, I don't even recognize that the second one exists.

 

[CttN]

In soviet russia, it googles you!

Twas thinking the same thing

 

[Matt]

What's with all the name calling? I honestly thought that fans of Symphony X would be a little more mature than fans of Slipknot.

Me too, but then people like you show up.

 

[eternal sanctum]

I don't post here often but Montu has successfully made it on my "ignore list".

 

[meisteh]

I put Montu on my IRL ignore list and I think it worked because I've never seen him... I'm pretty sure.

 

[korruption]

*imagines sheer horror of Roadrunner Records forum kiddies showing up*

 

[Jax]

Uh...do you have a brain capable of figuring things out on your own? Or do you have to be spoon fed everything?

Google? Or once again, do you expect everyone to just give you shit? Lazy fuck.

One week ban for personal insults. I've told you guys to knock it off & you just laugh & carry on..well I'm done being polite. Do it again and you'll be perma-banned from this forum..see you next Sunday.

Okay, who's next?

 

[Jax]

It's a step by step song thematically speaking regarding the creation of my ass and the fall of the shit from within.

HELLO - IT'S CALLED PARADISE LOST!!!!! Dimwit!

Go join Montu..one week ban for personal insults. See you next Sunday.

Anyone else?

 

[korruption]

So uhh for the people who aren't particularily enlightened as to the subject matter of which Paradise Lost addresses, mayhap someone be able to kindly provide their insight or at least a link to where these people can find the info? I believe that's what the original poster requested before he was slammed for no justifiable reason. Not everyone has read the book you know.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

If you read the lyrics in the booklet, some words are capitalized that normally wouldn't be (such as "Master of Illusion," "Minister of Sin," "Dogs of War," "Babylon Whore," etc). I'm guessing that these represent various themes throughout the album, but I'm not the best at deciphering lyrics.

 

[1by4by9]

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

For all who wish to take a look at Paradise Lost click the link and search for "Paradise Lost."

 

[profskett]

If you read the lyrics in the booklet, some words are capitalized that normally wouldn't be (such as "Master of Illusion," "Minister of Sin," "Dogs of War," "Babylon Whore," etc). I'm guessing that these represent various themes throughout the album, but I'm not the best at deciphering lyrics.

Well, if we think about it in the context Milton's Paradise Lost, Minister of Sin and Master of Illusion probably both refer to Satan (they are capitalized since they are both names which are given to him - in the Bible Satan is often referred to as 'the Deceiver'), the Babylon Whore probably refers to (surprise surprise) the Whore of Babylon as discussed in Revelation 17, and Dogs of War I presume refers to the demons or servants of Satan.

Based on what Michael Romeo said in the interview (and to a certain extent you can tell this from just listening to it a few times) I don't think the lyrics retell the story of Paradise Lost chronologically or in its entirety, but I think quite a few of the songs talk about Satan or aspects of his character (of course, they might be about specific people, as a kind of comparison with Satan, but who knows), or indeed the way in which he related to mankind in the Fall (Eve of Seduction in particular). Other songs, like 'Paradise Lost', 'Sacrifice' and 'Revelation (Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia)', seem to me to refer to different cases of people grappling with the struggle between good and evil (and with temptation) in specific situations. I'm not sure about the other songs. It seems that as an album it's not such a specific concept as one might expect given the title (i.e. a retelling/synopsis of PL by Milton), but kind of uses the themes from Paradise Lost to refer to real life.

What I also find interesting is the album's link with the song 'Divine Wings of Tragedy', which seems to me to be loosely based on Milton's other work, Paradise Regained.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Quality post and taste in music.

 

[bostjan]

Questions:

Does Paradise Lost have connections to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft? If so, which works in particular- or is it just stylistic?

 

[EyeballKid]

Huh, if it does have connections to Lovecraft, I am blind to them. See the posts above: Romeo based a lot of the album on John Milton's "Paradise Lost".

I'm not familiar enough with Lovecraft's work, though, so it is a possibility. Just nothing I've heard from the band about it.

 

[bostjan]

In a fan club chat on March 18, 2006, Michael Romeo, the lead guitarist and writer, said that the album will be "a bit darker—the direction is still the same—for the most part," and went on to say that "the classical stuff was getting to a point were we need to evolve the music a bit. There is still a lot of classic influence in there—not as obvious as '[Out of the] Ashes', say." He went on to suggest that there may be a song or songs on the album themed around the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and that there would be "A BIG tune on here … Paradise Lost is the theme as of now," lending rumor to the title of the album.

I realize it's old information, but I was wondering about the relationship of the finished work with H.P. Lovecraft's works. Seems that the style of the album draws more from Lovecraft than Milton, although the content is heavily derived from Milton's Paradise Lost (thus the titular connection and above reference, which seems very obvious to me).

 

[Horus]

Paradise Lost is a Theme album. Not a concept album.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Harris, go type "theme album" into wikipedia. And before anyone goes "ZOMG WIKIPEDIA IS UNRELIABLE", go ahead and feel free to fuck off.