Song Meanings

'Species come and go, but the earth stands forever fast
All rivers run towards the sun, but the sea is never full'

That's a quote from the Bible, if you didn't know, more specifically from the book of Ecclesiastes. I thought that was interesting for them to pull lyrics from the Bible.
 
Mantraschism said:
'Species come and go, but the earth stands forever fast
All rivers run towards the sun, but the sea is never full'

That's a quote from the Bible, if you didn't know, more specifically from the book of Ecclesiastes. I thought that was interesting for them to pull lyrics from the Bible.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was a pretty gutsy move on his part, especially back then.
 
egonomic666 said:
jotun is the norse word for giants jotunheim is the home of giants in norse mythology the song is a about how mankind is slowley out growing itself and how this will one day bring about our demise and the question of whether we can do anuything about it or if it is already pre decided
Click to expand...

*nods in complete agreement* I particularly like the very last lyrics : "Can we identify them as the flint buried in our reptile skulls or the time-bomb coded in our dna". That, right there clues you in more than anything else would, that human race will bring about its own demise and how inevitable it is, since it seems to be so much a part of its nature, much like a carefully encrypted DNA code. I also thought that Jotun was a very clever metaphor and analogy for the "huge numb buildings", the collosal skyscrapers...
 
As best as I can tell, In Flames songs are about one of two things: one is the "jester race", a dark depiction of humanity. The other is ego death. You can see how the attitude towards the concept has changed throughout the years, it's quite interesting in my opinion:

"we are entering dimensions behind space"
"the bare grip of thinking tranquillity"
"the tranquil pride that became the lie"
"at first I was scared, not used to murder's mind, but there was something beautiful, so powerful, definite, so divine"

Has anyone else come to this conclusion? Or am I simply applying personal meaning to open ended poetry?
 
introvoyeur said:
As best as I can tell, In Flames songs are about one of two things: one is the "jester race", a dark depiction of humanity. The other is ego death. You can see how the attitude towards the concept has changed throughout the years, it's quite interesting in my opinion:

"we are entering dimensions behind space"
"the bare grip of thinking tranquillity"
"the tranquil pride that became the lie"
"at first I was scared, not used to murder's mind, but there was something beautiful, so powerful, definite, so divine"

Has anyone else come to this conclusion? Or am I simply applying personal meaning to open ended poetry?
Click to expand...
Um...which song is that third one from?

Anyhow, you're wrong.
Early on they had a strong interest in astronomical topics. I think that's it. The lyrics on the first 2 releases (LS and Subterranean) don't feel like they worried to much about them.
Jester and Whoracle are the only albums where they really wrote about the Jester race, and yeah, it's a dark view of humanity but really I don't think it goes all to deep on TJR - more or less just "man will destroy himself," which is an incredibly creative concept for a metal band to come up with. On Whoracle I think it's more or less the same idea, but I think the lyrics are more thoughtful.
I actually like their early and later lyrics best (first 2 and last 2).

Furious George said:
I'm not so sure it is. R2R, to me at least, seems to mean that you have to change in order to surivive (but you've still changed). Which is something quite different from changing but still remaining the same.

Anyway, everything post Clayman (including Clayman) has been too introspective for my liking. Lyrics about feelings and personal struggle = :puke:

Whoracle's lyrics are superb; all dark sci-fi stuff.
Click to expand...
Too introspective? Didn't you post a rant a week ago about how awesome it is that AA have been having more introspective lyrics?
I enjoy the introspective lyrics, but it doesn't really matter to me. They fit better with the music and vocal style. All part of the package.
 
Artifacts of the black rain is about how man destroys themselves from the view of one person (the silent warrior LOL).

I will now break this song down verse by verse:

Stood there leaning to the city moon,
casting silhouettes tall to grip her white rooms
the black-clad voyeur in his black-clad masque
in the serpentine sun of tragedy basked


Ok, so basically the man stood there seeing the empty buildings and decaying structure.
The serpentine sun bit seems to have to do with Global warming and how we are causing it (The heat has destroyed the earth and it is our own fault)

Stood there cursing at the soul-dead mass
with their fabled illusions, the vain dreams that passed
splinters of a life rushing by in the whirl
alone, silent warrior in a fantasy world


Alright the soul dead mass he speaks of would be his fellow humans and he is angry at them for their foolishness.
Their fabled illusions of technology and the vain dreams that passed would be their thirst for things that have destroyed the earth.
The lone silent warrior feels alone in this post apocalptic world that mankind has made (fantasy world)

He cried for night / but night could not come
so, swept in the shroud of misanthropia he went away
and fed the empty galleries
with the artifacts of the black rain
sunken into the shadows with a dry, sardonic smile

When he cried for night it means he cried for darkness, death, peace, etc.
He was swept in his hatred for man and filled the empty structures with what was left of his life, ie. his belongings (the artifacts of the black rain). He calmed himself in the dark of w/e empty structure he was within and grinned to himself at the humility of mankind.

He made the footprints a part of his heart
to rouse a sacred confrontation


As he walks through the empty area he watches his tracks in hatred of what has been done.


Stood there carving on the monument to lies
digging of the Earth, making friends with the soil
as the all-mother rises and bares her bleeding thighs
he disappears into her cold, icy womb

The monument to lies may or may not be the statue of liberty.
He digs his own grave and relaxes as he prepares to die.
As he begins to slowly fade away *(die), he disappears into the cold dirt walls that are his own grave.
her bleeding thighs= the destroyed earth



More or less this song is about a person who witnessed mankind destroy themselves with their thirst for power and something similar to the apocalpyse or rapture, or possible nuclear devastation of the earth, and the few people alive are either the damned or the ones left alive.
The man feels a deep regret in his own species and is ready to die from the depression that his fellow man has caused him.

Hope i helped someone LOL
 
any one on cloud connected i think its about people in religon and then he finds it himself. then he preeches about how people fail at it but i cant figure it out someone should do it for me haha im so lazy
 
Lately i have been really facinated by this song (Free Fall), and i am trying to get a meaning out of the lyrcis, but it's hard, since i am not good at it :p So far i think its about realising that life is much bigger than it seems, but im not at all suree if thats it :S Can some of you guys help me? :)
Regrets
 
Nothing Post-Clayman is particularly difficult to work out, fairly simply written introspective lyrics about lost love, struggles with society, etc. Most of TJR/Whoracle's lyrics are only difficult because I don't think In Flames really knew much about what they were writing about, Anders has already gone on record as saying they just used big words to make the lyrics sound more impressive. Their lyrical peak, as well as musical, was Colony/Clayman, everything has been in decline since then (though there was a steep dip in STYE before rising slightly on CC/ASOP).
 
Though the lyrics aren't really interesting, I think The quiet place atleast is one of the best IF songs ever, and the video is fun to watch sometimes. :lol:
 
TQP is one of In Flames best attempts at writing a commercial song that high school kids can pretend to be metal to. It's not one of their best pieces of music, though. Not by a loooooooooooooooooong shot.
 
Colony - Reroute have impressive lyrics imo.
STYE and ASOP have pretty childish lyrics.
Come Clarity is kind of "emo" but there are some good highlights. Vacuum is amazing for an example.
 
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