Still Life Confusion

Revolvo

My Arms, Your Jesus
Jun 20, 2007
2
0
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Lancaster, PA
Hello all,

I am a very big fan of Opeth, They are basically all i listen to on my 45 minute commute to work everyday. I have been a fan of theirs for a few years now, and have listened to each of their albums countless times. I am running into a problem however. I read the lyrics followed the story behind the album still life; the atheist being banished, returns to his crush who turns out to be a nun. They hang out for a night and she gets her throat slit in front of him. He goes on a killing rampage, and collapses from exhaustion. He dreams of angels in white cluster then awakens to his noose being tightened. Then melinda grabs his shoulder... I Wikipediaed this albums concept, and i still don't understand.

Is Melinda actually alive, did she not die from the throat slit. Or is it all a big dream? Someone please clarify this for me.

Thank you

Sotiri
 
Uh, the townsmen discover the banished man and Melinda together, so they slit her throat, and after a short struggle they capture the man (Serenity Painted Death), they hang him in White Cluster.

There some more info in the FAQ about this, and loads more if you do a search.
 
It's funny to see how people can dig deep into something and pull out basically anything, just vague enough to make some sense for what they want to believe. I gave it a shot earlier this year at deciphering the storyline, but took a more direct approach, reading and interpreting basically what the lyrics actually say instead of a hidden meaning. Check it out here.

A little backstory. I wrote this for Maelstrom but also doubled it as a paper for ENG101 - got 100%. Enjoy.
 
Yeah. To be honest, I don't know where a lot of people get these concept stories from, because they're surely not found in the lyric book. Either way, posting someone's version of it here seems to ruin it all - take from the book it what you can and use your own imagination to do the rest.