Still Life questions

[TheMindzI]

OK u can call me a newbie or whatever (like u needed my authorization..) To get started.. English is not my native language so I probably miss significant parts of the lyrics because of this.
Here we go..

"Melinda reflected in shafts
Red line round her neck" (from Serenity Painted Death)

Ok she's dead.. they hung her? They cut her throat? Probably "shaft" is the magic word here. Having hang her seems more reasonable to me but I'm not quite sure.

"Choking in warm ponds of blood
At last, weak and torn, I went down" (from Serenity Painted Death)

It's him choking, right? He's dead too.. or is it Melinda again?
I guess it's him, but some kind of confirmation would be great..

"Hangman, clutching at his tools
I will come for you
The noose is tied" (from White Cluster)

Argh.. it's getting more complex.. so who's hung?
Probably the throat-cutting theory is off question.. but it's still a "probably" there

"Cloak-captured sighs of relief
As the primal touch brought me back
And the last sight I did see is still here
Beckoning right behind me" (from White Cluster)

How the story ends anyway? OK they're both dead in a way (but which?).. is there anything else going on after that?
I guess that's all for now.. hope u guys are better than me.. c'ya around

 

[Pierced Spirit]

Im just guessing here dude, but:

Serenity Painted Death deals with Malindas hanging and White Cluster deals with his hanging.

 

[_bRAVADo_]

I believe that Melinda is not dead....

Just check on the next songs (especially Face of Melinda) and you can see that everything was just a bad dream.

The guy (Whoever) had a bad dream and went to his adored one, telling her the truth.
Now Melinda is a Nun and thats the problem. No Love beyond this line !!

In the last song (White Cluster) he is hung...you guys already know why. Nuns have no fun !! King Diamond ...

Thats MY Version of the story. Just Fiction. Anyone got other ideas ??

 

[Hail Eris!]

When I first came to this forum I figured Its main purpose would be the discussions of Lyrics or something.. It isn't. I'm addicted to it nonetheless. Anyway, Here's what I think....

Melinda reflected in shafts - I don't know what he means. Maybe...they(villagers) grap Melinda and he cacthes only glimpses of her as they pull her through the crowd.Or, maybe his memories of her at that moment are 'reflected in shafts'

Red line round her neck, Met the earth in silence-- they got her, slit her throat, and she falls to the ground silently.


Choking in warm ponds of blood
At last, weak and torn, I went down" -- he tears into them, killing the people who just killed Melinda; blood is going everywhere. They overcome him and capture him.

"Hangman, clutching at his tools
I will come for you
The noose is tied"

They have captured him and thrown him into a cell. At the end of serenity painted death 'came with the moon..etc.' he regains conciousness and finds himself in the cell ' Starlit shadows on the wall"...... White Cluster begins with the next morning..and the last day of his life. ... Hangman is getting his tools( the rope and gallows)ready.... I will come for you- Talking about meeting Melinda in death ( I believe) .....The noose is tied- the hangman puts the noose around his neck, the crowd mumurs.


Cloak-captured sighs of relief
The townspeople sigh in relief as he hangs

As the primal touch brought me back
Death is bringing him back.....Hes dying, dying, dead.

And the last sight I did see is still here
Beckoning right behind me"

I think he see's Melinda in the Afterlife. Or, The last thing he see's is the events of the Album...and thus the title Still Life...as if he can look back on it, frozen in time...always right behind him.



Notice that the music on Still Life fits perfectly with whats going on for the protaganist. Examples...The Intro of Serenity Painted Death perfectly creates the atmosphere of panic. He wakes up to find Melinda no longer in his arms and people all around him. Panic.

The ending of Face of Melinda...after Melinda says " My promise is made but my heart is thine" ...The music till the end of the song is filling in while the protaganist and Melinda make love together and fall asleep.


We'll, that's what I think.

 

[Sadistik]

Eris, your ideas sound pretty good...it's a complicated issue though
We all agree that he was banished by "the council" 15 years before (Mikael said the Council represents Christianity). He returns to find Melinda, but the council knows he's coming back, and may bring their deeds to light (Their deeds smeared in blood-and then the part -they must have sensed my coming). My feeling is that they know he'll return for melinda and use it as a trap....then your interpretation fits well from then on.

I think it's cool that its a concept album with no clear interpretation, that's abstract and reflects many different sentiments simultaneously.

 

[_Transparent_]

wierd, i woke up this morning and listened to still life, all of it except white cluster (i didnt have time)

anyway i always saw it as Eris said, hmn about this nun buiness, um, she sworn her vows to another (um god perchance or man? god me thinks) as this is when, no-one would bother (she is a nun and no one obviously can have her.

anyway more to the point, we all know about the cut off at the end of serenity painted death BUT i wanted to research into this so this morning i put the volume up really loud, played around with the speaker balance and but the bass and treble up high. now listen to the end, i can swear that from about 10 seconds till the cut off you can hear a voice say something along the lines of ''searching this... can you hear it? i think its just the guitar wierdly sounding like a voice, anyway take a listen.

 

[TheMindzI]

@_bRAVADo_ : SPD and Cluster are the last two songs.. she's still alive in Face of Melinda, that's for sure. But she dies on the next song. About that nun story.. hmm.. I just think she's married to another guy but she still loves the protagonist. "My promise is made but my heart is thine" Promise = marriage.. well.. that's how I get it.

@Sadistik:I've never thought of that trap theory.. hmmm.. I'll probably have more questions after that thread

@Hail Eris!: "he tears into them, killing the people who just killed Melinda; blood is going everywhere." That's something I've never thought of before.. but I still think he's choking in his own blood and he's still struggling.. but in the end he goes down, weak and torn by his wounds and effort. All other points, I totally agree with you.

Thx to all the guys giving their version of the story.. and everyone that will..

 

[Lostboy]

I am a bit short in material to add to the subject, except that I can be pretty sure that Face of Melinda is a dream. The very first line in the following song, SPD, is "Returned from a hibernal dream." This would explain the discrepancy in the story as this song seems not to fit into the plot so cleanly. Can anybody elaborate on that for me?

 

[Hail Eris!]

I don't think it is a dream. He meets Melinda by the Turnstile, they say what they been wanting to say...

" Words would falter to Atone, the failure passed the stepping stones"

Words couldn't do justice to what needed to be said. The failure was that she was married...the steping stones is like the point of no return.

But " still I plot to have her back" Despite her being married and him being banished and all he still plans on getting her.

"This day fell the darkness nigh" The sun has set...the end is near. This is there last night together.

Then ... "He takes her by the hand to say....all faith forever has been led astray, I returned to you in great dismay, come with me far away to stay" He's telling her this directly ....

Then

" Endlessly gazing in nocturnal prime" - she looks up at the night sky for a while taking in what he just said.

" She spoke of her vices and broke the rhyme" - She finally starts talking about all the reasons she shouldn't go with him.

"But baffled herself with the final line, my promise is made but my heart is thine"
Despite all the reasons she tells herself for not going, in the end she says yes she'll go away with him....Her promise -shes married but her heart is his.

Then they make love while the songs ending and as the music fades they accidently fall asleep. Then he wakes up at the beginning of Serenity painted death with her no longer by his side..ripped from his embraced

 

[Lostboy]

Ok I see what you mean about Face of Melinda. I pieced sme more information together from different sources and it does seem that that scene was real.
One thing that I studied carefully, however was the line in SPD-

Ripped from my embrace
Melinda reflected in shafts
Red line round her neck
Met the earth in silence

The line "Melinda reflected in shafts" seems to display some ambiguity. I have two ideas about what this may mean.

The one that seems to make more sense is that this is Akerfeldt's tactful way of describing her being raped by the captors. Think about the use of "reflected in." The other offer is that she is being attacked with swords, and her image is being reflected in the shafts of the swords. The only thing that would turn me against this one is that the red line 'round her neck would indicate that she was being strangled instead of stabbed. But if she was being ravaged by the townspeople, this would even further provoke his actions as he attacks the townspeople. Any ideas on that?

 

[TheMindzI]

I don't think they'd rape her.. They are ppl of god.. they just wanted to punish both Melinda and the guy, but anything instead of just killing them seems absurd to me. Christians don't rape or something because they want to go to heaven.. they just kill.. killing ppl isn't bad anyway I guess u got my point..

 

[eddieslittlegirl]

this is my second week of STILL LIFE so this is very interesting to hear. would someone elaborate on BENIGHTED.

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

Let's put this thing I wrote to use, here's my interpretation of the album:

The main character (let's call him Bob) was banished from his town (for religious reasons I believe) he's been gone for fifteen years and he decides to return "Fifteen alike since I was here" He's returning for his love, Melinda. That is the moor basically, his journey back home.

Godhead's Lament to me is about him returning and the looming threat of being caught "Red eyes probe the scene, Searing beams tracking you down" blah blah he's considering staying, maybe no one will figure out it's him or something. "what would they care if I did stay" He sees Melinda in the end of the song, She's in pain and in the gleam in her eyes, he knows she sees him and her pain is alleviated.

Benighted
They lose theirselves and their worries in each other, i'm assuming they have sex . They have a beautiful night together and forget all their troubles and lives, quite beautiful.

Moonlapse Vertigo
Seems to be his reflections on those who cast him out of here, "the council of the cross" most likely the church and authority of here, He goes on about them, they are on to him, he has little time left, he'll need to leave soon

Face of Melinda
He describes Melinda and her plight, she is in an arranged marriage with someone, He proposes they leave the town together to be with each other forever. "My promise is made but my hearttt isss thine" (I love that part) she is agreeing to his proposal.

Serenity Painted Death
He awakens the next day hearing booming voices, Melinda is gone, bloody line 'round her neck, she falls dead to the ground. He sees her corpse and loses it, he goes berserk and kills all of them, the ones who killed Melinda for breaking her arangements.

White Cluster
He didn't get away with it, he probably has lost the will to live by now anyways. The noose is 'round his neck, he's looking at all the people wearing white, talking about him. He is hung and dies, the last line stanza can be taken however, maybe the last moment of his life is frozen in time, to be experienced forever "still life" whatever.

 

[Hail Eris!]

Originally posted by Oyo
Let's put this thing I wrote to use, here's my interpretation of the album:

The main character (let's call him Bob)

This was the only time you refered to him as bob.


Good interpretation.... Kind of changes my prespective on Benighted and Godheads lament.... In Moonlaspe Vertigo I thought he goes into the town or out amoungst them "My presence blackens their patterns, A pock in the healthy and calm"

 

[TheMindzI]

Originally posted by Oyo
Godhead's Lament to me is about him returning and the looming threat of being caught "Red eyes probe the scene, Searing beams tracking you down" blah blah he's considering staying, maybe no one will figure out it's him or something. "what would they care if I did stay" He sees Melinda in the end of the song, She's in pain and in the gleam in her eyes, he knows she sees him and her pain is alleviated.

Benighted
They lose theirselves and their worries in each other, i'm assuming they have sex . They have a beautiful night together and forget all their troubles and lives, quite beautiful.

Well.. you've got a significant part wrong.. the guy meets Melinda for the FIRST time after all these years in Face Of Melinda. And I can't quite get into Benighted. I think that's the only song I've got real trouble getting into..

 

[Hail Eris!]

Originally posted by TheMindzI


Well.. you've got a significant part wrong.. the guy meets Melinda for the FIRST time after all these years in Face Of Melinda.

Yeah, that's what I thought....but what the hell is benighted about?

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

Maybe i'm wrong. But who else would he lock gaze with and say good things about, since "There is no forgiveness in these eyes, for any of you, but one."

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

Yeah I kind of forgot about the Bob thing and forgot to call him that. Benighted is about their first night together again. Someone else want to give their opinion on when Melinda and Bob first meet? It just seems to me they meet in the end of Godhead's Lament

Ok.. I really need to control myself and stop refreshing the page every four seconds and GO TO SLEEP
Bye everyone, i'll be sure to be on tomorrow.

 

[Sadistik]

I think I just figured out the last line in Still Life....I was sitting here thinking and...!

"And the last thing I did see is still here'beckoning right behind me"

This would be blackness and darkness because, as is par for course with hangings, he is wearing a hood ("Cloak Captured sigh of relief" means that his last breath is a sigh of relief at leaving this world behind, and he breathes it directly into the cloak, so that none hear it.")....AHA!

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

That sounds right Sadistik, very nice observation.