The ending to Still Life?

[The Dude]

"Revlon round her neckuh, Merrinda refrecshararaaaaaa!"

 

[affinityband]

Tool sort of convey something that is sort of pure anger, in its music and and lyrics, without describing his anger directly. i love it.

 

[Longinus]

Oh really? They arent very subtle in decribing his (lets face it) anger.

I sitll love the lyrics though and I think Lateralis is one of the best concepts ever.
I just find it weird that Tool is so against L. Ron Hubbard (sp?) even though they are saying the same damn thing (think for yourself) .

 

[ChrisEmerson]

Uhm..

the guy returns to his hometown (or village) after 15 years to get back to melinda.

The Moor is the prologue. Godhead is about him seeing her first. Benighted is probably an ode to her. Moonlapse is an observation of the town. Face of Melinda is about them meeting. SPD is aobut Melinda getting her throat slit (what the hell could 'red line around her neck' indicate?) . Then he goes on a killing spree indeed. Eventually they find and hang him. Only then does he realize that he can be with melinda again (or so I would assume, would make a good twist since the album deals a lot with religion).

i agree with this interpretation. Except isnt moonlapse vertigo more of the religious people in the town chasing him when they recognise him? Rather than just 'observation of the town'

There is no 'love making' or morning after stuff like that other guy said as far as im aware. They just catch the 2 meeting at night and slit her throat right in front of him, so he goes on a short killing spree.

 

[Longinus]

Ah yes, i think I remember Mikael posting somethign like that when talking about M Vertigo.

 

[FUBAR]

I thought the guy returned and met up with Melinda but he didn't realize that she had a sex change and now goes by the name Jack Frober, then the guy goes on a killing spree

 

[ChrisEmerson]

jack frober is of course such an obvious part of the story, he doesnt need mentioning. Anyone who doesnt know who he is really needs to look through the lyrics again. its quite obvious.

 

[Regulator]

I think after Face of Melinda they go out into the woods or something and make love. The next morning they are awoken by the towns people who slit Melindas throat. When the guy sees this he goes nuts and starts killing everybody but they eventually stop him, take him back to the town and hang him.

 

[Ermz]

I always got the impression that she became a nun. That lyric, 'a harlot of God' always struck me as an indicator towards that. I think Mikael has attested to her being with some other guy in some interviews though.

 

[[KOTNO]Narrot]

mh, it doesnt really matter what exactly mike said about the story imo. i mean it's cool to know what he thought when he wrote still life but it's even better to have a personal version of the story imo ^^

 

[Longinus]

Wow, ugly boy strikes back with some japanophile writing

Anyway.. where do you read that they make love? Nothing in the lyrics support this.

I'd assume that in Face of melinda they talk and at sometime split and wnat to meet again next day.
The next day, he finds her dead. Considering the way Mikael writes, he'd still see her dropping on the fground. Maybe they killed her and put her somewhere so that the male protagonist would see her. or maybe just the villagers.

 

[[KOTNO]Narrot]

Wow, ugly boy strikes back with some japanophile writing

>> wtf? stop being an asshole all the time. you are asshole enough in the PoS thread. make sense...

 

[deliverance]

yeah seriously, the ugly boy thing died 5 years ago, looseanus, you're trying too fucking hard to be a hardass..at least when Trey is an asshole, it's not forced.

in conclusion...hang yourself.

 

[cthulufhtagn]

seriously, stfu longanus, moonie can you put the fear of god in him for us

 

[Eoghan]

Wow, ugly boy strikes back with some japanophile writing

Anyway.. where do you read that they make love? Nothing in the lyrics support this.

I'd assume that in Face of melinda they talk and at sometime split and wnat to meet again next day.
The next day, he finds her dead. Considering the way Mikael writes, he'd still see her dropping on the fground. Maybe they killed her and put her somewhere so that the male protagonist would see her. or maybe just the villagers.

I think you are wrong. Face of Melinda ends with her telling him she always loved him, then Serenity Painted Death begins him in a daze on this new information, possible having slept (by my side?) with her with the Townspeople rushing in (voices wake him out of his daze/sleep) with I can only assume swords ("Melinda reflected in Shafts") where they rip her from his embrace and slice her throat - red line roung her neck - and she falls to the ground, dead (met the earth in silence). He of course watches her die, but it sounds as though now she is released (clenched fist from her, the beautiful pain), mabye she couldnt stand going back to her husband with the protagonist (lets call him Sam) on her mind? He flips. He goes completly ape. "Hate took control, claiming my flesh, peircing rage, perfect tantrum - 'EACH AND EVERYONE WILL DIE AT MY HAND'" Now the villagers fight back a bit, which is why he is weak and torn when he goes down. So they take him away - cutting the song short - and hang him.

Now to me, Sam seems to be deformed or something, living in a town of purists, which is why they cast him out, and why they react so badly to him "shacking up" with one of their (i would assume most beautiful) women. Which is why I think they wear white for him, celebrating his death as a kind of Ironic opposite to usual hanging.

Thats what I got. Feel free to correct me!

 

[Ermz]

I don't think he'd be deformed. I think he's simply just anti-christian and a bit radical in those beliefs, whereas the town are religious zealots, hence why his eloping with Melinda is frowned down upon so harshly.

They wear white for him probably because they see his death as a sort of release for his (now) meaningless life.

 

[Eoghan]

I don't think he'd be deformed. I think he's simply just anti-christian and a bit radical in those beliefs, whereas the town are religious zealots, hence why his eloping with Melinda is frowned down upon so harshly.

They wear white for him probably because they see his death as a sort of release for his (now) meaningless life.

That would explain "Devoid of Faith" , but "Foul and Tainted", "Death Mask at Birth" (born with some ungodly feature?), "Fevered blood, ungodly freak, defiler" all seem like someone completly mishapen and impure (mabye not just of faith, but looks - still standing with the purost society here).

 

[Ermz]

I think they're just metaphors that he's using to give us a glimpse into the way that the villagers perceive him. 'Fevered blood, ungodly freak, defiler' could well mean that they see him as a demon as a direct result of his heretical beliefs.

You never know though... I just never pictured the protagonist as being physically deformed. Wouldn't make much sense that Melinda would like him then either.

 

[Eoghan]

I think they're just metaphors that he's using to give us a glimpse into the way that the villagers perceive him. 'Fevered blood, ungodly freak, defiler' could well mean that they see him as a demon as a direct result of his heretical beliefs.

You never know though... I just never pictured the protagonist as being physically deformed. Wouldn't make much sense that Melinda would like him then either.

Thats very true, and I suppose that the way the villagers percieved would "Scarred and beaten" and "Seethed and Spiteful" inside. You've swayed me, I am up to Moonlapse Vertigo (how appropriate... ) and I think that he is simply FAITH deformed, yet physically (relativley) perfect.