Viva Emptiness and Ghost of The Sun

Varg-

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Sep 1, 2003
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Hello fellas!
I have realized that all the lyrics on VE is a story itself, and a really good one. I cannot place the first title "the ghost of the sun" into this story though.
So my question to you is, what's 'the ghost of the sun' about and how does it fit into the story?
If you don't have the same the same theory as me, or none at all, so ask me what it is. It's pretty big and deep so I prefare not to explain if it's not necissary. I think you've got the same theory though. I don't think the lyrics fit together in another way then this...
However, over to you all!
 
Well, as I posted once already before a while ago, Jonas revealed his "understanding" of the lyrics of VE to a Finnish mag called Inferno. Now from what I gather, there is no concept, just many different environments that are tied together with subtle melancholy. At any rate, here it is.....again:
Ghost of the Sun
Song is about betrayal, but betrayal refers to way of life nowadays. The song tells about the feeling of loneliness, that might surprise you even when you're with people. The name of the song poits out to feeling yourself hollow. In lyrics there's also references to people, like lovers, that don't feel loneliness. Anders wrote the song, which for his part originated from sheer frustration. Daniel takes care of backing vocals since I can't growl anymore.

Sleeper
When I heard this song for the first time, I knew I should create a kind of horror story of it. I wanted the lyrics to be very desperate and telling of losing someone dear. And the song does end pretty sadly. A sort of feverish mood is dominating the song, and also it's quite chaotic.

Criminals
The chorus sounds a bit like material from Tonight's Decision album. Very Katatonia-like song. There's very intensive midpart in the song and after that there's returning to rhytmic stuff. I wanted the lyrics to tell a very creepy story with realistic language. Songs atmosphere has also a lot of fear and doubt in it. I wrote this song basically by myself. I'm not very good guitar player, but I can play music I like listening to.

A Premonition
This is the only Fred's song that ended up on the album. The message of lyrics is pretty clear. I left the ending unclear on purpose, so that listener don't know what a premonition is about. The song has falsely calm feeling.

Will I Arrive
This song is about religions, to be more exact, about a kind of cult. There's a rather clear message in the statement "I will never arrive". We used double basedrums in the songs coz we have wanted to use them for a long time. Mood in this one is pretty weird.

Burn the Remembrance
This is the only song that deals with love. Basically it's about relationship that has died. When you split up with someone, you might say "surely I'll miss you" even though you don't mean it. Daniel is testing Turkish percussions in the song.

Wealth
We wanted to make one song that you can mosh by. It'll great to play this one live. Some parts sound like Opeth, but so what. They also have parts that sound like Katatonia. Lyrics once again are about emptiness of life. You can lie on your couch and order everything you need from internet. The machines do your work and you don't even have to go outside. Wealth refers to Western world, where you can get anything within minutes.

One Year from Now
Anders got his inspiration from movie music. The song resembles music from police-series. The lyrics tell about uncertain future, as you might have guessed.

Walking by a Wire
This song has a good rhytm in it. When you're young, you evolve into person you are now. When I was young, I was pretty shy. I never wanted to be in limelights and hang with popular people. I kept aloof and only minded my own business. I missed drugs, booze and women. I had a view of deserted landscape, where long road is shadowed only by telephone line. The scenery came to my mind from my childhood.

Complicity
This is my personal favourite. It starts with piano melody and then has an exploding follow-up. The critique for Society continues in the lyrics. The phrase "I have no name" is a statement of what we are - no ones. Only names among millions. No one really cares about you or what you do.

Evidence
This is my song, which is favorite song of many people. The lyrics are about two people that are meant to be together. They do something wrong together. At the end of the song they depart and one of them is being caugth. Once again realistic language describing abstract complex things.

Omerta
Last minute composition, that I wrote just couple of days before the record was completed. The song ends so suddenly because the person of the story realizes that he/she is going to die. "Omerta" is a Sicily Mafia code for secrecy. "If I'll live, I'll kill you. If I'll die, your sins are forgiven." Mafia has always fascinated me and I like Sicily. Italy is very beautiful county.

Inside the City of Glass
Instrumental by Anders. Epic movie music, that has a lot of longing and feeling of doom. Fitting ending for the album. It also states, that there will be follow-up.
 
Ah... interesting. That really surprises me though, and I wonder if he's not hiding the deeper story from us. Or is it just a coincidence that all the songs fit together in a very sad, very good story? Hmm... I don't think so, don't want to think so :)
Interesting however...
 
Correct.

And however... I'm sure that Jonas just won't let us really know the concept on the album... or maybe he doesn't dare to tell us, it's pretty deep... however. It IS a concept.
 
i don't think there's a fused concept behind the album so that the lyrcis of every single song could make a story as a whole - realistic or not. Jonas himself has mentioned for a while everything on VE is kinda more abstract compared to other releases. sure Jonas is telling about real life stories in a way, keeping the balance with his imaginery thought-world though... i guess so.
and it seems to me that the subjects are more future- then past-related this time so i'm inclined to think Jonas have done some really deep, sarcastic empty and doomed-to-the-failure-of-today poems on this record, heh.
 
Demonspell is right. suppose Jonas was intent on telling his real 'Viva Emptiness'-story so he chose the indirect way of doing it, why should he simply share it with us now, i think it's really apparently hinted.
i like it so, concealed. that's the way everyone of us can find a part of himself in there, this makes it so special.
 
I think Jonas is smiling when he thinks of those who actually have realized the real concept. For me it's pretty obvious, not very hard at all, that he has hidden something.
But sure, every song on the album can be taken as an own lyric, and a really good one.
Nothing can change my mind concerning the concept, unless Jonas telle promis me that he reaaally didn't have any concept in mind at all, writing the lyrics for VE.

I think the album was much better, when I listened to it with the concept in mind. Felt very sad actually...
 
Varg- said:
I think Jonas is smiling when he thinks of those who actually have realized the real concept. For me it's pretty obvious, not very hard at all, that he has hidden something.

You should stop thinking that you're the person who most definitely knows the right answer. :) People can come up with concepts for non-concept albums, just as well as not realize some album might have one...
It's all just a matter of how you interpret the lyrics really. I don't think there's a concept at all.
If you think there's a concept in the album, well then there is, to you. If it makes the listening experience better for you then it doesn't matter if the artist intended to make a concept or not.
I don't think there's a concept...
 
I really don't think there's a definite 'concept' to Viva Emptiness in a sense of the word. Yes, there is a certain, underlying theme to the songs, a theme of sorrow. Like most of what I've heard by them (not everything mind, but enough!). The same can be said about Opeth albums except My Arms, Your Hearse and Still Life. There is - apparently - no definite concept per se, but a continuous theme that is in some way a concept in itself.

NP: Katatonia - Gateways Of Bereavement
 
TheFourthHorseman, You should notice that I said "I think"...
The thing is that me and some of my katatonia-friends have the same opinion about the concept without even communicate about it, and I really don't think it's hard to understand the concept...
The concept me and my friends have found out is really good, and it's really hard for me to see this concept just as a coincidence with the basic text.
I am really surprised seeing that no one else has found this out.
I have spoken to others, that are interested in the lyrics as well, and they have concepts all of them, but some differs from mine...
However.... if you're interested, I might show you my concept...
 
Varg- said:
what's 'the ghost of the sun' about and how does it fit into the story?
Ok, you buzzed enough, it’s time to tell you the entire truth. You asked for the definition of the song, and the meaning. Now this answer might seem a bit odd, but you’ve got to except this one, it’s the truth and nothing but the truth.
Explanation: Ghost of the Sun is about the shade on the other side of the moon and earth, looking at it in perspective of the sun. It fit's into the 24-hour theory. 12 hours light, 12 dark. This has everything to do with the rotation of earth. The sun can never look behind it's light, Gaia is round, nearly flatten on the poles. So if we all walk / travel fast enough, the sun, our god of light and growth, can never know one of us will exists. It can’t see us. Therefore it will think we have left Gaia. This same theory can be applied to the moon, our one visible moon, there are much more, near to Gaia and Sun as expected. But this is not subject in this writing, so I won’t tell you more about it.
where was I, oh, yeah, I don’t exactly know the rotation of the moon considering the perspective of the Sun. Sun, our god of light, warmth and creator of aurora borealis. But it isn’t impossible travel with the force of mind to from the dark side of Gaia to the dark side of the moon (That one moon that is only visible to human eyes.) and shapeshift into a not recognizable form of life
So, although we all think we ‘re not able to shapeshift and can’t travel as an energy form through space, the Sun isn’t aware of our thoughts on that. So it want’s to watch over us. That’s the entire answer.