Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space

This track is great.

I think Keith is talking about the futility (and anonymity) of dissidence and insurrection, and the hipocrisy of those in power (and the public) in making them martyrs once they've killed (and ignored) them. I could be wrong though.

"We're the last of the lost, but now we are the first of the fashionably late." - I absolutely love this line.

Oh, and I think the lyric you're missing after "wide eyed, brilliant" could be "tie them in rags".

Keith said himself that this song is about fighting against his own perception of what life should be like, questioning his thoughts on where he should be at various stages of his life in comparison with the people he knows.

Just a lyric correction. Its Let boredom cease the beating of our purple heart rather than what is there currently

"I want to be dead with my friends"

ETID should die and be held in the same esteem as defunct hardcore legends like Refused (VERY recently reunited), The Ghost of a Thousand, Anti-Flag, etc.

"A vulgar loud unforgettable end"

The nature of hardcore music. Loud, vulgar, and unforgettable.

"...purple hearts."

Likely refers to the Purple Heart, given in the military to those wounded or killed. This, in relation to the genre, says that these hardcore bands tried and tried, but they didnt "make it" - the industry or population neglected them or their message, and they died.

"Against this even gods fight violently in vain"

Even big names of the past cannot penetrate the music industry when the Lil Waynes and Katy Perrys of the world are artificially catpulted into the mainstream. Limp Bikzit, Blink 182, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarder, Third Eye Blind, Rage Against the Machine - all great rock bands that dominated 10-15 years ago, all together or reunited, none can hit the highs that the creatively owned pop princes(ses) do.

"We're the last of the lost, but now we are the first of the fashionably late."

They are part of a dying breed of hardcore bands, but when they die/end/hiatus/label drops/descend into irrelevance (hope not) or whatever else, they will join their "brothers" who have come and gone. The peak of the hardcore scene was not any time in the past decade, so arguably the speaker is pining for it and wishing to join them.

"I refuse to be the only man put to rest in a mass grave. You were all there with me."

Clearly a calling out to all the other amazing hardcore bands that are now defunct, pioneers of a genre whose heyday came before ETID could help it out. They will all die together, figure of speech.

PS ETID is not breaking up or ending any time soon, but the song is clearly flirting with the idea of the death of the group.

"We made the scene when we made a scene And though it was brief, it meant everything."

They began a long time ago and I'd say ETID exploded long before this record. This alludes to that. The scene is bluntly obvious - the hardcore scene. It meant everything to them.

"Oh what a pity, now they're bound to make us saints."

When the band is done/dead, like many artists, they will be held in much higher esteem than during their life.

This new album just goes to show that every hardcore band should have an English Major writing their lyrics. Keith Buckley gets better every album. I would love to see Keith and Daryl Palumbo from Glassjaw get together sometime, that would be one absolutely awesome collaboration.

Such an amazing band, man. Finally got to see them live yesterday at Warped Tour, and I was stoked to hear this track.

i'm not really a fan of this band. they're a little too metalcore for my tastes (i'm more into artsy punk/hardcore), they're not so adept with constructing melodies, and they lay down the testosterone a little too heavy for me to be able to relate. really, it's sort of like modern hair metal; a more poetic axl rose.

however...

...it's rather obviously an anti-war song, is it not? how come none of you got that?

You know Im not a musician by any means but I will always remember Kurt Cobain saying that every song has a different meaning to every person and to me every single line of this song speaks, nay screams, literally and figuratively volumes.

I was and am a soldier. I fought in more firefights than I care to remember and lost more best friends than I most people have in a lifetime.

I want to be dead with my friends

Speaks of survivors guilt. Wanting desperately to be dead with your friends because it should've been you that stepped on that IED or took that round but you were two steps away or right behind instead and witnessed your best friends mangled bodies first hand lost in an instant without warning at all.

Where the Iron sharpens the Iron

This line speaks volumes to me. War. The truest and unequivocally most absolute test of physical and mental ability in the history of the world. where literally the metal meets the metal and the victor emerges. Quite literally the shit of legends. Referring back to wanting to be dead with your friends, the only way to enter into Valhalla where scores of worthy warriors await you for all eternity.

When boredom sees the beating of our purple hearts, Against this, Even gods fight violently in vain,

Those wounded in combat are awarded purple hearts for their service. More than one friend now fights violently in vain of adjusting to a new lifestyle without limbs, dealing with paralysis from the neck down, blindness from having their eyes cut out by roadside IEDs and so on.

What chance could we have stood? We're the last of the lost, But now we're the first of the fashionably late.

This also speaks deeply to me of the suicide epidemic facing vets that return home broken from back to back deployments for the last 12 years in what will come to be know as "the endless war". We are the last of our dead friends but were fashionably late to meeting them again in Valhalla. Many are the first because they chose to take their own lives when facing the monumental task of transitioning back to the Real , dealing often with divorce, financial hardship and the injuries of war either seen or unseen.

Loved ones decompose You'll dance around their bones Most of us are holy ghosts All of us are holy ghosts

Watching as you see your friends die one by one, many by their own hand. Attending funerals yearly while trying to keep yourself together and not end up in the same place. You dance and celebrate their lives every memorial day, trying to live your life to the fullest to honor them all the while knowing that you're already a ghost and that you died a long time ago or that you're waiting to get to the low point where suicide seems to be the only way out and you wonder how many times you can pull yourself up out of that pit again. How many more punches can you roll with until there's just no more fight left.

We made the scene when we made a scene And though it was brief, It meant everything.

Fighting in battle is the crowning achievement for a warrior. To quote Harvey Dent,'You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." We fought and died together, it was brief but glorious and horrifying all the same and it literally meant everything to you. As if your entire life had been to prepare you for that glorious moment in the sun, put to the test and you passed by coming out alive.

Oh what a pity, Now they're bound to make us saints. Against this, even (boys) fight violently in vain, What chance could we have stood?

Oh what a pity, that we survived and couldn't return to Valhalla with our honored dead. Now their bound to make us saints. Civilians celebrating our sacrifices and scars, making us out to be honored and saintly while not knowing the atrocities of what we've seen or had to do to survive. We,(boys) repress the anger we feel and fight in vain to be understood but are often met with confusion, pity and hate instead by those who have not experienced what we have. What chance could we have stood, coming home with to a society that only praises the killer while there's a war to be fought but then shuns them during peacetime leaving us to die from our demons. What chance indeed.

We're the last of the lost, But now we're the first of the fashionably late. I refuse to be the only man put to rest in a mass grave. You were all there with me.

Once again were the survivors but counting down the time until we can arrive fashionably late to see our brothers again in Valhalla , if we are found worthy. I refuse to be the only man put to rest in a mass grave, speaking of being one of the few warriors buried among the graves of those who did not answer the call. You were all there with me speaking of the almost supernatural bond between warriors on the battle field and the remorse we feel from being without that anymore.

As I said, Im sure this was not the intent of the artitist, or maybe it was but either way. It speaks volumes to me. Til Valhalla.