submissions
| Meshuggah – Glints Collide Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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For anyone interested, here are the lyrics to the stanza that was left out (before "Reincarnation trapped in a life span"):
"Disorder putting everything back in place. Chaos the obtainer of lucidity
Tranquility created by raging turbulence. Your solid note frequency out of phase
The fractals of your soul — by symmetry abandoned. Confusion calms your overheating mind
You're the memory no one ever had. You're the one thing you will never find." |
submissions
| Scar Symmetry – The Kaleidoscope God Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Just pointing out that the first chorus speaks of Hermitic philosophy. "As above, so below" is an axiom of said belief system that asserts what happens on one level of human existence happens on the others. Microcosm and macrocosm is a similar construction that connects small systems (microcosm) to larger ones (macrocosm) in the cosmos. "Anything [the speaker] visualizes" (microcosm) is also happening in the macrocosm of reality, or "tak[ing] place for real." |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Inside What's Within Behind Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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It seems like the speaker is evolving a new identity or that a new self is invading his mind. This "other me ... slowly taking over" is similar to the transformation in "Sublevels," only in this song there's more of a duality. The speaker's new self attempts to persuade the old self to abdicate, and despite some reluctance, the old self eventually accepts. The last two stanzas suggest that this self-within-a-self is not unique to the speaker, but that every person can feel the same struggle within themselves. To embrace the new self is to "put you in peace with mind." If schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder ever needed a theme song, then here it is.
As for the title, I think Haake went a little preposition-crazy. I could see "Inside what's within" being a kind of ultra-introspection that looks within the within, but the addition of "Behind" at the end? Yeah, I have no idea. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Sublevels Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This song has a very rhythmic, dream-like quality about it, and the lyrics suit the music well. The beginning of the speaker's dream has a quality of uncertainty about it, yet it successfully tempts the dreamer to probe deeper into his reverie. This all changes with the third stanza as the tempo increases and the vocals become frantic. His dream has become grotesque and violent as it pulls him into a new realm of self-consciousness. In this new state, he is completely paralyzed and undergoes a metamorphosis of the self, until finally he is able to return to reality and "[a]wake into the brightened day." Whatever change has occurred inside of him is the agent of a rebirth, and the tranquility of the music during the last stanza indicates he is at peace with his transformation. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – The Paradoxical Spiral Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The first line continues the theme of contradictions that runs through the album, and "the sewage of indecision, on which all sense of self is afloat," is a very vivid image. If "resolute in purpose its choking flow" refers to the sewage, then we're back to contradictions; other than all this, I don't see any separate meaning that can be extracted. The album is, after all, one long song; it would probably be best to interpret it all together. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Concatenation Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The speaker is struggling to free himself from the shackles of the physical self. This whole song seems to affirm the superiority of the conscious being, while lamenting the "stale organic cage" it must be kept in. The "plug me in line" is a plea for a reunion with the mind/soul, but in the end, his attempts to escape the body are futile. The last three lines show the inability of the mind/soul to break free as it fizzles out and succumbs to oblivion.
It's interesting to see all of the unvocalized parenthetical lines. Haake just has too many ideas floating around in that head of his, I suppose. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Disenchantment Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I'd just like to point out that, "The struggle to free myself from restraints, becomes my very shackles," is the greatest line I have ever heard/read in a song. That is all. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Terminal Illusions Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This and "Suffer in Truth" are the only lyrics written by Jens Kidman instead of Tomas Haake, but this one is more obvious. Nothing convoluted here; it's all pretty straightforward. Adherence to religion and belief in God is restrictive and illusory. To escape this self-destruction, we must place belief in ourselves and renounce our faith in a higher power. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Lethargica Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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It's a Lovecraftian monster bent on destroying mankind. Whereas "This Spiteful Snake" is clearly a metaphor for reality, the Lethargica may be a representation of death. Then again, it could very well hold no greater metaphorical significance, and may simply be Meshuggah's Cthulhu à la Metallica's "The Thing That Should Not Be." |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Suffer In Truth Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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The lyrics are somewhat nebulous (even for Meshuggah), but I think the greater objective of the song is to offer a glimpse into profound angst. The maddening truths of life cast the speaker into despair, and the "I see... unseen/I feel... unseen" part is the resulting nihilistic concession. It's interesting to note that this is one of the few Meshuggah songs in which the lyrics were not written by drummer Tomas Haake, but by vocalist Jens Kidman. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Beneath Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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"Beneath" seems to be a exploration of the subconscious. The sights seen are repulsive to the speaker – "the sickness in me," "a journey through disease," etc. Ultimately, the fundamental question asked is "What am I, this me beneath?" In other words, what is truly lurking beneath the surface self? This song seems to indicate that the answer may be unappealing. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Straws Pulled at Random Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I think the above poster somehow confused Meshuggah with Morrissey.
Anyway, going off of what's already been said: humanity is governed by the all-encompassing force known as Chance. Fate is arbitrary and indifferent, and cares not for human concerns. Our lives are subject to "destiny-claws"; we are torn from existence as if merely a straw pulled at random.
The anguish expressed over this sense powerlessness reminds me of a great quote from Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat":
"When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples."
Our rage is impotent; we are utterly unable to control or escape Fate/Nature/Chance. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Pravus Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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"Pravus" is Latin for "depraved." Keeping that in mind, the fourth stanza is likely the most telling: some people in our society (or perhaps mankind in general) have descended into moral bankruptcy, reveling in the harm they cause to others. The song's frenzied pace perfectly parallels the lyrical theme of malevolence. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – This Spiteful Snake Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I guess the simplistic explanation would be "life's a bitch," but Haake reminds us that it's much, much worse. Reality is a merciless monstrosity whose grip is inescapable. We are impotent subjects of Its callousness. Talk about grim.
It's a good thing Meshuggah's music is so cathartic, or else this would be kind of depressing. |
submissions
| Meshuggah – Dancers to a Discordant System Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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"Dancers" seems to continue the theme of powerlessness and the insignificant speck on the universe known as humanity as found in a song like "Straws Pulled at Random." This time around, however, Haake exposes the lie we have come to believe – that we are somehow in control. In actuality, we dance to the very system that suppresses us; we lull ourselves into complacency as we gleefully accept the great untruth – that we actually matter. The cosmic ironies that ooze from the last stanza are especially ominous.
It's a bleak Meshuggah song – go figure. |
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