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Mastodon – The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/Spiral Lyrics 17 years ago
I can't find out a direct reference to him going to Rasputin body. So I guess it is something implicit through the fact that the protagonist went to Khlyst era through the wormhole and now we face a death of a Czar. However, if you find out better evidences, please tell me, because these ones don't convince me.


Here we also find out what the Khlysts saw in our protagonists future (as explained in Quintessence) and the dangers that it involves:

"Don't stay run away
He has ordered assassination
Don't stay run away
The henchmen are gathered and waiting
Don't stay run away
Your role as usurper is found out
Don't stay run away
Tsarina has warned of the danger"


And then they get killed while trying to take down the czar:

"It's your own fault
That is what we wanted
It's your own fault
This is where we lay"


Now they must leave this world. However, when they try to do so, they find some problems in the way. Like some part of him doesn't want to leave this world. There are two souls (Rasputin's and the protagonist's) and part of Rasputin's doesn't want to leave that world.

"By the light of the moon
You must escape into the deep black of the night
Fight the devil inside
Enemies poison deep within my second sight
Wasting valuable time"


The following part I'm not going to comment. Unfortunately I don't have the sufficient knowledge of what happened to the real Rasputin (in real life, not in this tale) and his relation to the czar. But it seems the czar is usurped after, due the "shattered crown". I can't say if the "leave the czar to die" is a literal form or just figurative.


To end this part, it seems that Rasputin sacrifices himself to help our protagonist to escape through another wormhole:

"Spiraling up through the crack in the sky
Leaving material world behind
I see your face in constellations
The martyr is ending his life for mine."

submissions
Mastodon – Quintessence Lyrics 17 years ago
While in the Khlyst cult, they see our protaginists future:

"Opened his hand in my hand
Holding my eyes to the future
Hovering above myself
Letting loose the guided
Punching these holes in my head"


They see that his destiny is to find the "real himself". Like a inner search. He needs to let himself go, to relax, to go with the flow, to follow his heart. I'm not really sure, but it seems that "finding you" is both in a spiritual way (the mentioned inner search) but also in a physical way (he needs to get to his body again):

"Calling reason
Finding you
These wild hearts run
Even deeper
Burning through
These wild hearts run"

Previously it's like a superficial diagnosis and now they do a deeper one. He then let them explore the real Him. I can't explain this very well. It's like he frees his soul, his pure matter, the true himself, so the cult members can see better the future. The conclusion is the same as the previous "diagnosis", however it confirms the theory that he need to go back to "find himself", both physically and spiritually, just as explained before:

"Letting me free the quintessence
In fine mist
Opened his hand in center
Holding my eyes to the future
Letting loose the guided"

submissions
Mastodon – Divinations Lyrics 17 years ago
Here, the protagonist gets sucked into a wormhole and gets to the Khlysts, a russian sect:

"The wormhole is empty
The center of Khlysty surrounds me"



and appears in a middle of a ritual, like he was summoned by the cult members:

"The fire is dancing in the silvery sheet of breath
Black robe
Necromancing
Summon the soul of the spectre"



Note that the Khlyst were active in the late 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th century, which coincides with the time Rasputin was around (1869 — 1916).

submissions
Mastodon – Oblivion Lyrics 17 years ago
"I flew beyond the sun before it was time
Burning all the gold that held me inside my shell
Waiting for you to pull me back in
I almost sat the world in my sights"

This is pretty like the flight of Icarus. He went like an outer boddy experience but lost control and went drifting through the universe, leaving his body behind in the "real world", in our dimension.

submissions
Mastodon – Crack The Skye Lyrics 17 years ago
I think this one is an easy interpretation. With the name of the album, we easily get this music as a tribute to Brann's sister, Skye. There are some obvious parts like "Momma don't let them take her", "Please tell Lucifer he can't have this one". Of course this music fits in the rest of the story the album tell us, but imo it's really a metaphor to what happened to Brann and his sister.

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