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Atmosphere – Became Lyrics 8 years ago
This song is definitely about one of Slug's friends losing his life to drugs, using the wolf as the metaphor

It's no surprise, I overslept
Put my boots on and climbed out my tent
I didn't see you
Assumed you were sleeping
Immediately started fire 'cause it's freezing

I can't believe we went camping in the cold
I'm in the wilderness standing in some snow
A late start but we can still catch up
You need to wake up
We should eat and then pack up

This beginning lays the setting and gives back story - slug sleeping late because it's so cold and they were probably up late. He feels that his friend must be oversleeping, too, but Slug wants to continue on with their journey (a late start, but we can still catch up)
The camping is a metaphor for life, perhaps going through a struggle and that's what the snow symbolizes



That's when I noticed your footprints
The snow's fresh and those have been put since
What, you already up making the rounds?
So, where you at now, you laid back down?

The breeze came and it stalled out the flame
While I went to your tent and called out your name
You didn't answer, so i opened up the flap
It's just an empty sleeping bag and your backpack

Slug saw his friend's footprints are fresh from the new snow and wonders where the friend is now. Slug, assuming he probably went back to rest, checks his tent to tell the friend to get going, but the friend is gone.
Slug doesn't know where he is or what he's doing, but the fire stalling out as he called his friend's name is symbolic of his friendship ending



I'm looking at your tracks and you took a couple laps
round the campground and hoofed down the path
I figured you'll return no concern
I'ma hold put and try to make this cold wood burn

He thinks his friend just went for a walk.
Hoofed down the path is foreshadowing the friend's transformation into a wolf
Slug wants to trust his friend so he's attempting to reignite their friendship but it's impossible when only one person is trying so the wood never lights again

The wind is blowing strong
Minutes rolling on
It's going on at least a half an hour you've been gone
It ain't right, start the paranoia
I left the campsite to go and search for ya

He hasn't seen his friend in an alarming amount of time and becomes worried, looks for him and tries to figure out why the friend isn't around like he used to be



I read the trail your feet made
Each step was deliberately placed
It looks like you know where it leads
But I see nothing but leafless, frozen trees.

He's searching for his friend in a place that he has never seen and doesn't know how to navigate, but it's obvious that the friend has been there before; symbolizing the double life of the friend that Slug is clueless about

About a quarter mile into the course
And another set of tracks appeared next to yours
From the North, it came outta the thick woods,
And those footprints belonged to a big wolf.

the Wolf and walking alongside the friend is symbolic of the friend's relationship with drugs; it doesn't take Slug long to realize that something is wrong in his friend's life/path



Trying to find service on my cell phone
I felt aight with my knife on my belt, though
I hope the wolf is intimidated by you
I wondered if you even knew it was behind you

Stalking ya, maybe watching ya
Waiting for the opportunity to hop on top of ya
Salivating wanna take you to the stomach
In the cartoons you woulda turned into a drumstick

Slug doesn't realize his friend has a relationship with the wolf so he thinks that the wolf is waiting for the opportune moment to viciously attack the friend
this is symbolic of Slug's denial of his friend's addiction.



And it gets about as bad as it goes
'Cause I noticed there's a new set of tracks in the snow
I understood, it doesn't look good
Your fan club doubled, now you've got another wolf

And the odds are in favor of the home team
Why'd you walk off all alone? where you going?
It ain't the right time to complain but
It feels like I'm trying to find your remains

Symbolic of the growing relationship with drugs and finding out more about the life of his friend the further he digs into figuring out what is going on with him and why they haven't spoken.



Your footprints grew further apart
I knew what that meant and it was hurting my heart
It means you started to run, so i did the same
Now my breath's looking like a steam engine train

And suddenly your tracks dip off of the path
And so did theirs
So my knife I grabbed
Into the forest, expect the worst
Adrenaline burst disturbed the nerves

The friend is falling deeper and deeper into addiction.
Slug thinks he will lose his friend to death so he is attempting to find him to know that he's safe, but he doesn't believe that his friend is okay and he wants to go save him from the wolves, get revenge, or, at the very least, protect himself



Fifty yards into the woods and brush,
It got so thick that it looked like dusk,
The air stood serene
Sober
Seemed like a good fifteen degrees colder

And I'll admit, hell yeah, I felt fear
The sound of my heartbeat was all I could hear
Looking at the snow it was plain and clear
There was a third set of wolf prints where yours disappeared

Slug is in an area he doesn't know and can't see through, scared that any of the wolves could get him, too, until he realizes that his friends footprints turn into wolf tracks, symbolizing that the friend has gone from hanging out with the wolfs (using drugs for fun) and has now turned into an addict, or a wolf.



I can't process I don't follow
It'd be easier to believe that you were swallowed
But no sign of death, no sign of struggle
No signs of blood no signs of trouble

Slug doesn't want to believe that his friend could fall into the lifestyle he did and believes death is more plausible than his friend actively using drugs and desiring it (no struggle)



And the wolves never stopped
The tracks kept going and I took off
So I don't know how your story ends
But, I know I'll never go into those woods again

Slug stops tracking the wolves, and his friend, because he doesn't want to continue to follow the same path once he figures out where it leads. He and his friend stopped talking and he doesn't know what's going on in the friend's life now, but Slug is saying here that he will not go back looking for the friend.



It's not that tragic, it's not a shame
You're not the hunted, you're not the aim
You just another dog with hunger pains
I was so afraid that you'd become the game
I forgot to worry about what you became

Slug is saying it's not that sad that his friend has become an addict because he didn't try to fight it, and it seems like the friend probably had a lot of future possibilities to improve his life but his "hunger pains", or need to escape, has caused him to be just another addict.
Slug verbally acknowledges that he was in denial of his friend's addiction and wanted to believe that he was forced into the lifestyle he chose that he never even thought the friend would be willing to end up an addict.

You're not hunted you're not the aim
You're just another dog with hunger pains
I was so afraid that you'd become the game

It's not that tragic, it's not a shame
You're not the hunted, you're not the aim
You just another dog with hunger pains
I was so afraid that you'd become the game
I forgot to worry about what you became

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