| Dimmu Borgir – Kings of The Carnival Creation Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| In regards to what I wrote about "impotence of the once so perfect being": this seems to be only tangentially related to the rest of the song. Contemporary Satanism (as espoused by Anton LaVey) emphasizes strength and self-sufficiency (though not stupid and pathetic acts like killing someone to prove how evil you are), so, keeping this in mind when reading Dimmu Borgir lyrics, it makes sense to me that a song of theirs might argue that. | |
| Dimmu Borgir – Kings of The Carnival Creation Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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These lyrics make me think of mainstream religion: mainly, Christianity. Looking at them closely, a lot jumps at me to defend that interpretation: "Incarnated marvels simplified" - Religious doctrine tries to take something which is absolute and undefinable (god or gods or the universe) and make it into something like a human being with human wants and agendas. It claims that you can be a beacon of good by following these steps written down or listening to a voice in the whirlwind. "Impotence of the once so perfect living Erase and rewind" - This is interesting. It implies that humankind was once much, much better than this. Erase and rewind... so we should go back to this state? It's obviously talking about a time *before* most of humanity's history, so maybe... a primitive state? A time in which everyone looked out for themselves without relying on codes of morality that aren't really "moral" at all? The song might be coming back to this at the end. "In search for the guidelines to the gateways of sin through mires of misanthropy with wrath in mind" - The tenets of Christianity appear to argue for love and humility, but there's a truly dark undertone to a religion which will seriously condemn people who disagree with it to a pit of fire for all eternity. In short, it's not loving and humane at all; it's downright misanthropic, see: crusades, witch hunts, persecutions, etc. The Old Testament has a lot more "ugly" subject matter, but even the religion proposed by the nicer, cleaner New Testament seems subject to this criticism. "Consuming illusions made from hysteria and swallowed tongues Testimonial sufficiency declaring numbness of all perceptions" - Sadly, faith often becomes an excuse to not think or to ignore the evidence of one's world around them. The accounts of people in the Bible are taken as testimonies verified by the almighty being itself, bought by people who are basically lying to themselves. "Glance into the blackness hidden beneath your surface And enjoy the suffering, sanity drained in disrespect" - Accepting Christianity as written means, to some extent, becoming indifferent to human suffering. To be fair, people *usually* don't murder each other for being nonbelievers anymore, but being content in the knowledge that those who don't follow your path will suffer endlessly doesn't make you much better. "Left are the kings of the carnival creation Carrying out the echoes of the fallen" - As prominent and common as Christianity seems, it doesn't hold nearly as much political power as it did in the medieval ages. The very fact that I am able to submit this post which totally tears it apart and not become a social pariah means that the influence and splendor of Christianity has, in a sense, "fallen." "Sense the withering eternity as it fades away The ultimate graceless voyage of all times Only death will be guarding your angels, silently Cripples joining arms in clamour Institutionalized for the rebirth, the herd will be hunted" - Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. Is this a prediction of Christianity's eventual extinction? It does seem to argue that the followers of the Kings are actually rather weak and pathetic, relying on the authority of their numbers to win any battles. No offense meant to my fellow man, Christian or otherwise, but this is what I see the song being about. To be fair, more and more people are moving away from the whole "Fire and Brimstone" theology and to my knowledge most Christians don't actually wish eternal torment upon their neighbors. The true villains in this song are not members of the *herd*, but the *Kings*, after all: the people who know how twisted the whole thing is and who created this masquerade to make suckers and pawns out of people who might otherwise be decent and respectable. As for this song being about self-righteous people who think they're so good when they're not... well, that's an interesting interpretation and it certainly makes the song accessible from different audiences. However, the language here is so carefully crafted I think it's much deeper and more specific than that. Hope this helps and rock on. |
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