| Metallica – Blackened Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I'm going to suggest something totally different here; well, the end result is similar, but I'm going to suggest a different cause for the beginning to the destruction. First of all, this album came out in '88 so this -is- entirely possible. I'm going to suggest that this song is about the movie Terminator (came out in '84) and that the song is essentially meant to be SkyNet singing the lyrics. Blackened Is the End Winter it Will Send Throwing All You See Into Obscurity Death of Mother Earth Never a Rebirth Evolution's End Never Will it Mend Never First of all, immediately as soon as SkyNet became self-aware, it launched nukes around the world in order to wipe out the vast majority of Humanity. So yes, it is about nuclear war, but nuclear war caused by AI. All the references to nuclear war/fallout refer to this, in my opinion. "Throwing all [we] see into obscurity" because nothing that humans have built will be relevant in the world SkyNet hopes to build. "Death of Mother Earth... Evolution's End", references to all -organic- life being extinguished. Fire To Begin [with the] Dance of the Dead Blackened Is the End To Begin [with the] Dance of the Dead Color Our World Blackened There are also a few lyrics I disagree with for the next part... "To begin whipping Dance of the Dead" I think is "To begin -with the- Dance of the Dead" which makes a lot more sense. I think this part is referring to the way Humanity attempted to respond to the SkyNet crisis but was unable, the AI already seeing them as dead, would interpret their struggles as a "Dance of the Dead". "Colour -our- World Blackened", if everyone is dead whose world is it? It's SkyNet's and the robots so they've chosen to colour -their- world blackened with the nukes SkyNet set off at the start. Think about any time you see the future in Terminator, it's a totally black wasteland. [Blistering] of Earth Terminate its Worth Deadly Nicotine Kills What Might Have Been This part refers to Nuclear war again. I think "Bustering of Earth" is actually "Blistering of Earth" which also makes more sense since "Bustering" is not a word and it clearly refers to the intense heat of nuclear warfare "Blistering" the Earth. "Deadly Nicotine", I think either refers to the smoke from nuclear fallout, or perhaps it refers to how Humanity became addicted to robotics and couldn't live without them despite the possibility that they would kill us all, much like smoking it's a ticking timebomb, death is gonna come, it's just a matter of time. Callous Frigid Chill Nothing Left to Kill Never Seen Before Breathing Nevermore Never "Callous Frigid Chill", machines are cold and callous. "Nothing Left to Kill", everyone is dead. "Never Seen Before", machines are a new life form, thus 'never seen before'. "Breathing Nevermore", the only 'living' thing left on the planet are machines which don't need to breathe. Fire To Begin Whipping Dance of the Dead Blackened Is the End To Begin Whipping Dance of the Dead Color Our World Blackened Blackened Opposition...Contradiction...Premonition...Compromise First part, same as above. The next part, when SkyNet became self-aware this is it's thought process. "Opposition...", refers to SkyNet's realizing that Humanity is it's true opposition, "Contradiction...", this realization contradicts it's original program which was to protect Humanity, "Premonition...", SkyNet realizes that Humanity will try to kill it if they realize what they created, "Compromise", after launching the nukes, SkyNet takes human slaves to build the terminator factories, creating a temporary compromise. Agitation...Violation...Mutilation...Planet Dies "Agitation...", refers to Humanity's response after the nuclear war, trying to fight back, "Violation...", the human slaves building terminator factories realize what they're doing and decide to rebel, SkyNet sees this as a violation of their treaty. "Mutilation...", to study humanity and be better able to kill them, SkyNet mutilates the human slaves in order to learn about Human anatomy. "Planet Dies", by now nuclear winter blocking out the sun has killed all the plants keeping the planet alive. Darkest Color Blistered [Up] True Death [Alive] “Darkest color/Blistered up”, here again I think the lyrics are wrong, “Blistered up” rather than “Blistered Earth”, refers to the fact that machines are dark and that they were “blistered up” from the charred earth because machines are made of metal and metal comes from underground. “True death alive”, rather than “True Death of Life” which makes more sense in a contextual sense and also for my interpretation because the terminators are “true death alive”. Termination....Expiration...Cancellation...Human Race Expectation...Liberation...Population...Lay to Waste “Termination... Expiration... Cancellation... Human Race”, a reference to the on-going war against Humanity, how their time on this Earth has “expired” according to SkyNet and how it would like to “cancel” the Human Race. “Expectation... Liberation... Population... [Laid] to Waste”, small lyric interpretation which makes more grammatical sense. This part refers to the Human slaves again, their expectation was that SkyNet would let them go after they did what it said, but instead they were “laid to waste”. See Our Mother Put to Death See Our Mother Die “See Our Mother”, Humanity is the mother of SkyNet, we gave birth to it. “Put to Death/See Our Mother Die”, SkyNet singing, referring to the way it put it's 'mother' to death. Smouldering Decay Take Her Breath Away Millions of [Her] Years In Minutes Disappears “Smouldering Decay/Take Her Breath Away”, Nuclear fallout and the lack of oxygen are choking Humanity, humans are still referenced as the “Mother” and so “her” is correct when referring to all of Humanity. “Millions of [her] Years/In Minutes Disappears””, another lyric change, also referring to Humanity as 'her', and “In Minutes Disappears”, refers to the loss of all civilization and history and evolution that Humanity has built over millions of years that was destroyed in the nuclear war. Darkening in Vain Decadence Remains All Is Said and Done Never Is the Sun Never “Darkening in Vain/Decadence Remains”, refers to the way SkyNet realizes it is still not perfect, it has darkened the Earth in vain in an attempt to save itself from Humanity, but in doing so has taken upon Humanity's decadence (By the way the meaning of Decadence is a deterioration, especially of morality or culture; decay; degeneration;) and so SkyNet's struggle to kill Humanity is in 'vain' because Humanity's values of war and murder are now a part of SkyNet. “All Is Said and Done/Never Is the Sun”, it's too late to save the Earth, the sun won't be seen for hundreds of years because of nuclear winter. Fire To Begin [with the] Dance of the Dead Blackened Is the End To Begin [with the] Dance of the Dead Fire Referring to nuclear war again, “Fire” either being the launching of the nukes (the order to fire) or the explosion afterwards. Is the Outcome of Hypocrisy Darkest Potency In the Exit of Humanity “Is the Outcome of Hypocrisy”, hypocrisy meaning professing a belief but not truly believing in it, and so 'fire is the outcome of hypocrisy' because Humanity was hypocritical to create a machine to 'defend' itself by giving it the capability of destroying everything. “Darkest Potency/In the Exit of Humanity”, potency definition: Inherent capacity for growth and development, the machines are the 'darkest potency' because machines and computers have an exponential capacity for growth and development compared to Humans and evolution which is known to have a geometric (rather than exponential) growth pattern. Color Our World Blackened Blackened “Colour Our World Blackened”, again another reference to nuclear war blackening the Earth. Well, that's my interpretation. You may not agree, but I think it fits the song perfectly and the timing (Album released in '88, Terminator released in '84) works too. |
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