Flattening Of Emotions

I think the song talks about a person who is dissatisfied with his life and hasn't realized when and why did it begin to ruin, as the first two verses indicate: "Where is the person that could have been Who, what took over, when did the end begin".

Then, the pre-chorus warns us with a question: "Should we not prepare For the uncertain Mysteries of our life Of our destiny", inviting us to trust our intuition, perceptions and emotions, to reflect about them and the things we want to become, to be aware of all the things will drag us away from those goals.

"See things that are not there Intruding voices" I think this these lines talk us about the voice inside our heads that punishes us and try to destroy our confidence at the same time it distorts the image that we have of the life and ourselves, a voice that is fed by the unwanted interference of people out of our life.

"What went wrong to their Picture perfect life" Here, the cherised and now distant aspirations are referred for the first time.

"They once knew Flattening of emotions" The last two verses of the chorus gives us clarity about the things that happened, the disaster that is to ignore and supress our emotions until they become too difficult to bear.

And finally in the second stanza: "A mind shared by an uninvited stranger Which comes and goes as choose to appear", it is made another mention of the voice, the subconscious, who comes ocasionally to remind us how miserable we are, denying our feelings and emotions.

I think Symbolic could be the prequel of this song, who encourages us to trust our gut, before the disaster told in this song happens.

This thought is kinda simple, but I think it's about person that doesn't think about other people, he think he are only person in this world and that he is so perfect. Some beautiful day he's going crazy cos some reason and it's enormous shock to him.

I think there is something deeper or more complicated meaning, but that's just guess.

I visit this site every day, but decided to create an account specifically for this song. It is not about a sociopath or narcissism as previous comments suggest - for a simple reason - the whole text does not match this interpretation.

Chuck describes here perfectly the essence of schizophrenia symptoms, which can be a) positive (delusions, hallucinations): "See things that are not there / Intruding voices" "A mind shared by an uninvited stranger"

b) negative (reduced affect display ergo FLATTERING OF EMOTIONS)

Schizophrenia may develop slowly or occur suddenly. Its causes are still unknown to science: "Should we not prepare For the uncertain"

however, genetic dependence in receiving the disease is sometimes indicated: "Of our destiny"

Hell of a song. It's pretty self-explanatory, though; it seems as if the song is about denial, or 'flattening of emotions'.

Holy shit...this song has such a brutal energy to it. Wallamanage, I usually find your additions comedic, and worthy of the time they take to read them, but this song, nay, this ALBUM (Human) deserves more respect than the amount that you are giving it.

Anyways, I agree that this song is quite self-explanatory, that it is about denial, and having once lived a life that was so perfect, and then having it crushed with the movement of a metaphorical thumb...but even the fact that it is slightly simplistic detracts nothing at all from the fact that it is more insightful than most music that has ever been released (just like any other progressive Death song.)

The only real flaw I find in this song is the structure of the writing. It's a bit basic (verse;pre-chorus;chorus;amazing guitar solo/s;verse;pre-chorus;chorus;etc...). Despite this however, the message behind the song is very strong, and suits the album well.

it is about a "picture perfect" person who goes insane ("intruding voices").

it is about a "picture perfect" person who goes insane ("intruding voices").

it is about a "picture perfect" person who goes insane ("intruding voices").

To be me specific, I think it's about someone becoming a psychopath.

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