Soma

The person in the song is being changed to fit into a particular group in society (ie: brainwashing). The title "Soma" refers to a mood-enhancing drug in the prophetic book "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. This drug makes the user completely free from all cares.

"And I'll become the model citizen, And I will tell them all that I had this breakthrough surgery: they give you a pill, they remove your heart, and replace it with a battery"

This seems to be a sarcastic point of view of how you would be brainwashed, you would lose your heart and any remnants of your old self and become almost like a robot. Without human emotion, you would be happy, at last.

As a sufferer of a mood disorder, I've always related this song to the idea that psychiatry promises to curb our tendencies to be who we really are... how medication changes the way our brains function and therefore we somehow lose at least a little bit of who we are... back when i was very adamantly opposed to being (re)medicated, this was my anthem, because at that time i was very conscious to the idea that taking these medications that may or may not HELP me would bring with it a price...

In short, i feel that the narrator is lashing out against medicated states, and that he says no matter what he's going to be who he really is, and won't use drugs to help him along...

Good interpretations. This is clearly one of the best songs on Truthless Heroes, and maybe one of the best that Project 86 has ever made...

Yeah I'd agree about the "anti-medication" but add to it. He's been fighting against the grain all his life, never let him self get involved with any of the 'fads'. Wouldn't become another cog in the modern society's machine. But they kept fighting him, trying to make him conform. And at the end of the song something bad happens in his life, and the world helps me back.. but doesn't do it without a price. "If you you can amputate my heart Then I will learn to smile and then You can replace me with yourself And I'll become the model citizen And I will tell them all That I had this breakthrough surgery They give you a pill They remove your heart And replace it with a battery"

And thus.. another spokesperson for the mainstream world is born...

one of the heaviest hitting songs from Project86, definitely one that sends chills up and down my spine everytime it is on my headphones. These days it is not easy being someone who stands for an honest true belief (whether you make it God, Love, Honor, Faith, Joy, "life", a cause, whatever it is to you, as you.).

How many times have i been myself, and how many times have i been left fading away as it has been convenient to leave me, or let me go instead of learn to fight through, believe, hang on, work through it, etc. how often does the new generation click/change in a second instead of facing something and overcoming it (let alone if it comes from the heart or soul). everytime i get my heartbroken, everytime i wake up wondering why i am alive or why i should try to be "me" instead of something else - SOMA really kicks my head into gear wondering how i would live being a heartless, battery-ticking mask for everyone to enjoy.

one day. oh well, good song.

It's a satire on common society directed at those whom cant be themselves. it's probably a personal thing for Schwabb as well, a self-conviction that maybe he himself has fallen into a few times, but yeah, everyone should read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, it's chilling. Well written song. In Christ, The Happiness Salesman

"Fight Fight For a Tomorrow ((Fall)) to Stand Surrender to Follow"

Soma's sorta a prelude to that song if you think about it. Yes Soma is a mind altering drug but it's also said that that the government gave it to the people in pre WW1 Era as a form of Mind Control. "The Spotlight" in the first stanza refers to the calming sence of popularity, "The Shadows calling his way" where the media, telling him that he was worthless... and that if he ever wanted to amout to somethign he'd have to surrender to follow their beliefs. To submit to be programmed by their desires like a robot (which, ran on a Battery). Schwab Sarcasim filled this song just like he used in "Shelter Me, Mercury"

Soma is by far the best Project 86 song, and i think a final reacceptance of Truthless Heroes would be approprite if they made a video for this album like they have for all the others.

Yet... i do still think Pipe Dreams Rapcore Gangsta Schwab ways can burn in eternal Hellfire. =D

Soma goes hand-in-hand with a poem in Schwabs book 'We Caught You Plotting Murder'.

Swallow This...It Will Make You Feel Better

"You've got a disease that there is no known cure for. We have run the appropriate tests and found alarming conclusions. This is a very troubling circumstance. But what is more troubling is how you developed this condition. It seems that due to constant exposure to the dangerous realities around you, this extremely rare virus has infected you. I am afraid there is no known cure. On top of this, the disease is extremely contagious as well."

Perplexed as usual, I had to ask, "What is the disease?"

The answer: "An unyielding hunger for the truth, a passion for the people around you, and sorrow for those who still lie in darkness. To put it plainly, you have a heart. We must amputate immediately."

-Andrew Schwab