Night Riders

I think this song is about the Inquisition. It's one of my favorite songs.

I think this song is about the Inquisition. It's one of my favorite songs.

i always felt this song was about terrorists crashing a plane into something, dunno a lot of the lyrics hint at fanaticism and dying for your cause and dispelling the lies that have been told about your cause.

Here, I'll show you:

"Well I dreamed this night a thousand times But I never knew that I'd be burning inside In the moment when we decide If the innocent live and the guilty die"

This is referring to heretics in the middle ages who had to face a trial to determine whether they were innocent or guilty.

"I can't believe it's true but Devotion's on the rise and they're looking for you. Burning bright like a thousand suns and We'll never stop until we're sure we've won."

This is how the Christians would hunt Pagans, Heretics, Witches, and Heathens. After they were caught, they were burned at the stake. This explains the 'burning bright like a thousand suns'.

"Can't hope to combat the motion Can't stop the feedback devotion Can't stop it, tried but it continues Transcend it or be consumed"

When Christianity was first introduced, it spread like wildfire. Pagan emperors tried to fight it, but the more they fought, the stronger their Christian enemies became. Eventually almost all Pagan culture was consumed by Christianity.

"And in the wreck of failed diplomacy Challenge order well I'll follow your lead Just a few more steps and then you're free But you'll never know 'cuz they don't want you to see"

Around this time, many people were looking for a new meaning in life, and they chose to follow Jesus Christ because he was a rebel who spoke against authority. Christian leaders would encourage people to 'free themselves' but the truth was kept hidden and the Bible was basically a lie.

"On target and we're flying blind And I'm scared to look because I know what I'll find Never knew that it would end this way Watching paradise go down in flames but I won't give up, I won't give way In the moment of truth I won't surrender my name Because there's no more limits and no more fear Because I know that the end is near"

Many Pagan martyrs 'watched their lives go down in flames' but chose to remain martyrs instead of giving up their lives to Christianity. They knew they were gong to die so they did not fear anymore.

I don't know if the Night Riders are the Witches themselves or the people hunting them.

While no one can truly say what this song means save for Stromkern, I will tell you what I take from it personally.

This song is not about a specific time period or peoples, but about the constant struggle between good and evil. These two words are both clearly defined, and yet, their definitions change from person to person. They are subjective, always meaning opposites, but changing based on the user.

I feel that this song is simply about the struggle that everyone goes through at some point between their good and evil, they decide what they find righteous and what they find condemnable. Some simply have a goal and will do anything to achieve it, or "Locked on target and we're flying blind". Some have a set of agendas and a set of morals to boot, "Raise the darkness and expose their lies".

then there are those who don't have a clue what they believe, and so they follow the first thing they feel they can remotely agree with, "Challenge order well I'll follow your lead".

then there are the people, who, no matter what path they follow, they find themselves to be wrong, or they find themselves "Watching paradise go down in flames".

there are some who are strong enough to stay faithful to their "good" and condemn their "evil", but there are those who are confused about their good and evil, and can't decide which is which, or the people who simply don't care.

Simply put, I believe this song to be about the struggle all of humanity goes through, and we all come with different answers, ideals, morals, and goals, but we all fight to find our own good.

If you look at the album songs.....you'll notice terroists.....the album is called armegeddon... The way I understand this song, Its about this war on terrorism and the wars going on now in Iraq and Afganistan. The western skies, I would think, is the United States Military since the us is considered western skies. Government and their lies and requesting devotion towards the war...... Also the bible in Revelation talks about everything in this song. This is supposed to happen before the end......

right from the Dystopian Visions compilations on which this song was featured

"Night Riders.

Eastern Europe has always been the wrong place no matter what the time. It's a shatterbelt, a battleground for countless warring empires, rarely in control of its own destiny for most of the last two millenia...

what would happen if those people were able to fight back?

what this country needs is a good bloody war on our own soil. The American public cannot possibly understand what "civilian casualties" really means because there haven't been any here in recent memory. Night Riders in the western skies... about goddamn time."