The Mundane and the Magic

To me this song relates an atheist's journey towards agnosticism. Now, this may be unlikely given the content of other DT songs, but hear me out based on the lyrics' merits.

"Seeing through these dreamless eyes"

Here, the dreamless eyes represent a man without hope or faith in anything be it human or divine. As dreams connect us to ourselves and allow the irrational to become rational (touhced on later), he is just a husk.

"Blind buildings storm through the sky Silhouettes this dividing world Guarding the eternal secrets"

The nature of the world is dark and life obscures the "eternal secret" which is death, a personally unobservable and one-time experience.

"Where is the flame to haunt you, And who do you answer to?"

The cynic in him comes out.

"My lies are always wishes Lies that make me See beyond the rational Accept the fate that nothing is meant to be Be the least connected Stay true to the last original"

The nature of faith is certainty about an uncertainty. The makes belief closely related to lies. A lie whose actual truth value can never be determined is just a wish, a hope. Hope is the ability to see beyond the rational. In the last lines here, though, his fatalism / nihilism shows through. The 'fate' that 'nothing is meant to be' is a paradox.

"Apply layers to reality Things only you can see Add a beat to normality To tap the core of insanity"

The hope of life beyond death and unseen spiritual forces is like applying layers to reality, the things only a believer can see (whether that is the result of spiritual enlightenment or delusion I leave up to you). In this way, hope and faith add something intangible to the daily routine, but something so based in irrational thoughts is the core of insanity.

"I let my dreams cross over To days of endless grey If I could merge the mundane and the magic We'd forge the new unknown I let my dreams crossover To nothingness and back again If I could merge the mundane and the magic Where is the dark I came to find?"

Here, he lets the dreams cross over to reality and allows himself, however briefly, to imagine a world beyond our bleak planet. When man definitively understands the body (reality, the mundane) and the spirit (the divine, the transcendent, the magic), then a whole new world of possibilities opens up. In the last line, this hope breeds light, suddenly death (the dark he came to find) is not the end.

"In light of days as time will find you Memories will never let you get closer The silent sighs The useless company Wish for darkness and death again"

Whatever hope is found in the chorus is trying to be brought down by the growling voice, which is either his rational mind not willing to give up control, his thanatos driving him to self-destruction (wish for death), or (if you're feeling spiritual) a demon trying to crush his spirit with guilt (memories), and misanthropy (useless company).

"In the face of ignorance and fear I cast it right back Some things were never there to begin with Objectivities you denied"

The 'things that were never there' are the unseen forces, the magic, the hope, the angels and the demons. His pathos and logos are now at odds, with part of him concluding that denying objectivity is fantasy, while another part concludes denying objectivity is hope.

The chorus plays again and the music fades. We are never given the definitive answer as to the speaker's decision. Does he wallow in hopelessness? Does he begin to believe in things beyond reason? Does he find hope in anything, even other people?

I think the ambiguity goes to the core of all of Stanne's lyrics, as he asid to Metal Israel in July of 2008, "I like the struggle. I like both sides of it. I like being the...loner and I like being the life of the party." What would happen if he merged the mundane and the magic?

I think this song is about societies influence on an individual person he's living a mundane life how society expects him to live; yet he still has child dreams: im special, i want adventure I can do anything

Seen through these dreamless eyes Blind buildings stark to the sky Silhouettes as dividing walls Guarding the eternal secret (He's wandering pointlessly through life: has a stable job live in a mediocre neighborhood every house, everyday is exactly the same. He goes to work slowly and aimlessly moving up in his job, social status, in life. He is a good husband in his middle age lost in a daze of routine. Hiding his dreams, fantasies, of living an exciting life which is guarded by the dividing walls)

Where is the flame to haunt you Who do you answer to My lies are always wishes Lies that make me: (The old days when villagers would burn witches; anyone different. What's keeping you from being offbeat living the life that you want to. No one is going to burn you alive. Who tells you you to live life in according to the expectations of society. The dreams I tell myself I'm going to liive aren't going to happen)

See beyond the rationale Accept the fate that nothing is meant to be Be the least connected Stay true to the last original (He's telling someone, his kid? There is no set way of life; don't live an existence that society expects you to live just because everyone else is)

Apply layers to reality Things only you can see Add a beat to normality To tap the core of insanity (keep things interesting, live your personal dreams, don't be normal:do what everyone else is doing. Be insane your own person, keep your quirks.)

I let my dreams cross over To days of endless gray
If I could merge the mundane and the magic We'd forge a new unknown I let my dreams cross over To nothingness and back again If I could merge the mundane and the magic Where is the dark I came to find (He let his dreams die. If he could he would merge his life that he lived (the mundane) with the life that he wanted to live (the magic). And create a new existence.)

In latter days as time will find you Memories will never let you get closer The silent sighs in useless company Wish for darkness and death again In the face of ignorance and fear I cast it right back Some things were never there to begin with Objectivity is truth denied (In old age when you start to think about your death. The life you lived won't let you get closer to the life you want to live. even though your life seems happy: everyone looks up to you, you lived a happy existence, had a good job, a nice wife two kids and a nice car. Backyard barbecues. Boring neighbors You never lived the life you wanted to live to begin with its to late )

Apply layers to reality Things only you can see Add a beat to normality To tap the core of insanity ( the listener His child? should stick to their dreams. Don't be just what society calls normal; add insanity to your life: the exciting)

I let my dreams cross over To days of endless gray If I could merge the mundane and the magic We'd forge a new unknown I let my dreams cross over To nothingness and back again If I could merge the mundane and the magic Where is the dark I came to find ( My hopes and dreams of my youth are dead. I failed. If I could I would still live my life (the mundane) with my dreams ( the magic))

It's about someone ,who lived life the way a mundane society perceives as the dream life, reflecting upon his mundane existence in old age and giving advice to the listener on how to live life so he doesn't make the same mistakes.

I've related these lyrics to some of my deepest beliefs, but it sounds crazy, and probably im twisting what the lyrics are supposed to mean... but does anybody see how this song might be like: somethings wrong with the human race, and this person is going to deny it in himself and sort of, make his own reality which he'll see as truth. And he's sort of talking about how he'll disconnect himself from the strangeness in the human race (which might be described through the line "Where is the flame to haunt you, and who do you answer to," which might mean something like, "where are his instincts?". He's saying things like "memories will never let you get closer" and "in the face of ignorance and fear, i cast it right back," so he's talking about how he's throwing away his identity.. which is scary... but hes going to because "something things were never there to begin with" which in my opinion (here it gets where people wont agree at all) but knowledge in humans... which was probably given to us by aliens. But thats besides the point.

I believe this song is about modern world meeting superstition. It's about people being scared of the boringness of their lives so they willingly believe in ghosts, horoscopes and magic to give meaning and excitement for themselves. So I'd say it's fundamentally about self-deception.

So I think the theological approach to this song is rather tendentious. There's nothing in this song that is a straight reference to religion.

right now i'd say that this is the best song of the new album

ya, this song stands out to me as one of the better ones

These lyrics are a little wrong but the Pre-chorus and chorus especially.

Apply layers to reality Things only you can see Add a beat to normality To tap the core of insanity

I let my dreams cross over To days of endless grey If I could merge the mundane and the magic We'd forge the new unknown I let my dreams crossover To nothingness and back again If I could merge the mundane and the magic Where is the dark I came to find?

Nell Sigland (Theatre of Tragedy) guests on this song.

This song is indeed one of their best and can be matched only with Nymphetamine~fix from CoF. :blush:

I think this song is about a person suffering from some form of delusion (the magic), which they like, and then realizing that it's just a delusion. That person is struggling between the delusion, and accepting their real life (the mundane).