Horizons

This song is about life and death, to put it simply. The 'horizons' that are mentioned represent the future. Using the lyrics as found in the book (and Don Vito's post) we can see the song split up into 3 sections. The style is different for each park, as movements in a larger work, but more than that, each section deals with a different stage of life.

"I - So it begins, our eyes torn open. Free from the thorns of doubt. Free from our selfish confine. Our. Blood. Restless. Ceaseless. With open arms we stand before the dawn."

The first section is new life. This doesn't mean babies or infants, but rather a naive and young way to look at the world. All the feelings and lyrics here show energy, youth, restlessness to get out and do things. Change the world. The notable line here is the last. With open arms we stand before the dawn. This shows the person embracing the horizons ahead of him, ready to take it on.

"II - The sun seems to have been rising ever since I can recall. Lending a sense of permanence to this lying world. Your words, not worth the air. Your life, not worth its weight in flesh. To hope for something more. To dream of substance. Like a million before us, waiting to die. Like a billion before us, waiting to die. Masochistic, to think this would be remembered. Sadistic, perpetuation of stagnation. There is nothing as empty as waiting to die. We spend our lives wasting, as time eats us alive. The sun seems to have been falling ever since I can recall. The only sence of permanence in this dying world. Sit back and watch as time eats us alive. Everyone who knew me, Destined to die. The marks I left upon this world will wash away."

This section is the part where the person learns what life is all about. He repeatedly talks about the rising and setting sun as the only permanent part of his life, showing how the flow of time is the only constant. He comes to the realization that all that awaits him, and everyone for that matter, is death. Time eats all life away. The last line is the big one here too, his realization that nothing he does in his life will change anything, and will wash away in time.

"III - In time, and so it ends. In time, it all finds an end. In time, and so it ends. In time, We all find an end. With broken arms and hollow eyes, await our return to oblivion. Embrace our last empty horizon. Horizons "

And so he knows that all that there is to life is death. Time is the only thing that goes on. He accepts this, and embraces the last empty horizon. This is a stark contrast to part one where the horizon meant his future; In this, the horizon is an empty future with only death to wait for.

I get chills every time I hear this song, especially the last echos of 'horizons.'

I'm just writing how it is in the booklet...I do like your interpretation though. very well thought out..

I - So it begins, our eyes torn open. Free from the thorns of doubt. Free from our selfish confine. Our. Blood. Restless. Ceaseless. With open arms we stand before the dawn.

II - The sun seems to have been rising ever since I can recall. Lending a sense of permanence to this lying world. Your words, not worth the air. Your life, not worth its weight in flesh. To hope for something more. To dream of substance. Like a million before us, waiting to die. Like a billion before us, waiting to die. Masochistic, to think this would be remembered. Sadistic, perpetuation of stagnation. There is nothing as empty as waiting to die. We spend our lives wasting, as time eats us alive. The sun seems to have been falling ever since I can recall. The only sence of permanence in this dying world. Sit back and watch as time eats us alive. Everyone who knew me, Destined to die. The marks I left upon this world will wash away.

III - In time, and so it ends. In time, it all finds an end. In time, and so it ends. In time, We all find an end. With broken arms and hollow eyes, await our return to oblivion. Embrace our last empty horizon. Horizons

basically, life, wealth, and acomplishements are futile, and will one day be meaningless dust.

This song, I think, can be depressing as in "Life is meaningless" or it can be inspiring "make the most out of life while you can"

Again, not 100% on these lyrics, but any help is appreciated, on this and Breaking Point.

I believe this song is about the struggle of finding truth in life.

"So it begins.....we stand before the dawn."

I think this illustrates the the relentless will of one to believe in a higher power.

"The sun seems to have been rising Ever since I can recall Ending a sense of permanence To this lying world"

I think this is saying that by standing on the horizon with your arms open(keeping faith) you are awaiting the guaranteed rise of the sun(reaping the rewards of faith).

Your lung’s not worth the air Your life’s not worth its weight in flesh To hope for something more To dream of substance

This is where the song just fucks you in the ear. It breaks the disallusion from the earlier verses and describes humanity's insignificance from a realist point of view. They hope for something more in the sense that they are not just lifeforms ment to perpetuate nature, they dream of substance(tangible existance after death).

"Like a million before us We need to die Like a billion before us We need to die"

Saying how we are not special, in that our perception of existance after death is reflected on by the deaths of all humanity. We need to die to wake up from this constantly perpetuated notion of existance.

"Masochistic Don’t think this won’t be remembered Won’t be remembered Sarcastic perpetuation Of stagnation"

Reflects the mother-child approach of religion to the masses. Your actions now will be seen no matter how hidden you think they are. However I think the latter two lines contradict this mother-child approach, saying it continues the cycle of not progressing in life.

"There is nothing as empty As waiting to die We spend our lives wasting as time eats us alive"

This song confuses me in that at times I never know when the lyrics are directed against apathetics or believers. Apathetics in that they let themselves get caught up in the material world. Believers in that they get caught up in a reality miles out the realm of practicality.

"There sun seems to have been falling ever since I can recall The only sense of permanence In this dying world Sit back and watch as time eats us alive"

I believe this is symbolically contradicting the second verse and displaying the non-believer point of view. Everything ends, that's all there is to it. No more veils.

"With broken arms And hollow wings I’ll await your return To open the eyes"

I believe this is reverting back to the believers view of life. "Broken arms" from the inital line saying:

With open arms we stand before the dawn

"Hollow wings" beings empty, waiting for a saviour to de-hollow(wtf?) them and let that person ascend.

Believing them in full faith to come back, and open the eyes of non-believers.

Embrace the worst: Empty Horizons

The notion of a higher presence is very comforting, but this line expresses the realist viewpoint of an empty life after death. An empty horizon = no sun, and if I'm right, the sun is a symbol for a saviour, God/incarnate.

This is just my interpretation of the song, it's important to remember that. Don't let me views on it influence yours, I have no idea if they're legit. It's pretty difficult to piece this to the rest of the album, especially with songs like Moments of Oblivion. Two almost completely different ideas.

Wow....I wrote a lot. And HTML didn't even work. Sorry if that's difficult/impossible to read.

this song is about time. its the concept of how little we mean in the scope of the world. thats not my interpretation that is the words of Winston McCall.

the riff towards the end of this song is the same as the riff in the middle of moments of oblivion i love listening to both the songs because i just totally love the guitars have a listen to them they change it up a bit in moments of oblivion

sounds a lot like stoic philosophy. "soon you will have forgotten all things: soon all things will have forgotten you" -Marcus Aurelius

everybody thinks too deeply this song is about a road in victoria, its dead straight, and runs dead straight for about 100 kilometres maybe more, on either side of this road there is nothing but tree here tree there. u can see straight til u can see as far as possible for ages in all angles, thats what this song is about