In Cauda Venenum

This song is about the Dear Hunter enlisting in a war. He's being sucked into the propaganda of war.

"A majesty's massacre floods the fields of red"

A leader decides to wage war, and is turning fields red with blood.

"And now with hands aligned, these arms move tonight"

This refers to soldiers with they're hands at their sides and marching. I think.

"and we cry 'we can not allow this, This is terrible'"

The people are saying that something has to be done to stop this terrible war from happening.

"With ideals we're idle as they lust for more."

There is nothing we can do. The leaders are in charge, and they want this war to happen.

"oh if we settle the score. We've never been so excited to see you before"

They're excited to see new, fresh recruits to send out.

"In the cradle we are helpless but on our feet we are fatal how we evolve and grow into twisted beasts with a desire for disorder OH what a terrible game we play"

We can go from helpless children, to violent killing machines.

"replacing the pawn for a body. And the players? Politicians who say what they need to say"

We are nothing but pieces to a game. We do whatever our leaders say to do.

And I just found out that IN CAUDA VENENUM means "In the tail (is) the poison" or "To save
the worst for last."

"Oh when I think about your eyes Oh when I think about your smile Oh when I dream about your eyes/lies

travel all this way just to find love."

I think after the last album, the Dear Hunter was admitting to himself that he couldn't escape his feelings for the woman he loved, Ms Leading. He's now been conscribed, and he finds that just when he's moved on, his love for her is remembered as a sense of comfort. Disappointingly.

So good. So stoked for the new album.

I also think this is about him joining the army and going to fight, It might be giving him an idea of what he represents as a soldier in the army. Pain in plain sight. He sees that this pain and suffering he is seeing is so terrible that he pictures his happy thoughts to feel secure, like when peter pan needs to fly. But pain in plain sight might also be literal, and he is witnessing rape, or torture, or just death in general.

i agree that hes joined the army and hes seeing what it was like and how its all hideous acts an all that. its all from his perspective or the perspective of his fellow soldiers accept from the line "We've never been so excited to see you before." which is clearly the leaders or recruters who are willing to take advantage of anyone with their propaganda just to get them to fight for their cause.

the last softer section i like to think is himm sitting in some underground bunker all muddied in his uniform between fights with a vinal player playing the song and him sitting smiling thinking of miss leading.

the whole thing is supposedly going to be a film or a musical and i find picturing it as such helps me decifer the lyrics