Heaven Nor Hell

Love this band. Heard of them for the first time last month, and I've been addicted since.

Anyway, the lyrics are fairly straightforward in my opinion. A sinner is singing about a slight apathy he feels regarding the return of Satan on earth.

Everyone talks about the end, and that's what the song is about.

-Guy goes into debt (sold my sold way down in the dirt)

-Claimed bankruptcy to shed the debt obligations but now has a long time to live with a bad "name" in the financial world (stole it back and forever in debt)

-Doesn't mind what's going on but often gets letter in the mail, phone calls from collection agencies, maybe a little IRS trouble (and for a moment I don't even care until I feel his breath on my neck)

-Many people are in debt these days from mortgages being upside down, student loan debt, credit card debt, hospitalization debt, etc. (And maybe even you can feel it too, he's on a strike and looking at you)

-He's seeing the true colors of people everywhere he turns, as more and more people succumb to financial ruin, and people are turning crazy (Holding onto his words, but baby, I saw an Angel become the Devil)

-But he's trying to outsmart the whole system, removing himself from it as much as he can and seeing it from the outside (Still they look pretty good hand in hand, well baby I don't need any of them, Heaven nor Hell)

-He equates evil and the Devil with the nature of the working environment, how it sometimes pits people against one another for the promotion of one's self and the ravenous consumption of resources. And how fitting that it was "invoked on a Monday on Earth and how the Devil carries a business card. (Well, I've heard that the morning star of a prince was invoked on a Monday on earth, I found his business card in the mud)

The remaining lyrics are kind of self-explanatory now that I've stated my interpretation:

-He's saying the combined evil of the financial rat-race world dwarfs the love/compassion/hope/potential of a single person or family.

(Evil came down on earth And it beholds more than you love More than you love)

-He's asking whatever angels in Heaven can hear him to not even bother with this place, because it is hopelessly corrupt. Ordinary people are starting to lose hope, and it's about to get real, real ugly down here.

Heaven don't fall on earth What you behold is no longer a word No longer a word

This song tells a story of a man who makes a Faustian deal, selling his soul to the Devil. But with a twist, though. He steals it back and goes into debt to the Devil; It's a commentary on religion. "It's a song that tells people to believe in themselves instead of using anything else as a crutch," Volbeat frontman Michael Poulsen said in an interview. "The Devil is something that we create in our own mind - that's how it exists. And God, I don't know anything about that - He hasn't shown himself in all the time people have been talking about him."

It also features Henrik Hall of Love Shop on Harmonica.

[Edit: Added personnel fact]

I think he is talking about how he trying to see who he wants to follow heaven or hell that or he doesnt want either of them like how he said i sold my soul down in the dirt

I think it's an interpretation of the story of the dr Faust.

It's about selling his soul for fame..

There is an explanation from the artist here:

http://espyrock.com/interviews/exclusive-interview-michael-poulsen-track-by-track-of-beyond-hell-above-heaven

It's not very extensive though. In then end, it's about a person who "sold his soul, then stole it back", as the lyrics say, but he ends up at peace with himself, which is what the concept of not needing heaven or hell is supposed to convey.

It's really not very clear in the interview, still kind of leaves it open to interpretation.

It might mean that he did things in the past that he's not proud of, but feels like he's redeemed himself from that to some extent, but he can never really fully escape those consequences (or maybe good things happened to him as a result of some bad things he did, so he's still "in debt" for that fact).

He no longer needs to engage in "selling your soul" type activity, and he perhaps doesn't see much hope or value in pursuing religion, thus he's become a kind of zen-like in between where neither concept is of interest to him at all.

Anyway--see what the artist says, and then interpret for yourself.