Magazine

This is one of my favorite Bazan songs because the imagery is so vivid. The first verse in particular paints a picture for me, of a deep pit full of "sinners" trying to find their way out. The religious self-righteous lower a "short rope" which is a moral way of life that is impossible to live by, yet stand on their side of the line in arrogance (and hypocrisy, I'll add) with thoughts like "if you only had enough faith".

The second verse begins a brutal criticism of the self-righteous comparing them to vultures circling the starving and suffering, while waiting for someone to screw up so they can judge and persecute them.

The chorus to me mimics the empty promises of the church, relating them to a magazine cover which is typically plastered with headlines to articles that claim change your life and make you better by following a simple solution but are usually completely useless and unhelpful. It's also a shot at the magazines which dictate what beautiful people should look like by doctoring photos of models, offering a shallow standard for what people (mainly women) should strive for in order to be happy. This tactic also relates to the church in the way that they try to fix people by telling them to follow the scriptures, without ever really confronting the deep emotional and psychological issues that they have.

The bridge carries the criticism further with a snide remark "how does that work out for you?' The kind of person who lives this way feels that they are making the world a better place by setting a good example, yet all they really do is judge those in need of help, on a "holy quest to live above reproach" or to appear blameless for the worlds troubles. It instead makes the world a darker place while offering nothing of substance to population of afflicted people, perpetuating hell on earth.