This song to me is about a rebellion. Perhaps a rebellion against the evil things in the world people just accept. But in the song he's helping to rebel against evil (after all, this song was made for ironman 3) "off in the distance, there is a resistance, bubbling and festering." So that means a rebellion is starting."a man on a mission, changing the vision, I was never welcome here" so he is basically saying that he wants to change the world for the better and defeat evils, but people are basically slaves and too afraid to stand up for what they think is right, so they just go with it. However, since he stands out and won't put up with wrongdoing, people look at him as an outsider and they look down on him for standing up against evil.

A very powerful song with powerful lyrics.

Instantly brings up memories of The Tiananman Square Massacre, June 1989, where Chinese Government declared Marshal Law on a student lead protest that lasted 7 weeks.

Armed with assault rifles and tanks, 241 to possibly as many as 2400 civilians were killed in and outside Beijing.

Protests were predemoninantly peaceful with hunger strikes/sit-ins/occupation of the square, for social equality, democracy, freedom of press.

Also, although in Medieval times:

"According to the writings of Valerius Maximus and Florus, the king of the Teutones, Teutobod, was taken in irons after the Teutones were defeated by the Romans. Under the conditions of the surrender, three hundred married women were to be handed over as Roman slaves. When the matrons of the Teutones heard of this stipulation, they begged the consul that they might instead be allowed to minister in the temples of Ceres and Venus. When their request was denied, the Teutonic women slew their own children. The next morning, all the women were found dead in each other's arms, having strangled each other during the night. This act passed into Roman legends of Germanic heroism." - Wikipedia

So for me, this song honours all those throughout history who've stood up for what is right, but got struck down for doing so.

I thought it was "Here in the heckle" not "Hearing the echo"