Advent

This song is confusing, like most Opeth. But I think the song is obviously about the death of someone. The speaker of the song is trying to deal with the death of someone.

"It was all true A parlour strode, and the night sets forever I stray in the quiet cold And you gird me when I dare to listen"

The speaker is realizing the person is dead and that the night sets forever for them, and he feels like he's alone in the cold, and when he does listen to someone, they make sure they don't say anything wrong due to the state he's in.

"Elastic meadow, endless arms of sorrow Lips try to form "because" Trying to adapt to the wilderness Where even foes close their eyes and leave"

Perhaps a funeral setting, or just in general everywhere he goes people are giving the speaker comfort and trying to make sense of the loss. He's trying to adapt to this new life without this person and not even the people that dislike him are messing with him.

"We are inside the glade Every now and then I wipe the dust aside To remember..."

Glade a metaphor or the vast memories the speaker has with this person, and sometimes he thinks hard and "wipes the dust" aside to remember the memories.

"How I drape my face with my bare hands The same that brought me here But you were beyond all help The folded message that wept my name"

Here's where I'm thrown. Perhaps the speaker killed this person, literally or physically. The lines suggest there was no other option but to do this.

"Shadows skulk at my coming We survey the slopes In search for the words to write the missing page The tainted dogma"

The speaker is lower than shadows for killing this person (literally or figuratively) and the speaker and this dead person think of all the things they would have done (missing pages) if it weren't for the dead person's untimely fate (tainted dogma).

"Time grows short As the piper plays his time We are almost there"

Now maybe the speaker is killing himself, or dying due to the loss of this person. Once again, literally dying or emotionally dying.

"You are beyond all help Dancing into the void We are almost there"

The speaker is continuing to die or lose himself, and together the speaker and the dead person enter the void.

That's kind of what I get out of here.

I think this song is about someone who suffers the loss of a friend who has taken his/her own life. There are clear parallels between Advent and The Night and the Silent Water.

it would be great if someone explains instead of simply praise the song.

This is one of my favorite songs by opeth. I find the lyrics easy to follow. The narrator has a friend/lover that has fallen into a depression or extreme sadness. The void/wildeness is a metaphor for that. The narrator follows the friend in an attempt to bring them back. He doesn't realize that the friend is too far gone to come back from this place.

The lyrics "you are beyond all help, dancing into the void" perfectly illustrates the friends descent into darkness forever. That phrase is a metaphor for death. But the narrator is still trying to pull the friend out not realizing that the attempt is futile. Which is the last phrase of the song "we're almost there". In the end the narrator is dragged into the same darkness with his friend never to return.

While I do like the song, I prefer Nectar. Advent does fucking rule though \m/

hey just because no one comments doesn't mean that they are jackasses you fuckin waste.

this is definatly the best song off of morningrise although Morning rise is the best opeth cd in my opinion...this song is just so freakin awesome its got crazy crushing guitar, melodic guitar and voice and all the parts are different but relate somehow in my opinion its a masterpiece

The sliding bass part in this song = teh sex. Johan > Mendez, even though Mendez is a great great bassist as well

I LOVE THIS SONG!! clings to Martin Lopez

yeah its great man. Fuck yeah.