I've always seen VNV Nation as being very spiritual, but not religious. They're not pushing any particular view, but they sing a lot about life after death, spirits, angels, eternity, etc.
This song has a more down to earth theme. It's about how man abuses the earth. "We kill everything.", "We cut the earth until it bleeds, rain ashes from the sky." And in typical VNV Nation fashion, it leaves you with a question, not an order. "What will be our legacy?"
VNV Nation's political messages in their songs are way subtler than most bands (think KMFDM or Rage Against the Machine), but I think that makes it hundreds of times more effective. When I hear this song I see trees falling, smoke pouring out of factories, polluted rivers, and dying animals. Instead of blaming the evil "system", like a Rage Against the Machine song would, VNV Nation lets us know that we are guilty, too. We HAVE deified ourselves; we only look out for #1 and to hell with the rest of the world. We as Western society are using up Earth's resources, relying on technology to save us. Someday our technology may not save us, and what will be left, only "monuments in darkness" to a culture that destroyed itself?
PS: I don't mean to hate on Rage Against the Machine, they're good. I just think they lack subtlety.
I've always seen VNV Nation as being very spiritual, but not religious. They're not pushing any particular view, but they sing a lot about life after death, spirits, angels, eternity, etc.
This song has a more down to earth theme. It's about how man abuses the earth. "We kill everything.", "We cut the earth until it bleeds, rain ashes from the sky." And in typical VNV Nation fashion, it leaves you with a question, not an order. "What will be our legacy?"
VNV Nation's political messages in their songs are way subtler than most bands (think KMFDM or Rage Against the Machine), but I think that makes it hundreds of times more effective. When I hear this song I see trees falling, smoke pouring out of factories, polluted rivers, and dying animals. Instead of blaming the evil "system", like a Rage Against the Machine song would, VNV Nation lets us know that we are guilty, too. We HAVE deified ourselves; we only look out for #1 and to hell with the rest of the world. We as Western society are using up Earth's resources, relying on technology to save us. Someday our technology may not save us, and what will be left, only "monuments in darkness" to a culture that destroyed itself?
PS: I don't mean to hate on Rage Against the Machine, they're good. I just think they lack subtlety.