I think the theme/story of this album is pretty obviously about some guy who is either a sort of Antichrist or tied to the devil in some way, trying to escape from his fate...Ghost of Perdition is sort of a prologue to the story and the baying of the Hounds introduces the main character and talks about how the devil is after him/haunting his thoughts. In Beneath the Mire he reluctantly gives in to the devil but he regrets his decision in Atonement ("suddenly I can't justify what I had become").
Harlequin Forest is about his attempt at running away from his commitment, and how Satan won't let him escape ("Baying behind me, I hear the hounds / flocks chasing to find me alone"). He eventually loses hopoe in the second half of the song, and then thinks over his options in Hours of Wealth, when he ultimately decides that he has no choice but to return to the devil's service.
In The Grand Conjuration we see the narrator in a pathetic state, having given himself up totally to the devil's will. I think the most striking part is at the end of the song where he says "Say my name, ease the pain / clear the smoke in my head." In The Baying of the Hounds, it was torturous for the narrator to hear Satan calling to him but now he needs him to do so, like a physical addiction. The midsection of the song ("Whispered conjuration, a belief takes form...") is the narrator describing to the listener how the devil will take over the world, basically. Pretty dark stuff, lol. Isolation years is seperate fro mthe story, as Mikael has said.
Note that I'm not insinuating that Akerfeldt is a satanist...he just wrote a story about the devil. I mean, J.K. Rowling obviously doesn't beleive Harry Potter is real. I just take the lyrics at face value and not as a promotion or condemnation of anything.
I think the theme/story of this album is pretty obviously about some guy who is either a sort of Antichrist or tied to the devil in some way, trying to escape from his fate...Ghost of Perdition is sort of a prologue to the story and the baying of the Hounds introduces the main character and talks about how the devil is after him/haunting his thoughts. In Beneath the Mire he reluctantly gives in to the devil but he regrets his decision in Atonement ("suddenly I can't justify what I had become").
Harlequin Forest is about his attempt at running away from his commitment, and how Satan won't let him escape ("Baying behind me, I hear the hounds / flocks chasing to find me alone"). He eventually loses hopoe in the second half of the song, and then thinks over his options in Hours of Wealth, when he ultimately decides that he has no choice but to return to the devil's service.
In The Grand Conjuration we see the narrator in a pathetic state, having given himself up totally to the devil's will. I think the most striking part is at the end of the song where he says "Say my name, ease the pain / clear the smoke in my head." In The Baying of the Hounds, it was torturous for the narrator to hear Satan calling to him but now he needs him to do so, like a physical addiction. The midsection of the song ("Whispered conjuration, a belief takes form...") is the narrator describing to the listener how the devil will take over the world, basically. Pretty dark stuff, lol. Isolation years is seperate fro mthe story, as Mikael has said.
Note that I'm not insinuating that Akerfeldt is a satanist...he just wrote a story about the devil. I mean, J.K. Rowling obviously doesn't beleive Harry Potter is real. I just take the lyrics at face value and not as a promotion or condemnation of anything.