The Mundane and the Magic

To me this song relates an atheist's journey towards agnosticism. Now, this may be unlikely given the content of other DT songs, but hear me out based on the lyrics' merits.

"Seeing through these dreamless eyes"

Here, the dreamless eyes represent a man without hope or faith in anything be it human or divine. As dreams connect us to ourselves and allow the irrational to become rational (touhced on later), he is just a husk.

"Blind buildings storm through the sky Silhouettes this dividing world Guarding the eternal secrets"

The nature of the world is dark and life obscures the "eternal secret" which is death, a personally unobservable and one-time experience.

"Where is the flame to haunt you, And who do you answer to?"

The cynic in him comes out.

"My lies are always wishes Lies that make me See beyond the rational Accept the fate that nothing is meant to be Be the least connected Stay true to the last original"

The nature of faith is certainty about an uncertainty. The makes belief closely related to lies. A lie whose actual truth value can never be determined is just a wish, a hope. Hope is the ability to see beyond the rational. In the last lines here, though, his fatalism / nihilism shows through. The 'fate' that 'nothing is meant to be' is a paradox.

"Apply layers to reality Things only you can see Add a beat to normality To tap the core of insanity"

The hope of life beyond death and unseen spiritual forces is like applying layers to reality, the things only a believer can see (whether that is the result of spiritual enlightenment or delusion I leave up to you). In this way, hope and faith add something intangible to the daily routine, but something so based in irrational thoughts is the core of insanity.

"I let my dreams cross over To days of endless grey If I could merge the mundane and the magic We'd forge the new unknown I let my dreams crossover To nothingness and back again If I could merge the mundane and the magic Where is the dark I came to find?"

Here, he lets the dreams cross over to reality and allows himself, however briefly, to imagine a world beyond our bleak planet. When man definitively understands the body (reality, the mundane) and the spirit (the divine, the transcendent, the magic), then a whole new world of possibilities opens up. In the last line, this hope breeds light, suddenly death (the dark he came to find) is not the end.

"In light of days as time will find you Memories will never let you get closer The silent sighs The useless company Wish for darkness and death again"

Whatever hope is found in the chorus is trying to be brought down by the growling voice, which is either his rational mind not willing to give up control, his thanatos driving him to self-destruction (wish for death), or (if you're feeling spiritual) a demon trying to crush his spirit with guilt (memories), and misanthropy (useless company).

"In the face of ignorance and fear I cast it right back Some things were never there to begin with Objectivities you denied"

The 'things that were never there' are the unseen forces, the magic, the hope, the angels and the demons. His pathos and logos are now at odds, with part of him concluding that denying objectivity is fantasy, while another part concludes denying objectivity is hope.

The chorus plays again and the music fades. We are never given the definitive answer as to the speaker's decision. Does he wallow in hopelessness? Does he begin to believe in things beyond reason? Does he find hope in anything, even other people?

I think the ambiguity goes to the core of all of Stanne's lyrics, as he asid to Metal Israel in July of 2008, "I like the struggle. I like both sides of it. I like being the...loner and I like being the life of the party." What would happen if he merged the mundane and the magic?