Alternative 4 Lyrics

Lyric discussion by hitren 

Cover art for Alternative 4 lyrics by Anathema

as usual, anathema's lyrics are very cryptic and beautiful at the same time to me, this song is about someone going insane it really fits with "there's still a willful mind behind these cold psychotic eyes"; there's a very traumatic experience in the person's life: "dreaded memories flood back to me / come and hide me from this terrible reality", and the result is that they go insane after all, what normal person would dance with angels to celebrate the holocaust? i also think the music itself suggests insanity but, that's just what the song means to me and i'm prefectly aware that it can mean different things to differnt people; great art rarely has a unique interpretation

I completely agree, and the music certainly hints towards insanity. One thing I wonder though, listening to this again after many, many years, is that perhaps the last part, with the calm sounding riffs ("I'll dance with angles..") is just the person being in an insane asylum, where they are being medicated and the medication gives some respite to all the negative thoughts, but at the same time the screaming indicates that the negative thoughts are still there, except muddled to a certain extent. And at the very end, the usual riffs come back indicating that the respite is only temporary...