Holy Diver

Ronnie did an interview on this that revealed a little bit on this, so I'm going to communicate my interpretation based on what I got out of it. -KnightofhopeX

Holy Diver You've been down too long in the midnight sea Oh what's becoming of me

" Holy Diver " refers to the person listening the song.
The midnight sea are the trials of life; These are choices
we make between good and evil. It also refers to the night time
that our character is walking through in the song. It might be that 
Ronnie is singing to us because he feels some distress 
about the choices he's made in the past. I support this by
saying that each line has a special meaning to him and
" What's becoming of me " is a reflection upon one's self.

Ride the tiger You can see his stripes but you know he's clean Oh don't you see what I mean

Ronnie has described the tiger as your personal strength;
And he has described the stripes of the tiger as the exterior
of those around us. Oh don't you see what I mean? This
is telling us not to judge a book by it's cover. We have
to be strong and choose our allies by their character 
and despite what would seem like their flaws when
we have a challenge to overcome.

Gotta get away Holy Diver

Again, " Holy Diver " is us. When we see the stripes
of the tiger, our first judgement is to run. Our first
instinct can be wrong.

Shiny diamonds Like the eyes of a cat in the black and blue Something is coming for you

Shiny diamonds gets explained in the very next line,
it's the eyes of our tiger and he sees us. We know what
we're capable of and that strength comes in accepting
our fears and facing them. That decision is coming a little
bit closer for us every day.

Race for the morning You can hide in the sun 'till you see the light Oh we will pray it's all right

Race for the morning! Obviously our character the holy
diver is running, but this makes me think of sleep.
Personally instead of making a decision or working to
solve a problem, I often find myself falling asleep and
hoping that the next day everything will turn out alright.
This is what this reminds me of.

Gotta get away-get away

Still running.

Between the velvet lies There's a truth that's hard as steel The vision never dies Life's a never ending wheel

Velvet is a traditionally comfortable cloth. Here,
velvet lies are the things we're comfortable with
believing out of convenience or comfort we wallow in
instead of owning up to our mistakes and anxieties. 
The truth that's hard as steel makes you think of a
sword. Again, this is another symbol of our inner
strength. You think of a sword or a shield, hard 
enough to stop any enemy. We can overcome. 

Now as far as the vision that never dies, I tend to
think of visions like those diviners believe they have.
I think of tarot symbols and predictions. We never lose
our destiny. No matter what, we'll end up discarding the
velvet lies and seeing what lies beneath, because it's
already determined that it will happen at some point.

Life's a never ending wheel. This echos the previous
statement, but people like Ronnie who are aware of
symbolism are reminded that spinning wheels represent
understanding and wisdom. In a way, he might be saying
we never stop growing or becoming more understanding. We
might take longer or shorter to do it, but we'll understand
our problems, our friends, our enemies, as long as we
try to find what lies beneath those velvet lies to the
" truth that's hard as steel ". 

Holy Diver You're the star of the masquerade No need to look so afraid

" Holy diver ", we're about to make a realization.
Why would we be the star? Why would we not need to
look so afraid? Because of course we realize we're
running from the thing that will set us free. We won't
deny the truth anymore. We can do whatever it takes to
go on living. We can turn and face the tiger because
his flaws, his " stripes " don't scare us anymore.

Jump on the tiger You can feel his heart but you know he's mean Some light can never be seen

Jumping on the tiger is obvious, we use our inner
strength finally and the fear is over. He feels like
a friend but you know to anyone else he would be an
inescapable horror. This is how we know he's mean. The
strength of accepting flawed people and having wisdom
that lets us look through the velvet lies, the convenient
truths in our lives, lets face any enemy; This is an
ally that no one can defeat in the long run. Some light
can never be seen? The real light, the real inspiration
of human beings comes from their hearts and minds and their
willingness to fight. The tiger's ferocity seems terrifying
right? But not to us. Not to the holy diver. He has all his
talent, all the wisdom, and all his hidden strength and 
reservation of judgment to rest upon. This is the light that
others cannot see. This light is inside of us.