I think all of the previous suggestions could easily be right. That's the great thing about VNV's ballads. They tend to be vague enough to allow personal interpretation so the song finds a home in more hearts. It is certainly a spiritual song (as in, it invokes a personal spiritual experience to the listener) that can have SO MANY meanings.
Here are some of the meanings I get from it:
Cyclical nature of the universe (birth/death/rebirth) be it literal physical death or emotional death
Searching for a meaning greater than one's self
Seeking cleansing of the grime the world places on us as we move through life (renewal, though not necessarily death)
Literal biblical apocalypse (next time, the world is supposed to be destroyed by fire)
I can also see Fortinbras' interpretation, though I had to go back through the song with his meaning in my head to see it. I hadn't seen it on my own.
I think all of the previous suggestions could easily be right. That's the great thing about VNV's ballads. They tend to be vague enough to allow personal interpretation so the song finds a home in more hearts. It is certainly a spiritual song (as in, it invokes a personal spiritual experience to the listener) that can have SO MANY meanings.
Here are some of the meanings I get from it: Cyclical nature of the universe (birth/death/rebirth) be it literal physical death or emotional death Searching for a meaning greater than one's self Seeking cleansing of the grime the world places on us as we move through life (renewal, though not necessarily death) Literal biblical apocalypse (next time, the world is supposed to be destroyed by fire)
I can also see Fortinbras' interpretation, though I had to go back through the song with his meaning in my head to see it. I hadn't seen it on my own.