Pretty easy to interpret compared to most meshuggah songs. This is my interpretation.
Basically it is comparing humanity to a swarm of parasitic, carnivorous insects. This swarm is brought together by the "hive mind". Throughout history, time and again we have examples of humans who stand up for what is right that are cast out and shunned by a society of conformists who refuse to think for themselves and question the reality they shallowly embrace. This is the swarm. They encircle death (the death of the free mind). They buzz around you until you give in to their pressures and become one of them, losing your ability to think freely.
"Rabid heavens descend on the bereft" -- bereft here means a lonely or abandoned person. The swarm (society) descends on the lonely human. If you don't have the hive mind there aren't too many people you can truly get close to in my experience. Especially at the younger ages. Many times the loneliness leads to the attempt to fit in and in doing so conforming to the hive mind.
Ultimately we must embrace our individuality to ascend not only as people but as a species. "Crack the Shell" Free your mind from the shell society places you in. and you will be able to "ascend the Sky". We have not found our mental limit as a species yet. Our brains have not evolved much since the dawn of our species. And yet we have gone from hunter gatherer groups killing fellow humans who invade our territory, to a population of 7 billion people fighting for each others rights as human beings. We are far from it but our potential is unbounded as far as we know at the present moment. Embrace your individuality, free your mind, and find what you are truly capable of.
Pretty easy to interpret compared to most meshuggah songs. This is my interpretation. Basically it is comparing humanity to a swarm of parasitic, carnivorous insects. This swarm is brought together by the "hive mind". Throughout history, time and again we have examples of humans who stand up for what is right that are cast out and shunned by a society of conformists who refuse to think for themselves and question the reality they shallowly embrace. This is the swarm. They encircle death (the death of the free mind). They buzz around you until you give in to their pressures and become one of them, losing your ability to think freely.
"Rabid heavens descend on the bereft" -- bereft here means a lonely or abandoned person. The swarm (society) descends on the lonely human. If you don't have the hive mind there aren't too many people you can truly get close to in my experience. Especially at the younger ages. Many times the loneliness leads to the attempt to fit in and in doing so conforming to the hive mind.
Ultimately we must embrace our individuality to ascend not only as people but as a species. "Crack the Shell" Free your mind from the shell society places you in. and you will be able to "ascend the Sky". We have not found our mental limit as a species yet. Our brains have not evolved much since the dawn of our species. And yet we have gone from hunter gatherer groups killing fellow humans who invade our territory, to a population of 7 billion people fighting for each others rights as human beings. We are far from it but our potential is unbounded as far as we know at the present moment. Embrace your individuality, free your mind, and find what you are truly capable of.