This song expresses my pessimistic view of life and mankind perfectly. I cannot recall how many times I have shed tears with this song, especially when he cries in agony at the end.
This is my interpretation of it. Remember that this is just my personal view on the song. Art is subjective, anyone may draw his own conclusions.
"The god of man is a failure"
I do not believe they mean literally a god of an organized religion. I think what is meant here is the "God" that mankind has become. A powerful, destructive force that is a bane on this planet, both to nature and to ourselves.
"Our fortress is burning against the grain of the shattered sky
Charred birds escape from the ruins and return as cascading blood
Dying bloodbirds pooling, feeding the flood"
I like to think of these 3 lyrics as having a double meaning.
a) The planet's point of view: The fortress in this case is nature. A forest being burned along with all the animals that live in it. The fires are extending high against the shattered, blackened sky. The birds being mentioned represent animals and nature and all the collective death that they have seen, all the drops of blood that have created a pool of blood. Nature is dying along with all of its creatures, and mankind is the reason.
b) Mankind's point of view: The fortress, under this light, is civilization. We have commited so many crimes towards our planet, that we have forged our demise and our civilization is bound to be destroyed. The sky (Earth) is shattered, and the grains of time that count our demise keep falling. We do not have much time left. We will all be wiped from the face of the Earth, and our arrogance will be our own undoing. We have wounded the Earth beyond repair, and the natural disasters that will occur will be our end. In this case, we are the birds. We are charred, because we live in a fortress that is burning. We become blood in the sense that we all add to the bloodshed of the planet. We are all equally to blame. Imagine all the wrongs mankind has committed as a huge pool of blood, and each and every human as one drop.
"The god of man is a failure
And all of our shadows are ashes against the grain"
After having expressed the opinion that we will all die after having killed everything else on the planet, it is repeated that we, as a species, are a failure. Our shadows are our wretched existences. What was charred and burning is now ashes. We are dying along with nature.
The cries at the end... I like to percieve them both as cries of mother Earth as she is bleeding in agonizing pain, or as the desperate cry of a man expressing his shame and wrath towards the rest of mankind.
This song expresses my pessimistic view of life and mankind perfectly. I cannot recall how many times I have shed tears with this song, especially when he cries in agony at the end. This is my interpretation of it. Remember that this is just my personal view on the song. Art is subjective, anyone may draw his own conclusions.
"The god of man is a failure"
I do not believe they mean literally a god of an organized religion. I think what is meant here is the "God" that mankind has become. A powerful, destructive force that is a bane on this planet, both to nature and to ourselves.
"Our fortress is burning against the grain of the shattered sky Charred birds escape from the ruins and return as cascading blood Dying bloodbirds pooling, feeding the flood"
I like to think of these 3 lyrics as having a double meaning. a) The planet's point of view: The fortress in this case is nature. A forest being burned along with all the animals that live in it. The fires are extending high against the shattered, blackened sky. The birds being mentioned represent animals and nature and all the collective death that they have seen, all the drops of blood that have created a pool of blood. Nature is dying along with all of its creatures, and mankind is the reason.
b) Mankind's point of view: The fortress, under this light, is civilization. We have commited so many crimes towards our planet, that we have forged our demise and our civilization is bound to be destroyed. The sky (Earth) is shattered, and the grains of time that count our demise keep falling. We do not have much time left. We will all be wiped from the face of the Earth, and our arrogance will be our own undoing. We have wounded the Earth beyond repair, and the natural disasters that will occur will be our end. In this case, we are the birds. We are charred, because we live in a fortress that is burning. We become blood in the sense that we all add to the bloodshed of the planet. We are all equally to blame. Imagine all the wrongs mankind has committed as a huge pool of blood, and each and every human as one drop.
"The god of man is a failure And all of our shadows are ashes against the grain"
After having expressed the opinion that we will all die after having killed everything else on the planet, it is repeated that we, as a species, are a failure. Our shadows are our wretched existences. What was charred and burning is now ashes. We are dying along with nature.
The cries at the end... I like to percieve them both as cries of mother Earth as she is bleeding in agonizing pain, or as the desperate cry of a man expressing his shame and wrath towards the rest of mankind.