The Nemesis hypothesis (as explained by @Foobar) was certainly the inspiration for this song, and part of the meaning. But there's more to it.
The narrator is arguing for the ends-justify-the-means morality of necromancy. Whether he's right or evilly deluded isn't decided by whether we're all going to end up with the great big fishes anyway in 9 million years. And that's a question we really should think about. The fact that our culture isn't permanent means that whatever worth it has is in the present, not the long run.
Meanwhile, the song juxtaposes modern science and industry with occult necromancy. Technology may work better than the occult, but it has the same goals. And I think the references to oil in particular (as mentioned by @jwpacker) are intentional, but only a sideline to the point: prospering on juices of the dying is what humans always do. We cannibalize the past and the present for the present, and for a future that may never come.
Of course the "good" news is that a few million years after we're wiped out, someone will rebuild civilization—using our remains as the engines of their industry—and thrive for a few million years before they too die in the cometary air strike.
The Nemesis hypothesis (as explained by @Foobar) was certainly the inspiration for this song, and part of the meaning. But there's more to it.
The narrator is arguing for the ends-justify-the-means morality of necromancy. Whether he's right or evilly deluded isn't decided by whether we're all going to end up with the great big fishes anyway in 9 million years. And that's a question we really should think about. The fact that our culture isn't permanent means that whatever worth it has is in the present, not the long run.
Meanwhile, the song juxtaposes modern science and industry with occult necromancy. Technology may work better than the occult, but it has the same goals. And I think the references to oil in particular (as mentioned by @jwpacker) are intentional, but only a sideline to the point: prospering on juices of the dying is what humans always do. We cannibalize the past and the present for the present, and for a future that may never come.
Of course the "good" news is that a few million years after we're wiped out, someone will rebuild civilization—using our remains as the engines of their industry—and thrive for a few million years before they too die in the cometary air strike.