This lyric is clearly about the church, as user BrotherSooth noted. More specifically, I think it was written with the Catholic church in mind. I want to add some more thoughts:
"In search for the guidelines to the gateways of sin" - Churchgoers need to understand what are the things that can send you to hell, so they can (pretend to) avoid it.
"Sophistication as cruelty and perfection as virulent truth" - God is perfect, your priest is the voice of God. What he says is the truth, you must follow it and spread it (like a virus). However, embedded in such apparent benevolent messages are "sophisticated" messages of hate disguised: that person who does not believe? going to hell!! those who do not conform our norms? bastards, heretics, shame on them!! those Muslim immigrants? hate them!!
That paragraph is also a reinforcement of the "In search for the guidelines to the gateways of sin through mires of misanthropy with wrath in mind" message: churchgoers want to know the gateways to hell, but in doing so, are being manipulated by the anti-humanity sentiment of the "Kings".
"Confidently dawned, to pick the best of enemies" - again, they're always choosing the next "best" enemies: the satanism, abortion, drug addicts, democratic party, etc. When they polarise against them, they reinforce the faith and unite the Christians. That's why "best enemy": a carefully chosen enemy is very useful.
"Worshipped by anyone's mass on our planet Hell" - again, another two Christian references: "mass" and "hell".
"What on earth possessed you?" - this is pretty ironic. You see, according to the church, what possesses people are devils, spirits, etc. But here it says what ON EARTH possessed you. It's not a coincidence, what's "possessing" people, from the followers to the "Kings", are purely earthly things: hate, wrath, greed, etc.
The album is titled "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia". Could they make it more explicit?
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Anyway that said, those lyrics can also be interpreted to attach other "institutions" that are not the church itself but somewhat related to it when you ignore the explicit references of Christianism here: the media (manipulation, hatred), ignorant conservatives ("Impotence of the once so perfect living" pairs well with the "great again", "the past was much better" discourse), governments ("Peace means reloading your guns"), etc.
But let not fool ourselves, the church was once the government and the media. The church is still relevant to the media and governments (heck, Vatican IS a sovereign State). The radical conservatives are mostly Christian and aligned with those old values. The lyrics are criticising Christianity as a whole, from the time when the church ruled every aspect of Western life to the current times. In fact, the album was released in 2001, way before the radical neoconservative wave but it's such a well written lyric that it stands relevant even today. What we saw with Brexit, immigrants being attacked, etc. are just a new developments of those old values.
This lyric is clearly about the church, as user BrotherSooth noted. More specifically, I think it was written with the Catholic church in mind. I want to add some more thoughts:
"In search for the guidelines to the gateways of sin" - Churchgoers need to understand what are the things that can send you to hell, so they can (pretend to) avoid it.
"Sophistication as cruelty and perfection as virulent truth" - God is perfect, your priest is the voice of God. What he says is the truth, you must follow it and spread it (like a virus). However, embedded in such apparent benevolent messages are "sophisticated" messages of hate disguised: that person who does not believe? going to hell!! those who do not conform our norms? bastards, heretics, shame on them!! those Muslim immigrants? hate them!! That paragraph is also a reinforcement of the "In search for the guidelines to the gateways of sin through mires of misanthropy with wrath in mind" message: churchgoers want to know the gateways to hell, but in doing so, are being manipulated by the anti-humanity sentiment of the "Kings".
"Confidently dawned, to pick the best of enemies" - again, they're always choosing the next "best" enemies: the satanism, abortion, drug addicts, democratic party, etc. When they polarise against them, they reinforce the faith and unite the Christians. That's why "best enemy": a carefully chosen enemy is very useful.
"Worshipped by anyone's mass on our planet Hell" - again, another two Christian references: "mass" and "hell".
"What on earth possessed you?" - this is pretty ironic. You see, according to the church, what possesses people are devils, spirits, etc. But here it says what ON EARTH possessed you. It's not a coincidence, what's "possessing" people, from the followers to the "Kings", are purely earthly things: hate, wrath, greed, etc.
The album is titled "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia". Could they make it more explicit?
--
Anyway that said, those lyrics can also be interpreted to attach other "institutions" that are not the church itself but somewhat related to it when you ignore the explicit references of Christianism here: the media (manipulation, hatred), ignorant conservatives ("Impotence of the once so perfect living" pairs well with the "great again", "the past was much better" discourse), governments ("Peace means reloading your guns"), etc.
But let not fool ourselves, the church was once the government and the media. The church is still relevant to the media and governments (heck, Vatican IS a sovereign State). The radical conservatives are mostly Christian and aligned with those old values. The lyrics are criticising Christianity as a whole, from the time when the church ruled every aspect of Western life to the current times. In fact, the album was released in 2001, way before the radical neoconservative wave but it's such a well written lyric that it stands relevant even today. What we saw with Brexit, immigrants being attacked, etc. are just a new developments of those old values.
Bravo, Dimmu. A masterpiece.