So, the band has said many times that this album deals with relationships and personal problems. Anyone want to take a stab at what each song on the album is about, or what it means to them? This thread was inspired by the IBG thread.
Just my two cents, some of these were more difficult than others. LOST IN THE ECHO Simply being fed up with someone, and finally finding to strength to let go. It feels like a step-up to their nu-metal songs where instead of releasing their hatred toward somebody like in From The Inside or Faint, they've matured and become the bigger person and just let go. IN MY REMAINS A soldier who's seen hell-on-earth situations in war and has become a ghost in a shell. BURN IT DOWN Looking at a relationship and seeing that for every step forward you take two steps back. LIES GREED MISERY I think Chester's description serves best, something along the lines of "I'm enjoying your destruction". Just that feeling when you find out you're better off without someone, and their life will crumble beneath them now that you're gone. I'LL BE GONE Leaving everything behind and starting anew. CASTLE OF GLASS Someone who is struggling to find significance within their life. VICTIMIZED 1. Fuck you 2. Go fuck yourself 3. Fuck off ROADS UNTRAVELED Getting over love and finding strength in the most unexpected places. SKIN TO BONE Really hard to say. I'll throw a bone (pun not intended lol) and say it's about making life worthwhile and not just living day to day in a body that will just rot and decay. UNTIL IT BREAKS I honestly look at this one as a glance through the stages of life. Brad's part signifies death as a welcome conclusion to life. TINFOIL/POWERLESS Knowing you could have helped someone, but you were powerless to stop them.
Lost In The Echo: Seems like your basic "I've been pushed but I can get back up" kind of triumphant song. Though really the easiest way to interpret this song (for me) is about the band themselves, about how through their career they've been put through the ringer and outlasted most of their peers from the old days, and finally accepting and not being ashamed of their old music. "hold myself up and love my scars." In My Remains: To me these lyrics sound like someone who is afraid they are wasting their lives and missing opportunities, and when they're dead all that's left are what they wish done or said they'd do, but never did. that feeling that you're missing out on some great thing happening around you. the "like an army" bit can apply the above meaning to the people around you, kind of like Walking In Circles. everyone is wandering hopelessly looking for some sort of purpose. Burn It Down: I like Mike's "pop culture" explanation of this song, but I also get a sense of war in this song with the explosions/flames/soldier/kings references. it kind of sounds like American foreign policy actually, all of the nation-building America does overseas. we tear down countries just to try to build them back up in the way we would like them to be, and eventually, when WE decline, there are going to be a lot of people in this world thinking we got what we deserved. this would make sense as we know the working title was "Buried At Sea" which is what America did with Osama Bin Laden's body. but I prefer the pop culture one. Lies Greed Misery: Fuck you, you deserve it. I'll Be Gone: Definitely a military feel in this one too, except it's from the perspective of a soldier leaving home. The lyrics to this song actually really get me sometimes. It's a song about acceptance, probably the acceptance of the soldier knowing that he is probably going to die in battle, and that he is leaving his loved one(s) for good; he can't deny it any longer. "Oh, tell me I am the only one, and there's nothing that can stop me" that line is incredibly touching. It's like, yeah, I'm probably gonna die, I'm not ready for this at all, but if you support me, then there's nothing I can't face. Castle Of Glass: I have an incredibly personal interpretation of this song, but to me it seems to be describing a very introverted person, in a kind of ironic way. As an introvert, I can tell you that there are all sorts of interesting things going on in my mind, I'm just not always sure how to convey them or communicate with others well. Likewise, this entire song seems like a bunch of random artistic imagery. "Fly me up on a silver wing, past the black where the sirens sing, warm me up in a nova's glow, and drop me down to the dream below." Those words don't seem to be telling any particular story, but it's followed up "cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass, hardly anything there for you to see." On the outside, introverts may seem like very boring, uninterested people, but on the inside there is a lot more going on. Victimized: An oppressed victim finally stands up and exacts revenge on the perpetrator. I always attach a rape victim spin on it, only because I personally know a fair amount of people who have been victims of sexual abuse. But it could apply to anything I suppose. Roads Untraveled: Mike and Chester seem to be singing from two different perspectives, and/or to two different people. Mike's part is about a failed relationship and about how, yeah, it sucks that it's over, but you can't spend life wondering what could have been. you can only move forward. Chester's part is a bit more up for interpretation. "May your love never end" may be referring to a specific relationship, or a person's ability to love. It could be "I hope you and your partner's love lasts forever" or "don't ever stop loving people the way you loved your last partner; don't give up." And of course, if you ever need it, Chester is here for you. sweet song. Skin To Bone: This song is fucking dark. "Ash to ashes, dust to dust" is an Old Testament reference about how we are born as ash/dust, and when we die, that is what we once again become, so the line is about death. "Skin to bone, steel to rust"? "Skin to bone" evokes imagery of someone being stabbed, and "steel to rust" refers to blood rusting away steel. Like a knife. This song is about stabbing someone and "being happy that they're gone." "Your deception, my disgust" almost makes it sound like it's a crime of passion, perhaps the murder of an unfaithful lover. There's a lot up for interpretation here, but "ash to ashes, dust to dust, skin to bone and steel to rust" is pretty clear. Until It Breaks: Mike rapping about his/Linkin Park's career. Similar to Lost In The Echo. Powerless: Struggling to watch a friend deal with some sort of addiction or self-harming tendency and being powerless to stop their pain.
LITE: Mike has been through so much shit that he knows that his words really don't fucking matter IMR: This is what happens when you've been used up and feel like a slave. Am I the only who hears "broken art?" BID: What happens after you spend a couple albums trying to progress and then you find out that you have to make another Meteora LGM: As explained by Chester IBG: This means war. Wish me so much fucking luck. COG: I am a broken part of a beautiful, but fragile and shallow industry...and it sucks so much ass VICTIMIZED: You motherfuckers, yeah you guys! To be such vindictive assholes you guys sure do look like pussies right now. RU: Dude, seriously, no matter wtf you do you're just gonna get a ton of shit either way. I know this. STB: Nothing that you've ever said meant shit, like ever. I'm pretty much headed to oblivion UIB: You can't do what I do, you haven't seen what I've seen or been where I've been. You can't take this shit. Powerless: I thought we were cool again, and then you just fuckin knifed me in the gut.
@Brandon, it's my first time visiting this thread because I usually don't like getting my interpretations biased over others but your was the first and only one I will read. Wow, those are some great interpretations. A lot of them line up exactly as how I see the songs but your Skin to Bone, I'll Be Gone, and Powerless interpretations rock!
SKIN TO BONE is actually a really dark song. I used to think CASTLE OF GLASS was dark, but SKIN TO BONE definitely takes the cake with that one. Interesting interpretations.
I know interpretations are supposed to be left to the listener, but, it amazes me how many people miss the blatant metaphor in "IN MY REMAINS." The promises that are broken are "Like an army falling one by one by one."