Blackwater Park (Opeth) Song Meanings

[knives]

Hey guys. I just bought Blackwater Park yesterday, after reading up on Opeth in a thread here. I was under the impression that the only song I needed to worry about was "The Leper Affinity", however, after looking at what people said on Songmeanings (http://www.songmeanings.net/artist.php?action=album&did=2094&aid=6880) about the meanings of some songs, I got a little concerned that I had just bought the cd....
So I was wondering what you guys thought some of the songs were actually "about". The ones that concerned me the most were "The Leper Affinity", "Bleak" and "Dirge for November".

I'm sorry if I am just wasting bandwidth posting this, but it has been troubling me...

[evilreign]

The leper affinity is most definately about necrophilia
Bleak I believe is about someone killing another person and his thoughts while he watches them die, he has doubts but in the end he believes that he has done the right thing for the person was evil
A digre for november is about suicide
Keep in mind thorugh all of this though that many opeth songs are guilty of being words put together to sound sinister and poetic but really mean nothing at all. A lot of their songs aren't really about anything.

[Fleshbane_Bass]

For me, the word "Bleak" describes Opeth's music perfectly. They are masters of a dark gloomy musical art. Color photos turn grayscale when Opeth is played long enough.
Lyrically, I agree with ER (in the post above). Nothing positive and all rather depressing. However, all the lyrics appear to be just soundscape material rather than promoting any sort of agenda or idealism. I could be wrong.

[knives]

The leper affinity is most definately about necrophilia
Bleak I believe is about someone killing another person and his thoughts while he watches them die, he has doubts but in the end he believes that he has done the right thing for the person was evil
A digre for november is about suicide
Keep in mind thorugh all of this though that many opeth songs are guilty of being words put together to sound sinister and poetic but really mean nothing at all. A lot of their songs aren't really about anything.
Could it be that those songs really aren't about anything as well?

Also, do you know about the other songs on the album, ie are they also about rape, murder etc.
Thanks!

Fleshbane_Bass I couldn't agree more with what you said. :D

[evilreign]

Could it be that those songs really aren't about anything as well?

Also, do you know about the other songs on the album, ie are they also about rape, murder etc.
Thanks!

Fleshbane_Bass I couldn't agree more with what you said. :D

Its possible for Bleak and a dirge for november but the leper affinity is without a doubt about necrophilia. Once again like fleshbane said though, they are just trying to sound dark and evil but they don't actually promote murder, rape, necrophilia,etc (bye the way Bleak is my favorite song on this album)

harvest- im not entirely sure about this one, its about someone dying and asking another person to stay with them. The line "wilted scenes for those of us who coundn't wait" kind of gets me thinking that the person commited suicide and that now he realizes that because of that he is now going to hell, but none of the rest of the song supports that so idk. The title harvest makes me think that it is about the gathering of souls.

The drapery Falls- well this one is about a bad relationship, that causes misery for the person. Well thats what people at song meaning are saying, but personally I think its just about pain, and is one of their songs that isn't really about anything. don't take a ton of stock in the people at soundmeaning, they read way to much into this stuff.

the funeral Portrait- once again this is probably one of those that don't mean anything, but just from reading it I believe its about a man looking out on the world and seeing it as an evil place, then he meets a stranger that he thinks is better than the rest of the people out there, but realizes the stranger has been lying to him and he decides to take his own life to get away from this rotten world and wonders if he should take the liar with him but in the end decides let him go back out into the world and die in misery while he himself has a peaceful death. And that is me looking to much into an opeth song but whatever.

Blackwater park- I believe that this is about a man observing sadly all that is wrong with humanity

[knives]

I was reading more about this album on songmeanings, and I have come up with a theory/hypothesis.
The theory is this: If you take the song "Blackwater Park" to be talking about how bad the world is, with all the corruption and death, then you might be able to say that the rest of the album is talking about the problems of the world, all leading up to this final song....if that is the case, then I think it has an almost "good message" to it, in that it shows that all people are sinners. However, it certainly offers no hope of God...
If only Opeth could be a christian band....that would be :headbang: amazing!

Edit: Right after I posted this, I saw what you said ER. Your interpretations sound like they might be correct.
However, based on how Opeth often sings about Nature, it could be that the "Leper Affinity" is actually about this:

by 6th_sadistic_sniper on 02-07-2005 @ 04:13:02 AM
The more I read the lyrics, the more I think it is nature itself, talking to somebody who has died and been buried: "We entered Winter once again, naked, freezing from my breath. 'Neath the lid all limbs tucked away, this coffin is your abode from now and onwards. Your body is mine to avail."

This, to me, is nature or the earth itself speaking. The "breath" of the land is the wind, freezing the ground and all below it. The earth now avails, or uses, the body to its own advantage. The soil itself is nurtured by the corpse, and the decomposition causes the body to return to nature - dust to dust, you know? These lines seem to fit that: "Grew together with your skin, and paced the trails of sin. Your gaze covered with virgin snow; rigid features."

All that suggests somebody dead and buried under the cold winter earth. Yeah, I can see it being a metaphor for human failings - it could even be an analogy for a controlling or smothering relationship, in a sick sort of way. But in a literal sense, I believe it's about death and the eternity of burial.

Oh, and one final thing.
Do you guys think that such a focus on death is "bad"?

[evilreign]

I was reading more about this album on songmeanings, and I have come up with a theory/hypothesis.
The theory is this: If you take the song "Blackwater Park" to be talking about how bad the world is, with all the corruption and death, then you might be able to say that the rest of the album is talking about the problems of the world, all leading up to this final song....if that is the case, then I think it has an almost "good message" to it, in that it shows that all people are sinners. However, it certainly offers no hope of God...
If only Opeth could be a christian band....that would be :headbang: amazing!

Edit: Right after I posted this, I saw what you said ER. Your interpretations sound like they might be correct.
However, based on how Opeth often sings about Nature, it could be that the "Leper Affinity" is actually about this:

by 6th_sadistic_sniper on 02-07-2005 @ 04:13:02 AM
The more I read the lyrics, the more I think it is nature itself, talking to somebody who has died and been buried: "We entered Winter once again, naked, freezing from my breath. 'Neath the lid all limbs tucked away, this coffin is your abode from now and onwards. Your body is mine to avail."

This, to me, is nature or the earth itself speaking. The "breath" of the land is the wind, freezing the ground and all below it. The earth now avails, or uses, the body to its own advantage. The soil itself is nurtured by the corpse, and the decomposition causes the body to return to nature - dust to dust, you know? These lines seem to fit that: "Grew together with your skin, and paced the trails of sin. Your gaze covered with virgin snow; rigid features."

All that suggests somebody dead and buried under the cold winter earth. Yeah, I can see it being a metaphor for human failings - it could even be an analogy for a controlling or smothering relationship, in a sick sort of way. But in a literal sense, I believe it's about death and the eternity of burial.

Oh, and one final thing.
Do you guys think that such a focus on death is "bad"?

Actually the leper affinity could be about nature, you never really know with an opeth song unless they come out and tell you what the song is about. And you know with how many of these songs sadistic sniper has posted on maybe he actually is a guy from Opeth, probably not but he has posted on like all the songs that i've seen and his posts are always very deep.

And I don't think that the focus on death is a bad thing, Mainly they do it to sound evil and depressing. Plus Death is a very big part of life it has to be adressed.

I also think that your analogy of blackwater park as a whole seems very correct. Maybe the intended focus of this album is talking about the very worst side of humanity.

[pop sucks]

Leper Affinity is a metaphor about something, but it sounds like it's about necrophylia. I think it was about reuniting with the soil of whatever, as in when you die of something. Nothing much evil.

[knives]

Actually the leper affinity could be about nature, you never really know with an opeth song unless they come out and tell you what the song is about. And you know with how many of these songs sadistic sniper has posted on maybe he actually is a guy from Opeth, probably not but he has posted on like all the songs that i've seen and his posts are always very deep.

And I don't think that the focus on death is a bad thing, Mainly they do it to sound evil and depressing. Plus Death is a very big part of life it has to be adressed.

I also think that your analogy of blackwater park as a whole seems very correct. Maybe the intended focus of this album is talking about the very worst side of humanity.

Well, I'm not sure that trying to "sound evil and depressing" is a good thing, but I do think that death is definitely a part of life that should be talked (or screamed) about.

[Metahead]

could some one post all of sadistic sniper's meanings on blackwater park?

[AARONIUS]

Well, I have read several interviews with Michael Akerfeldt and I guess Opeth started out as a satanic more death metal type band, but shortly after Michael joined and some of the other guys left (including their original vocalist David Isberg) I guess Michael and the other guitarist (Peter Lindgren) kind of decided to get rid of the whole satanic thing.


Of course everytime they get ready to release a new album Michael does say it's the most evil thing they've ever done. However, if you've ever heard them live or read any interviews with Opeth you know that Michael does like to joke around quite a bit so he might just be being "funny".


Also if you've heard their Roundhouse Tapes live cd He does introduce one of their older songs by saying "this song has total black metal nonsense lyrics".:)

[Bribanez]

I don't know what the songs mean. Nor do I really care. I just love the music.

[MilkyPeterson]

^Tru Dat

I dont pay any attention to what they mean. They are ambiguous enough you have to think about the lyrics to decipher the meaning. Just dont think about it. I suspect most of their lyrics are just intended to sounds artsy.