Song Meaning
The track opens with a stark, retrospective question posed in its title. It immediately conjures a past struggle against an abstract, consuming threat. The subsequent instrumental nature of the track offers no verbal answers, a deliberate silence that invites deep, personal reflection from the listener.
The central tension lies in this striking contrast. The title explicitly asks "how did we fend them off," detailing a victory over something that "once devoured us." Yet, the song itself provides no lyrical explanation, no narrative details of the battle or the triumph. This forces the listener to confront the question without a guided response.
The craft here is in the powerful juxtaposition of a highly specific, almost archaic title with the universal language of instrumental music. Phrases like "vitreous fettles" evoke a menacing, perhaps internal, struggle that is difficult to articulate. By leaving the "how" to an instrumental arrangement, the track transforms a specific query into an open-ended meditation.
This artistic choice makes the piece profoundly effective. The absence of lyrics compels the audience to project their own experiences of overcoming adversity onto the music. It suggests that some battles, especially those against abstract or internal forces, are beyond words, best understood through feeling and personal interpretation. The track becomes a canvas for individual resilience and memory.
