Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a stark picture of a collective, willful descent into destruction. The opening lines immediately establish a sense of transgression and complicity: "I'm told that I should not have seen it / I know that I could not obey." This isn't about accidental missteps; it's about actively participating in decay, with "demons" and a pervasive greed that fuels every destructive act. The imagery of "demons line up to fade out our colours" and "not a fire that we're not feeding" suggests a systemic corruption that drains vibrancy and perpetuates damage. The chilling line, "Leave it undone and take out our mother / In her own home," implies a profound betrayal of nurturing forces, a violation of the most fundamental safety and belonging. The chorus hammers home the theme of passive observation and undeniable culpability. "Seen from miles away / No one moved" highlights a widespread inaction in the face of impending doom. The repeated questions, "How did we lead it this far when we knew it was dead from the start?" and "How can we still disregard when we know that we tore it apart?" are not inquiries seeking answers, but rather expressions of bewildered self-recrimination. They underscore a shared awareness of the ruin and a baffling inability or unwillingness to halt it. Verse 2 shifts the perspective to a grim aftermath where the struggle is over, but not in a triumphant way. "Now the lions are defeated / Now the tyrants are embraced" suggests a surrender to oppressive forces or a normalization of what was once fought against. The repetition of "demons line up" indicates the ongoing, perhaps even triumphant, march of corruption. The final lines of the second chorus introduce a desperate, self-sacrificing plea: "If all we can feed on is bred within greed then I'd rather I starve." This is a profound rejection of the corrupt system, a choice for self-annihilation over participation in a system built on avarice, highlighting the ultimate cost of the collective failure described throughout the song.