Annotations for The Void

Lyric: They’re wrong
 They’re wrong
 They’re wrong
 Yeah, baby, they’re wrong
 They’re wrong
 They’re wrong
Annotation:
Even though the song sounds dark, it still tries to give us hope. No matter what they say, even though they think that there is no hope or ‘nothing can reach us to pull us out of the gloom’, they are wrong.

Lyric: They’ll say, no one can see us
 That we’re estranged and all alone
 They believe nothing can reach us
 And pull us out of the boundless gloom
Annotation:
This part of the song recreates the imagery that Matt  explained to RadioX, the idea of someone lost into the space alone, watching the planet fading and disappearing from view. In this part, Matt mentions how people can be pessimistic thinking that everything is doomed to die or fail, with ‘they’ meaning everyone around us or, alternatively, who runs the  propaganda.

Lyric: A star
Annotation:
All of the iron coursing through our blood was forged billions of years ago in the cores of stars known as red giants. Carbon and oxygen atoms used as fusion fuel by stars are converted into iron, the heaviest element a star can produce. Once the stars exploded as supernovas, the iron was  scattered throughout the universe. It then condensed, along with other atoms, to form planets. Humanity emerged from one of those planets. As Carl Sagan said, “We are made of star stuff.” PROPOSED SUGGESTION: I think this is fantastic and true. I also think it’s missing the tie in this lyric has with verse 3. As stars, we are visible. We are no alone, there are countless many of us. Not only can we bring each other light in the “boundless gloom,” we can be our own light.

Lyric: To awake from these delusions
Annotation:
This could be a reference to the “illusion of separation” from which Gautama Buddha is said to have awoken after a complete investigation of his mind. The human brain evolved to ensure the survival of its bearer. Everything we perceive is filtered through the brain to ensure that only stimuli which aid our fitness to survive and reproduce get through. Much like the idea of a “brain in a vat” treated in the 1999 movie “The Matrix”, except each of us is immersed in an “ocean of fitness”. This is the illusion; that we are a separate, isolated fragment in an indifferent universe. This is the ultimate delusion; from which humanity must awaken if we are to reach the next stage of our evolution and “slay giants”. In the context of the album, this means to break out of the simulation.

Lyric: They’ll say the sun is dying
 And the fragile can’t be saved
 And the cold, it will devour us
 And we won’t rise up and slay giants
Annotation:
This part of the song makes references to the ‘Ultimate fate of the Universe’, Matt has already talked about that in  The 2nd Law’s song  “Big Freeze”, in which the ‘cold will devour us’ and will end all life in the universe. This could be part of a “propaganda” dialogue told by terrorist leaders.

Lyric: You are the coder and avatar
Annotation:
This line further the simulated, digital, and electronic visual theme of this album by contextualizing itself with the videogame programming world. The coder is the  programmer of the game who makes the rules and the  avatar being the player’s character who must obey them. If one is both the coder and the avatar, then they both make the rules and live by them.

