essays? not happening.

i'm terrible at doing homework. i actually want to do it, cuz i think this essay will turn out well and won't just be a hunk of 'must do this for marks'.

however, i have no work ethic..

so, i thought i'd writea blog about a little band my drummer recently showed me called Oh, Sleeper.

Oh, Sleeper is, under my definition, a technical hardcore band. some people call them metalcore, but they seem a bit too heavy and more intelligent than most metalcore.

musically, they're not that exciting (breakdowns and riffs can only go so far) but lyrically, they're freaking gorgeous.

not even simply gorgeous, they're also imaginative, provocative and risqué in a religious fashion.

their first full length, entitled When I Am God, is a concept album with a bunch of lines written from the perspective of God. presumptuous, but so well executed.

lyrics from "Charlatans Host"

What happens when I turn and run again? And again, and again?
"I will forgive you."
And what happens when I lie to your face?
"I will forgive you."
Oh my God, I can be so defiant to some one who's arms stretch to me.
"I will forgive."
Don't give up on me! Don't give up on me!
"I have forgiven you!"

it's such a perfect picture of the forgiving nature. while some more fundamentalist people might abhor this for some well-rationalized reason, i'd throw up a rob bell quote and say that "God has spoken, and the rest is all commentary."

of course, a fundamentalist probably won't be satiated by rob bell.

moving on.

Oh, Sleeper got even risker on their second LP, where they occasionally assume the viewpoint of Satan. the aptly titled "son of the morning's title track contains these lines:

Every night I start my rise, climbing high into the morning sky,
but soon after I lose your bride and I damn Your Son for stealing my light.
This world is mine...
They call me the son of the morning.
I can mound all your fallen past the clouds as they roll in,
and when I do I will claim your throne through all these cowards you call your sons.
I am the lord of air and my dawn will last forever.
Go on pouring out because in the end I will have them.
"If you could see like Me you'd see you haven't won anything..
If you could see like Me you'd see, it's by My grace that you're breathing."

it's such an interesting idea and gives such an awesome perspective to, well, everything.

i think we often forget the whole 'roaring lion, seeking to devour' stuff, because it's easier to fake a full existence when there is no enemy aside from ourselves.