Unlike Ogre's earlier Skinny Puppy work, ohGr has a more conventional structure to its music as well as a lighter tone, lyrically and musically.
The band was officially formed in 2001, although the material for the first album, Welt dates back to the mid-nineties, having been held up due to legal trouble with American Records. The first work produced by the band was actually the soundtrack for the computer game 'Descent II', but it was a number of years before their first album was released. Welt was originally the title of the group, a long standing acronym from early Skinny Puppy years when, shortly after Bill Leeb (of Front Line Assembly) left the band, Ogre graffitied "Wilhelm Eats Lunch Today" around Vancouver due to their then-acrimonious split. It was then refined to the less antagonistic "When Everyone Learns Truth". It was later discovered that in the interval, the name had been taken by a Californian punk band.
ohGr's third album titled Devils in my Details was released on October 17th, 2008 in Germany, October 20th in the United Kingdom, and October 21st in the United States. ohGr toured in support of the album release during the autumn of 2008. At Comic-Con 2008, Ogre announced that Bill Moseley will be contributing to the new ohGr album, as a result of them becoming friends through Repo! The Genetic Opera. It was tentatively revealed in a chat with the band that an album of B-sides from Devils in my Details (entitled "D-Sides") and an album of unreleased material from the 1990s (entitled "Dfault") was due to be released. In October 2009 a link to www.wdihtf.com appeared on Skinny Puppy's website. When users sign up to the mailing list they receive a link to the song COLLIDOSKOPE which starts with many different voices saying "Welcome to Collidoskope".
hollow
Ohgr Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Audience stills survives
Underneath a bloody cape
Audience still escapes
Feeling torture on the page
Audience comes of age
Fucking donkeys, right disease
Blaming is never pleased
The eyes can't protect you through
The compromising I
Swore allegiance to
The lie!
Wicked paper, aspirates
Audience fearing hate
Over top, whats underneath
Audience is in defeat
Free to worry, keep the peace
Audience in disgrace
Someone's knocking on their knees
All he says, "Can't release"
The eyes I'll protect you through
The compromising I
Swore allegiance to
The lie!
The flies, self protection proves
The compost smelling piles
To pass on over to
A future!
(Hollow)
(Hollow)
(Hollow)
(Hollow)
(Hollow) Sliding deep in it
(Hollow) Something's full of shit
(Hollow) Each and every bit
(Hollow) Something smells like shit
(Hollow)
The lyrics to Ohgr’s song “Hollow” seem to explore themes of deception, compromise, and betrayal, with a particular focus on the relationship between an artist and their audience. The mention of “instant paper” and “torture on the page” suggest that the artist may be struggling to create authentic work, perhaps bowing to external pressures or sacrificing their own integrity in order to please their audience. The line “swore allegiance to the lie” reinforces this idea that there is a sense of fakeness or falsehood in the artist’s work. Meanwhile, the audience “survives” and “escapes” the artist’s creations, but is ultimately left in a state of “disgrace” and “defeat.” It’s not clear from the lyrics exactly what the source of this betrayal is or who is betraying whom, but it’s clear that the artist-audience relationship is fraught with tension.
The chorus of the song turns the focus to the idea of “compromise,” with the repetition of the line “The compromising I swore allegiance to the lie” suggesting that the singer is struggling with the idea of selling out or watering down their work. The next line, “the eyes can’t protect you through,” implies that there is a sense of vulnerability or exposure that comes with compromising one’s artistic vision. The final verse of the song brings in the metaphor of “flies” and “compost,” perhaps suggesting that the artist’s work is becoming corrupted or decaying over time.
Overall, the lyrics to “Hollow” are fairly cryptic and open to interpretation, but they seem to be exploring the difficult relationship between an artist and their audience, and the pressures that can arise when one tries to create meaningful, authentic work while still appealing to a broader audience.
Line by Line Meaning
Instant paper, compromise
Quickly written papers, accepting a compromise
Audience stills survives
The audience remains alive and well
Underneath a bloody cape
Beneath a deceptive façade
Audience still escapes
The audience still manages to escape deception
Feeling torture on the page
Experiencing emotional distress from the written words
Audience comes of age
The audience grows wiser and more experienced
Fucking donkeys, right disease
Insulting those who are a source of frustration, blaming can't satisfy
Blaming is never pleased
The act of blaming never brings satisfaction
The eyes can't protect you through
Visual perception cannot prevent compromises
The compromising I swore allegiance to
Accepting compromises that contradict one's own beliefs
The lie!
A deception that's been embraced as the truth
Wicked paper, aspirates
Evil intentions on paper
Audience fearing hate
The audience terrified of hate
Over top, whats underneath
The surface hiding something beneath
Audience is in defeat
The audience is defeated
Free to worry, keep the peace
Free to worry, but pretending to keep the peace
Audience in disgrace
The audience in a shameful situation
Someone's knocking on their knees
Someone is in dire need of help
All he says, 'Can't release'
Inability to share the truth
The eyes I'll protect you through
Visual perception will safeguard against deceit
The compromising I swore allegiance to
The acceptance of contradictory compromises
The lie!
The vicious deception that's embraced as the truth
The flies, self-protection proves
Protection against danger may attract more danger
The compost smelling piles
A putrid sight not worth examining
To pass on over to
To leave something behind for the next generation
A future!
A hopeful and promising future
Hollow
Empty and meaningless
(Hollow)
Echoing the emptiness
Sliding deep in it
Becoming increasingly involved with something negative
Something's full of shit
Something is deeply problematic
Each and every bit
Every aspect and detail
Something smells like shit
Something is strongly suspicious or problematic
Contributed by Stella G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.