Musically, Silent Planet has been described as metalcore - more specifically, progressive metalcore. They are known for their intricate sound and incorporation of post-rock textures. The band has also been praised for their thought-provoking lyrics, which cover topics such as war, psychology, and religion. Band members have listed Oh, Sleeper, Architects, Underoath, and This Will Destroy You as influences on their sound.
Wasteland
Silent Planet Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We made a temple to thieves
Enshrining the great criminal who promised heaven without God.
If we had sight to seem
To see the seven seas could cease to be
Or freeze in me
We'd shake this sudden sundering and subsequently
Cross the strait
We'll beat your rifles to shovels
And dig a proper grave for our sons
Who saw
The end
Of God:
Wasteland.
The flag
Will fall
With the wall we built:
Wasteland.
Apostate to the State,
Witness to the Dead ⁸:
For you know only a heap of broken Image ⁹
And when you rid this earth of God we shall shelter Him underground ¹⁰.
Fall into the coldest wastes of humanity -
Darkening circles fed by deepening graves. "Death solves all problems,"
Your heart is a statistic
No mother, no resistance... but still she precludes the grave.
They saw
The end
Of God:
Wasteland
The flag
Will fall
With the walls we built:
Wasteland.
The lyrics to Silent Planet’s song “Wasteland” are a commentary on the dangers of worshipping false idols and the destruction that can result from putting faith in corrupt leaders. The opening lines, “We 'won the war,' we made a temple to thieves, enshrining the great criminal who promised heaven without God” speak to the idea of leaders promising success and prosperity without true moral or ethical guidance. The repetition of the word “wasteland” throughout the song is a bleak reminder of the potential outcome of such behavior, and the line “fall into the coldest wastes of humanity - darkening circles fed by deepening graves” illustrates the emptiness and hopelessness that can come from putting faith in the wrong things.
Line by Line Meaning
We "won the War"
We emerged victorious from the war
We made a temple to thieves
We built a shrine or sanctuary for criminals
Enshrining the great criminal who promised heaven without God.
Honoring a big criminal who claimed to provide a path to paradise without the need for a higher power.
If we had sight to seem
If only we were perceptive enough to realize
To see the seven seas could cease to be
That the oceans could vanish
Or freeze in me
Or freeze solid within me
We'd shake this sudden sundering and subsequently
We would overcome our current state of separation and afterward
Cross the strait
Travel across the narrow passage of land or water
And traverse the wastes.
And journey through the desolate areas
We'll beat your rifles to shovels
We will convert weapons of war into tools for digging
And dig a proper grave for our sons
We will bury our children in a respectful manner
Who saw
Those who witnessed
The end
The conclusion
Of God:
Of the divine
Wasteland.
A barren, lifeless place
The flag
The national banner or symbol
Will fall
Will be brought down or destroyed
With the wall we built:
Together with the barrier that we constructed
Wasteland.
A place of desolation and ruin
Apostate to the State,
One who has defected from the government or nation
Witness to the Dead ⁸:
Observer of the deceased
For you know only a heap of broken Image ⁹
Because you are only aware of fragmented representations
And when you rid this earth of God we shall shelter Him underground ¹⁰.
And when you eliminate the divine presence from this planet, we will protect and conceal it below the surface.
Fall into the coldest wastes of humanity -
Descend into the frozen, desolate areas of human existence
Darkening circles fed by deepening graves.
Growing darkness surrounded by ever more graves.
"Death solves all problems,"
The idea that mortality can eliminate all difficulties, as though dying is the ultimate solution.
Your heart is a statistic
You are only a data point or numerical value, rather than an individual with personal significance.
No mother, no resistance... but still she precludes the grave.
Without mother or defiance... yet still she dodges death.
They saw
They witnessed
The end
The conclusion
Of God:
Of the divine
Wasteland
A barren, lifeless place
The flag
The national banner or symbol
Will fall
Will be brought down or destroyed
With the walls we built:
Together with the barriers that we constructed
Wasteland.
A place of desolation and ruin
Contributed by Kylie N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
owningall
damn. almost a perfect album. only thing I would change is having the vocalist do more of those nasty lows!!
Comay.
Well the Redux that just dropped, he does just that. But in reference to this recording, those lows were a guest vocalist.
muffin
Exactly what I was thinking. Probably why I love Invent, Animate so much with how much he changes up the vocal range.
Grid
Silent Planet, Dayseeker, Knocked Loose, The Amity Affliction, Code Orange, Kingdom of Giants. All my best finds of 2017 so far.
Mauricio Correa Meza
Check out Cult Leader
Madison Marie
Should listen to some Periphery. Don't sound like Silent Planet, but one of my favorite bands of 2017 and 2018 along with some of the bands you listed
Cohen Robins
I love how in the lyrics they give the meanings to them, so people won't get confused and accuse them of saying something they're not.
Flamo
@Wolfie McFox for me, i like how they have that. Even when i know what the artist meant, I’m still going to apply my own interpretation to it.
Evan Parry
Wolfie McFox I don’t really think you understand Garrett has a lyricist and scholar then. He wants to tell the stories of those he finds meaningful. His footnotes do that.
TheOnlyPotato
@Wolfie McFox I agree. There's an author, DH Laurence, who has a quote that goes something like, "art needs to be saved from the artist." Looking at the authors intended meaning kind of takes away half of the fun for me but it's still interesting to compare my interpretation to it.