When you call a place like Eckley Pennsylvania home, things are fairly blea… Read Full Bio ↴When you call a place like Eckley Pennsylvania home, things are fairly bleak. The center of the coal mining region of the American Northeast isn’t exactly the happiest of places at the best of times. But from trials come fire and brimstone and The Hopewell Furnace have a reputation for dark, atmospheric and some even say down right punishing Technical Death Metal.

The Horror
The Hopewell Furnace Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Parading viscera
Spilt among the cold
Obelisk
The night is rich with the smell of remorse

The timbers of the gallows bend and sway
Creak under my weight
Slip cold into the void

I can feel the embrace
Of hell within me
The most deceptive embrace of a man′s erratic display
Infernal pulsing rhythm burned
And left to bathe in ash
Now bound to this black sheet
The blood in the air will tell

The power I have is wasted on this man
Rediscover the cataclysm
The event to amend
Send mankind into a dark age again

Forced from my bones the horrid plague will rip apart and descend
I am the bringer of death
I am the end
One hundred years of broken kin have scarred the earth black with sin
I am the final sickness
I am the rotting within

Rotting within

All is clear the hand of god has slipped past this place
This filth can't be unseen, bound to this black sheet

Innocence is weakness
Hundreds of these insects
I will be the initiate of death
Innocence is weakness
Hundreds of these insects
I will be the initiate of death

Eviscerated land soaked in blood from the corpse
Darkness over all the endless starving plague endures
Dinner of sorrow
A meal for the rats
My tattered clothes and aging bones are bound for reasons unknown

I am law and all will die alone

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of The Hopewell Furnace's song The Horror depict a gruesome and horrific scene of violence and death. The first stanza describes an obelisk surrounded by spilled viscera, creating a palpable sense of horror and disgust. The singer feels the embrace of hell within him, indicating that he is the one responsible for this violence. The second stanza reveals that the singer has the power to bring about a cataclysmic event that would send mankind into a dark age. He is the bringer of death, the final sickness that is rotting within.

The third and final stanza suggests that the singer believes that innocence is weakness and that he will be the initiate of death for hundreds of insects. The land is eviscerated and soaked in blood, indicating that the singer has left a trail of destruction in his wake. The final line, "I am law and all will die alone," suggests that the singer views himself as an agent of destruction and sees death as the ultimate arbiter of justice.

Overall, The Horror is a chilling and macabre depiction of violence and the human capacity for destruction.

Line by Line Meaning

Parading viscera
Guts of the dead being scattered around

Spilt among the cold
The spilled guts lying in the cold weather

Obelisk
A tall, four-sided pillar that is pointed at the top

The night is rich with the smell of remorse
The environment is filled with the smell of regret and sorrow

The timbers of the gallows bend and sway
The wooden frame used for hanging people is unstable and shaky

Creak under my weight
The wood groans and makes noise because of the person standing on it

Slip cold into the void
The person falls into the emptiness beneath them

I can feel the embrace
The person feels hugged by someone or something

Of hell within me
The flesh and soul of the person are corrupted by evil

The most deceptive embrace of a man's erratic display
The evil afflicting the person is most dangerous when the person's behavior is unstable

Infernal pulsing rhythm burned
An evil rhythm that is sending pain all around

And left to bathe in ash
The aftermath of burnt people and materials lie in ashes

Now bound to this black sheet
The person is now tied to a black sheet, a symbol of death

The blood in the air will tell
The atmosphere is filled with death because of the significant amount of blood in the region

The power I have is wasted on this man
The supernatural power in the person is useless on that individual they are targeting

Rediscover the cataclysm
Find the source of the disaster

The event to amend
Correct the situation to avoid bad outcomes

Send mankind into a dark age again
Push humanity into suffering and despair once more

Forced from my bones the horrid plague will rip apart and descend
Removing evil from the person, the horrible disease will die and spread over the area

I am the bringer of death
The character is responsible for bringing death

I am the end
The character is the endpoint of something or the final resolution

One hundred years of broken kin have scarred the earth black with sin
Centuries of dysfunctional family and relationships have caused the earth to be filled with wickedness

I am the final sickness
The person is the ultimate manifestation of illness

I am the rotting within
The person is the innermost decay

All is clear the hand of god has slipped past this place
Divine intervention has missed this location completely

This filth can't be unseen, bound to this black sheet
The aftermath of the encounter is inescapable and unpleasant

Innocence is weakness
Being naïve and inexperienced is disadvantageous

Hundreds of these insects
A great multitude of people

I will be the initiate of death
The person will instigate death

Eviscerated land soaked in blood from the corpse
The area has been emptied of its contents and illuminated in blood from the dead

Darkness over all the endless starving plague endures
The symptoms of the never-ending sickness will continue to linger, and everything will be surrounded by darkness

Dinner of sorrow
A depressing meal

A meal for the rats
A harmful meal in which an undeserving individual feasts

My tattered clothes and aging bones are bound for reasons unknown
The reason why the person's clothes are ruined, and their bones are weakened is unknown

I am law and all will die alone
The character is the law, and nobody will have anyone else to depend on during death

Contributed by Elizabeth P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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