Draconian – Stellar Tombs Lyric Analysis

Disclaimer: these interpretations are those of the writer and do not reflect the intentions of the lyricist. If you would like to contribute to the conversation or offer a different point of view, feel free to comment or contact Metal Utopia at promo@metalutopia.com.

Draconian are a Swedish Gothic Doom Metal band. They’ve been around since 1994. “Stellar Tombs” is off their 2015 full-length “Sovran”, which is their first album to feature Heike Langhans on vocals. Their lyrics don’t only deal with the usual topics you would expect from a Gothic Metal band, such as sorrow and depression. There’s a lot more to it. Some fields the main lyricist Anders Jacobsson draws inspiration from are philosophy, nature, religion and science.
“Stellar Tombs” talks about the relationship between human population and the environment, highlighting the destructive nature of men and the beauty and magnitude of the cosmos.

A place where daylight aches
It’s all unreal to you
A sunset calls me here
I swear to love it’s true

What could lead to a situation in which daylight hurts? Let’s get scientific: Earth’s atmosphere acts like a multi-layer shield that protects Earth from dangerous solar radiation. Two of those layers contain ozone, the one in the stratosphere absorbs UV radiation, preventing dangerous UV rays from hitting Earth’s surface and harming living organisms. Aerosols, leaking refrigeration equipment and industry emit Chlorofluorocarbons that damage the ozone layer, creating so-called “ozone holes”. These “holes” emerged over Earth’s polar regions and are getting bigger. So, if we keep emitting those substances, the protecting ozone layer will disappear and UV radiation will reach us unfiltered, resulting in serious health problems, from eye damage to skin cancer.

The idea of sunrays harming us feels so distant to us, almost unreal. Some of us even refuse to take global warming seriously.

So alien this vaulted screen
And patterns form into contours
The dark around me dense as matter
A stellar quake fills the astral space

Humanity is fascinated by space and the stars, but it is unaware of its surroundings. It’s only interested in looking at them instead of trying to understand them. A starquake is an event of unimaginable dimensions. It shows how insignificant und ignorant mankind is compared to the magnitude of space.

How dare you not to see?
My tears are gifts to you
A heart you must set free
How dare you not believe?

This part is a call to awareness. The Gift of Tears is a phenomenon mentioned in spiritual writers since very early in the Church, and it refers to an intense personal experience of God that overflows in abundant tears. Here it refers to a spiritual experience that opens people’s eyes and conscience. Knowledge and awareness improves our lives, there’s no need to be afraid of it.

Because I freeze in the warmth, in the glow of Helios
Sweat in the heart of summers drained
And radiant life to falter and beautiful tears to dry
I’m gracefully bowing
In horror

The consequences of mankind’s unawareness to its surroundings. People fear the sun, the living conditions are bad. All life is slowly being wiped out. Now humanity becomes aware of the danger and recognizes the environment’s impact on it. Full of fear it awaits its destiny.

Waterless like the ocean
Drizzling like the deserts
Come emerge and wallow
Pretend like nothing at all
Along the whirlwinds in your head

This displays how we take nature for granted. The water in the ocean is so obvious to us, as is the fact that the deserts are dry. We just live our lives thinking about so many things, but never really appreciate or think about the nature that surrounds us.

A place where daylight aches
It’s all unreal to you
A world we must set free
I swear to love it’s true

Petrified spirit, dilated stare
I’m piercing through these icy shackles
Somehow cast around this nebula
Unwilling to enter my birth

An apocalyptic picture is drawn. The consequences of mankinds’ ignorance are unveiled mercilessly. Nature strikes back with all its power. There’s no way out, the apocalypse takes its course.

Would you take my hand and follow through the ether?
Would you sweat and dance in winter’s bloom?
For radiant life to falter and beautiful tears to dry
I’m gracefully bowing
In sorrow

It is too late for fear, the only feeling now is sorrow as mankind slowly dies.

Waterless like the ocean
Drizzling like the deserts
Come emerge and wallow
Pretend like nothing at all
Along the whirlwinds in your head

Along the whirlwinds in your head

Overall, this song seems like a call to awareness to me. We should be aware of our surroundings and learn to appreciate and respect them. Instead of taking nature for granted we should start thinking about the significance it has for us.