Lyrical Analysis: The album has been speculated to be about the execution of a prostitute. The songs in this album are broken up into sections of three. The first three songs are the view point of the the prison priest. The second 3 are view of the prison guard. The last 3 are the direct view of Kezia herself. And the last song is a summary.
In the first three songs (No Stars Over Bethlehem, Heretics and Killers, Divinity Within) The priest is struggling with the moral implications of the execution of kezia. He feels that man has no hope and in the first song he says "Amen to the people who think there's still a way to help us." I think the band is really making a statement of how hopeless and corrupt life has become. There is also a self realization in the fact that he as a hypocrite and being the prison priest is just a job. "I watch my temple fall to pieces at the first signs of oncoming weather" I think this really brings out the idea that people these days are not confident in self beliefs and that their beliefs are altered at the first sight of a challenge. In the next song (Divinity Within) Kezia makes the biggest impact on the prison guard, "Last night i saw you dine with lovers and human tears but glanced at me in ways that brought to life my sleeping fears." The moral implication in this lyric really seemed like the band believed that someone can enter and change your life in a short period of time. The prison priest really had a deeper respect for his life when he realized how society had outcasted Kezia with little to no reason and she had to live her life dark and alone.
In the second set of songs, that of the prison guard(Bury The Hatchet, Nautical, Blindfolds Aside), the band discuss the numbness people today have to societies outcasts. I feel the most profound lyrical phrase that I have ever heard lies in the first song of the prison guard (Bury The Hatchet), the line is as follows : "I swear I have compassion I've just been trained to disregard a humans life." This is deeply profound because people today are avoiding confrontation of the fact that they select and segregate people to their liking. Also the line clearly represents the desensitization of people in todays world. The prison guard express disgust in the fact that his job is taken for granted. He uses a metaphor of a cigarette, "And I'm still a cigarette softly smoking on the edge of a metal ashtray I begged this place to let me burn and it whispered, 'Burn Away.'"
The last of the prison guard songs is called Blindfolds aside. This song was similar to the priests last song in the sense that its a song of realization and awareness. "Shed the blindfolds from your eyes"
Last but not least, Kezia's point of view(She Who Mars The Skin Of Gods, Turn soonest to the Sea, The Divine Suicide of K.) Kezia's mother was in an abusive relationship with her father due to the time and she speaks a profound line after hearing her parents fight. "It was our situation, our position, our gender to blame." Even though the ideas in this wording is quite sexist the idea presented is that, there is nothing she can do about who she is. Society wouldn't accept for what or who she was so she was socially condemned. The big idea behind kezia's pieces were the injustice she had to suffer due to her gender and the nature of society.
Lyrically I would say this album is Superior to all else.
The guitarists Tim Miller and Luke Hoskin are the perfect combination to bring the message out of the song. Tim has killer backing rhythms while Luke brings out the context of the song threw very particular harmonic soloing.
The bass guitar in this album is subtle but a huge backbone setting the tone for the album. It takes a key listener to pick him out. One of the albums biggest crutches is the dominance of the singer, Rody Walker, he has a tremendous vocal range that really helps emphasize different aspects of the album. Last but not least, the drums in this album may go unappreciated by your average listener but a drummer will notice the drummers fills are all appropriate to the song and they are time signatures that many find difficult.
I would give this album 5 Stars.
