Pendulum - The Other Side
I recently listened to the Pendulum track "The Other Side", and something just stuck with me.
Apart from being a kickass track, I just want to talk about it a little.
The voice effects are really great, both on the chorus and the stanzas.
When I hear it, automatically pictures of DOOM, slashing demons and reloading shotguns come in my mind, it's really cool.
On first glance, one thinks it is dealing with guilt, the thoughts of which stay in the person's mind.
This could be told by the following verses:
Come with us through the gates of hell (chorus, l. 2)
Hell is commonly painted as a bad place, so this establishes that the chorus is some kind of voice, or being, from hell. Or at least it is affiliated with hell. "Going through hell" on its own does not really speak for guilt, as it is also a word for suffering, but then comes:
We will drag you from where you are / To where you belong (chorus, l. 3f.)
So this pretty openly says that the person talked about is not supposed to be where they are, wherever that may be.
Pairing "to where you belong" with going through the gates of hell lets one paint that the person is supposed to be in hell. Someone who is supposed to be in hell would be a terrible person.
The first stanza features a different voice; the voice is positive, introducing a group of people as "your saviors", and praising the person:
You, you are so precious / A diamond in the rough (S. 1, l. 7f.)
I think it is pretty obvious that the different voice must be someone else speaking, not associated with hell and negativity like the first voice.
Using positive words brings close the conclusion that this must be the voice of positivity.
Bringing back the hypothesis made, a text about guilt, this line becomes clear as well. It's justifying the bad things the person did. A diamond in the rough, a good person who is yet on their path to become good. Everyone makes mistakes; that's what is said here.
Putting it a bit more poetically (and stereotypically): as there is next to no input from the person talked about, perhaps this is a sort of battle between good and evil?
"Next to no input" means there is some, and that some input is this:
But I can't sleep until this is done / They're in my head, they're in my soul (Following Stanza 1)
Arguably, this is still the same voice as the chorus, though it is a different tone.
Obviously this points out some kind of distress that "they" bring. A feeling of being plagued.
This could also bring a connection to the following, though these two segments are not next to each other:
You, you are so precious / But now you've gone away (S. 2, l. 7f.)
The person has followed the chorus' voice, and went to hell. Their saviors can now do no more but break under having no one to save.
Well, that turned dark pretty quick.
It reminds me a bit of Witchcraft. When I looked into *what* was being sung there, I quickly found out that it was pretty dark. It wouldn't be unheard of.
It turned out to be harder than expected to put my feelings over this track to words, perhaps it is impossible.
I really like it, that's about all I can say. Thanks for listening to me.