agreed

Honestly it was really nice to hear

THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's really sick when music experts can transpose songs into piano, etc....it helps break down the melodies so much for people who like music!

Yes! I would love to hear your entire take on that song, so beautiful.

I agree...it sounded beautiful! I just wish he would have kept going

Agreed !

It's a great song but essentially sticks within a single scale, so it's quite fun and easy to jam with 😊 have done so many times myself on bass

@@brandonmadsen9591that’s a part of the reason why it’s so powerful. This song has a great balance between the rational and emotional aspects of music. The chords and rhythm is indeed simple, but Serj’s vocal compensated that, which reinforces the powerfulness of the instrumentation. Simplicity can be unique and catchy as well, just have to play the cards right

Totally impressed too ✨

I'm a year late but check Serj's solo stuff, absolutely amazing.

Radio Video is certainly my fav SOAD tune because of the hard and soft changes and also the solo at last is pretty good

@@asmodius666 I love the traditional folk music influence as well, super prominent that song

Both of those albums. Every song. :)

@@thepiratecats801 you mean Hypnotize and Mesmerize? True

Yes absolutely Radio/Video , Cigaro , This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song , soooo many good songs from Mezmerize/Hypnotize!

Go watch gamazda. Beautiful pianist who covers this as well as tons of other metal songs. She's mind blowing you'll love it

@@bubbleshughes6169 thanks, I'll check her out.

vkgoeswild is my favourite one for piano covers of rock/metal... been to her concert once :).

Please please PLEASE include more of your own playing accompaniment Doug it's awesome!

Well, I've found a single one at least that gets it right! It's surprising how nobody notices one of the most widely used ideas in literature: Heraclitus' river. Despite it is _powerful_ , it isn't uncommon at all - there are _tons_ of music with such a content: _Cause we are the ones that want to play_ _Always want to _*_go_*_ , but you never want to _*_stay_* ↳ Heraclitus' river, struggle with _impermanence_ Yet, what makes this one uncommon is that nice bit you smartly spotted: the adding of _waterfall_ to that idea of Heraclitus' river: _Life is a waterfall_ _We're one in the river_ _And one again after the fall_ ↳ your previous explanation belongs here, it couldn't have been said any better :) Then, it wraps things up with a subtle hint at how subjective knowledge (self-awareness mediated by senses & language, _small mind_ ) is incompatible with absolute knowledge (beyond our self-awareness: _all as a whole_ ). From a position of (near) absolute knowledge (religion, philosophy, whatever aided by _the word_ : never heard of God is a verb?): _Swimming through the void, we hear _*_the word_* _We lose _*_ourselves_*_ , but we find it all_ ↳ From _small mind_ (subjective knowledge), we get language, and with it we slide into _all as a whole_ (absolute knowledge)... with this trade-off: our sensible experience of existence is lost :) _Aerials in the sky_ _When you _*_lose small mind_*_ , you free your life_ _Aerials, so up high_ _When you _*_free your eyes_*_ , eternal prize_ ↳ By renouncing sensitive experience (that one mediated by senses, _subjective knowledge_ ) you get higher (beyond self-awareness, _absolute knowledge_ )

@@yibril17 Nice. I hadn't gone that deep into the symbolism of it. In a more straightforward sense, I feel like it's also saying "we're all, together, the same one _thing_ , for the vast majority of our existence". We're *one* in the river before the fall and we're *one* again in the river after the fall. Only in the waterfall do we perceive one another as "other", because it's only then that we're apart from each other. But it's only for the briefest of moments, comparatively, and it's such folly to see two droplets of water _from the same damn river_ as "different". I see it as sort of a call to unity, and a call to look at ourselves and see that we're much more similar than we are different. Also, what you described actually reminded me of another song: A National Acrobat, by Black Sabbath. It has a similar concept of trading experiences and knowledges together with states of being.

That is how I primarily see it, but there are probably at least 5 distinct and valid other interpretations.

​@@cobrasys Disclaimer: often, symbolism is not a deliberate action; I mean, whoever creates a piece of art may be using symbols, yet unaware of that. Example: every time you read/see something heart-related, chances are that author doesn't know that since heart is autonomous, formerly it was used to express something you can't control, as opposed to will. In turn, that fitted like a glove to represent ideas about determinism/free will... like love. It's such an old (accepted and shared) comparison, that it turned immemorial and tacit! Once you 'crawl backwards' into old literature, you realize that there are lots of such immemorial and tacit symbols, and once you know them you start recognizing them effortlessly, without going deep actually. So, I'm not telling that every symbol here was carefully thought out, but that there's _more_ (more than what the author could have intended). "Only in the waterfall do we perceive one another as "other", because it's only then that we're apart from each other". Exactly! And that's not a mere interpretation of yours: philosophers (Unamuno) and religions (as mythic cosmogonies, like gnostic myths) have written about that ;) It's perfectly right to see it as a "sort of a call to look at ourselves and see that we're much more similar than we are different". Why? It is an _unavoidable conclusion_ as soon as a certain form of knowledge does start aiming at _absoluteness_ (well-understood, religion & philosophy used to aim at that): once acknowledged how inane the self really is, how could _the self_ be a matter of discussion _again_ ? It can't! The discussion's scope has gone past that, way beyond! Regarding your suggested song, I've checked it and certainly it's very, very similar in concept :) Now I dare to suggest you these ones (there are way more, these are just my favourites which share some of the same topics here): Dark Tranquillity - Therein: Heraclitus' river (implicit) about impermanence, spiced up with entropy and the question _if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear, does it make sound?_ Epica - Blank Infinity: Heraclitus' river again, but with a sensing of purpose because of sorrow - very, very poetical tragic worldview! Moonspell - Everything Invaded: would you like to expand on that idea of "we're all, together, the same one thing , for the vast majority of our existence" and "only in the waterfall do we perceive one another as 'other', because it's only then that we're apart from each other"? Warning: the vocalist (Fernando Ribeiro) is writer too: he authored a book that has written Fernando Pessoa all over it :) Be'lakor - Valence: Subjective knowledge vs. absolute knowledge, 100% poetical. If you watch their official video, I made a comment about those lyrics: I can't believe they will go down into oblivion, unappreciated :( PS: Jinjer's Pisces is another outstanding one, but since it was featured here long time ago... If curious, check 'Romantic Poets and Jinjer’s “Pisces”: Meaning, Duality, and the Human Tragedy'. That blogger there made very interesting observations, to which I added some analysis. Sorry for such a long reply!

@@ganjiblobflankis6581 Well, that's the "art way", otherwise it would be a food recipe or a microwave user's guide, lol. Of course there are other distinct interpretations, yet each one of them isn't equally valid... copy/paste from a comment of mine: _Maybe I digress a little, but it’s tied with what you state (which I agree with): “Meaning can never be objective and it can never be the artist’s prerogative.” So far that’s OK, I agree… but then the usually common wrong conclusion appears: “the following is not ‘the’ interpretation, only ‘an’ interpretation.” There aren’t just interpretations: there are some more befitting than others… I’ll elaborate._ _Of course the meaning can’t be the artist’s prerogative, but what was intended with statements along those lines (Roland Barthes, for example) was that the Piece of Art (poem, film, whatever) is the one that “speaks for itself” (conveys meaning ) without the “aid” of external narratives: it was aimed at the author’s “help” mainly (when not at certain critics/curators). The conclusion stating “there are just interpretations” allows for a misrepresentation of that previous rightfully made concept (“a piece of Art speaks by itself”) and subverts the whole idea: now the meaning is put into the public side!_ _The meaning doesn’t lie neither in the public, nor in the author: it lies in the piece itself alone (and its creation context, of course!). How much of that meaning is decipherable depends on the artist’s skills and the public it is aimed to; hence the quite recurring idea of comparing a Piece of Art with a riddle: an author being the riddler, the public being the one to solve it. At best, what interpretations do (the good ones) is to help with “hints”, as long as they are right there in the piece itself (and not some other place, like the author’s biography or claims)._ Like riddles, art must trick us into wrong answers too ;)

Honestly, some of that can give his lyrics even _more_ meaning

Any metal fan who has not listened to Stravinsky or Rachmaninov is missing out. They went hard af

Bach wrote pure metal. Hell, he even shattered the windows in church and neighborhood both by maximum volume while doing work on organs in his early life. How is that not him being a grandfather of metal? Also, his compositions is what would later become prog metal I think.

and vice versa, turn classical heads into metalheads

I'm a classic 80's metalhead, and I've been jamming to Chopin and Tchaikovsky for just as long, among others :D

Same. It's my favorite.

Same its like when the 1st time hearing it.. always like that when i played this song..

For me it's completely that.

Serj even named his son after rumi

Interesting hypothesis

I understood it totally differently. For me I directly thought that society acts as one before problems come, where it gets divided and falls down (waterfall) then pretends to be back together afterwards, when everything is good again. but I'm high af so who cares...

@@RaeudigerRuediger then what would "when you lose small mind you free your life" mean in a social context? Things like "swimming through the void", "eternal prize", "we lose ourselves but we find it all" hint on some metaphysical theme and they sound similar to some writings of sufism.

im 25, my mom is 42. She was 23 when she bought this album. I was 6, grew up on alt metal, brazillian "national rock" and nu metal basically, slipknot, static x, limp bizkit, and so on. sometimes i'd sit on the couch with my parents while they played videogames, watching them play need for speed, and listening to soad, we looked more like siblings.

@@sockettgirl I love it! Music was one of the cool things I shared with my kid. Thanks for your great memories too!

Definitely Armenian (more broadly Caucasian) influenced, Georgian music has many similar aspects (which all in turn have many similarities to Arabian music)

And the way you played the instrumental at the end of this was great

It incorporates Armenian and more generally Caucasian musical components

BIG YES i recommend that jazz masterpiece

I want to see Trivium too, but I'd prefer Shogun or The Revanchist.