nwrocker March 22nd, 2007 10:48AM  
One component that the singer portrays in, “Cries of the Past,” is diction. Throughout the entire song the singer grasps the audience’s attention and makes the audience feel like they are experiencing the pain the singer is feeling. In the second stanza the singer talks about how that night would become a grave in his mind and how his heart would be crushed forever. In the middle of the song, when the singer talks about going to the funeral and seeing his girlfriend laying still in the casket, the singer makes you feel like you are actually the one that is there seeing her. Remembering and contemplating on the past, the singer is constantly reminded of how the accident was his fault and how he wishes he could go back in the past and change everything.
After the singer reflects back on the past and all the pain he is feeling the song begins to bend and the singer begins to speak about faith and hope of how everything will be ok. By using the metaphor “Walking in the present, but living in the past how much longer will I embrace sorrow,” the singer is portraying to the audience that he wants to start living in the present and not stay in the past. He speaks about how his girlfriend was the only thing that brought him love and joy and then how his “glass heart” was broken. “Here on, Lord, is the remains of a broken heart, for I have faith you can give me joy and life again.” From that second to last line in the song you know that the singer has faith in the Lord to give him joy and his life back in the present so he does not have to contemplate on the past.
“Cries of the Past” is a song based upon the death of the singer’s old girlfriend. By reading the song the audience knows the pain and sorrow he is feeling and by the end of the song the audience is happy that he has faith in the Lord to make everything alright. The singer and the band as a whole create a great perspective on how everything happened and how everything turned out. UnderOath creates a mood that grasps the audience’s heart and their attention which makes them feel the suffering that the singer is feeling. The last line of the song is the most heartfelt and grasping line of “Cries of the Past,” and, by the line, you know that the singer will be alright and he has faith in the Lord. “Death has fallen, but love covers me, Heaven is now home to my angel of love.”