Katatonia - Opaline (Lyrical Breakdown)

I did come into a different conclusion in the end than what I originally thought the song was about, but I kept all my thoughts about the song in there, so that hopefully my conclusion makes some kind of logical sense...

 

See my scars

They come from the other half

The drowning god

 There's a side of him that wants to get rid of the other side, and he's torn.

"Drowning" could indicate the side feels like they can't breathe, can't exist with this other side, or it could be more literal and be about alcoholism.
Also, the side is "a god"... It's not necessarily good vs. evil, but it's supposed to be omnipotent, and yet it's drowning... The other side, i.e. an alcoholic side, is stronger than a god... It's stronger than a being that should technically be the strongest in existance.

My words are bouncing off the ground

I see them all around

He's shouting, there's an echo,
or, his surroundings agree with him. 

But your back was turned

My heart had to learn

These years

What a theft?

Forty-six now

How many left?

 The god was done, turned their back on him.
He felt like he was robbed off his entire life when the god was there and then left.
He doesn't know how long he'll live, either because he thinks the alcohol is going to kill him or because he wants to die - how many years does he get  to live / how many years does he have to live before dying.

The song could also about loss of faith? Like, religious faith, or faith in life or people in general.

-- PS. There's a great chance Jonas, the singer/lyricist, was 46yo when he wrote this. He wrote most of this album during the lockdown in 2020 and he's 49 now, so... He would have been 45 during the lockdown in spring 2020. He's born in May, he turned 46 in May 2021.

Recall the red sun burning

Over the avenues, and into our view

Radiance that signified

Magnified

Divergent hue

 It's evening, a sunset or morning, a sunrise.
Red could be blood, it could be love or anger, it could be in contrast to green like a green light vs. a red light, or a green flag vs. a red flag.
"The sun is burning" is an interesting way to put it... Since the Sun and other stars are already balls of fire.

The song could be about God abandoning human kind and us all dying?

I see the last day turning

Straight into emptiness

How did it get so late?

Your little voice in shadow now

Sowing seeds to segregate

 It's the last day = he's dying today,
or the world is ending.

He lost track of time.

The god is only a small voice in the end or in his head, segregating people to heaven and hell or segregating itself from him with seeds of doubt.

The struggle of trying to be a good person?

Opaline

Saw the trail of the fleeting twin

Through last year's grass

With the curtain closing in a bit

I will go where I see fit

 "Opaline" is this certain kind of material, that's not see-through, but you can see light through it.

There's a trail on last year's grass, so it's early spring. Snow has melted, but is the world ending? In which case, we won't get new grass this year.

He sees the trail through opal glass, so the trail emits light, but he can't see it otherwise - so he must know there's dead grass out there, since he can't actually see it...
Or the trail itself is opaline...

Also, the person himself must be a god, if the one who fleeted is his twin...

Love me not

For I was never one to pass the test, no

All for the best

You're heading east

If you go now

I go west

 He didn't pass the twin god's test, so now he's dying. He accepted his faith, though. The twin god did not die, they went East, towards a new beginning, since the Sun rises from the East (it's symbolical). "To go west" means to ruin something you got going on, or to die.

I see the last day turning...

 

Gliding

Weightless

Through the vapour

Off the map and into loss

No more wisdom here to gather

No more boundaries to cross

He's going across the border to afterlife, I'm thinking hell or something similar ("into loss").

He crossed too many boundaries while alive, now he's crossing for the final time.

I see the last day turning...

 

I had a futile dream

It rose from loving you

But the debt has broken my back

There's no need to retaliate

As your train has left our track

God abandoned him, because his life was so sinful.

Closing thoughts

I think the song is about the end of the world.

God laid a path for humans to follow (the opaline path, with a trail of seeds). However, the path is in the dark, and goes through dead grass (you know the saying "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" - well, this is the side with the dead grass). It's not a path a person wants to take, it seems hard and dangerous. It's a test, and those that pass get to go to heaven.

It's much easier to do what the narrator did and stay where you are. To not follow the path. People have free will and that's how they can make that choice, even with God being omnipotent.

It's not just him that messed up, since his "words are bouncing off the ground" and he sees "them all around" - people agreeing with him - and God and his train have left THEIR track, not just HIS track.

He and the others postponed becoming good for too long: "I see the last day turning / straight into emptiness / how did it get so late?"

God is our "twin", because according to Christians, God made us into his image.

The red Sun burning could be the God we know from the Bible - in the Old Testament everything's red because of the anger and bloodshed, in the New Testament everything's red because of the love (and bloodshed of the Christ). Now there are no colors anymore. Just darkness and emptiness.

He accepted his faith - "I will go where I see fit" and "all for the best / you're heading east / if you leave now / I go west". He knows he fucked up, not following the opaline path, and has to accept the consequences of that. He doesn't hold a grudge against God - "I had a futile dream / it rose from loving you / but the debt has broken my back / there's no need to retaliate / as your train has left our track".

-- Alternate interpretation: It could be about internal turmoil, that results in a person abandoning the good side of themselves and turning to the dark side?