Using the song Toxic by DICEMAN, the message gets to the center of the emotions and the frustration of it all in dealing with a broken relationship. The narrative is personal, true, and unbridled. DICEMAN epitomizes, in the simplest of terms, the relationship that has transitioned from love to arguments, from intimacy to isolation. Throughout the entire piece, the musician experiences the ebb and the flow of attempting to maintain something that is perhaps broken in the beginning.

One of the lyric’s advantages is the way it frames the pull of going vs. remaining. DICEMAN is aware of attempting to break free but being held back by reassurances all is well. This pull of the tug of war of feeling is totally believable, defining the dilemma of releasing when the indications all say this is the right thing to do. The lyric doesn’t duck the pain or take for granted all is well. Instead, it drops the listener in the thick of the emotional problem.

The recording is equally professional in revealing the erosion of trust in the relationship. DICEMAN doesn’t in the theoretical say all is going awry — he says why all is going awry. Jealousies, blame, secrecy, even infidelity assumption? Such specifics enable the listener to estimate the scale of the issues. It’s not one catastrophic row or slip-up. It’s the perpetual reprise of the same pattern, the cycle wasting the two people at the middle of it.

What is particularly strong is the way DICEMAN speaks of self-awareness. He is not merely placing blame. He acknowledges there is blame on both sides. Even, he considers the past of the way it was as against the way it has deteriorated now. Verses of all the ease at the start as against all the hardship it has become reveal the acute feeling of loss. This renders the piece more than merely the tale of the break-up — it is now the examination of emotional maturing.

DICEMAN further draws parallels using the metaphor of water and oil, something that cannot co-exist regardless of the degree of power. It’s a basic image but it is one that is powerful, revealing at the same time that love is insufficient. Once the physical abuse is part of the equation, it only further exacerbates the dilemma, revealing the unhealthy as well as perilous the relationship has been. Nevertheless, after everything, there always is that indecisiveness — fear of letting go totally. Such indecisiveness makes the songs all the more human as well as credible.

The conclusion of the song is one of the strongest moments. DICEMAN breaks the verse flow and speaks directly to the listener. This part sounds as if it is the message, or perhaps the threat. He poses the question of what one would do in the abusive relationship, again insinuating the idea that it is not weak to get out of it — it is strong. This last notion wraps the entire song together and lingers in the mind.

All in all, lyrics of DICEMAN’s Toxic are raw, perceptive, emotive. They reveal the reality of strained relationships — the passion, the tension, the confusion, the end of the road — and the need for peace, not hurt. While it doesn’t provide the neat, clean answer, it says the need for peace, not hurt, in the simplest, most unadorned terms, in the doing of it the lines come out in the strong, familiar form.