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Last Active 08-01-22 11:41 pm
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| Vector/ Virus: Behind the Concept
Vector/ Virus are hands down two of my favorite concept albums of all time. Chronicling the birth, rise to power, and fall of the mighty Cockroach King, it’s a rollercoaster ride that showcases Haken firing on all cylinders. I have used the album’s liner notes, musical videos, and lyrics to come up with my own conclusion for these two albums, as no clear story has been produced by the band. In addition, I’ve shared my actual breakdown of the lyrics in each song in the link in the comments, if anyone is interested in digging through my process. | | 1 |  | Haken
Vector
Characters:
Dr. E.C. Tobias
Patient #21
The Cockroach
Marigold | | 2 | | Haken
Vector
Vector:
There are two definitions for the term “vector”. One being that of a bug that transmits a disease, the other being a quantity that has both “magnitude (value of seismic energy) and direction”. The title of the album is a reference to both of these. The main character, Patient #21, is both an insect that transmits a disease, for he believes himself to be a cockroach, as well as a force of weight and purpose. His “bite” sets off a chain of events that changes the world and, thus, he is this quantity of magnitude and direction. | | 3 | | Haken
Vector
Clear:
The year is 1958. At a secluded mental hospital named Mountain View Institute, a doctor prepares his laboratory for a slew of experiments. The stage is set. The doctor yells “clear” and begins his torture. | | 4 | | Haken
Vector
The Good Doctor:
We’re introduced to the original antagonist, a one Dr. E.C. Tobias, a doctor more interested in pushing the boundaries of medicine past their ethical point, and Patient #21, a man who was submitted to his asylum to be treated for sociopathic tendencies and delusions of grandeur. As stated previously, the doctor uses a combination of electroshock therapy and a cocktail of medications to basically melt his mind so that he might be able to reconstruct it into something new, more suited for society. Think like how doctors used lobotomies to “cure” their patients back in the day. | | 5 | | Haken
Vector
Puzzle Box:
Within the confines of his mind Patient #21 finds himself trapped within memory and shadow, a maze within which there is no escape. As lightning splits open the sky above (referencing the electroshock therapy happening to his barely conscious mind), he tries to make sense of where he is and what is happening to him. Something seems to be awakening. | | 6 | | Haken
Vector
Veil:
In immense pain, dazed and confused, Patient #21 begins to hear the voice of a being that leads him further and further into the Puzzle Box. At the center of the maze he finds the remnants of an ancient form, a being that introduces himself as The Cockroach. It seduces him with promises of freedom and eventual power/ control. All it asks is to be granted access to his body. Patient #21 has created this persona to help him cope with the pain/ escape his prison (although he doesn’t know this because it is not a conscious creation) as cockroaches cannot be killed. He offers himself up to this being and the Cockroach tells him what he must do. | | 7 | | Haken
Vector
Nil by Mouth:
Through the will of this persona, Patient #21 slowly begins to break from his stupor and stop taking his medication. This causes him to begin to physically wake up, but it also starts to change him subconsciously, and the Cockroach persona is able to develop more thoroughly. | | 8 | | Haken
Vector
Host:
The final stage to his transformation is to sacrifice himself to this being within his mind. The Cockroach bites him, infecting him with the Cockroach personality. As Patient #21 “dies”, the new being comes to power. | | 9 | | Haken
Vector
A Cell Divides:
Five years pass. It is now 1963. Despite his medication and electroshock therapy, Patient #21 emerges from his stupor and begins to interact with the doctors. He is no longer only himself however. He is now Patient #21 and The Cockroach, two personalities sharing control over one body. | | 10 |  | Haken
Virus
Prosthetic:
Patient #21 awakes to find that he now shares his consciousness with an entity called the Cockroach. When he stares in the mirror he sees not a man, but a giant cockroach. As Dr. Rex interrogates him more and more about this facade, the Cockroach becomes more and more frustrated. He strangles the doctor and frees the other patients of Mountain View Institute. | | 11 | | Haken
Virus
Note: Throughout Virus I believe that while Patient #21/the Cockroach see themselves as an actual giant insect, he is still just a man. I feel like this plays better with the themes set up in the original song “The Cockroach King”. It is also at this point that it is implied through the lyrics that the Cockroach meets a character named Marigold, a nurse at Mountain View. While it is unclear as to her EXACT relationship to the Cockroach, I believe it is his daughter from before he was institutionalized. She could very well just be a zealot that falls under his spell. | | 12 | | Haken
Virus
Invasion:
As the Cockroach stands over the body of the dead doctor he laments that he will not be able to “invade” this host (spread his message to this person). As the released patients come upon the scene the Cockroach tries to sway them all to his side, gaining their sympathy while reminding Patient #21 that attachment to humans is what stopped him gaining power before he was committed. | | 13 | | Haken
Virus
His Plan:
The Cockroach’s goal is to take the disenfranchised, the powerless, those craving more from life and, using the same electroshock therapy, subliminal messaging, and sedation that Dr. Rex submitted him to, create a cult army to help him ascend to power. His message is initially one of hope and self-help. He promises a voice to the voiceless, a way up for those in the gutter. As he gains his victim’s trust he uses them to enact violent deeds, gain riches, etc. | | 14 | | Haken
Virus
Carousel:
As Marigold learns more and more of his plan she realizes she has no desire to be swept up in his plan, although she does not yet see him as a threat. She leaves him to his own devices and, slowly, the Cockroach builds his cult. What first starts as an aimless collection of outcasts soon grows as his message becomes more pointed. Nine years pass and the Cockroach continues to gain more and more sway and political power/ media attention. He begins to become a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, his daughter forms her own life, building a family with a husband and children. Seeing the past repeat itself, she begs her father to give up his ambition. He does not. | | 15 | | Haken
Virus
The Strain:
As the years pass, the Cockroach becomes more restless. He plans to do something drastic to begin his ascent to power. | | 16 | | Haken
Virus
Canary Yellow:
Marigold returns to Mountain View only to find it abandoned. The Cockroach has taken his army to nuclear silos around the continent where, after subduing the guards/ having already turned them to his side, he launches multiple nukes on unsuspecting cities. Marigold finds, to her horror, that one of these cities is where her new family lives. She is too late, and as more and more reports come in of these nuclear attacks, she vows to destroy her father no matter the cost. | | 17 | | Haken
Virus
Reasoning:
The Cockroach drops nuclear weapons on cities of his own country a) because he sees other lives as value-less, b) he believes he and his followers are actual Cockroaches and cannot be killed by nukes, and c) it will allow him to spin a false narrative about the government destroying its own citizens as a means of killing “undesirables”. | | 18 | | Haken
Virus
Messiah Complex I: The Ivory Tower
As the death toll rises past the thousands, Patient #21 ascends to an ivory tower in his mind, a place where he can remain detached from the horrors he’s about to commit. He longs for someone to stop him from this violence, but as the Cockroach gains support he, as an entity, also gains more control and power over their shared body. | | 19 | | Haken
Virus
Messiah Complex II: A Glutton for Punishment
The Cockroach begins his war bringing his army of roaches and angry citizens to major cities. There they do battle with the local forces, but with their shared vision and zealous beliefs, they easily overthrow the national guard/ police/ army there. Amid the killing field, Marigold confronts her father and they do battle. | | 20 | | Haken
Virus
Messiah Complex III: Marigold
Despite her fury, the Cockroach overpowers and murders his daughter. Patient #21 watches in horror but is powerless to stop it and, fueled by the populace, fades to the background as the Cockroach entity completely takes over. | | 21 | | Haken
Virus
Messiah Complex IV: The Sect
The Cockroach brings his army from city to city, displacing the rich and the powerful. The music becomes more insectile and video game-esq, signifying that the Cockroach sees this as a game, and these people dying on both sides as pawns with no real effect on him. The song references “The Cockroach King”, outlining his duplicity. He promises power for others, only to take it for himself. By the time some have figured this out, his message has already infected others, and anyone who questions him is cast out of favor. | | 22 | | Haken
Virus
Messiah Complex: Ectobius Rex
All enemies have been defeated. The Cockroach revels in his victory and ascends to his blood soaked throne. Standing above the masses, he dubs himself their king and they accept him. Above, lightning flashes across the sky and there is a moment where the Cockroach, in a sort of pavlovian way, is cast back to when he was trapped in the maze and was enduring the electroshock therapy. Patient #21 takes this sudden lapse of focus to his advantage and, forcing his personality to the surface, throws them from their elevated place to the cement below. | | 23 | | Haken
Virus
Only Stars
His body broken and withering, the Cockroach holds no remorse or regrets for the blood he’s shed and the chaos he’s caused. He dies, and his reign of terror comes to an end. | |
WalrusTusk
06.30.23 | And if anyone cares to check out my line by line dissection, I've posted it here. Happy friday y'all!
Vector:https://kevinjasica.com/2023/03/31/vector/
Virus: https://kevinjasica.com/2023/06/29/virus/ | Azazzel
06.30.23 | Wow, cool. Listened to these albums but something kept me at arms length so I missed all this. Glad someone is still doing crazy ambitious concept album narratives. You did a great job on the write up, even as mostly plot summary you captured the essence of the story well. Clearly inspired by Kafka, Magic Mountain, ..Cuckoo's Nest, the greeks (Ectobius Rex lol), Nietzsche? what else | Azazzel
06.30.23 | is Fauna a concept album too? I could see myself revisiting that a few times | s0nicx
06.30.23 | Its still unfortunate these albums came out when they did with those titles. | WalrusTusk
06.30.23 | @Azazzel Thanks man! The write-ups on my website go pretty in depth but they're also a little bit of a commitment to read. Completely agree (and the band has come out and said) that there's a lot of Kafka and Nietzsche inspiring the album. As for Fauna, it's conceptual in the sense that each song is inspired by an animal, but to my knowledge, there isn't an overarching story behind it, unlike Aquarium or Visions. | YoYoMancuso
06.30.23 | i don't even like the OG Cockroach King song but both these albums are fantastic | WalrusTusk
06.30.23 | For a while I still held the Mountain up as their best effort. And while it's really close, I might like these two better. | JDubb
06.30.23 | Awesome - Love this! | WalrusTusk
07.02.23 | Thanks man! Hands down one of my favorite concepts by any band, so I'm glad I finally had the time to sit down and write-up some of my thoughts on it. |
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