Serial Killer

War is the prevalent narrative people seem to pick up on, but I see something a bit darker.

Everybody seems to neglect the entire opening which, to me, sets up an almost dystopian future, culminating with "all too obsessed with weakness, we bring ourselves to meaninglessness". There is a HUGE lump of nihilism in that last line, too much for war alone to be the focus of the song. That is an unmistakable portrayal of social decay. War and anti war sentiments might be heard here, but it goes beyond that. This is a warning.

This is a song about the decay of society at large. "Salute or burn, there is blood on both shores" isn't about armed conflict, it's the eventuality that submitting to authority or not will lead to bloodshed regardless of the choice or intent- such is the nature of authoritarianism.

"So easy to control, bring to harm. A gathering of fools unjustified, on a mountain. I collect my thoughts And I rise above all that despises me. "

The gathering of fools is the government, authority, centralized power, whatever you would call it. The 'protagonist' of this story then proceeds and, in my eyes, establishes themself as a dissident or some sort of nemesis to the system.

"With hardened mind I traveled, with hardened heart I conquered a freedom so ironic, so despicable, so hypocritical. "

A misconception I've seen is that he is conquering "for" freedom. Not the case, if these lyrics are correct. This is where I think the misconception of War being the main theme comes from. Our main character is conquering freedom, and notes is ironic, despicable, and hypocritical nature. In the event that the correct lyrics are 'for' after-all, the rest of my thoughts still align pretty well, even onward.

"There is anger resolute. Rears its familiar head on the TV screen. In a dozen bags a life was placed. In a breath he smiled and waved.

For five minutes at a time the power held true. Without consternation our laws are lost. Lost to butchers, lost to child killers, lost to narcotic ritual. Another tag, another headline. Another smiling face shall stay 10 winters long forever. "

And here comes the dark turn. So, all of the criticism in mind, our narrator directs us to what I perceive as an atrocity. "In a dozen bags a life was placed" is... a pretty euphemistic way to describe the butchering of something. "In a breath he smiled and waved" - To me, this is an outside look at the unassuming man who turns out to be a Serial killer. Either that or it's a description of somebody that wound up being the victim - it's tough to say. This latter section, however, seems very clear to me.

5 minutes at a time? If you describe something like that, that more or less says to me that every minute that passes could be the end, in this case, of the power. "Without consternation" - and, predictably, corruption and decay do the rest, and society descends into lawlessness- now, whether this is for all of society or for a single individual is where things get interesting.

This whole time, I think this song has been about somebody's descent into becoming a Serial killer, and the cautionary tale to society at large.

"And where are the angels to guard? Where is the god of men and children? He is stalking the minds of dark poor souls. I know it's right because I know it's time for freedom:

To kill another and to kill another And to kill another child of the flag Till there are none left... and another, And to kill another, and to kill another...

Gaze upon what you've become And take a look at what you've done. You'll repent for what you've done Raping my daughter, raping my son."

The final 3 verses open with another strong wave of Nihilism and overt skepticism. Our protagonist has gone totally beyond the edge here, with notions that God has forsaken man and is now orchestrating the dark reality that he is in.

And we're back to the Freedom that was described earlier- Ironic, despicable, and hypocritical, and put to use 'to kill another, and to kill another...' and so on. 'Child of the flag' is an interesting turn of phrase, I genuinely have no exact answer as to what the flag is for, but I believe that some level of ambiguity is used for a reason. It could have been child of the cross, if this was directed towards god, but it specifies flag- so perhaps it refers to the people who are falling in line to the government, or perhaps, are members of the government? Hard to say.

And then the epilogue. There is actually a longer variation of this section used in "Serial Code", another song. But first, without that line, the epilogue seems to be a moment of either self reflection or a message of condemnation. If it's self reflection, it makes less sense if the theme is consistent and the children of the flag are categorized under 'all that despises' our protagonist. If the epilogue is a message of Condemnation it makes more sense as it is directly calling out the 'power' that barely held through for five minutes at a time.It could very well be the missing piece for everything in this song if it describes a descent of sort, as it would be the catalyzing event that sparks the change for our storyteller.

Now, IF we look at Serial Code...

"Take a look at what you've done And gaze upon what you've become Father help me to bring his end Then to hell his soul we'll send

The devil take you for his needs While children stab you and make you bleed You'll repent for what you've done For raping my daughter, raping my son"

I can see why this would have been kept separate. If we try to combine it with Serial Killer at large, it becomes a much stronger message of vengeance or retribution, which is counter to what VNV Nation tries to speak out about (Worth noting to those who don't know, VNV stands for Victory not Vengeance). Using Serial Code as the epilogue still sort of supports my interpretation, but like I said it's just not as true to VNV Nation as I imagine they would have liked.

But yeah that's my take.