Descending is the battle. The battle where the Pneuma or Tempest wins. Play the album in the track order and it is the subject being infected by hate and negativity. Play the album in the reverse track order and you are ascending out of that. Our choice to listen to it in either order.

I've also heard a rumor somewhere that Tempest was written way back in the day, during Opiate and Undertow, and they just broke it out and found that it fit with this album. Seems plausible as the bass line is different from Justin Chancellor's typical groove and is more grungy. Even the lyrics are angry which is something that over the course of the other albums it seemed like Maynard was growing out of his anger. It would be fitting to take a song or concept for a song from back when he was angry and use it on an album now. I think we can all take to heart that despite any kind of ascension there is always at least a temporary relapse or regression. Part of nature.

I also think the album is to be listened to twice in succession, first in the normal track order then in reverse. How does one become inoculated? By being infected and overcoming the infection. The exception is the track Fear Inoculum. I think that song is like an intro of sorts, kind of like the merchant at the beginning of Aladdin. He sings a tale that summarizes and tells you the story and you then get into the subject matter at hand; a synopsis. It has a different tone than the rest of the album so I feel like it is apart and I tried to interpret the lyrics to match them to the tracks themselves.