from The Tenant (1976) by Roman Polanski, and the song's name makes reference to a character from the film, Stella, played by French actress Isabelle Adjani. The track concludes with a clip of Jack Nicholson's voice from The Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick. "Who's Laughing Now" both contains and is titled after dialogue from Sam Raimi's 1987 movie Evil Dead II. "The Second Opinion" includes the line "that machine has got to be destroyed" from Stuart Gordon's 1986 adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's From Beyond, and also features the "man of the shroud" sample first used in the closing track "Epilogue" from Skinny Puppy's 1987 album, Cleanse Fold and Manipulate. Politically notable, "State Aid" contains many samples from speeches by American president Ronald Reagan talking about AIDS. Themes and lyrics Thematically, VIVIsectVI focuses on animal rights, animal experimentation, the AIDS epidemic, and damage to the environment. It was the first of Skinny Puppy's albums to be outspokenly political, which would become the norm for the band. "VX Gas Attack" denounces chemical weapons by framing the song in the Iran–Iraq War. "Testure", a lyrically blatant song, brings vivisection into the forefront. About the album's themes, Ogre said that the point of VIVIsectVI "was to give an animal human qualities and show people how a human would react if they were in the same position." He continued, saying, "Hopefully it will keep going from there. If we can get that in there, have people taking the info and responding to it, without thinking about it, that's the whole point." Simon Reynolds of Melody Maker thought Skinny Puppy's approach to difficult topics (that is, facing trauma by mimicking that trauma) was the band's most intriguing quality. He praised "the tension between glamourisation and vilification, sadism and empathy" found in VIVIsectVI's sound and live performances. These topic are conveyed through Ogre's guttural and cryptic vocals. Though his contributions are abrasive and occasionally screamed, Ogre's work on VIVIsectVI saw him challenging himself to layer more complexity and harmonies into the music. The vocals are fast-paced, distorted, and difficult to actively absorb, often coming in the form of fragmented streams of consciousness. Despite the lyrical obscurity and harsh delivery, the album's messages remain at the core of Ogre's efforts. Artwork Steven R. Gilmore, longtime Skinny Puppy collaborator, created the artwork for VIVIsectVI. The cover, which depicts a mangled blue hand against a black background, comprises a