Tech Death Thursday: Virial
Today on Tech Death Thursday, we face the mind-crushing vastness of the cosmos with Virial!
Let’s get some news out of the way first:
- Obscura unveiled the secret behind the countdown that started on their homepage last week: another countdown. My new theory is that this is simply a clock that counts down to the end of the week and will continue to reset every Sunday until time ends.
- Former Vale of Pnath vocalist Stevie Boiser has joined Tethys, whose first single can be heard here. I feel like I’ve been making comparisons to Inferi a lot lately, but this very much resembles the songwriting on Path of Apotheosis, from the piano intro to the arpeggiated riffs to the super fast tapping bits.
- Kardashev are streaming Peripety in full at HBIH, which several Toileteers have described as sounding like The Flesh Prevails minus the production woes. Get on that.
- The Zenith Passage have posted some studio footage from the recording sessions of their new album. If that’s your thing, take a looksie right here.
- Maestros of mindfuckery Coma Cluster Void have a new song streaming at No Clean Singing. Look for Mind Cemeteries to be out sometime next year.
- Do you like tech? How about brutal death? Epitasis asks, “Why not both?” Why not both, indeed. Check out “The Silence of Extinction” on their Bandcamp page and keep an eye out for the rest of Decimation of Gaia later this month.
- Following the incarceration of Youri Raymond, Killitorous have brought on Mathieu Dhani on vocals until Youri is released. I don’t know much about Dhani, but he seems to be sufficiently brutal. He will be debuting with the band on their upcoming tour with Erimha this November and December.
It seems that the infinite depth of outer space will never cease to be a wellspring of tech death subject matter. From The Faceless to Decrepit Birth to Alkaloid, it seems that every band who’s flirted with the genre has looked to the sky for inspiration at one time or another. This isn’t without reason; besides the wealth of subject matter it provides (alien invasion, the birth of the universe, space exploration), the universe’s enigmatic nature creates a perfect backdrop for a genre that is based on pushing the boundaries of metal musicianship.
Italy’s Virial are the latest in the long line of tech death artists to tap into that inspiration. I usually expect younger bands like this to be pure Obscura worship (they covered “Anticosmic Overload” on their demo, for Christ’s sake), but while there’s some of that present on Organic Universe, I was surprised at the somewhat harsher take on the same sound. Opening track “Coincidence of Existence” and closers “Viminas” and “The Ultimate Fate,” with their lightning guitar harmonies and weird counterpoints, bear the closest resemblance to Germany’s premier tech band; however the majority of the album brings Alustrium to mind. The riffs are similarly vicious, and the drums bring plenty of groove between streams of blastbeats. There’s a lot of cool stuff happening with the bass, too. While I’m not terribly keen on the tone, there are some clever passages on “Calculated Genetic Selection” and “Close Encounters” that add to the alien vibe. The album is equal parts gut-punching rage and technical prowess and is better for it.
Organic Universe is available now; as always, check out the band on Facebook if you like what you heard here.
Until next time,
