Tech death and I have a love/hate relationship…
Sometimes I come across a band so insanely good that I can hardly believe I lived before I heard them…
Other times, it sounds like someone taking a power sander to the south-facing end of a northbound boar…
The latter is most definitely NOT the case when it comes to the new release from Virvum entitled “Illuminance”.
Holy shit, this album is insanely good.
Full disclosure; I am easily turned off of a band if I dislike the vocals… At first I didn’t care for the vocals in this release…
HOWEVER.
After listening to this album all damn day because I cannot turn it off, I must say, the vocals have grown on me. They are the perfect pairing with the myriad of magnificent music that accompanies them. And now I am growling along with them.
From Zurich, Switzerland, Virvum are a tech death outfit that shines with the behemoths of the genre. A plethora of complex and insane drum patterns melded with incredible guitar work (The melodic shredding of the GODS, I TELL YOU!), underscored by powerful and tight bass lines along with the guttural, almost bestial bellowing of the vocals; THIS is fucking Technical Death Metal in its purest form.
This is an absolutely beautifully brutal album.
Being the last album I came across in 2016, “Illuminance” has set the tone for the new year, I think.
Incredible album. I HIGHLY recommend giving it a listen. A FULL listen.
You won’t be disappointed.
Oh and they have physical copies on their Bandcamp page. SOOOOO they immediately get points from me for having a tangible medium in which to share their tunes.
-Logan
