Artist: Viral Millennium
Title: Vomitosis
Genre: Epic Industrial Metal
Release Date: 16th January 2014
Label: Self-released
Album Review
While EBM genre is typically forged in Germany, it is very interesting to look on the countries where you least expect it to be found. A track from the album caught my attention by mere accident - in the Facebook feed of an acquaintance who is an acoustics professional. VIRAL MILLENNIUM from Australia released their (one and only to date) album ‘Vomitosis’ in 2014, while most tracks were known from as early as 2011. Long refinement pays well, usually. (Another good example of great heavy electronic from unconventional locations would be Swedish RAVE THE REQUIEM and Finnish BEATI MORTUI, now inactive). The genre is, as usual, hard to pinpoint by one word, I guess, it is something like: Epic Industrial Metal - slash - Monumental - slash - Symphonic - slash - Electronic. Quoting the band's description: "VIRAL MILLENNIUM. 2 words that intensify the modern day bastardising of Industrial Metal that this duo have become so popular for. Capitalising on this monumental industrial mix of metal anthems meets bastard dance beats gone wrong. Heavy enough to head bang to and enough beats to keep your girlfriend happy, their dynamic sound captures the perfect measurement of beauty versus brutality."
Art speak aside, and very generally: growling vocals will remind you of ´CENTHRON, and the music roughly balances between melodic death / industrial metal and heavy, aggressive kind of EBM. But there is much more to find in the mix. The composing skills of the musicians are solid and very, very well executed. VIRAL MILLENNIUM songs slowly expands from symphonic intros into heavy melodic main part to head-bang along with. Growling vocals are intermitted by "heavenly" clean choruses and atmospheric electronic "slow parts", after which an attack comes with piercing, most violent blast beats and growling vocals − typically, screaming something about destruction. What I like about the music in general is ability to find balance. The parts of the tracks are coming all at right times, so you never feel bored waiting for "that good part", as composition structure hooks you and drags you along all the way. With so many components, perfectly balanced, this music is certainly very, very interesting.
One may call couple tracks a bit similar, but personally I do not find a *long* execution of some exciting style a generally bad thing. Having just one good song for the whole album would be far worse, but this is - by far - not the case here. This is the kind of music you expect in the background of a cyberpunk movie set with atmospheric "exposure frames" and dynamic sequences dubbed by some industrial heaviness. Good attention, in fact, paid to style variety, with ‘The Promised Land’, ‘Let it Burn’, and ‘Destroy’ being great industrial pieces and, as an example, ‘Effigy of Sin’ clinging towards EBM without losing the trademark inter-mixed kind of sound. Good work towards getting attention of wide audience, of those who like to dance as well as of the kind that simply likes metal. And the drums are real. At least when performing live. Highly recommended for anyone into the genre. Wish the band only to stay active and bring up more. With all responsibility I put 10/10. Exemplary work. Purchase is possible via Amazon, iTunes and the band’s Bandcamp page.
Tracklist
01. Universal
02. Vomitosis
03. The Promised Land
04. System Crash
05. Let It Burn
06. Empire
07. Destroy
08. 22Ad
09. Degeneracy
10. Disruption
11. Effigy of Sin
Line-up
Gregor: Vocals, Programming, Guitar
A.D: Guitars, Programming, Bass
Website
http://viralmillennium.bandcamp.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 10
Sound: 10
Total: 10 / 10
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