Swedish project Vital Virus delivers a visceral concept album in Oblivion, a nine-track plunge into fractured emotion, confusion, and rage. Blending industrial metal, alt-rock grit, and electronic textures, the release balances intimate vulnerability with cathartic aggression and distortion-heavy intensity throughout.
Blaring, sporadic doses of guitar distortion build with enjoyably menacing momentum on album opener “Now,” a delectably unsettling entry into the world of Oblivion. “Violate Me” ensues, showcasing the project’s dynamic tonal range with a more electronic-embracing arsenal initially. Playful synth and bass-y reverberations build with sporadic, artfully crafted entrancement, seamlessly infusing grumbling waves of guitar distortion in balancing lush introspection and rock ferocity; the latter style takes firm hold across the second half, with shout-y vocal vigor pairing with the onslaught of steadier guitar-fronted charisma.
The album continues to dazzle with a diverse array of sounds and twists/turns. “Broken” embraces an industrial soundscape that, like “Violate Me,” stirs in its cohesive intermingling of sturdy synths and distortion-friendly rock. Subsequent lyrical ruminations on how “I really can’t remember who I was before” gear up into an aggressive vocal ardor, being another display of the project’s fervent ability, while the haunting “Into Oblivion” weaves piano and solemn vocals within a poetic lyrical prowess, and into a rock-friendly finale — concluding the album with emotively gripping appeal. Oblivion is a heart-on-sleeve, engaging success of an album from Vital Virus.
—
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
