Illuminance

Can you smell that? I sure can. That's greatness you smell on the horizon, and it's greatness you'll hear with Virvum's debut record "Illuminance." That's right folks, I'm not meandering and wasting time like an atmospheric black metal record, we're getting straight to the point here; "Illuminance" is one of the finest examples of tech/prog death metal to be released in the past few years.

I shouldn't shit on atmospheric black metal, not only because I really haven't listened to any bands in that style, but because the music presented here is very atmospheric - at least, as atmospheric as the thresholds of technical death metal will allow. This whole overproduced, airy, atmospheric progressive death metal realm took off with Fallujah about a decade ago and it has continued to expand with great releases from all over the globe. Virvum, from Switzerland, came close to perfecting the sound in their debut album and bands have rarely come close since.

I do enjoy Fallujah, though I find them to be quite boring at times and I feel they can get too sucked into the whole "atmosphere over death metal" thing way too much. Of course, I can do nothing but respect them for what they set out to achieve, and they have done a pretty good job, but Virvum seems to have found the (almost) perfect sweet spot between death metal and atmosphere without leaning too far in either direction. For starters, it's heavy as fuck. At their heaviest, they sound like "Diminishing Between Worlds" era Decrepit Birth on steroids. These parts appear in every song and are sure to give fans of technical death metal that still want the death metal part exactly what they're looking for. Some other names that come to mind are The Faceless, a little bit of Obscura and perhaps some Arkaik or Inanimate Existence. It's not as showy as any of the other tech death bands in the scene. The music here is abrasive, and definitely technical, but not so much so that it'll turn away fans who can't stand the genre. The music knows its limitations and also knows when to use the technicality to its advantage without being over the top.

The leads are where the atmosphere comes in, as the guitarists go for that Fallujah-esque soaring solos sound and it compliments the technical riffage very well. The album doesn't really ever feel the need to slow down to do some lame ambience section; they keep it death metal nearly 100% of the time and rarely pause to give the listener a break and I appreciate that. I'm here to listen to explosive tech death, why would I want a breather in between anyway?

Almost every aspect of this record is masterful. Even the ambience sections that do come along from time to time are actually pleasant to listen to. The vocals, though nothing special like 95% of death metal bands, serve the music well and are at the very least catchy from time to time. The drumming is also fairly casual and doesn't really explore too much, but it's still fast and keeps it death metal. The album's main focus is its guitar work and it does not disappoint. Excellent leads fill the album and can be heard on pretty much every song and even the riffs are meaty as fuck when they come along. The song structures are followable, and even in the long songs they don't get crazy with how many parts there are. It's progressive, but too much so. Like the atmosphere, it's a fairly nice balance. Something a lot of these bands really struggle to find, unfortunately, is balance, and that's what Virvum excels in best. The production, I should mention, is perfect to these ears, but I admittedly am not educated enough on production, and the actual sound of an album has really never bothered me to all much.

I don't know what more to say. If you're into the scene and you're looking at these albums and reading the reviews off Metal Archives because you're an addict like me and need more of the style, you're sleeping if you haven't listened to this one. An instant classic, and one I imagine in the next carnations of technical death metal in the coming years and decades will look back on with absolute praise. And to think - this is their DEBUT!

On a side note about that, I saw this band live in 2019, and they played us a new track live and made it seem like the album was close to done. I know COVID-19 happened, but it's 2021 boys! I'm starting to fiend for new music at this point and I'm gonna eat that shit up when it comes out. Love the work, gang.

FFO: Fallujah, The Faceless, Decrepit Birth
Favorite track: Ad Rigorem
Final score: 9/10

This album is edging on perfection. If it took one minuscule step in either direction it would receive that, but I feel that this is impossible for the majority of musicians throughout history. It may just be that I am fundamentally against grading an album as “perfect”. Even with this opinion on rating music, Virvum’s album was the piece that almost pushed me over the edge; my own rule of never giving an album the perfect score was almost erased from the books.

In a time where many metal fans are becoming bored with the current landscape of releases, including myself, this album rises above and raises the bar for future artists in a similar arena. It incorporates a myriad of elements that blend with ease, as if you are being whipped through a colorful, yet brutal tornado of sounds. It provides the listener with technicality, prog, brutality and euphoria, all wrapped up in the package that is Illuminance. Just when you feel that a particular song or point in the album is becoming monotonous, Virvum smacks you in the face with something unexpected. This leads to the album not being very monotonous at all throughout its entirety, you practically never feel bored with what you are hearing. It keeps you excited the entire way through.

From the beginning of the record (The Cypher Supreme), Virvum hits you with a brutal of assault of speed. It follows with atmospheric guitar work that feels simply epic by definition; this is that sense of euphoria I spoke about earlier, Virvum starts it from the very beginning. Then the virtuoso level bass guitar kicks in, and at this point you know you are dealing with something extremely well-crafted. Not many albums can make one realize this from the get-go. The first track ends with brutal riffing that turns the previously atmospheric sound that produces euphoria, to one that makes you want to stomp the heads of invading extraterrestrial beings; for if you forgot you were listening to a death metal record.

This first track is actually a great union of their styles, or rather the way they choose to structure each piece. Many songs begin with a speedy assault, then pick up the atmosphere, showcase every individual instrument (especially the bass, they must love their bassist), and never seem to forget to throw in face melting riffs. This is perfectly represented with the track “Tentacles of the Sun”. Virvum immediately seats you on the light-speed spacecraft for nearly a minute, with blast beats and techy riffs, but also with a hint of melody thrown in. After that first minute, your spacecraft has stopped to survey the space around it. The drums completely cease and the guitar echoes and weeps, prompting you to stop and reflect. You are now meeting with a bass player of alien origin, as he descends down from a desolate planet to serenade you with a solo. But wait, there’s more. Virvum didn’t forget the brutality, after the bass solo, they slam you with a riff that absolutely crushes. I can’t describe how this one makes me feel; it may be one of the best riffs I have ever heard. Every instrument blends perfectly in this moment. After this riffage, Virvum puts you back at warm speed with an atmospheric combination of blast beats and echoing tremolo guitar picking.

With the last track (II: A Final Warning Shine: Ascension and Trespassing), Virvum takes you on a journey through the galaxy, running a lengthy 10:28 in total. You could not ask for a better ending track to such a fantastic album, which perfectly showcases the talent of all musicians involved. With this track, Virvum show the listener that they are masters of atmospheric buildup and release of tension by way of skull-crushing riffs and high-speed assaults of sound. This track does feature some differing vocals, that sound sort of operatic, but it fits. When the song, and the record comes to a close, you feel that your journey has come to a close. As if you have just witnessed the extraordinary significance of the space around us. A philosophical trip through space and time.

It may seem unfair to only showcase three tracks in detail, but these three tracks songs seem to perfectly incapsulate the formula that Virvum used to craft this master-class album. From start to finish this album does not let up. It is a creative bombshell that has helped to reignite my passion for this particular brand of metal, as well as look forward to the future of the genre as a whole. With bands like Virvum around, there is no doubt that the artistic, technical and progressive philosophy in metal is still flowing. If you were on the fence about checking this release out, thinking it may just be another proggy venture into tech-death, think again and hop aboard the spacecraft; illuminate yourself.

I have started checking out some technical death metal stuff lately and I’m slowly getting used to the sub genre. But it doesn’t take long to realize that you don’t have to be used to anything to get a jaw-drop from Virvum’s compact and insane debut “Illuminance”. I have discovered this band when I saw Ne Obliviscaris live and Virvum were the first opening act of the evening. And the ripper Dan Presland of NeO was behind the drum kit for their short yet convincing set. If you know anything about Dan, then it’s already enough to prove that this album is worth a peek.

This band creates an original blend of highly technical music with a creepy shooter game sort of atmosphere and an even creepier concept. The lyrics across the album describe an apocalyptic vision, where the world disintegrates into rays of light and seems to transcend into a different dimension. That is quite disturbing already, and when the guttural filthy vocals that deliver this message start forcing their way in your ears, it becomes even more gruesome. I’ve never been a fan of this sort of voice and I can’t say I’ve become a fan here, but it is quite well suited for the genre. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But this is tech-death, so that’s as far as I’ll go about lyrics and vocals.

This album would have been a true shock even as an instrumental record. The blend of tight, heavy guitar riffs and extreme solos and leads, merges with mathematical and very fast drumming and awesome bass lines, for a truly challenging yet highly rewarding listen. I find the bass to be really impressive for an album of this genre because you wouldn’t expect it to get so much attention. There are a lot of tapping sections and all the shit reminding of the more elegant prog sound of the likes of Haken and overall the 6 string bass gets its own identity. Even an awesome bass solo shows up in the song “Tentacles of the Sun” so the guys can showcase their awesome low octaves dude for those who can’t notice him when he dwells alongside the guitars. However, the virtuosity of the guitars aren’t as much of a shock on a tech-death album but it is very original. Alongside the fast, overdriven and muted riffs with shredding insertions, come epic leads with a monumental amount of elemental sweeps and some really strange string bending and I think some whammy bar sounds going up and down all over the place. And they don’t just do your standalone solo. Leads are squeezed into every gap that would receive one without becoming ridiculous. You expect it to be technical but you don’t think it would sound so surprising, or so balanced. Behind all this, somehow the drums hold everything together.
Despite the fact that the songs seem to have almost no structure (see how the lyrics are displayed), the music doesn’t just dig through your brain. It is enjoyable and has different paces and different vibes. Sometimes it’s just pure aggressive, sometimes it’s mysterious, and it can even sound uplifting, when you get some serious tremolo picking in the works. The tempos vary from the extreme speed to mid paced riffing and even slow clean guitar parts (see Illuminance) that help create the eerie vibe of the album. So you get a lot of frantic panicky riffs like killing sprees, some chug-tastic sections and even slow atmospheric stuff… on a tech-death album. It’s always moving from an idea to another in a very cinematic way, but it also allows you to absorb every detail. And in the last song, because after half an hour of music you get used to it, they throw in a few other surprises. The voice that used to be all guttural becomes clearer for a few lines and then a strange sort of robotic female voice comes out of nowhere leading to a new level of creepy. And after they’ve ripped through your nervous system with such elegant savagery, a ballistic breakdown leaps at you to end the album on a climax before the soft ending of the song.

Virvum, are definitely a rising star in this genre and for lovers of bands like Gojira, Beyond Creation, or Archspire, they are plutonium waiting to be uncovered. Prog people will like this too (except for the voice maybe) and random metal fans with a sweet tooth for heavy stuff should really try this genre if they feel like checking something new. I see nothing wrong in taking off with one of the new forces in the field!

Enjoy!

I'm new to tech-death. Progressive is something I'm more than used to but I've only heard a handful of technical death metal bands, most of them not making an impact on me. However I think I should dig deeper into this sub-genre because it seems there's something amazing to be found pretty much everywhere and in this particular case it's Virvum. I saw these guys play live, opening for Ne Obliviscaris and it gave me some proper goosebumps. It's very rarely that I'd get the goosies at first audition especially when it comes to very complex and technical music but this band is simply unbelievable.

I'm not sure how to describe their style or the energies that they send out but one thing I'll tell you for certain, this is something else! Every now and then I get the feeling that after all the various stuff I've heard, there isn't much else that can be done that would be 100% original without being 100% crap. Wrong! There's Virvum. When it comes to bands that go full throttle on the tech pedal, these guys are taking home the prize! The pure speed and precision that they can unleash is beyond jaw-dropping. Pretty much every known guitar technique in the observable universe is handled flawlessly at time-bending speeds and the double kicks in here simply put the AK-47 to shame! And they top that with not only guitar but also bass solos! And it all sounds so fluid and controlled that you'd think they can light up a cigar and chill while making it happen! "The Cypher Supreme" is all you need to realize that I'm not overreacting. Those two and a half minutes of shameless speed display over weird time signatures and multiple tempos might just rip your brain to shreds. Everything that the album consists of was stuffed in here so just do yourself the favor of checking out this track.

I'll admit, first time hearing it, I was just too stunned to get a real opinion about it and the truth is that it takes a number of listens before you can start keeping up with all the variations and intricacies they stuff in there. You somehow have to calibrate your attention to a whole new level to keep up. Persefone's "Spiritual Migration" is probably the only metal album I've heard before that would actually require as much implication from the listener. Virvum like to ambush you. They're unstable and unpredictable and you just don't know when the next high-speed riff will hit you in the head! It might seem chaotic but it's actually very organized and controlled.

The good part is that despite appearances, they are still human beings so the progressive twin-turbo madness is not omnipresent. Illuminance really has a lot to offer in the enjoyability department. They're very creative and many of the melodies that come up when they eventually pick a time signature and live with it for a while can only be described as beautiful. The album is actually divided between, melodic beauty, deep and powerful atmospheric parts and the crazy prog-tech-mumbo-jumbo schizophrenia. It feels like they've went to great efforts to make their unbound affinity for going all over the place as musical and enjoyable as possible. The album flows beautifully from one song to the next and really immerses you in the atmosphere. There's a pretty scientific and apocalyptic concept that I can't really get my head around but it certainly has power as well as emotion. The lyrics are very descriptive and completely lacking in rhyme or a constant rhythm and musicality. Instead, there's just punishing ongoing screaming that describes juicy dark and creepy stuff. The overall feeling when you actually start reading the lyrics is very abstract and quite mystical, focusing on some weird, unnatural doomsday scenario. At some point the sun disappears... or something like that. I guess I'll need Google if I want to understand more about it.

The vocals, I'm sorry to say are not my cup of tea. Even here, technique is the main focus. The vocalist can grasp pretty much any tone from high pitched screaming to deep guttural growls, going even into the pig-swine area here and there. It is very well executed and certainly not an easy thing to do but it's a matter of taste, For me it's just too harsh, brutal and non-musical. The final track however stands out the most since a very unusual clean voice hits when you least expect it. Also there was some female robotic voice that probably came from a computer somewhere in there. This is not my favorite song on the album (that would be the title track) but definitely the most interesting and diverse and it tends to follow the extremes. The intro ("I: A New Journey Awaits") brings the atmosphere and beauty but when "II: A Final Warming Shine" strikes, the downpour of guitars, bass and merciless grinding drums leap at you like a wild beast on ecstasy! It goes on and on but eventually, half way through the song, these rabid maniacs decide to trade speed for brutality and so you wind up on a straight course towards a crushing, earthquake inducing, breakdown. The album then follows a very elegant closure with adequate style and artistry.

Brutal beauty is the way to sum up all this. They've got impeccable technique, beautiful melodies, tons of creativity and serious balls! Maybe this takes it all a bit too far and many times when listening to their stuff I feel somehow lost. Being very aggressive and complex, this only gives you some precious rewarding factor every once in a while and you really need some stamina to go through the full length. However it is a good treat of compositional mastery that you simply have to appreciate! I'm officially mind-blown and even if they keep slashing my neurons, I'll be back for more when their next release pops up.

British physicist Brian Cox once stated that "we are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself." It is also quite easy to argue that music is one of the ways in which we communicate our emotions and lack of understanding of the unfathomable qualities of the universe. The universe has of course given birth to us and everything we have created. In a sense, music is the bridging tie that man uses to come to understanding with what he can and cannot comprehend on a creative level. Enter Virvum, who have produced what I consider to be the musical incarnation of the these cosmic and existential concepts of which we can barely comprehend. In the form of progressive and very technical death metal, they have written and performed what I think is the best album of 2016 and easily one of the best of the past decade. This record is of course, the powerful Illuminance.

The concept of beauty is not something that one would normally associate with metal, or death metal for that matter, but that is in fact, one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think of Illuminance. Throughout all aspects of this masterpiece beauty transcends to tell Virvum's tales of creation and obliteration, darkness and light, and the sheer power of space and time. Each member blends their musical colors together to make shades of music not yet heard and they do so in a way that is nothing short of enthralling. The musical representation of opposites is one of the ways that this beauty is brought forth, and can be heard on all of songs of Illuminance. Soft, tranquil passages that soothe the listener soon become larger than life explosions of musical ferocity wrapped up in the demonic vocals of Bryan Berger. I definitely would have loved to have heard more clean vocals from Berger and his performance on "II: A Final Warming Shine: Ascension and Trespassing" was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Gruff cleans thrown over the gravelly grooves of his band were the perfect touch to a perfect ending to an album that is damn-near perfect in its own right. Even drummer Diego Morenzoni is able to bring his volume and tone down to a more quiet and soft point. Just check out the title track to see what I mean. His sticks fly across his kit with speed like no other, but not for long. Overall, dynamics can make one's album greater than it ever could have been once applied and Illuminance is the perfect place to witness this come true tenfold.

As much as I associate tranquility with Virvum, they are able to grind your face right off with an intensity that is out of this world. Even the cinematic intros and passages that Virvum employs all over Illuminance that make me constantly return to the album are powerful enough to "do" this. Each one is different, but they all share one common trait: epicness. The word "epic" is one that I try to avoid to as much as I can as a writer. However, these sections are more than worthy of such a descriptive attribute. Take "I: A New Journey Awaits" for example. It begins with flowing string vibrato and rich horn melodies like that of an movie orchestration. But Virvum is a guitar ruled band, and never fails to inspire in that regard. Next comes the triumphant tremolo of a guitar with a mix of major and minor notes that resolve themselves with a single high pitched echo. This then leads into the progressive death metal epic, "II: A Final Warming Shine: Ascension and Trespassing" that repeats the melody from its smaller, former half, with a full band and screams. From sweeps that seem almost impossibly fast, to bone-crushing grooves that will get your toe tapping and your head bobbing, the variation is splendid. But all of this "bone crushing" seems intelligent and even the less technical parts of some songs are somewhat difficult to play, although this is due in part to Virvum's nature to just make things complex. They do this in a way that isn't over-saturated or cheesy such as bands like Fallujah, Atlantis Chronicles, or Within the Ruins do. It is tasteful, and seems to come from another galaxy.

All of this is all done with technicality that some bands can only dream of possessing. Granted, it is easy to tell that there are a few triggered aspects to Morenzoni's parts, just check out his solo sections in "Earthwork" to get a sense of what I mean. Nonetheless, even he and his fellow musicians on this record really push the limits on what it means to be a metal musician. The guitarists have arranged their parts much like that of a classical chamber group in the sense that they are able to provide many layers and a decent amount of complexity whilst being comprised of a only a few people. In songs like "Ad Rigorem" they intertwine their melodies and provide supporting melodies for each other and ultimately make Illuminance a more captivating listen. Session bassist Arran McSporran of De Profundis is to me what truly sets the bar high for the album. He is able to keep up with the ungodly level of technicality that the rest of the band brings forth, whilst adding his own twist to the band's already unique sound. His bass solo in "Tentacles of the Sun" is a part of Illuminance not be missed. His fingers sweep across the fretboard and mystify the listener with their imagination to satisfy their mind's eye's musical fantasies of his abilities.

Illuminance is a journey that I hope every extreme metal fan embarks on to listen to and experience. From mesmerizing clean, orchestral sections to smashing, heavy interludes, Virvum demonstrates what it means to push the limits of great song-writing, musicianship, and to be a human trying to express oneself. With a taste and complexity that seems to come from other worlds, they put into melody and rhythm what I think of as that bridge between what we can and cannot understand about our universe. Space's power and peacefulness bind together to give birth to a musical creation that we know and (hopefully) love as Illuminance. Buy this without hesitation.

Once the album kicks in you know that you're in for a hell of a ride, in which you cannot understand what will happen in it- sort of like of a roller coaster ride in which you've closed your eyes while it twists and turns. Only intuition and a lot of guessing work can help in understanding the album's musical and atmospheric content, because of so many changes that occur throughout the album.

Illuminance is very impressive for a debut. The production here is top notch, with the guitars, bass, and drums sounding pretty good and being mixed fairly well within the vocals which consist mostly of bestial semi bree-ish growls that fit well into the album's atmosphere. I've read a comment on the album's Bandcamp page which said that the album sounds like Necrophagist on a sunny day, which is more than true because of the spacey major key aura that surrounds a large portion of the album. The obvious Necrophagist influence here comes to mind with every aspect of the album.

From the semi-triggered Rings of Saturn-y drumming to the dual guitar melodies and top notch riffing to and the intense bass work, this album is a beast in terms of musicianship and originality. Technical deathcore, ambient passages, acoustic guitars, and spacey tech death were mixed very well in Illuminance, and even with some parts sounding too much like Veil of Maya, Spawn of Possession, and Vektor on weed (this album is one of the happier death metal albums I have heard so far), this album is really great in being original in the field of infinite bands that copy their idols' sound without any innovations and changes in the musical content.

The most noticeable problem amongst all sorts of technical bands of today is that even with all the exciting and impressive techy/progressive noodling a large portion of the songs are easily forgotten. Unfortunately, this album suffers from this critical condition as well, but contrary to many other tech death albums it has some very memorable parts which come in the songs of "Ad Rigorem," "Tentacles of the Sun," and "Elemental Shift," which show the somewhat originality and creativity of Virvum in Illuminence."

Overall, this album is pretty good in terms of production, performance, and instrumentation. As we all know, "good" is the antonym of the word "bad"- which means that the album is overall pretty great. It excels a large portion of other bands which play the same genre, but still suffers from a bit of unmemorable material spanning around some great moments. Recommended for fans of intense technical noodling and spacey atmospheres.

After one listen of Virvum’s debut album Illuminance, you might assume that they’re on a big label, only to be doubly impressed that they are, in fact, unsigned. I can’t imagine that they’ll be unsigned for too much longer, because their first album shows a level of musicianship and technicality well beyond their lifespan.

I must admit that I’m a sucker for the opening track “The Cypher Supreme.” It shows everything you’re about to encounter in the album. From the huge guitars to the bass solo to the drums pounding away, all the way to the single utterance of “cypher!” at the end, it’s clear you’re in for a special treat. And of course this bombast continues with “Earthwork.” The guitar work is the main showcase item all throughout Illuminance with riffs that are an expert blend of bands like Veil of Maya, Spawn of Possession, Inanimate Existence, and Vale of Pnath, just to name a few. While this band’s style of technical death metal doesn’t go bass-heavy like Defeated Sanity or Odious Mortem, the energy they convey is still hard-hitting. The opening to “Illuminance” is one such example where the blinding riffs will keep you tapping your foot before the fantastic melodic break part-way in, led by a bending, scale-descending note (you’ll know it when you hear it). I would argue that “Ad Rigorem” ups the melody even more, but somehow this negligibility still makes a difference.

While the guitar fancywork is the forefront of why Illuminance works so well, the other ingredients also play their part. The bass guitar gets its time to shine, too, and you’ll hear the bass go in its own direction at times. The drumming is fantastic, easily going from blasting to technical beats to fills to slow sections all in the space of a minute. The vocals fit in well with their really harsh growls giving the music a rougher edge than it would’ve without it. Some clean vocals appear in “II: A Final Warning Shine: Ascension and Trespassing” to break up the long song (and possibly my favourite here) and give it an extra dimension, and these cleans sound great.

When all is said and done, though, the guitars are the main attraction at this theme park. I’m constantly impressed (and occasionally still bamboozled) at the riffs on offer. My favourite riff actually concludes the album in a really awesome way, at least to me, but that’s just one of many dazzling riffs you’re going to come across here. Virvum have created something really special in the technical death metal field, and I think fans are taking notice. Great work.