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August 29, 2008 |
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01. Intro
02. Warpath
03. Scrutinized
04. Fearless
05. Craving For Another Killing
06. Let The Knife Do The Talking
07. A Thousand Lies
08. Incised Before I've Ceased
09. Blooddrenched
10. Compulsive Psychosis
11. Living To Die
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"We are the plague spreading through the world. We are the disease; the virus is eating our way. We are no one; we're just living to die." Grim words with a sting of brutal honesty; but anything less than grim and brutal just wouldn't be HYPOCRISY. If you walked into the HYPOCRISY Health Clinic with a hangnail and a sunburn, Dr. Tägtgren & Co. would slap you with a diagnosis of Malignant Terminal Existence and you'd be writing a will and shopping for a casket within minutes from the sheer sincerity of their conviction. The world is a twisted, dire vortex of malevolence, the "Earth a wound that never will heal", and HYPOCRISY's certainty of that fact has driven them to retaliate with a lethal genetic rebellion: "Virus".
The most distinguishing symptoms of "Virus" are the resulting lacerations caused by the addition of the immortal Horgh on drums and long-time touring/first-time studio 2nd guitarist Andreas Holma. This new mutation of the HYPOCRISY contagion is by far the most lethal line-up yet, combining to deliver a sensation of dominating heaviness and full-sounding thickness unheard since the days of "Penetralia", "Osculum Obscenum" and "The 4th Dimension". There is also an inherent, newly found level of depth and variation in "Virus". Guitarist/vocalist/producer mastermind Peter Tägtgren was involved with the writing of every song, but most also boast songwriting credits with at least one other and sometimes every member of the band, proving that the line-up has congealed into a perfect mold of cooperation and output.
The fact that Andreas Holma provides the majority of the guitar solos on the album further validates that his presence is not only an impact on stage, but a contributing necessity and testament to this meatier and most deadly HYPOCRISY incarnation.
There can also be no argument that the drums have been catapulted to a level of power and precision well beyond what HYPOCRISY has ever known. I don't hesitate to take Lars Szoke's performances on every previous HYPOCRISY album with a nod of thanks, but Horgh is of a different breed and stock, one of mastered brutality and feel, bringing a specialized dominance of old school Death Metal aggression that isn't afraid to work its way through a vein all its own, leaving the guitars with an amazing amount of freedom to spread their own infection freely throughout. Horgh is the driving force behind the album's most vicious tracks, i.e. "Warpath", "Scrutinized", "Craving For Another Killing", and "Blooddrenched", persevering his IMMORTAL legacy while simultaneously establishing himself as the perfect skinsman for HYPOCRISY's unique and stunningly effective brand of Death Metal. One of the best drum performances of the year, and HYPOCRISY's best ever.
With the wound open and stagnating from Horgh's debilitating drum delivery, Peter Tägtgren, Andreas Holma, and lifelong HYPOCRISY bass crusher Mikael Hedlund weave the same contagious crunch 'n' grind rhythm of metallic infection known and loved by Hypocrites around the world, while taking advantage of Horgh's power to drive the music by venturing into the darker realms of their more brutal days as well as new alleyways of aberration, with longer guitar lines, more intricate song structures, and seething solos throughout. While there are no relentlessly explosive, rampaging monsters like "Adjusting The Sun", "Blinded" or "New World" from the band's previous catalogue, songs like "Warpath", and "Scrutinized" attack your synapses with that bonafide HYPOCRISY crushing drive and the neck thrashing tempo shifts that are an integral part of the band's identity.
"Scrutinized" is particularly crippling, with a very classic-influenced, fist pumping breakdown that peaks with a ripping and distinct guest solo by EXODUS legend Gary Holt. Also coursing throughout this pestilential album are the signature slow tempo, doomy haunts like "Fearless", "A Thousand Lies" and "Living To Die", complete with Tägtgren's morosely brutal and empathic paranoia and moody atmospheres of death, destruction and virulent decay.
Vocally, Tägtgren is of course at the very top of his game, where he has lived quite comfortably for HYPOCRISY's entire existence, again wildly disproving the nauseatingly cliché "cookie monster" label with a vocal mastery that is capable of brooding lament, hell-driven growls of demonic depth, and which holds the irrefutable honor of being the most impressive, long-winded, soul-tortured scream the Death Metal world has ever known. No less than 20 seconds into the album's first song, "Warpath", Peter unleashes 12 gut busting seconds of what has to be his most spine chilling, viciously possessed scream to date, setting the stage for what is arguably his most powerful, vengeful and diseased delivery in HYPOCRISY history. Add to that his deific abilities in production, and you can't argue the uniqueness and musical necessity of a man like Peter Tägtgren.
Every aspect of "Virus" is a devouring mutagen of incurable infection, but when fused together the result is one of the most lethal, consuming and eradicating attacks on the nervous system your ears and body will ever know; an engulfing blackness of the mind whose only cure, ironically, is another shot of the "Virus". You can't fight it, and you'll quickly find that you don't want to. You've become part of the HYPOCRISY contagion that is spreading across the globe, erasing the weak and unworthy in the unforgiving wake of its "Warpath": "A new era has begun; the world is falling, and darkness triumphs. The emperor has made his call, and now the time has come for us to dread his warning - The terror will reign death upon us all." Let the "Virus" spread.
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