Hypocrisy - Virus

[Liu]

Hypocrisy - Virus
Nuclear Blast

Hyprocisy have been on the warpath ever since coming out of their short lived "retirement". The self titled album, Into The Abyss and The Arrival have all been great albums in their own right, but the band has yet to deliver the album that will restore them to their former death metal glory. Luckily that album is now upon us.

Immediately after the short intro XVI, Hypocrisy jumps right into the mayhem with War-Path. The first thing you will really notice is that the first few songs don't change pace or slow down. Whether its Scrutiny or Craving For Another Killing, they maintain the hectic riffing, speed and chaos while at the same time being incredibly memorable. Virus contains without a doubt the band's (I don't want to use the word but I can't think of anything more suitable) catchiest bunch of songs since...well, ever. The result is no loss in the momentum of these hyper fast tracks and at the same time your attention stays firmly with the album. It isn't until Let The Knife Do The Talking that the band applies the brakes a little, while losing none of the overt heaviness. After two midpaced songs, the insanity commences again with Incised Before I've Ceased (best song here) and continues to bludgeon with Blooddrenched and Compulsive Psychosis. Album closer Living To Die is the only experimental synth styled song Tägtgren likes to write that normally litter their albums. Leaving the song at the end is a good decision, as it doesn't get in the way of the rest of the album, while being a good way to wind down the insanity.

As you could probably tell by the songtitles, Virus has steered far away from the alien conspiracy/abduction themes, coming back to the beauty of blood-n-guts that we all love and cherish. There has been a change in the line-up as well, with a new second guitarist Andreas Holma and blast veteran Horgh of Immortal fame behind the kit. Horgh's presence on Virus is refreshing, making the constant maddening pace sound completely natural and unforced. Exodus axe-man Gary Holt lends his hand with a solo for the song Scrutiny, perhaps being the best on the album.

A limited edition version of the album comes with a bonus DVD of a complete live gig filmed sometime in 2004, which has a nice overview of all their albums from the debut Penetralia to the then most recent album The Arrival.

Virus is a must own and quite possibly the band's best album to date, at least to these normally jaded ears. Don't miss this.


01. XVI
02. War-Path
03. Scrutiny
04. Fearless
05. Craving For Another Killing
06. Let The Knife Do The Talking
07. A Million Lies
08. Incised Before I've Ceased
09. Blooddrenched
10. Compulsive Psychosis
11. Living To Die

Score: 9/10

[BILE]

I always thought the Arrival was their best album.I like Virus but it just doesn't sound the same since Lars Szoke left the band.

[Demolition Hammer]

It's an adjustment after all these years hearing someone other than Lars on drums, but Horgh is such a superior drummer and his playing gives the songs a renewed energy. The fast parts are faster and tighter than they've played before, all the great atmosphere is still there, and Tagtgren is still a great songwriter. Definitely one of the best of the year, fitting somewhere in the top third of Hypocrisy's recorded output to date - they've still never even come close to besting "Abducted".

[Liu]

I was gonna add that Horgh's presence was the swift kick in the ass that the band needed to up the ante as far as the aggression goes. This might be my album of the year, its in the top 3 regardless.

[MaggotExistence]

I really like this one. Better than "the arrival"

[Bukkake]

Mortado sent me this, so I'll be reviewing it in time. I've been a huge fan of Hypocrisy up until a few albums ago. But nothing they've done has been bad. They've just seemed to lose a lot. I'm not sure what to expect with this one.

[Liu]

I've heard most of their output but really, this is the only one that has all out blown me away.

[Bukkake]

Hypocrisy - Virus
Nuclear Blast
1. XVI 00:16
2. Warpath 04:23
3. Scrutinized 04:25
4. Fearless 04:24
5. Craving for Another Killing 03:50
6. Let the Knife Do the Talking 04:15
7. A Thousand Lies 04:52
8. Incised Before I've Ceased 04:28
9. Blooddrenched 03:42
10. Compulsive Psychosis 04:14
11. Living to Die 05:42


Virus. Radical. The fifth album released by Hypocrisy since the very short lived break-up of the band after The Final Chapter. It's my opinion that Hypocrisy's best days are behind them, though I still consider myself somewhat of a fan of most of their output nowadays. This album is a nod back to the death metal that made Hypocrisy loved, but with the same melodic and atmospheric elements that they've been incorporating for a long time now. Ignoring the sometimes overproduced sound throughout the album that has become a bit typical with Peter's projects, this is many steps above the last two albums, Catch 22 and [/b]The Arrival[/b], which was already steps above the former.

Catch 22 introduced a completely unexpected and new side of Hypocrisy. A catchy, less abrasive sound that abandoned most of the aggression and darkness of Hypocrisy's old days, and brought some memorably sung qualities forward. This was understandably a dissappointment and let down for many fans. I didn't know how to react. But after time I liked it and now really appreciate it. Though I'd say it's easily their worst album, while somehow also their most memorable as far as songs go. The Arrival came two years later and was back to the "old" Hypocrisy. There is a little confusion caused here by calling it the "old" Hypocrisy. I don't mean the Hypocrisy of the early 90's that really is the BEST Hypocrisy era, but the Hypocrisy from right before Catch 22, with atmospheric and melodic components integrated into the semi-death metal they were playing. This album was sadly pretty predictable and unexciting, with too many typical modern melodic metal devices and ideas, though it had its moments of goodness and Hypocrisy-style delights.

But Virus jumps even further back. It's as if this has been released, if for no other reason, to remind people of what Hypocrisy is still able to do. And it's good to see what they can still do after such a long time running. It reminds me a good deal of The Final Chapter and even a little bit of The Fourth Dimension, although it's not a direct continuation of either one by any means. It's far cleaner and more polished sounding than The Fourth Dimension, and obviously composed more intricately of the melodic components Peter's been using so liberally in the last 6, 7 or 8 years. I have lost count. These melodic parts however, in case you haven't heard Hypocrisy in 10 years, are not standard Swedish melodic death metal riffs. It's the midpaced trodding accompanied by atmospheric keyboards and echoing guitars that has been the main source of this melodic sound.

The first song is refreshing. Heavier than what I had expected from Hypocrisy nowadays. This got me excited. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed the possibly blatant ripoff of an old Satyricon melody that comes in right before the 1 minute mark and goes on for a while, repeated a few times through the remainder of the song. The background keyboards are almost exactly like those in the Satyricon track. I don't recall exactly which Satyricon song it is, though it's on Dark Medieval Times I am quite sure. I will update this review as soon as I go back and figure out which song it is. Since I have a completely heterosexual but uncontrollable love for Satyricon, most noteably the old stuff, this is something I like. I like it a lot. Hypocrisy have been around for years paving a few paths of their own just like Satyricon did, so I am going to pretend that this melody-thievery is just paying homage to another pioneer of Scandinavian metal.

The speed and aggression, for the most part, are turned up on Virus, compared to the past few releases. This is more to be refreshed and happy about. A few songs in particular have some excellent riffs and powerful hooks that flow so smoothely with everything going on around them. This is where Peter and company have seemed to successfully mix the atmospheric aspects of "new new" Hypocrisy with the aggressive aspects of "old, to semi-new old" Hypocrisy. Does this make sense? Good.

I am still not completely comfortable or used to the overly polished sound and sometimes very cheesy delivery of the lyrics that Hypocrisy has taken in this latest era of their music. Sometimes the slow or midpaced plodding with the riffs accompanying the background keyboards gets on my nerves. I will always love and miss the old, raw, destructive force that the early to mid-90's Hypocrisy unleashed with every song. But I really liked their progression into a semi-melodic death metal band. It is great that they now have been trying to bring the death metal sound back, but it is still lacking a bit. The album starts out good and aggressive, yet still sounding like Hypocrisy of today (in mostly a good way), but around the sixth track Let the Knife do the Talking, the tempo slows down and the part of Hypocrisy that I don't really care for is exposed. It's not bad, just something I consider boring. The tempo is slow, the riffs are not interesting, and there is too much reliance on the cheap atmosphere that is to be produced by the keyboards in the background. This song doesn't do too much of that, but it has enough of it and lacks enough power to where I don't want to listen to it. The track immediately following it, A Thousand Lies is slow all the way through and suffers a similar problem. I don't like these kinds of songs. The slow, aimless songs that build to... nothing.

The next track slightly picks the speed back up, but the full onslaught of speed and aggression does not return until the 9th track, Blooddrenched. And this song is another example on this album of fine use of all dynamics, no plodding along without purpose or point, and just being direct and vicious.

Overall, this is a definite improvement Hypocrisy have made. Much, much better than the last two releases, and very promising for the fans that we may see more in the future that resembles the old Hypocrisy that we loved. Let's hope the next album sounds more like Osculum Obscenum. Hypocrisy have risen from the temporary drought of ideas and good releases, and are back on the road they know well and are heading in the right direction again. If they can do without some of the cheesy and dramatic and useless parts that were scattered through out this album and concentrate more on the attack and assault that is death metal and overpowering destruction of what made them a great band in the old years, Hypocrisy will once again be a band that slays and kills, and no longer a band whose output is questionable and unreliable.


7.7/10