THE BLACK FLUX

"The Black Flux" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Norwegian experimental rock/metal act Virus. The album was released through Season of Mist in November 2008. Virus is the brainchild of Czral (Carl-Michael Eide) who handles vocals and guitars. Esso (Einar Sjurso) handles the drums and the bass is played by Plenum (Petter Berntsen). There are a few guest musicians on the album. Bård Ingebrigtsen add baritone guitar, violin, piano and slide to the mix while Benny "B9" Braaten adds ambience (whatever that is).

The tracks for "The Black Flux" were originally meant to be released on the comeback album by Ved Buens Ende who had reformed in April 2006 after they originally split up in 1997. Czral and Vicotnik (Yusaf Parvez) apparently weren´t able to make the ends meet though and split up again in 2007. Vicotnik went on to work on the "Supervillain Outcast (2007)" album by Dødheimsgard and more recently the "Resplendent Grotesque (2009)" album by Code. Czral on the other hand opted to take the tracks that were originally written for the next Ved Buens Ende album and turn them into Virus songs.

The music the three-piece conjure up on "The Black Flux" is dark, twisted and slightly experiental rock/metal. Imagine what would happen if Joy Division and Voivod made a collaborative album. This is indeed a bleak and dissonant sounding album. The vocals by Czral are desperate, monotone and depressive while the instrumental side of the music is built upon twisted, dissonant riffs and a great playing rythm section. The music can seem a bit repetitive and maybe a bit too monotone in nature upon first listen but given time small recognisable hooks start to appear. There are many excellent compositions on this album but the ending track "Strange Calm" and especially the intense "As Virulent as You" really make my blood boil. The latter simply blows me away. It´s one of those rare songs that literally creates vivid and unpleasant images of vile and dark things in my mind. The opening lines to "As Virulent as You" belong in the twisted and bizarre genious catagory when Czral sings: "Your contaminated majesty, You live in my wounds". He sounds like a cross between a scary lunatic and a delirious alcoholic. Brilliant.

The production is organic and dark. It suits the music perfectly.

"The Black Flux" is an excellent release by Virus and I find it a highly recommendable purchase for fans of dark and twisted experimental rock/metal. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.