Originally written by Patrick Dawson
If you’re anything like me, Hypocrisy hold a special place in your heart as one of the first bands that got you into the more fruitful side of metal. You also then know the deep middle brain sting I felt the first time a certain Slipknot parody album called Catch 22 hit my speakers. Three noodle dick releases in the bag and I along with a majority of older fans had pretty much written this band off with good reason. I will not argue with any of the detractors, six years is a very long time to wander the valley of suck and most that wander into the dark place never emerge if they stay for more than one album. I’m just as amazed as anyone else, but it is my great pleasure to announce the return of Hypocrisy.
Pull from your memory the most aggressive moments on Abducted and then imagine using those ideas as the template for an entire album. Hypocrisy have always been kings of the lumbering melodeath procession but on Virus (due in no small part to Horgh’s more aggressive and stylish drumming, sorry Lars) speed and aggression play a more vital role than ever before. There are still songs on this release that give a nod to the classic Hypocrisy sound, “Fearless” is about as “Roswell 47” as it gets, but this style is in the minority. Instead, we are privy to furious tremolo picking in a style Jon Nödtveidt should perhaps consider before suiciding his career once and for all with the final release of the “I forgot what my band sounded like while I was in jail” album.
It seems unfair to say, but from the outsider’s perspective it really looks like Horgh’s inclusion in the project has breathed new life into this band. Everyone is on point, even the bass guitar counter melodies in “Let the Knife do the Talking” are on a level this band just did not produce in ages past. Virus is everything you loved about the classic sound with a breath of fresh air in the form of less linear song structures and a flair in instrumentation that after weeks of listening is still offering up nuisances previously unnoticed. A perfect balance of melody and violence and a glorious return to form.
