(((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain))))): VIRGINIA ON DUTY

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

VIRGINIA ON DUTY

Band: VIRGINIA ON DUTY

Genres: Punk / Hardcore / Emo-Violence / Screamo / Skramz / Sludge / Black-Metal
Related artists: Quantis, .
Country: Putrajaya MALAYSIA
Years Active: 2005-present
Song: "Curse"
Album: "Curse"
Year: 2013
Label(s): Chronic Crony Collective
This post's artist is from the January 2014 Mix. This is track #11.
You can download: the March Mix#3 right here or get the new April 2015 Mix#4 here.
For fans of: Takaru, Under A Sky So Blue, Storm{o}, Jeanne, Mesa Verde, This Ship Will Sink, Danse Macabre, Orchid, Ampere, Union Of Uranus, Jungbluth, Louise Cyphre, June Paik, Nous Étions, Amanda Woodward, Capacities, Vi Som Alskade Varandra Sa Mycket, Sed Non Satiata, Daighila, Foxmoulder, Lamantide, Aussitot Mort, The Setup, (old) This Day Forward, Back When, OsoLuna and Tel Fyr aka PROPER SCREAMO.

VIRGINIA ON DUTY, you are pretty goddamn good. Holy smokes. Like, really. All seven songs that I have are unreal. Over 8 years (but only 2 releases, both in the last two years, as far as I can see) the 3-piece have perfected a bass-heavy sound that mixes emo-violence, hardcore, metal, screamo and ambient influences into the massive beast you hear through the speakers or headphones. Imagine Foxmoulder if they were thicker and more metal or This Ship Will Sink with less metal and darker sludge. The vocals on their songs, especially the 'Curses' EP, are super thick and unleased with the fury that bands such as Takaru used to.

From the EP of the same name, "Curse" has a dark, macabre beginning that leads to the best track the band has ever put together, which comes in just after the first minute but doesn't give you much indication of what is to come next, besides some heavy-ass bass. At 1:32 the vocals kick and a wave of emo-violence and thick, metallic hardcore. I would say this band borders on sludge, but that implies slower riffing and that simply isn't the case here. "Black Mountains" busts out full force with some rampant screaming and quick drumming. At 45 seconds a beauty slow part rolls in as the rapid drumming continues. It then regains momentum at 1:20 and has me head-banging along Jungbluth-style. "Regret" has some insanely thick bass parts. From 25 to 45 seconds we have the band sounding so big they may as well be a horde of giants rolling down a mountain. "Cephalus" is a slower, driving song that reminds me of Back When from their split with The Setup in which they used the song "Fraud of Scribes" as it is a swirling mirage of post-everything that busts out of it's hazy shell just after the one-minute mark. "Deception" has a long, ambient interlude that reminds me of Isis and Sed Non Satiata from the 1/4 to 3/4 in the song...so basically half of the track. The first quarter uses some guitar attacks that could have come straight off of a Louise Cyphre record. The last quarter bleeds out like Carrion Spring.

At first I thought the two songs from the 2014 4-way split cassette 'A Collaboration of Hope" were inferior but upon writing this review and really giving them my undivided attention I am convinced they are among the best. They do have a different feel, though, as they are much more diverse and less intense but the flow and nearly seamless transitions make it a deeper experience as is exhibited in "Durjana sistem berkuasa". "Dhunia" sounds like a screamo version of Nous Étions with a nice, climactic outro that includes a sweet Aussitot Mort styled riff, bass solos and some spoken word delivery.

I used to have stuff in the Zegema Beach Records distro but I sold out of everything. I didn't even keep copies for myself. I am ashamed.

________________________________________

DISCOGRAPHY

2007 - Demo?

???? - 4-Way split w/Secret Smoker, Nothing Nothing Nothing! & ?
???? - 4-Way split w/Head In Heads, The Dying Motion & The Plague Sermon

2013 - Curse cassetteEP (stream/donate/download here)

2014 - A Collaboration of Hope split (w/Leon, Schloka & Angkor Wat) cassetteLP (stream/buy here)

________________________________________

(2013) VIRGINIA ON DUTY - "Curse" (from 'Curse')