It’s been quite some time since I last discussed Hypocrisy here. Needless to say, I’m long overdue. In fact, the melodic death metallers out of Sweden had the highly coveted “Corey’s favorite band” title for quite some time. Eventually, however, they slipped a little down that list of heavyweights. Regardless of where they stand now, which is, I’ll admit, a bit of a mystery, the 10th anniversary of their quintessential Virus is plenty reason too revisit one of their classics.

Hypocrisy’s career has been impressive to say the least. Formed originally in 1990, the band really only started to gain traction when death metal mastermind (and one of my personal idols) Peter Tägtgren took charge. While their sound has been relatively consistent in recent years, their early stages were defined by a far more traditional death metal sound with themes of Satanism and Christian hypocrisy. But as the years ticked on, their sound developed to one far more influenced by the melodic side of metal, bringing with it new themes of extraterrestrial life and the horrors of reality. Of which there are many.

It was this spell of Hypocrisy song-writing that grabbed my attention. My interest in melodic death metal is obvious, but the lyrical themes are what kept me locked in. From the paranormal and extraterrestrial content in the likes of, say, 1996’s Abducted, or fast-forwarding a few years to 2004’s The Arrival, this is the Hypocrisy brand that, to me, defines their career. Aliens and the paranormal had always been themes that I obsessed over late at night growing up. I’m logical enough to understand that, given the infinite nature of our universe, there is no chance that we are the only living beings across time and space. It simply isn’t possible. These are beliefs I’ve always held, and as a result, I found Peter’s words fascinating.

Getting back to the music, there were a slew of albums Hypocrisy cranked out since 2000 that fell into this general mode, and many will argue that, at this point, they’ve lost much of the bite that made them so massive back then. While I can understand that point of few, it is not one I call my own. Each album is of the same style, sure. But it’s the style that makes Hypocrisy so entrancingly evil. And nestled in the middle of these years in Hypocrisy’s discography, you find one of personal favorites in Virus. Technically released on September 5th, 2005, this is the first chance I’ve had to celebrate it’s reaching a decade. Which is where we are now.

This particular album has a little of everything that had defined the Hypocrisy sound in recent years, and the first one to feature Horgh on drums. The album kicks off with the blistering “Warpath”, which is ferociously mesmerizing on every level. Following similar, although slightly slower, paths we get the undeniable crowd favorite in “Fearless”. But between all these tremolos and guitar harmonies, we still get crunchier, more traditional death metal influences on the likes of “Scrutinized” and “Blooddrenched”. Still not done yet. Moving in yet another direction altogether, “Let the Knife Do the Talking” and “A Thousand Lies” slow things down to an absolute crawl, forcing the melodic side to fully take hold. The personal favorite of mine, however, has to “Craving for Another Killing” which opens with the most aggressive of harmonized tremolos you will hear on just about any record. It has it all… the power, the hatred, and the melodies in the chorus. It encapsulates the album brilliantly.

Based on the names alone, you can probably tell what the general theme of this album is. Less paranormal than preceding works, it is instead driven by content fueled with drug addiction, self-loathing, flaws in humanity, and aggression towards any form of opposition. Really, any inwardly dark emotion is contained in here. It all makes for one hell of album. Raw, powerful, yet still mesmerizing. From the music right down to the lyrics.

With Virus, Hypocrisy deliver melodic death metal the way it should be. It has all the raw aggressiveness that more traditional death metal outfits use to define themselves. But because of their melodic elements, they take it even further, inspiring a sense of mystery, curiosity, and introspection, all in a sound that is a beautiful as it is hateful. Maybe Hypocrisy’s recent years haven’t done as much for them as the turn of the century had, but regardless of all that, they are still the creators of some of the finer death metal the world has ever known. With Virus being one of those particular albums, you should all join me in celebrating it’s newest year.

“Ein bier… bitte.”
– Corey