Of Virtue - What Defines You Album Review
Review by: Brittany Swigert
“What Defines You” is the latest album released by Of Virtue. It dropped on May 24th and I haven't been able to pull myself away from it. Each new song that played had something to keep me hooked. With so much to love it's hard not to breakdown every track, but I want to leave something for you to discover yourselves so I will only highlight a few here. The only thing I want to put out there before I get any further in to this review is to listen to this album twice. I tend to listen to songs again and again to pick up on things I may have missed and this is a collection of music that is so layered and complex you almost have to. These subtle elements mixing with the heavy drums, and the wailing guitar, make for an amazing sound that brings a unique energy to the tracks that separates itself from many of the other releases I have been listening to.
“What Defines You” opens up with “No Control” and it really sets the stage for the rest of the album. It has a strong introduction that really caught my attention. It offered a great build up to some really gnarly screams which can be a good a thing, or a bad thing. It is really easy to come off as generic when you open up the album or track with the sort of sound that came with this song. In this circumstance they walked that line and I have to say it really worked for them.
The next song I want to talk about is actually the very next track on the album. “Alone” opens with almost an electronic sounding melody that jumps right in to a great flow. It has some of the smoothest cleans on the album. It is catchy, and a bit lighter than some of the other tracks making it a great track to ease a friend in to the artists ever expanding collection of work.
The last track I wanted to highlight is “Surrounded”. This song really took me by surprise. It opens up with an almost foreboding intro that picks up to something I can only describe as desperation. Keep in mind, I am not saying the song was a desperate attempt. Instead the energy of this song makes me feel a sense of desperation. A musical piece's reception depends so much on it's listeners preferences, state of mind, and their openness to what the artist is trying to convey. Of Virtue managed to set this track up in such a way that listeners have this almost horror movie mood going in to the song. This is only heightened with the way the rest of the song comes together. It was truly a killer track.
All in all this album was ten for ten in my book. There is so much I enjoyed about it. It was heavy without being overbearing, and the vocals were on point. Underneath many of the tracks you may pick up on a moody ambient sound that really enhances the vibe of those tracks. They all work so well together and the end result was fantastic. Of Virtue really knocked this one out of the park. “What Defines You” is an absolute banger and I'm glad I took the time to give it the attention it deserved.
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