Over the last two decades Carl-Michael Eide, also known as Czral, Aggressor and Exhurtum have been responsible for some of the most innovative and eerie music made within the extreme metal scope, first with Ved Buens Ende, then with Dødheimsgard and lately with Virus.
Often tagged as avant-garde jazzy metal, Virus is definitely where the Norwegian multi-instrumentalist most explores his leftfield verve at the moment and in that respect, their latest album “The Agent that Shapes the Desert” offers some pretty weird and dark music.
The album ebbs and flows brilliantly from track to track, transporting listeners into a dark and mysterious scenic ambient, just like a journey through an old and obscure circus full of freaks, wonders and other curiosities.
Jazzy drum patterns coupled with some outstanding bass work accompany dissonant and hypnotic guitar chords, while the singular vocals of Czarl have a somewhat theatrical feel, just like the ringmaster of the circus I’ve mentioned.
Off course their unorthodox and indulgent brilliance is just not for everyone, therefore Virus’ music will eventually remain confined to only a privileged few with a penchant for challenging music and regrettably Carl and co. are condemned to live on a diet of rice and beans for the rest of their lives. (8.5/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/czral
Label info: www.duplicate-records.com
For fans of: Ved Buens Ende, Voivod, Vulture Industries

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Anyone familiar with Norway’s Virus will know the music they produce belongs to that weird and rather unusual movement of Norwegian artists spearheaded by acts like In the Woods, Ulver, Beyond Dawn, Ved Buens Ende, DHG, etc that don’t fit in any particular genre or definition.
Neither should it be a surprise to learn that Virus consists of Carl-Michael Eide and Petter Berntsen from Ved Buens Ende and Einar Sjursø from Beyond Dawn, well seasoned musicians responsible for some of the most compelling and audacious music coming from Norway in the last decade.
Well, past the unavoidable introductions we should now focus on “The Black Flux”, the follow-up to their considerably odd debut “Carheart” released in 2003 by Jester Records, a label founded by Kristoffer Rygg also known as Garm from Ulver. It’s curious to find out that Virus had compared their new work to a David Lynch movie whereas “Carheart” was seen as a Monty Python-type release. Mostly because there are several moments throughout the album where the overall effect is like stepping in the weird and noir Club Silencio from “Mulholland Drive” and watching some weird group dressed in black suits performing some of the most dissonant and hypnotic harmonies as the background music for a bizarre show with dwarfs and other surreal characters. Virus have somehow reshaped their sonic endeavours and their sound is now darker and more disturbing recalling the musical soundscapes Ved Buens Ende used to delve through before their swansong. The songs have overall a slower pace and the rhythms are hypnotic and repetitive with the guitar of Eide constantly churning out dissonant and labyrinthine chords and his haunting vocals echoing the wails of grieving souls. Sometimes it reminds me of Madrugada inebriated with absinth twisting some Voivod riffs along with members of Arcturus.
It’s weird and of difficult digestion, yet it reveals an elegance that is genuinely addictive just like a David Lynch movie. No hay banda. (7.5/10)

Band info: www.myspace.com/czral
Label info: www.season-of-mist.com

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