Six years is a long time in music. Few bands can attest to that more keenly than Californian metallers In Virtue, who are finally ready to unleash their new, third studio album onto the world - six full years after the album's first single landed.
"We started tracking this album on January 2, 2019, and got most of the way done with it when the pandemic hit," explains frontman Trey Xavier. "That, coupled with a series of setbacks, postponed its completion until 2024." Setbacks including but not limited to a producer leaving the progressive power metallers high and dry with 90% of the album finished. Quite frankly, the fact that the album, titled Age of Legends, is here at all is a minor miracle in itself.
Incredibly, though, the roots of Age of Legends go even further back than 2019. "Some of the songs were ideas that were written over 10 years ago," Trey notes, "so as you can imagine, we’re very excited for it to see the light of day."
The album's latest single, Karma Loop, suggests that it's all been well worth the wait. A pulsating blast of epic modern metal, it features none other than symphonic metal icon and former Delain singer Charlotte Wessels on guest vocals, taking on the role of The Catalyst as part of the epic concept that runs through Karma Loop and indeed the Age Of Legends album as a whole.
"It’s a powerful conversation between a condemned man and the woman trying to convince him that he’s worth his own redemption," explains Trey. The "condemned man" in question is none other than Sisyphus, the tyrannical king of Ephyra who is condemned to eternal punishment by Zeus in Ancient Greek mythology. Sisyphus made the perfect protagonist for an album that dissects themes of punishment, redemption and catharsis.
"Karma Loop is a song that asks the question: are we really just going around and around, dying and being reincarnated again and again?" says Trey. "Do we really have free will if we’re slaves to this endless cycle?"
Whatever your stance on such a weighty ethical dilemma, one thing is for sure: Karma Loop slays, and it's a safe bet that Age of Legends will slay too. Watch our exclusive premiere of the new video below.
Age Of Legends is out this Friday, November 21. Pre-order the album here. Follow In Virtue below:
