Virtue In Vain state some of their key influences include the likes of The Devil Wears Prada, In Hearts Wake and The Amity Affliction, and you can tell where they’re coming from in a way, but the intensity has been thrown up way past 11 in this case. Hailing from Cardiff, and having formed in 2012 Virtue In Vain are unleashing their debut EP on the world. Unleashing here is the operative word, as what For All You Know Is The Mask I Wore certainly is, is a beast that has been loosed on a room full of unsuspecting victims, and that simile is how this EP is going to be compared from this moment onwards.
Everything starts off quite sombre, and melodic, as most metal releases seem to be these days, building to the inevitable destruction that is about to be vented in the form of music. The riffs are what ultimately hold this EP together, and they’re both frantic and overall impressive to say the least. The first couple of tracks ‘Martyrs’ and ‘In Faith, In Ruin’ hold firm the idea of an altogether a more frenzied and erratic tone, but as you claw yourself deeper and deeper into this world that Virtue In Vain has created, you start to find something more technical and more pronounced. ‘My Heart Is Bruised But Never Broken’, is a track that feels a lot more written instead of being thrown together.
Hywel Thomas’ vocals are altogether the most violent thing about this album, and I don’t make that term loosely. Without them the tracks could have been very technical, but may not have had the grittiness to them that would really have pushed it over the edge. The downright spine tingling guttural screams from Thomas and sharp intakes of breath really turn this album from a nice technical metalcore track, to a different beast entirely. As if they’re reaching in through your chest and rips you inside out. ‘For All You Know Is The Mask I Wore’, the track, is a sign of this, the start, following on from the more sombre and melodic ‘Relapse’, is a really well put together metalcore track, but the vocals just twist it that bit more.
Included in this EP are all the attributes for a killer band both live and on record. It does feel like the EP grows more and more as it goes on, sounding more like a constructed piece of music instead of everything thrown together, thrown together well but still thrown together. A fantastic first outing from the Welsh four piece, and some tweaking and maturing will make for one hell of an act.
