Virtual Feeling

Virtual Feeling:

1. The opening riff pounces on the listener surprisingly (although perhaps not within the context of the album), creating a sense of urgency or overwhelming intensity; this is the chaos aspect of the music.  The tonality is ambiguous as two notes (whole step) do not have any typical western tonal relationship; the amount of sound is notable as it is staggeringly large and dense, even in its primarily unison delivery.  The pulse is surging, enticing, beckoning because of its sheer force.  (As demonstrated by the video) This music brings out a primal physical reaction that is much like dancing but less refined, less subtle—at their concerts a giant mosh pit is formed, everyone is touching, fighting, pushing, rocking, you would be hard pressed to find someone standing still and listening.  So there is the physical energy that the music conveys, the brute force aspect that might make someone want to headbang.  It is somewhat ritualistic in nature, perhaps?  Because it is so primal and intense and unrelenting, unforgiving, and it sort of implies a ceremonial, collective act or prescribed mode of behavior—it does not accomplish this through a set of social rules, however, but merely by the brute force of the music and rhythmic tenacity. The sound is alarming and disorienting, but it stirs some primal element within.  One is left with the curious contradiction of recognizing a familiar pattern while also being barraged with unfamiliar patterns.
2. When the vocals enter this unrelenting-ness is increased as another rhythmic layer is added and one is left with the staggering, vertiginous task of recognizing patterns among the melee of polyrhythms.  The vocalist implies not a sense of anger, but of declaration
3. The higher sustained guitar entrances in Interlude 1 (at 1:03) create a very creepy feel, adding to the dizzying array of lurching rhythms an ominous feeling.  They are oddly serene, and give one a sense of awe, or even the feeling of being watched by something or the frightening realization that you are being hunted.  There is a paranoid, compulsive feeling.
4. The whole work has a sense of urgency in the sense that it progresses from a feeling that is already extremely intense, to an all-out sense of panic and impending doom, as if they are trying to fit more and more notes in smaller sections of time.
5. The guitar solo sounds agonizing, flailing, and brings with it a sense of awe as to the sheer power of its rhythmic execution.  The solo creates a sense of searching, internal suffering, like a squirming bug.
6. In the last verse the “sacrificial raze” creates a further sense of awe or wonderment (how could a voice sound like that?), and serves to tighten or increase the intensity even more.
7. The triple section at 3:20 paves the way for the 3:47 melodic line which is the final beckoning, almost irresistible at this point—it is a startling display of propaganda.  The upper guitar lines reappear at this point to cast their inescapable spell again.  The screams over this create a sense of final choice, a sense of destiny or mythological
8. The final groove is a sense of inclusion, it firsts states what it is comprised of, then gives you the feeling with the four on top of it, as if to say, here is what is going on under the surface.  It is unsettling as the dissonant guitar in three reappears, scanning above the groove; there is a sense of unstoppability, and one feels immense awe at its relentless, intoxicating spell of power and oppression.