UMUR
"A Conflict Scenario" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Boston, Massachusetts based progressive/ avant garde death/grindcore act Virulence. The album was released through Morbid Records in September 2001. Virulence was a relatively shortlived act forming in 1998 and splitting up shortly after the release of "A Conflict Scenario". In addition to this album the band also released an EP in 2000.
Virulence play a rather schizophrenic blend of death metal, grindcore, deathcore and avant garde jazz. The tracks can go from brutal growling and heavy riffing to odd avant garde jazzy sections in a split second. The vocals vary between completely unintelligible piggy grunts to aggressive "core" tinged shouting.
The band are very well playing and the 8 track, 26:49 minutes long album is rather impressive if you judge it by the musicianship alone. I don´t think there´s much else that works too well though. Neither the songwriting nor the sound production are very appealing or catchy and "A Conflict Scenario" is what I would call an aquired taste. It´s pretty sure to annoy a lot of people while it´ll greatly impress others. While I personally find the album almost unlistenable, at least in terms of me enjoying listening to the album, I can understand the album´s appeal and fans of artist like Psyopus and The Dillinger Escape Plan might find listening pleasure here. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.