Interview by Kris Peters
Japanese metal outfit Violent Magic Orchestra (VMO) are certainly a unique experience. Harmoniously integrating the genre of black metal music with techno, industrial, and noise in the form of an art-project, VMO can be best summed up as sounding like Black metal meets Kraftwerk.
Violent Magic Orchestra combine numerous genres and sub-genres of music united together in a form of live-performances with the contribution from Kezzardrix - a maestro of live-visuals with strobe lights and smoke machines accompanying band’s performance. They are a stunning visual band and a captivating live band and will make their way to Tasmania later this month to play at Dark Mofo.
HEAVY caught up with one of the members Kei to find out more.
"Our music is very dark and a little bit happy," he explained. "VMO has many strange members, like Master Of Strange Dance. We have a lot of noise people who make noise and more beat and experimental space. We have a lot of hidden members. I think we are a strange collective who work a lot of other things. After releasing Death Rave I want to show who joined VMO."
VMO will be releasing their new album Death Rave later this year, and we ask Kei if it will be what fans expect.
"We hope Death Rave... In our opinion Death Rave is huger music. Our concept is 2099, the end of the world. Now we live in 2023 and our music is a little bit experimental, but in 2099 our music is like pop music," he offered. "We connect future pop music and nowadays experimental music. We want to make the road to the future now using dance and mosh pit sounds."
In the full interview Kei talks about playing at Dark Mofo, what to expect from a VMO show, their recent single Venom, new single Supergaze, a brief history of the band, the blending of sounds and where it comes from, more on Death Rave and more.