When it comes to bands that leave every single shred of their sanity, soul, and vocal cords on the studio floor, Michigan metalcore powerhouses Of Virtue sit right at the top of the pile. They’ve never been a band to do things by halves, but what they have unleashed with their massive new album, Death Of The Altar, is an entirely different beast altogether. This isn’t just another collection of breakdowns and heavy riffs to nod your head to; this is an emotional, spiritual, and visceral exorcism. It is a record born out of pure, unadulterated chaos, and it might just be the most brutally honest thing you will hear all year.
Originally tracking under the working title Death At The Altar—a nod to the agonizing moment love gets right to the finish line only to drop dead—the band eventually flipped the script to deliver a far more scathing critique on the very concept of devotion. To unpack the sheer madness, heartbreak, and absolute triumph behind the heaviest record of their career, HEAVY sat down for a chat with the absolute legends themselves, vocalist Tyler Ennis and guitarist/vocalist Damon Tate.
According to the boys, the road to bringing this monster to life was anything but smooth sailing. In fact, they openly admit it was the hardest record they have ever had to endure emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. But as any true heavy music fan knows, it’s exactly that kind of real-world torment that fuels the absolute best art. From the haunting, gothic undertones of tracks like Divinity to the suffocating weight of their latest single Too Late, Of Virtue have crafted a sonic landscape that confronts regret head-on and tears down anyone who ever tried to hold power over them.
In this unfiltered chat, Tyler and Damon pull back the curtain on the creative warfare that shaped the new album. They dive deep into the agonizing arguments over track names, the catharsis of turning personal trauma into mosh-pit anthems, and why they refuse to let the industry dictate how they express their pain. Grab a cold one, crank the volume up to eleven, and check out the full video interview below to see how the boys survived the alter and came out the other side stronger, heavier, and more dangerous than ever before.
