Of Virtue: “We’ve learned to be more comfortable with the journey”

In Of Virtue’s own words, they are “stronger than ever” right now. Four years on from 2019 third LP What Defines You – an album that set them on their rise through upper echelons of the scene – the Michigan crushers are back (albeit in slightly delayed fashion, thanks to vinyl pressing issues) with new record Omen. And from overcoming the challenges of the pandemic to following their gut and embracing change, guitarist and co-lead vocalist Damon Tate reveals just how stoked they are…

The release of Omen was delayed by a month. So does it feel even more exciting to finally have it out?
“So much has happened since our last record! There was COVID, then there was starting tour again and being able to play these songs – as we did two European tours over the summer and some other U.S. tour here. Being able to see the feedback in real time, before the record came out, was special. And. Now being able to see everything start to come full-circle is a magical feeling.”

Like every band, the pandemic had a major impact on you. What was going through your minds during that time of recording the album?
“You’ll probably hear the same rhetoric, but we didn’t know whether we were still going to be a band. Music, to me, is a privilege. You know, not everywhere that you go, the economy can support it. Not everybody can chase that kind of dream. It requires a lot from the people participating and the fans of the music. We had worked so hard to get to that point with the last record that you kind of wonder, ‘Damn, was that it? Are we moving on to the next phase of our lives at this point?’ Thankfully, though, the next phase of our lives is still going to include live music.”

Phew. Did you know where you wanted to take Omen when making it, or had you found where you were at musically before going into the recording?
“The cool thing is that we didn’t know. We just went in and just did whatever we wanted, because at this point, we had nothing to lose. It was like, ‘Let’s write a pop song, let’s write something that’s a little more electronic, let’s do some acoustic stuff…’ I’d be lying if I said I knew where we were going to be headed during this, and it almost might be better off for it, because it does feel more of like a dream in some way. It was when we were able to all get together, we just showed up and we had some ideas ready to rock. But at the same time, we pulled out the guitars, opened laptops and just wrote on the spot to see what happened.”

From an outside perspective, it feels like an incredibly natural progression for you guys. Would you agree?
“We’re different people in 2023 than we were in 2019 – and we’re different to who we were in 2015 and 2011, too. I think another lesson that maybe all of us learned – not just the creators but the consumers as well – is being more comfortable with being on the journey, and not making someone beholden to one specific sound or one specific era of their band and accepting the fact that change is coming. Change is inevitable. You can’t fight it. And if you try to, most of the time it’s going to leave you with unsatisfactory results.”

For you, what are the standout moments on the record?
“Sinner is kind of an anomaly. I took a trip to New York City in 2021 to visit some friends. It was a wild experience because I’ve never seen that city shut down. It felt like someone just took all the people out and someone put me on a movie set of what New York is supposed to be. So, I wanted to kind of encapsulate that. We went back to the studio and literally made that song in two days, and it just felt so seamless, so effortless at the time. I would have never imagined that we would have written something like that. Even the title-track is just weird. It’s eerie, it’s ominous, it’s heavy. It still has all the components of what we love and come to love with heavy music.”

Finally, have any creative juices started flowing yet for more music, or is it too early to say?
“We got another 20 songs that maybe could see the light of day. But we’re concentrating on putting all those songs from Omen in real time and feeling that energy is going to give us the best idea of how to move forward. But right now we’re here, we exist in this moment.”

Omen is out now via Arising Empire Records

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