EPK – Vortex – The Future Remains In Oblivion (2023)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
For fans of Shadow of Intent, Septicflesh, Dimmu Borgir, Fleshgod Apocalypse
“‘The Future remain in oblivion’ is a conceptual album and there is a build up in intensity and emotion that goes along with the story line and the lyrics as you go from the first song to the last one. Lighthouse, our previous album, was our first orchestral work and it was more on the ambient/dramatic side. The new album’s songs are still melodic and orchestral, but they are much more aggressive and some of them have a black metal influence. When writing, our goal was to keep an important melodic aspect while elevating the energy level with our live show in mind. A friend from a well-known metal band heard some of the songs and said they sounded like Dimmu Borgir with Suffocation riffs, I suppose it was a compliment. We feel the album is a good combination of aggression/melody, ugliness/beauty and will appeals to fans of Shadow of Intent, Septic Flesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Lorna Shore, and I suppose… Dimmu Borgir.” – Vortex
Album Title: The Future Remains In Oblivion
Release Date: June 9, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Vortex.band | Facebook.com/vortex.band.ca | Instagram.com/vortex.band.ca | Twitter.com/vortexband | Youtube.com/@VortexBand
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Linktree – https://linktr.ee/vortexband
– August 2023 – top 20 loud – #14 Vortex (earshot)
“#8 on Top 10 Quebec Band 2023 Albums – The Future Remains In Oblivion delivers a solid punch with their intense and well-felt symphonic death metal and, with a quality product like this, they have nothing to envy of the big names in the genre.” – Thorium Mag
“The Future Remains in Oblivion is the collision zone between powdered wig classical and battle jacketed death metal that should hold appeal for fans of Fleshgod Apocalypse, Septicflesh and those who like their Suffocation mixed with Dimmu Borgir.” – Decibel Magazine
“The song’s (The Walls) multi-faceted nature is further revealed in harrowing and haughty growls, jolting chords, and fiery sunbursts of sound, as well as through a swirling melodic guitar solo that spectacularly sends the song into the stratosphere. The song’s finale is itself a full-power spectacle that really gets the adrenaline surging.” – No Clean Singing
“If there’s anything that Vortex nails, it’s drama. Album highlight and banger track “First Blood” is simply massive” – Angry Metal Guy
“For some music is pure escapism but does that still hold true when bands like Canadian Melodic Death Metal monster Vortex whisk the would be listener into a bleak world that is recovering from a devastating cataclysm? Scenes of war and survival are punctuated with harrowing strings, technical riffs, and guttural and Black Metal inspired vocals as the band weave cinematic stories and orchestral touches into their third concept album “The Future Remains In Oblivion”” – Metal Noise
“the title-track The Future Remains In Oblivion, a song that will blow your mind with its insane wall of sounds, background orchestrations, epic passages, striking riffs and solos, and visceral yet intricate drums, resulting in one of the most breathtaking moments of the entire album.” – The Headbanging Moose
“An excellent group that you must discover because of the intensity they are able to show” – Ondes Chocs
“After hearing their new material live November 2022, I was really looking forward to hearing the sequel and it may be darker than ever.” – Thorium Mag
“a band that takes great pride in weaving together cinematic stories set to orchestral melodic death metal. Canada’s very own Vortex is prepared to whisk you away to a bleak world that is recovering from a devastating cataclysm in the latest album, The Future Remains In Oblivion.” – Canadian Beats
“The Future Remains In Oblivion est un disque coloré, aux mélodies chaleureuses et aux superbes guitares.
“The Future Remains In Oblivion is a colorful record, with warm melodies and superb guitars.” – Music Waves
“The breakdowns are huge in places. There are big moments where the influences pour through, but are blended with giant choral arrangements and symphonics. It’s absolutely like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie. I love the melodies, the harmonics, and the guitar solos. This is absolutely an album which ought to be part of your listening rotation this month. I was genuinely impressed with quite a bit of the entire album. I think that when you look at this album, the absolute banger of the title tack is 100% worth several spins with the blackened guitar riffs and tremendous choral arrangements.” – Metal Epidemic
“The songs you’ll find on this upcoming release are aggressive, but Vortex also has a strong melodic approach and lots of orchestrations combined with guttural, black metal vocals and diverse guitar playing that alternates between howling snippets and beautiful, emotional riffs. Recommended for fans of Shadow of Intent, Septicflesh, and Dimmu Borgir.” – RTMB Music
“Melodic death, a bit technical and prog” – Mosh Pit Radio WORT 89.9FM (Madison, WI)
“Easy comparisons can be made to Cattle Decapitation and Lorna Shore, the riffs are crushing, the vocals are brutal and the guitar solos are insane. What’s really making me giggle are the little keyboard flourishes, which lightens the mood before it kicks your teeth in again. Skullcrushing.” – Sister Mary Metal
Album Title: The Future Remains In Oblivion
Release Date: June 9, 2023
Label: Self-Release
Track Listing:
1. From The Sun (5:24)
2. Downfall (4:11)
3. The Fool (3:13)
4. The Walls (4:32)
5. Our Possible End (4:23)
6. First Blood (4:29)
7. The Future Remains In Oblivion (4:50)
8. When No More Words Will Be Heard (5:22)
Album Length: 36:29
Album Credits:
– All songs performed by VORTEX
– All songs written by VORTEX
– Produced by Pierre Luc Demers and Dany Lévesque
– Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Pierre Luc Demers (Studio Ondechoc)
– Album artwork by Rudi Gorging Suicide
– MAPL – Canadian Content
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The Album As A Whole:
‘The Future Remains In Oblivion’ is an orchestral death metal album with plenty of heavy riffing and melodies, technical vocals, and epic soloing. If you were to compare it with ‘Lighthouse’ it is more aggressive, and energetic, and the compositions have been crafted with live shows in mind.
Track by Track:
From the sun (5:24)
A natural cataclysm occurs, ‘‘death comes from the Sun’’. Important Solar Flares are scientifically possible, and we prefer writing about real possibilities instead of pure fiction. ‘From the Sun’ has an epic introduction and choruses. After the intro, when the vocals finally kick in for the verse, to us it sounds like something Fleshgod Apocalypse could have written.
Downfall (4:11)
After the cataclysm society collapses and we’ve read that there would be three stages in only three days if that was to happen for real, ‘’social order is a thing of the past, survival justifies the means’’. This number has some nice technical vocals, it’s going all over in many different styles. It’s one of the songs that are riff-oriented and thus less melodic with many fast blast beats.
The Fool (3:13)
Prior to the cataclysm, there is that guy who passes for crazy because he is hyper eco anxious. He is surely an important event related to ecology that will cause society to collapse ‘’Follow me, I designed a future to escape disaster’’. This one is the most deathcore of the album, heavy and brutal, with no place for melody.
The Walls (4:32)
Our Fool got all sorts of people to believe and follow him. Billionaires, soldiers, engineers, contractors, scientists, farmers, physicians, etc. They’ve put everything they’ve got into building a secret small city that is protected by reinforced walls and an arsenal. Inside these walls, they have everything they need to survive any cataclysm and its aftermath. ‘The Walls’ verses have a strong orchestral melody underlying black metal riffing and vocals to create a unique feel. The choruses have some of our best orchestral writing with its predominant violen melody supporting powerful layers of guttural vocals. ‘The Walls’ has one of the best solos of the album, technical with lots of feel and melody.
Our Possible End (4:23)
Outside survivors discover the city by chance. They are sick and deprived and they want in. ‘’ I can hear it coming from far again, the rumble of our possible end, a thud arising from the forest, the running of hundreds of men’’.
This song is straight old-school death metal with orchestrations.
First Blood (4:29)
This is war. They are coming again, but this time in greater numbers and much more prepared. ‘’This battle brought us our first suffering. In this battle, our first blood, our first deaths’’. This one has aggressive black metal riffing and vocals in its verses, atmospheric orchestral melo-death in its choruses, huge choirs, and epic soloing, it has all that Vortex does at its best.
The Future Remains In Oblivion (4:50)
‘‘Others might know about us, but we have greater concern, we may be the last to stand. We have prevailed but while we had the past and now the present, the future remains in oblivion’’. This is one of our favorites, it is heavy, tasty, and beautiful. It has the most complex structure of the album, it may take a few listen to get into but it’s a song that will stick over time. It is based around the orchestra and some technical playing and vocals; it is challenging to play live, and we get a kick out of nailing it.
When No More Words Will Be Heard (5:22)
What is the place/importance of mankind in the grand schemes of the Universe? ‘’When no more words will be heard, what will happen to the world, to the Universe?’’.
This song is different from the rest of the album. Most of it is composed of three orchestral melodies that were inspired by movie scores. It perfectly fits its philosophical lyrics and it’s a perfect closer with its feel of despair and grandiose finale. We are going to use this slower song to create some dynamics in the pacing of our live set.
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Story Angles – Fun Facts:
1. None of us fits the ‘regular’ death metal band member stereotype. Some of us have children and we all have jobs most people wouldn’t think were for a death metal musician. We count a business director, a paramedic, a wind farm manager, a big corporation team manager, and a music composer in our ranks. Two of the band members are schooled musicians.
2. We have played about 200 shows together until now.
3. We often drive for 6, 8, 10, and even sometimes 14 hours to play a live show, we are road warriors!!!
4. We are serious and professional, but occasionally some of us really like to party when the show is over. I would have great stories to tell but I’m not sure I should talk about them….
5. Over the years we had much bad luck and encountered many problems on the road and in our live shows, we could write a book on the subject. Some stories are just funny, and some others are not. Once we lost a trailer driving 110 kph on a highway, some people could have been killed, and all our equipment and merch was all over the ditch in the mud. Another time we had a soundman who thought he didn’t have to mic our guitar cabinets because we had wireless guitar systems, another one put the mikes on the drums and the cabs and left and never came back to the show, we had to do everything ourselves for us and the other bands. Once we got to a venue and the owner didn’t know that the promotor had booked a death metal lineup in his bar, you should have seen its face while we were sound checking…. The time a girl stripped while moshing in front of the stage was funny too, some guy had to take her out of the venue on his shoulder to stop her. And of course, we have tons of drunk guy stories but I’m not going to talk about that….
L-R – Justin L’Italien Dubé (Drums and Piano), Simon Desjardins (Bass), Alexandre Labrie (Vocals), Dany Lévesque (Guitars), Mathieu Duguay (Guitars and Orchestrations)
Photo Credit: Freeman
For Rimouski, Quebec, Canada’s Vortex, delivering a story is of utmost importance and unsurprisingly their last two albums “The Asylum” (2016) and “Lighthouse” (2018) released on PRC Music have been epic concept albums set to their signature orchestral blackened melodic death metal. The third installment in their discography is the self-released “The Future Remains In Oblivion”, which builds on their sound with added black metal influence, a heavy dose of aggressiveness, and a buildup of intensity and emotion as the storyline progresses.
When it comes to writing, Vortex starts with the story first, something worth talking about. Each song becomes a chapter and then the music can start to form based on the feeling of the tale. That process is diversified, sometimes the orchestra is the backbone of the song and sometimes it’s added once the drums and guitars are all written. All the band members participate in different degrees to the writing process, bringing their own influences into the mix.
The songs you will encounter on this upcoming release are aggressive, but Vortex also has a strong melodic approach and a lot of orchestrations combined with guttural and black metal vocals, and diverse guitars that alternate between howling shreds and beautiful, emotional riffs. It is recommended for fans of Shadow of Intent, Septicflesh and Dimmu Borgir.
“The Future Remains In Oblivion” is due out June 9, 2023.
Vortex is
Justin L’Italien Dubé – Piano and Drums
Simon Desjardins – Bass
Alexandre Labrie – Vocals
Dany Levesque – Guitar
Mathieu Duguay – Guitar and Orchestrations
Discography
2023 – The Future Remains In Oblivion (Self-Release)
2018 – Lighthouse, PRC Music
2016 – The Asylum, PRC Music
Shared Stage with:
Aeternam, Obscura, Khalma, Vesperia, Obey the Brave, Anonymus, BARF, DBC, Mutank, E-Force, Boundaries, Insurrection, Feel like Home, The Flaying, Spirit of Rebellion, Reanimator, Chemicide, Replicant, Valfreya, Obsolete Mankind, Strigampire, Sufferize, Lycanthro, Nova Spei, Meet the mailman, Saccage, Dischord, Sanguine Glacialis, Windferer, Lancaster, Trollwar, Flesh Shrine, Death note silence, Blinded by Faith.
Tours and Festivals:
2019 – PRC Metal Bash tour (Quebec and The Maritimes)
2018 – Chemicide tour (Quebec)
2017 – E-Force tour – Eric Forest ex-Voivod (Eastern Canada)
2017 – Reanimator tour (Quebec)
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