It’s now obvious that it wasn’t just a hope, a feeling: The anticipatory excitement for LA-based all-rounders In Virtue’s third album “Age of Legends” which, after years in the making, was heralded by much celebrated single releases, is high. The video for their first new video single in two years, “Gunslingers of the New American Desert,” reached over 100,000 views in less than a month – and the band won’t let fans wait for more much longer now. Their brand new single “Desolation Throne” has everything that makes In Virtue one of those bands that just sink deep into your heart and memory.
As all tracks on the album, “Desolation Throne” firmly stands on its own — but it also plays an important role in the overarching story of the concept album evolving around a character based on Sisyphus, a terrible tyrannical king, and ideas of suffering, eternal punishment and, ultimately, (self-)forgiveness. “Desolation Throne” marks a climax of the story, in which Sisyphus is ascending to power, climbing upwards ever higher without even considering how high above the ground he already is. He eventually reaches the highest peak possible with nowhere else left to go, except all the way down.
Singer and composer Trey Xavier goes into detail on how this tragic rise and his own, correlating vocal performance align: “In ‘Desolation Throne’, Sisyphus ascends to his throne of evil, convincing himself that he’s earned it by his suffering. I was trying to channel Russell Allen in my vocal performance, to make it sound mean and evoke a gangster-like quality similar to the Symphony X ‘Underworld’ album. I also put in a little 2005 metalcore chugging to hearken back to my days watching bands like Unearth and Killswitch Engage at small venues throughout Massachusetts. The bridge of this song is my favorite single moment on the whole album. It simultaneously shows his emotional insecurity and how small he feels, and how he reacts to that by lashing out at the world that doesn’t understand him and trying to dominate it. It also features one of my favorite guitar solos.”
“Desolation Throne” is out now on YouTube and available on all streaming platforms: https://www.submithub.com/link/desolation-throne
An album that’s been a good six years in the making? The Devil’s in the details, but this is quite a stretch even for tinkerers like In Virtue, as Trey explains: “We started tracking this album on January 2nd, 2019, and got most of the way done with it when the pandemic hit. That, coupled with a series of setbacks, postponed its completion until 2024. Some of the songs were ideas that were written over 10 years ago, so as you can imagine, we’re very excited for it to see the light of day.”
Three songs on the album have already been released in the meantime — “Purgatory” (2019), “Where The Edges Meet” (2020) and “SCREAM” (2023), proving the band’s variety and why it’s not easy (if not impossible) to put them into any kind of genre.
If you want to call them Progressive — that’s what they really are, combining elements of Power Metal, Groove, Progressive Metal, Pop and so much more on this album. When experiencing “Age Of Legends” from front to back, it’s thrilling to feel how each song also stands on its own, as tiny microcosms adding to the overall concept of the album. The obvious cathartic overall theme, embodied by the character in the story, who is based on Sisyphus, the dynamics of every track are carefully curated to build to a huge and meaningful climax — “Age of Legends” is an album that has the potential to be one of those albums that lead you through not only a certain phase in life but rather definite it. It’s an album more than worth waiting for.
“Age of Legends” features guest appearances by vocalists Charlotte Wessels (ex-Delain) and Chaney Crabb (Entheos), as well as guitars by Dave Davidson (Revocation) and the already released singles “Purgatory,” “Where The Edges Meet” and “SCREAM.” The most recently released video for the latest single, the postapocalyptic “Gunslingers of the New American Desert” reached more than 100,000 views in less than a month.
“Age Of Legends” will be released on November 21, 2025 and is available for Pre-Save now via: https://orcd.co/agofle
Tracklist:
01. Ascent Glorious
02. Sisyphus Awakening
03. Karma Loop
04. Push That Rock
05. Purgatory
06. Exposed
07. Scream
08. Where The Edges Meet
09. Gunslingers of the New American Desert
10. Desolation Throne
11. Thoughts in Freefall
12. The River
13. Tempus Fugue
14. Descent Limitless
— About In Virtue —
Los Angeles, California’s In Virtue is a band forging a new path, abandoning outdated conceptions of what heavy music is to redefine metal for a new era. Although In Virtue was initially formed in 2004 in California’s Bay Area, the band’s rebirth in 2015 is where the real story begins. That’s when founding guitarist Trey Xavier made the difficult decision to take over lead vocals, move south to LA, and start the band over with a new lineup. This was the catalyst they needed, and the band’s final form took shape. Adding keyboardist Alex Nasla (The Mourning, ex-Witherfall), guitarist Rami Khalaf, and bassist Jamie Hush, their new sound was freed.
“I was tired of other people singing what I was writing,” says Trey (who you may know from his popular YouTube channel, formerly known as Gear Gods). “We had some pretty good singers, but it always felt like a compromise. It was pretty scary – I was 28 and I had never seriously sung before. But all the work I put in paid off, because now I can create my music as I envision it.”
And what a vision it has become – the band’s forthcoming album “Age of Legends,” due out in 2025, tells a haunting tale of Sisyphean struggle and redemption through a modern lens. This new era of In Virtue brought their first new music, 2019’s single “Purgatory”, which gave the world a brand new sound. Combining elements of Power Metal, Groove, Progressive Metal, and Pop, but somehow sounding like none of the above, “Purgatory” defined the sonic future of the band. The singles “Where The Edges Meet” and “SCREAM” followed soon after to expand on the story, each moving the story forward and bringing new life to the characters and their pain.
With way more to come on “Age of Legends” (release: November 21, 2025), In Virtue is looking forward to the next chapter and bringing their story to the world.