California progressive energy metallers In Virtue will launch their long-awaited new album, Age of Legends, on November 21, 2025. Totally self-released, it is a full-blown idea album that weaves collectively towering riffs, cinematic textures, and deeply private storytelling.
Frontman Trey Xavier describes the document as a journey designed for each informal listeners and people looking for one thing extra immersive: “I feel they’re going to be pleasantly shocked, as a result of though it builds on our previous releases, it is actually the last word type of the identical beast. The informal listener will be capable to get pleasure from all of it with out clocking the story, however anybody who needs to go deeper might be rewarded with the darkish journey of a deeply flawed character on a quest to forgive himself by asking the massive questions, making errors, and doing the exhausting work.
It is an emotional deep dive, a rollercoaster of textures and colours, however a cohesive journey that does not simply really feel like a sequence of disconnected singles. A real idea album, the sort it’s best to flip your cellphone off and lightweight a candle to hearken to in your mattress with headphones from begin to end. A relatable protagonist who seeks what all of us search, to like himself despite himself and his flaws, to know himself deeply, and to win his battle in opposition to crushing self-doubt.”
Age of Legends tells the story of a reimagined Sisyphus, the tyrannical king of Greek fantasy condemned to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity. On this album, Sisyphus breaks free from his punishment with assistance from a mysterious determine referred to as The Catalyst, embarking on a journey of self-forgiveness.
Lyrically, the story parallels Xavier‘s personal struggles with remorse, guilt, and self-acceptance: “On this album, the lyrics are extraordinarily private. It is a story a couple of character, however he is simply the proxy for my very own experiences and concepts… I wrote it as a approach of working by means of my very own self-imposed punishment for my very own failures and shortcomings, a catharsis to carve a approach ahead for myself.”
Elsewhere, on the crushing “Gunslingers of the New American Desert” — the slowest and heaviest music within the band’s catalog — Sisyphus‘ redemption arc falters as he falls again into the lure of energy, echoing the harmful cycles of humanity.
The duvet artwork for Age of Legends was created by Niklas Sundin (ex-Darkish Tranquillity), whose iconic work impressed Xavier years earlier: “I commissioned him to create the quilt artwork, which depicts Sisyphus breaking out of his everlasting punishment of rolling a boulder up a mountain ceaselessly. He’s returning to the actual world, and the boulder rolls down the hill behind him. Niklas was glorious to work with, and he took the idea I gave him and actually introduced it into actuality with such a singular taste.”
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