MUSIC REVIEW: Belzebubs - “The 360° Hexperience” (pre-listening)
If you’ve spent any amount of time on Instagram in the heavy metal scene in the past few years, you should by now be familiar with Belzebubs, the black metal band created by graphic artist JP Ahonen, who was known originally for comics like “Villimpi Pohjola” [Northern Overexposure] and “Perkeros” [Sing No Evil]. Belzebubs started out as a collection of Inktober sketches, yet found its way into the hearts of metalheads the world ’round for its endearing characters and the extremely relatable portrayal of bands struggling to get off their feet. By the time that big names like Lacuna Coil became fans and started to share, there had been a steady snowballing of popularity, resulting in fun merch like stuffed Mr. Satan and Lilith dolls, yearly pin-up calendars of the characters, and, of course, the upcoming “360° Hexperience,” which is a fully animated VR 360° concert, with the viewer in front-row center! On October 27th, 2023, we popped up to Periscope in Tampere to see how things have progressed since the project started!
Check out my interview with JP Ahonen from Tuska Festival 2019!
The “360° Hexperience” was meant to only take a few months to create, but – in the same way is common for most groundbreaking endeavors – ended up taking the better part of 3 years due to unforeseen technical issues that popped up along the way. Surely this was only made more difficult by the fact that VR is still quite new tech with no consistent standards, and no one has done a concert experience like this before. Fortunately, fans seem to have been patient in allowing the creators to release a quality product and have, for the most part, encouraged them to take the time needed.
The pre-listening, or rather, pre-viewing session was an intimate gathering, where JP provided a few different types of viewing experiences in order to give us a sneak peak into what they’ve been making since the IndieGoGo campaign ran in 2020. When the VR goggles go on, viewers indeed find themselves in front of the photo pit, right by the stage, with 3D-rendered concert-goers (portraying some of the backers) around you with their arms in the air, shouting and cheering (taken from actual contributions from the backers). The scene is set in an overgrown ruin, probably an ancient church, and the band plays three songs: “Blackened Call,” “Faustian Alchemist,” and “Nam Gloria Lucifer,” resulting in a show that’s right around 16 minutes in length. Musically, it sounds great, especially when you go into full VR with the headset – it’s very immersive! Plus, they even included a “LED screen” with animated live shots of the band playing on it, to allow for close-ups, more views of the drummer, etc.
Immediately, there are some interesting things of note: the band look incredible, and in order to create more energy on stage, the vocalist (Sløth) is, in fact, not using a mic, but rocking out all around the stage; there are a lot of details, like flaming pyrotechnics, and there are a couple of moments where the viewer floats up onto the stage and can see things from up close and above; there are also some fun little easter eggs to find, though I’ll leave those for viewers to find themselves, as I hate to spoil too manyof the cool extras beforehand.
Personally, as an old gamer who’s been following digital design evolution in video games and films for a few decades now, it’s really quite breathtaking to see the first steps in something so innovative. If we think back to the polygon era of initial Playstation gaming, once graphics updated from pixels, we saw huge leaps and bounds in animation quickly following in games like the Final Fantasy series. This can also be seen in the evolution of Pixar Studios from the Toy Story era to, say, Coco, which has incredibly detailed fretwork in the animation. So, regarding the future of virtual reality, this project is at the forefront of what’s possible and it’s extremely impressive to see that they didn’t skimp out on the details – they could have put the singer at a mic to save on some animation, or left out the big inflatable balls bouncing around the crowd, but nah, go big or go home, right? And this sets amazing precedents for the future – could there be a button to click to have the crowd lift you up to crowdsurf? Could there be something that takes you on the stage for a stage dive? The possibilities are limitless and I, for one, can’t wait to see where the future of these things leads us! The only problem is that you can’t headbang with a VR set on (at least without a serious risk of destroying it, yourself, or the room you’re in).
Not interested in VR? That’s okay! The “360° Hexperience” is also available in 360° digital video (in the same way some 360° music videos have been made in recent years), for those who don’t want to invest in an Oculus or other VR system.
The Belzebubs “360° Hexperience” should be released to backers before the end of 2023, with the newest comic collection coming out on November 11th (in Finnish) and in 2024 in English, with new music to follow in 2024 and an animated series hopefully seeing the light of day in 2025! Stay tuned on social media (links below) for more information as the creators finish things up!
Tracklist
Blackened Call
Faustian Alchemist
Nam Gloria Lucifer
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