Afterlife by VVMPYRE

VVMPYRE returns after "Your Flesh is Calling" left a bloodbath of a debut, and teams up with UK Synthwave Quelle Horreur for the follow up. "Afterlife" returns for another bite of VVMPYRE's debut album, "Music from the Afterlife City Club", set for February 2022. The full maxi single comes with a B Side instrumental track, the Darksynth floor filler "...And All I Could Do Was Dance" with a Metallica-inspired switch up and an infectious groove, only slightly less surprising than the Chiptune remix from Indianapolis-based producer DEFENSE MECHANISM.

While for most artists the question of following up a debut is whether to make the follow up more accessible or experimental, VVMPYRE quickly decided "Why not both?" as the two acts began to work together. The result sonically is the best of both worlds, with Quelle Horreur delivering their catchiest vocal to date and VVMPYRE delivering his darkest beat. Warped and reversed choirs fill the track alongside a rapid-fire bassline and a simple-but-tight drum machine, matched by Quelle Horreur delivering one hook to the next in a wall of reverb and chorus effects. The end result is further accentuated by a deep master at the hands of Von Hertzog of The Social Club.

While the lyrics don't deviate far from the themes of vampiric seduction in any VVMPYRE track, Quelle Horreur bring their own welcome to your nightmare. Ash sings the siren song, inviting her next prey played by Paul to the "Afterlife", both as a reference to the Afterlife City Club in the album and an invitation to death. Ash's adventures of alluring become braggadocio in the verses, whereas in the bridge she makes her suggestion that her victim could be just like her undead self, before pulling the curtain to their certain fate.

Dance music for vampires, horror scores for the nightclubs, shocktronica for the uninitiated.

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