Violent Magic Orchestra

Based in Japan, Violent Magic Orchestra, often shortened to VMO, formed around Shuichi Mabe and visual director KEZZARDRIX before the arrival of singer The Star, in a configuration that is as much a band as an audiovisual collective. Their project mixes techno, black metal, industrial, noise and gabber in a deliberately confrontational language, placing strong emphasis on strobe lighting, smoke and imagery drawn from both black metal and science fiction. Violent Magic Orchestra also builds a fictional framework around an imaginary origin on the planet HELVETECH, used as an extension of their aesthetic rather than mere set dressing. The first EP with The Star, Principle of Light Speed Invariance, was released in 2020 on Never Sleep, the label of Gabber Eleganza. Violent Magic Orchestra then released Catastrophic Anonymous in 2022, featuring contributions from Chip King, Stephen O’Malley and Attila Csihar, followed by Death Rave in 2023, an album that continues the intersection of extreme music and rave culture. On stage, VMO moves between metal, electronic and experimental festivals, appearing at events such as Roadburn, Bang Face, Brutal Assault and Le Guess Who?, in a format where the Violent Magic Orchestra concert also functions as a visual performance.