Review: Vianova – Hit It!

Style: Metalcore, post-hardcore, djent (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Periphery, Letlive, The Callous Daoboys
Country: Germany
Release date: 5 September 2025

The Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan famously proclaimed that “the medium is the message.” His meaning was that a communication medium was more important in shaping society than the content distributed upon it. The printing press made information widely available in print, shifting the information environment from an aural one to a visual one; the advent of radio shifted it back to the aural somewhat, and technological advances since television have melded the aural and the visual, as well as generating an ever more fragmented experience, as platforms become more immediate and addictive. In the age of social media, concision and bombast are the most important ways of garnering attention, so if you want to become big on, oh, I don’t know, let’s say TikTok, your success depends on being able to game the algorithm to attract the broken attention spans of its capricious users. 

A band boasting 186,000 Spotify monthly listeners upon the release of their debut album is a band who know how to play the algorithm game. German fourpiece Vianova dress like they’re attending a Perestroika-era Soviet disco, and their social media is full of self-deprecating memey videos, poking fun at themselves while showcasing their obvious talents. Three EPs have come before, but Hit It! is their debut full-length and draws upon funk, hip-hop, soul, hardcore and hyperpop influences, all underwritten by djenty grooves that run the gamut from Sleep Token to Meshuggah. The manic energy, post-hardcore edge, and genre eclecticism are comparable to a schizophrenic blend of Periphery, Letlive (I bet no one remembers them), Closure in Moscow, and Car Bomb, with an ironic dudebro metalcore gloss. The concoction is ever-shifting, impressively well-made, and, at times, infuriating.

Vocalist Alexander Kerski is undeniably phenomenal, though his laryngeal powers are used for both good and evil. An ill-conceived experiment with autotune and stomp-and-clap percussion on “Squier Talk” notwithstanding, his clean vocal performance is genuinely brilliant, a high-toned yet powerful delivery in the realms of such talents as Spencer Sotelo (Periphery), Christopher de Cinque (Closure in Moscow) and Jason Aalon Butler (Letlive). And yet, he has a grating tendency to overdo it when the song would be better served by his holding back (“Future Nostalgia” ably showcases both sides of this). Meanwhile, his harshes vary from impressively aggressive to memeified metalcore “bleh”s. The same is true of the instrumentation with Felix Vogelsang and Raoul Zillani manhandling those finger-width low F#s, and Paul Vogelsang the kit-pummeller extraordinaire. The quartet consistently hit upon a bunch of impressive ideas, well-executed genre blends, and legitimately sick riffs, but for every instrumental marvel there’s an overly ironic excess. YouTuber Kmac2021 was satirising the ubiquity of chugging with random noises thrown in back in 2018, and while Vianova are clearly in on the joke, that doesn’t necessarily mean the audience is laughing. 

Despite the schizoid impression Vianova’s TikTok presence might give, there’s more compositional focus here than one would expect. Rather than darting from one mad idea to another, Hit It! tends to take those genre experiments one track at a time. For “Más Rápido” it’s jazz piano. “Wheel of Fortune”? Funk. You got synthwave for us? Sure, go check “Melanchronic.” The execution of these sojourns into other modes is always well-executed, although usually ends up giving way to an obnoxious djent riff. “Wheel of Fortune” allows the djent to funk around, and the soul backing vocals really keep the song grounded in its central conceit. Less successful is “Uh Yaya”, which starts out with rather pleasant lounge jazz but descends into Polyphia-esque technical wankery and ultimately descends through nine circles of offensively dumb djent riffing, continually amping up the heaviness of the grim chugs and the number of silly noises between. Enjoyment of Hit It! will largely depend on listeners’ tolerance for a very in-your-face vocal performance, and ridiculously excessive memey djent riffs. 

That caveat in mind, everything else Vianova offer is undeniably impressive. Choruses tend towards the anthemic. It’s hard to deny the catchiness of the “don’t get carried away” hook on “Squier Talk” or the agonised force driving “Wheel of Fortune”. Still, other moments sit rather more awkwardly. “Oh No (Believer)” which critiques the capitalist mindset through [checks notes] the power of nu metal, sees Kerski spitting bars like it’s 1999 and he’s opening at Des Moines’ prestigious Hoyt Sherman Place clad in mask and boiler suit. The hook is catchy but the Slipknot-y rap verses feel played out, and the key change for the final chorus is, yeah, fun, but again it feels like we’re doing it for the meme; the same goes for the—sigh—mumblecore/djent blend of “Whatever Alright”—the less said about that, the better. The other memey little spoken word moments like the “Sir, do you want to raise or fold” on “Wheel of Fortune” or the outro to “Oh No (Believer)” are just a bit cringeworthy. I don’t know, perhaps I’m not TikTok-brained enough, perhaps I’m getting too old; probably both. 

To that end, the best tracks are the more focused ones situated mid-album. “Marimba” deftly contrasts The Contortionist-esque atmospheres and a bone-thudding tech djent riff, while “Melanchronic” is steeped in synthwave layers over thoughtful VOLA style riffs. Crucially, Kerski reins in his delivery on both tracks, offering a glimpse of a welcome softer side. Heaviness is still on display but it’s earned; considered juxtaposition over algorithm-capturing memetic zaniness. It’s these moments that really show Vianova at their best and, fortunately, there are quite a few peppered throughout the rest of the album, from the simple 80s synth motif over a blackgaze blast beat on “Future Nostalgia” to the smoother-edged, lighter-in-the-air charm of ”Obsolete.” For me, the sort of sincerity these tracks demonstrate will always win out over the irony-laden djenting. 

Vianova are some outrageous dudes. In fact, they’re totally in my face. Dancing on the thin marigold line between daring and obnoxious, Hit It! both benefits and suffers from an erratic eclecticism which enthralls as often as it repels. You can’t deny Vianova their charm and moxie, and that, for the most part, their pastiche style works with ironic detachment ironing over the cringy memecore elements. And you can tell that, beneath the poisonous cloak of irony, that they actually take their composing deeply seriously—at least for the most part. Mercifully, Hit It! isn’t fully McLuhan’d and the Tiktokification of metal is held at bay, at least for now. So, what’s next in the feed? An attention-seeking American making ragebait recipes… then fascist propaganda… then there’s that godawful Tory kid who runs after trains. I don’t know, maybe it’s safest to stick with these guys for now.

Recommended tracks: Melanchronic, Marimba, Obsolete
You may also like: Benthos, Frostbitt, Without Waves
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Facebook | Instagram

Label: Arising Empire – Facebook | Official Website

Vianova is:
– Alexander Kerski (vocals)
– Felix Vogelsang (guitars)
– Raoul Zillani (bass)
– Paul Vogelsang (drums)