Introducing: VISAVIS

French band VISAVIS take us on a wild groove metal ride that flows through catchy riffs and vocals with unexpected electronic elements along the way, in a sound they describe as “Fresh Heavy Sludge.”

The VISAVIS story began with a crew of high school mates in Tulle, in the southwest of France, way back in 1984, who went on to play hundreds of venues and festivals. However, the promising early years came to a screeching halt with the death of vocalist Phil Mauget, which put the band’s progress on ice. The band went through several changes before guitarist Régis Bouyge took on vocals in 1993, doing so for their album So Special and 2004 EP Opening. But VISAVIS hit pause for more than a decade; its members joined different bands before reforming with a powerful return on the 2019 album War Machine.

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The band is now enjoying the start of a new chapter that saw VISAVIS join forces with Parisian punk rock band Clamantis, forming the new lineup of Régis (vocals and guitar), Damien Boucault (guitar and backing vocals), PH Traux (drums) and Pierre Beyssac (bass and backing vocals).

On the VISAVIS sound, Pierre told us: “It’s a wild mix of punk attitude, metal intensity, all soaked in a deliciously sludge and heavy vibe. VISAVIS is not afraid to break the mold, creating authentic, powerful, and unfiltered music.

“We’re all about rock music in general, punk, post-punk, and metal in particular. But it’s not just that, we’re into electronic music, reggae/dub… basically, anything that makes us vibe. We put a lot of focus on songwriting, it’s part of the band’s DNA. The stuff we write about is all over the place – wars, religions, drugs, and the crazy excesses of today’s world.”

Our latest taste of this is EP The Art Of Collapse, which was released in October and from which the band sent us the title track. It opens up with a fun darting synth noise that drops into chugging guitars and engaging repeating chorus vocals. Spoken vocals take over with a chugging riff and a cool spinning lick feed into a chorus. More spoken vocals come in alongside a dark riff, then stabbing synths build the powerful atmosphere and drop into a funky guitar solo. And repeats of “the art of collapse” take us to an engaging conclusion.

On the track, Pierre told us: “It’s like some kinda wild groove metal, built around a catchy riff, repetitive vocals, and melodic samples that add a hypnotic electro vibe. It’s groovy, it’s heavy, and it grabs you from the first listen, making you wanna headbang right away. With this track, we call out the craziness of a world that just keeps falling apart, and the people who turn a blind eye to that reality.”

The EP is packed with more sludgy, doomy, punky goodness, including the excellent opening track We Don’t Care which opens up with a chunky riff that continues through the first verse. It flows into a big singalong chorus “We go straight ahead, What do people say? We don’t care.” We also love the near-six-minute-long Dancing On Their Graves, which opens up with engaging vocals, then a spinning lick drops into a tense verse that gradually picks up pace into a catchy chorus, “Guilty, Crazy, Hear me, What’s going on in your head?”

A personal favourite may be Dealers, which opens up with chugging guitars and a distant high-pitched synth and twinkling electronic noises. An engaging verse feeds into cries of “dealers,” which second time around drops into a cool little guitar solo, which sets up a lively outro. And the EP goes out in style with the powerful Not Dead, which features driving drums and engaging shouty vocals.

On the EP, Pierre told us: “It’s got six new tracks that merge heavy metal and punk influences. This EP fits right into the dark times we’re living in, where everything seems to be falling apart. It’s about waking people up by taking a hard look at this messed-up, chaotic world that just keeps self-destructing. But still, we keep pushing forward through the storm, like saying, ‘Yeah, everything’s fucked up… but as long as we’re alive, we’re moving ahead.’ We’re not afraid to experiment with new vibes, using samples for the first time on some tracks, proving our growing strength and hunger to go further in our own unique musical world.”

The VISAVIS sound is honed on bands from the era they grew up in. In fact, their name is inspired by 80s band The Angels’ song Marseilles, “Got me thinking about the south of France, Vis-à-vis you, Pack my suitcase, take a chance, Got nothing to lose,” which Pierre tells us sums the band up nicely. Other influences include legendary acts like AC/DC, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Thin Lizzy, Angel City, and Bob Marley, Sonic Youth, The Clash, Joy Division, The Cure and Killing Joke. Their musical upbringing owes plenty to Therapy? and their sound has been influenced by newer bands like Mastodon, Alice in Chains, Gojira and Five Finger Death Punch.

VISAVIS set up their own label, We Rock Loud, to handle all their activities and are on the lookout for partners to help them out. They’re also working on new tracks for a follow-up EP, which could be released next year, and actively searching for gigs to promote the current EP.

Pierre explained: “It’s another battle to fight, trying to get the pros to listen and give us a shot. VISAVIS isn’t exactly bankable yet. We’re still waiting on responses from a bunch of booking requests, like the Hellfest le Off, which could give us some serious visibility. But it’s tough for VISAVIS to cut through the noise and stand out with all the other bands fighting for their chance to be heard.”

You can follow VISAVIS on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.