As we know by now, Virtual Riot lives up to his name. He’s now taken his masterful production one step further, dodging the confines of the electronic genre with his cinematic album, Stealing Fire.
Ahead of the album’s release, Virtual Riot teamed up with Rezz to drop “Give in to you,” a midtempo banger that catapulted to meteoric popularity immediately upon release. His transformative track “Believe What You Want” also found its way to fans in late-September, setting up an assist to today’s slam dunk.
The titular track “Stealing Fire” showcases the most riotous (pun intended) elements of house and trap, flowing between the two in a seamless showcase of the album’s variety. “Star Destroyer” follows suit with digitized melodies chopping to the beat of blasting lasers from a cosmic ship, its second house drop promising us nothing short of a diversified experience.
He then dials up the BPM in “Scorched Earth,” which holds the promise of its title with a volcanic burst of four-on-the-floor beats, while “Nights On Fire (2024)” electrifies the album with a liquid drum & bass twist. Amidst the wild ride, “New Energy” also delivers on its title with gentle, free-flowing melodies that bring a refreshing tenderness to Stealing Fire. “Holding On To Smoke” follows in the same vein with its whimsical production and vocals from Raven Gray.
“When you are inspired by other people’s work, and you take the parts you like and re-interpret and combine them with something new; when you share knowledge that was previously gatekept or unavailable except to a select few; when you listen to music to put yourself into an altered state of mind — you’re stealing fire,” Virtual Riot said in a statement. “And you don’t have to take it away; when you do it right, it spreads and multiplies, and in the end, there is just more fire for everybody.”
Virtual Riot is now taking the album on an eponymous tour with visuals by VJ Neurite. Kicking off in the fall, the tour will feature support by Culture Shock, Eliminate, HE$H, HVDES, IMANU, Moore Kismet, Nostalgix and Tokyo Machine, among others.
Listen to Stealing Fire below and find the new album on streaming platforms here.
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