Artists

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This Melbourne duo's dystopian, soundscape is immersive, hypnotically robotic and lyrically infused with cleverly cynical sociopolitical commentary.

After several years writing under the moniker, “Psycho Decay”, brothers Daniel Allen & Michael Gillman renamed to become Dirt Factory in 2017.

Relying predominantly on analogue hardware for Dirt Factory’s sound, Gillman has stated that he bought his first synth with the aim of creating eerie sound effects for sci-fi film scores.  

With Allen’s healthily cynical lyrical subject matter frequently delving into the realms of dystopian science fiction, his vocals comfortably nest within the sci-fi inspired soundscape that the two create through file-swapping collaboration.  

Dirt Factory have performed both as a duo and with each member performing solo sets in venues across Australia, supporting artists such as Amelia Arsenic, Hostile Architect, 11Grams and Sirus. 

The Dirty duo independently released their debut album, Random Songs For The End Of The World in early 2020 before becoming Viral's first signed artist later that year. 

Since joining the cluster, they have released three albums and five accompanying singles, many of the latter featuring remixes from fellow Aussie Industrialists. Now, with their fifth album on the assembly line, there is no sign that the Factory will be slowing production any time soon.

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 ExoKult is a solo project from Melbourne-based Dirt Factory member Daniel Allen. Having completed work on the third DF album whilst housebound during lockdown, ExoKult was born to keep the cabin fever at bay. While understandably bearing similarities to Dirt Factory, Exo-Kult's sound is very much its own.

 Diverging from Dirt Factory’s multilayered soundscapes, the project leans towards simplicity with straightforward beats and minimalistic bass lines forming the foundation for much of Exo-Kult’s work.

The lyrical narrative takes inspiration from the crazy times we are living in, touching on topics of social injustice, war, political turmoil, mental health, stupidity and of course, “the virus” with an underlying question of where we are headed as a species.

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Contagion Collective is a collaborative community of alternative artists from across Australia. 

With genres spanning experimental electronic, Industrial, EBM through to heavy alt-rock, the collective represents a broad spectrum of the darker side of Australian alternative music.

While the artists involved in the project aren't  individually signed to Viral, we have the honour of releasing the project's "Outbreak" compilation(s) which showcase samples of the dark diversity growing in the Contagion Collective petri dish.

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Meanjin Post-Industrial three-piece, RAZRWHIP, entwine caustic rock guitar riffs, meandering bass lines and sultry vocals embedded in textural synthscapes and underpinned by compelling electronic beats.

Programmer/Bassist Jethro Hilliard and Guitarist Johnny Ryall have an longstanding creative chemistry formed over several years in former project, Failed Assimilation. 

Together, the two provide an aural altar for Vocalist, Brianna Smith to offer up her poetically charged incantations and invoke an elemental entity entirely unto itself.

In 2022, RAZRWHIP signed to Viral Records Australia and released debut EP, “Monachopsis” in August 2023.

Monachopsis is defined as “the subtle, but persistent feeling of being out of place”, a phenomenon lyrically explored throughout the release.

In addition to five original tracks, the EP features remixes from Dirt Factory, ZCluster and producer Matt Dodds (who also mixed and mastered the release).

Work has begun on a follow-up sophomore release as RAZRWHIP continue to showcase their body of work through live performances.

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Terminarch A.D. springs from the minds behind prolific Ozdustrial projects HOSTILE ARCHITECT & Abelisk Audio and focusses on the ongoing story of Magus; A pagan android bent on bringing the old gods into reality.

The project was incepted after members Mitch Kenny and Ryan Begbie collaborated on the Abelisk EP, “Haruspicy A.D.” in 2018. The EP delved into the realms of Industrial Rock/Metal and following its release, the duo decided to further explore this sound under its own banner, later re-naming the EP as “Haruspicy”, serving as the retroactive debut from the new Terminarch A.D project.

Their follow up “re-debut” EP, titled, “The Marked Ov Cain”, is nearing completion and we look forward to unveiling it in the near future.

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