Vimic have teamed up with Metal Insider to premiere their latest single, “Parasite Persona,” out September 5. The track serves as the final preview of their long-awaited debut album, Open Your Omen, scheduled to arrive on October 3, 2025, following a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $100,000. Tickets are available at this location.
Frontman Kalen Chase described the track as:
“The music of Parasite Persona is a combination of violent mania and claustrophobic oppression. It presses into your temples and then throws you off of a cliff. When I first heard it, the lyrical theme hit me like a sledgehammer. It’s a not-so-gentle musing about complete societal, social and spiritual breakdown. As a music fan, sometimes I don’t want to listen to peaceful protest songs, or hopeful songs, or love songs. Sometimes, I wanna dive into the darkness and despair so that I can come out the other side. In summation, Parasite Persona is heavy as f—.”
Open Your Omen marks the first release of material completed with Joey Jordison before his passing, and the band will honor his memory with a reunion show on October 3 at Los Angeles’ Teragram Ballroom. The event will feature special guests including Wednesday 13, Luanna Demetto (Crypta), Ash Pearson (Three Inches of Blood), and more, with proceeds benefiting the Joey Jordison Charitable Fund.
Listen to the song below:
Metal Insider also caught up with Kalen Chase to dive deeper into the upcoming record and what this long-awaited return means for the band in the interview below:
After so many years on the shelf, what does it feel like to finally see Open Your Omen being released?
It’s incredible. More accurately, it’s incredibly exciting, terrifying, bittersweet, horrifying, beautiful and cathartic. I can only speak for myself but my bowel movements have been really weird for the last few months.
How much of the original vision from 2016 remains intact on the album today?
This is the same record that Vimic recorded and Kato Khandwala produced. We remixed it and Dave Mustaine plays a fantastic solo on one of the songs but this is the record Joey and the band wanted to make. Now, every musician who has ever recorded anything knows that the second you let it go and put it out into the world you are besieged with an onslaught of hindsight and wish you did a few things differently. Imagine a decade has gone by. But I am extremely proud of what we created.
Were there particular songs that felt especially emotional to revisit after Joey’s passing?
In Your Shadow is obviously the one that has taken the burden of our grief. It’s eerie how perfect the meaning has shifted and I am so proud that I was given a chance to write a song that can be so relatable. Normally I’m referencing Chaucer or singing about buttholes.
What inspired the track “Parasite Persona”?
When Joey and former guitarist Kris Norris showed me this song it felt like I took a 9 iron to the plums. It was unrelenting. It rolled over me, and I thought about the march of time and the collapse of society, and then I fell down. After regaining my equilibrium, I ate some saltines and tried to write a doom and gloom anthem so fun that the listener would smile as this whole shit bus of our reality careens off the cliff.
How has the band worked to balance honoring Joey’s memory while moving forward creatively?
We have a decade of rust to knock off, a mountain of sadness to climb, and a logistical maelstrom we are trying to navigate. Fortunately, the creativity happened years ago and we can bring that right back up. We honor Joey by attempting this. Balance? I couldn’t tell you. But I will paraphrase a quote from the great Travis Willingham
“It feels like it’s going to fall apart at every single turn… that means it’s doomed to succeed.”
How did the idea to tie the show to the Joey Jordison Charitable Fund come about?
It was a no brainer. Joey was incredibly generous, and he cared deeply about music education. His sisters, Annie Gaster and Katie Riekena, put this together with the help of my manager, Crystal Ganz. They had the wherewithal to make this about giving back not just about a show and a record.
Do you see this reunion as a one-time event, or could it open the door for more shows?
The band has collectively agreed to treat this show like our last. Our one and only goal is to get the record out to the people that loved Joey and his music. That is how we honor him. Through his incredible family, the fans and everyone who is stepping in and up to help us make this happen, we are able to play this show and donate to Joeys charity. If an opportunity comes up to something like this again I think we would be open. But that is not even a blip on my radar right now.
What did each member focus on musically after Vimic’s hiatus?
Some of us took a break, some of us were in bands. All of us were dealing with a lot of personal and professional issues. But we are here now.
How does it feel about finally bringing this project to life?
Incredible. Exciting Bittersweet. Horrifying. Beautiful. Cathartic. We have tortured this phrase, so I might as well keep tightening the nipple clamp. We are doing this for Joey. We are doing this for the fans. And we are going to give everything we have on October 3rd on that stage. I hope to see you there.
Kalen Chase
“He’s a dragon man.”
