This Polish Death Metal 4 piece is an institution, starting back in 83. Their previous album Welcome to the Morbid Reich won the prestigious Fryderyk award, and the 6 albums prior to that were all nominated for the award. The band has been quoted in recent polls as being in the top ten most important Death Metal bands of all time. To be clear, these are not some irrelevant old guys. It’s more like they have been sitting in a dark place honing their vehement fury for three years, waiting for the next battle. Their back catalog is definitely worth checking out and the late “Doc” was an amazing drummer.
This is a landmark album, bursting with warlike riffing and punishing beats. Despite their incredible musicianship, Vader is more like a combatant. So many of these songs are just taking my head off. I can’t think of the last time I heard an album this good, and it’s the first time I’ve given 5/5. “Where Angels Weep” is the lead single and it is a jaw-dropping double kick, shredding monster. Piotr’s vocals are like an altered beast at times, and the best in Death Metal in my opinion. Even though his voice is aggressive, he is still able to skilfully bind it to the melody and key changes to make the songs even more powerful. The guitar solos are a screaming blast of sonic defiance and before you have fully recovered, the next song is up.
The next track to really turn heads at my house (I had increased the volume a little by now) was the brilliant “Hexenkessel“. This opens with a rousing keyboard intro and then explodes into what has to be one of the most stirring guitar riffs I have ever heard. Piotr’s vocals are hostile and seething, and the drummer seems to pick perfect patterns with which to drive these arrangements at just the right time. In the end, Piotr calls out to his God why he has forsaken him, and the cadence abates before returning to the epic opening rhythm.
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“Worms of Eden” is as relentless as anything I have heard of late, and the sheer energy these guys are putting out is astonishing. “Eye of the Abyss” has some brilliant passages and there is not a weak song on this album.
I would call this one of the most important Death Metal albums since Death’s “Symbolic” album. For those unfamiliar with Death Metal, this may not be the album to convert you, but Death Metal has always been a select “love it or hate it” purist sub-genre within the labyrinth that we now call Metal. The typically deep vocal style, high tempo drumming, tremolo picking, and academic tempo changes are not for everyone. The smoldering feel of the songs, no matter how fast and complex, has always been the hallmark of a great Death Metal album.
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This is a Gem of the Genre.
Vader: Facebook
Release Year: 2014
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Category: Album
Country: Poland
Reviewed by Matt
