
VADER:
- Necrolust
(1989, Demo) A chance to hear some great songs from "Incantation" when
they
were still just demo songs. The riffs are great, the sound quality is
poor, but that's to be expected.
- Morbid Reich (1990, Demo) Same deal as "Necrolust", except the
sound
quality is much better.
- The Ultimate Incantation (1992) Nothing terribly new here, but they have just
the
right elements to bring a smile to my face every time I hear their
music.
Brutally fast guitars, ultra fast and accurate drumming, slayer-esque
solos
(with lots of whammy bar dives). Very tight production and musicianship.
- The Darkest Age - Live '93 (1994, Live) A poorly recorded live album. Really
only
a must have if you're a Vader completist.
- Sothis
(1994, EP) A short EP with 3 songs, 3 intros and a Black Sabbath cover.
The CD is
worth buying just to get a copy of the song "Sothis", which is probably
one
of Vader's best songs ever. The double kicks will drive you insane.
- De Profundis (1995) Although the guitar sound is still a little
weak,
the drumming is still insane, and the band's songwriting skills go up a
notch.
Your collection really isn't complete without it, so buy this CD if you
haven't
already.
- Future Of The Past (1996) A CD of cover songs from famous metal bands.
- Reborn In Chaos (1997) Necrolust and Morbid Reich remastered and put
onto
one CD.
- Black To The Blind (1997) Nothing innovative on this album, just Vader
doing
what they do best. Fast doubles and blastbeats, good riffs, lots of
tremolo
picking. The production really isn't all that great (they really need
some
more low end), but overall this album will certainly keep fans happy.
- Kingdom
(1998, EP) A short EP with 3 new songs, a remake of 'Breath of
Centuries',
and 2 remixes. The remixes suck, but the three new songs kick some
serious ass in the standard Vader style. Good songs, good production,
no surprises, a good addition to your collection.
- Vision And Voice (1998,
Video)
A really excellent quality video. 13 songs (pretty much the same set as
their
Live In Japan album), great performance done to studio quality
standards
(they may have added overdubs, or else they just had a really good
sound
man at the live show), I'd even go as far to say the sound may be
better
than their live album. The video quality is excellent, with multiple
cameras and great choreography, imagine the highest quality live show
videotaping, except instead of a big name band it's Vader. The only
complaint is this video
is only available from Metal Mind productions in Poland in PAL format.
Dudes,
NTSC? We love Vader in the States as well ya know. A must have for
Vader
fans.
- Live In Japan (1999, Live) 18 live songs from the Polish masters of
death.
The performance is inspired, and they play lots of great music from
many
of their albums. The band isn't as tight as on their albums (except for
Doc
on drums, who's every kick is like a chisel to your gut), but that
doesn't
detract from the songs. Production wise, it's pretty decent, maybe a
little
bit muddy at times (but only slightly). I think a few more hours in the
mixing
stage might have smoothed out the production a tiny bit more, but you
can
still hear everything, and it's definitely better than their last live
album.
- Litany
(2000) Best album since De Profundis. First, the songs are really
great, a good variety
of tempos, interludes and feels, the songs sound like actual songs, and
each
one is memorable for it's own reasons (as opposed to the entire album
just
sorta melding together due to lack of variety). Second, excellent
production,
with lots of bottom end, and lots of clarity. Probably the best
production
Vader's has had yet. The drumming is the usual vader stuff, the blast
beats
and double kicks are inhuman, although, yes, I'm saying it, the kick
drum
might actually be too loud in the mix. Sounds like Doc is triggering
heavily
on this album, which makes it sound a little mechanical, but, ah well,
it's
fucking brutal. The whole album is fucking brutal. Definitely the best
thing
I've heard this year so far, all vader fans should drop what their
doing
and get this album immediately, or order the Japanese edition, that has
two
bonus tracks, one intro, and a new song that's as good as the other
stuff
on the album. Impressive.
- Reign Forever World (2001, EP) A few new tracks, a few covers, a few live
tracks,
and a few tracks that are bonus tracks on the Japanese version of
Litany.
All are decent stuff, the new tracks are cool, and the live tracks are
well
produced. But the number one thing this music does for me is gets me
stoked
about hearing a brand new Vader album, maybe later this year or early
next
year.
- Revelations (2002) While their last album was amazing, this album
falls
a little short of Vader's high standards. There's still some good songs
and
some good riffs (although overall the songs tend to be slower than
usual
vader fare), but overall the album remains a bit dull, no songs
standout
or remain terribly memorable, and overall it lacks originality and
variety.
Otherwise the same style you'd expect from the band. A decent release
if
it were some other band, but this is a vader cd, and so I know they can
do
better. On a positive note the album ends with three bonus tracks from
the
"Reign Forever World" miniCD, if only the rest of the cd was as good as
these three tracks.
- More Vision And
Voice (2002, DVD) DVD edition of their Vision And Voice Tape.
First, to note, the transfer of this DVD is horrible, there's tons of
mpeg artifacting everywhere, turning a lot of the concert into a blocky
mess. If you have the original tape, you'll probably want to hold onto
that, since it's much higher quality. The DVD contains some extras, 8
songs recorded from 2001, it's a bootleg, but a decent bootleg. Also,
there's an interview with Peter (founder of the band, vocalist and
guitar player) discussing many issues, all in Polish but with english
subtitles.
- Blood
(2003, EP) While Vader seems to be on the "Every second CD" cycle (ie,
every second CD is good), their EPs have always been top notch, and
this is no exception. We start off with 2 new tracks from 2003, both of
which are good Vader material in the usual style. Then 4 new tracks
from 2002 (slightly more reverb on the production, actually, think I
prefer the sound on these two a bit), these may be bonus tracks to the
Revelations sessions. All good songs, better than the songs that made
it onto Revelations in fact. Then a Thin Lizzy Cover, which is fun to
listen to, always like cover songs that are plenty different from the
original. Then a cover of Morbid Angel's 'Immortal Rites', which isn't
all that different from the original, but is still well done. Highly
recommended as usual.
- The Beast
(2004) I was hoping that Vader was indeed on a "every second
album is good" cycle, since that would make this one of their good
albums. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. From the
opening track the band just seems to have lost something. The songs
seem to only be made from 3-4 riffs repeated again and again, and each
riff is pretty straight forward, with lots of held notes tremolo
picked. The album is also for the most part mid paced, and even when
the riffs are fast, it just doesn't seem to have much energy to it.
Their first "single" 'Dark Transmission' is a good example of what most
of this album is about, sort of slow, and the lyrics: "Dark Trans
mission, trance dark mission" I think that's supposed to sound more
intellectual than it actually is. There is one brief bit of light with
Track 7, "The Zone" which is a great song, midpaced triplets chugging
away, and the acoustic intro to 'Choices' is pretty good to. This is
the first cd without Doc on drums, but I'm not sure I can really say if
this guy is an ok replacement since the material he was given doesn't
sound all that hot. Disappointed to say the least.
- Night
of the Apocalypse (2005) This DVD would be good except for 3
fundamental problems. First the camerawork is way, way too jumpy. It
switches between cameras on average about 1 to 2 times per second,
which gives you a headache after awhile (not to mention makes it
impossible to really see any of the performance). The camera folk also
love shaking the camera, "Look, look, I'm shaking the camera around,
wow, it's like you're banging your head to the music, except you're
not, you're just watching it on TV, but it doesn't matter, even if you
don't want to bang your head we're gonna bang your head for you, so
deal with it!!! Look, I know where the zoom is too, lets zoom in and
out quickly! Aren't I cool?" Ahem. Second, the sound is way too far
away. It sounds like the band is playing in the opposite end of a big
cave, way too much reverb. I mean, I'm ok with the idea of adding a
little dimension to Vader's sound, beef up the bass a bit, even some
reverb to give it that live feel, but this is just way too much, I
mean, I can't even hear the double bass it's so far away. And third,
this concert was recorded right after their "Revelations" album, and I
didn't particularly like that album, so a lot of the songs I'm just not
into (although they do play a few old classics such as 'Sothis',
'Silent Empire' and 'Breath Of Centuries' which are good). If the DVD
has any advantages at all it's that you get to see Doc on drums one
last time before he left the band, but the camerawork is so jumpy, do
we really get to see him? As well as the 60 min main show, there are
two far shorter bonus shows on the DVD, the second one is exactly like
the first, the third show is from 2004, has Daray on drums, but the
camerawork isn't as frantic and the production, while still far away,
is clearer, you can hear the drums now for one. Anyways, afraid I can't
recommend this DVD really, pick up their "Vision And Voice" one instead.
- The
Art Of War (2005) Once again, EPs from Vader are just top notch.
"The Art Of War" is back to the Vader we all know and love, a perfect
mixture of speed and brutality, not that boring stuff from "The Beast".
After a keyboard intro, the band bursts forth with a powerful military
style drumbeat, followed by a barrage of crazy doublekicks, blasts and
tremolo picking. The rest of the EP consists of a few more intros, and
a bunch of new songs that are just as killer as the first. Now that the
songs are back to normal, I can honestly say the new drummer Daray is a
fine addition to the group. No one will ever truly be able to replace
Doc, but Daray does a great job living up to his predecessor. RIP Doc,
you will be missed, but I'm pleased to see Vader will be able to honor
your memory by continuing to produce excellent music in the future. Now
guys, lets just make sure the next full length album sounds like this
material.
- Impressions
in Red (2006) Ok, we're back to the good stuff. After tons of
band turmoil what with Doc's death and the addition of a new drummer,
the group has finally pulled everything back together, released a
kickass EP, and now released their best album since "Litany". Plenty of
blasting, some really nice riffs. I especially like 'God is Dead',
which has a really memorable chorus (I can imagine this song will go
over really well live). Another favorite is the song 'Predator', which
has some speedy doublebass underneath a nice slow verse riff. The band
has also added a few symphonic elements to their sound. I don't mean
super keyboardy type stuff, but orchestral elements for intros and used
sparingly inside the songs themselves, and they work really well. While
not the most classic of Vader albums, this is definite return to form
for the group, miles ahead of their last 2 full length releases, and
fans should grab this one as soon as they can.
- ...And
Blood Was Shed In Warsaw (2007, DVD) 3rd DVD for the band. It's
a decently shot concert with really bad sound. I just don't know how
this sorta thing can happen. The sound is really echoey and undefined,
you can hear the guitars playing, but can't easily pick out an
particular note. It's like a swarm of bees with no pitch. You also
can't hear the double bass at all. Mind you, maybe that makes sense,
because the camera guys also never show you the doublebass, for that
matter, they basically never show the drummer, they have one camera
from way above, but you never see his face or any closeups of what he's
doing. Otherwise, the camerawork is great, it doesn't switch too fast,
and the film quality is excellent. The band plays all their hits, lots
of stuff from every album (20 songs in all), including 'Sothis',
"Silent Empire, 'Wings', 'Dark Age' and a number of songs off their
newest album. As an added bonus, all the songs seem to be a but faster
than their album counterparts. Despite the good camerawork and the good
songs, the sound is just so bad that I'm afraid I have to recommend
skipping this DVD.
- XXV
(2008) For the band's 25th anniversary, they decide to release a double
CD set of many of their classic songs re-recorded, focusing mostly on
their older songs, since the production on those albums weren't as good
as later albums. I really questioned how good an album like this could
be, but about 5 seconds into the first non-intro track on the album,
and I was like "awww yeah, this is gonna be awesome". The songs are not
only rerecorded, but changed around a bunch, with new intros, new
endings, extra keyboards used well in certain spots. Many songs are
faster, a few seem slower than their album counterparts. And mostly,
the production is spectacular, certainly the best mix Vader has ever
had. And with all the changes to the songs, it's like hearing them
again fresh for the first time. A few of these songs are inferior to
their originals, like I much prefer the version of 'Wings' and 'Xeper'
on "Litany" than the re-recorded versions, but stuff from their first
and second album are really well done, nice alternates to the
originals. My only one worry would be that since their original drummer
Doc could not participate in this album (he died in 2005), I don't want
these songs to become the new standard versions. Drummer Daray does a
great job, but I don't want Doc's versions to die with him. So while
the newly recorded version of 'Silent Empire' or 'Sothis' are really
well done and fun to listen to, I will always cherish the originals,
and hope that new Vader fans go back and get those original albums, and
not stick with this collection. The album ends with 3 covers, which are
fun, but nothing special. Definitely worth picking up.
VILE:
- Stench of the Deceased (1999) A cross between Cannibal Corpse and Broken
Hope,
a cross because they have low vocals a bit in the Broken Hope style,
and
they do these tremolo on the low strings of their guitar like Cannibal
Corpse
does. But leaving the arena of influences, these guys are tight as
hell,
really detuned guitars (and a 6 string bass from what I'm told), and a
fast
drummer who likes keeping those double kicks going fast and constant
(heavily
triggered bass drums keeps a solid low pounding going through many of
the
tracks). Riff wise a mix of medium paced alternate picked and tremolo
riffs,
and the occasion heavy as shit palm muted chunk fest (with a squawk
thrown
in for good measure.) Production is excellent with the right mix of low
and
crisp high end. Songs are great and quite memorable. An excellent debut
for
any band.
- Depopulate (2002) Song writing wise, no surprises here, low
detuned
guitars, tremolo and fast picking. The bass drums keep a steady highly
triggered
beat underneath really low gutteral vocals. Unfortunately, the
production
on this album could be better, the guitars have a sort of muffled sound
to
them, reminding me a bit of Morbid Angel from the "Domination" album
(it's
not quite that bad, but still very noticeable from the first few notes
of
the album). It doesn't detract too much from the performance, but
production
tweaks would definitely raise the album up a few notches. As it stands,
good
songs, if you dug the last album, here's another slice from the same
pie.
- The
New Age of Chaos (2005) Well thankfully the bass is back on this
release (nice and distorted too), although the guitars still sound a
little muffled, but otherwise this is almost identical to their last
album in style, tempo and sound. And that's not a bad thing really,
their last album was solid and this one is too with plenty of decent
songs. But I really wish they would try and expand their repertoire
just a bit, maybe some odd sounds, odd time signatures, a moratorium on
the continuous doublekicks, something to move their cds from the
consistently good category to the great category. There are a few hints
of something more, like in their song 'Suicide Warfare' where the
drummer does these neat cymbal fills, and 'Sentenced To Live' has a
really awesome um-pa low pounding riff that carries us out to the end
of the song, and 'Ritual Decapitation' starts off with a nice low
chunky riff, those are the areas the band needs to nurture and explore
further in future cds. As it stands, this is another good album from
the band, and well worth buying, but I hope the band chooses in the
future to take a few more risks within the confines of their chosen
style so they can move forward.
VISCERAL BLEEDING:
- Internal Decomposition (Demo, 2000)
- Remnants Of Deprivation
(2002)
We have trills, we have tapping riffs and sqwacks, we have blast beats,
we
have some very low barked vocals. All the elements are there, but while
the
pieces do fit and the band is obviously making a valiant effort, the
album
never seems to rise above the bar, or find a space that hasn't been
explored
by any number of other bands before. So what you end up with is
something
between Dying Fetus' "Infatuation With Malevolence" (especially the
guitar
solos) and Disavowed. A for effort, B for results.
- Transcend
Into Ferocity
(2004) To talk about this album is to talk about two other albums,
first, their debut "Remnants of Deprivation", and second, Spawn of
Possession's "Cabinet". When I first listened to this cd, I thought to
myself "ah, sounds like "Cabinet"". But then a little research and I
realized that "Remnants" (which also sounds like "Cabinet") came out a
year before "Cabinet" did. Anyways, regardless of who was first to
achieve this particular style, if you liked their first album or
enjoyed "Cabinet" like I did, this material is quite similar. Sound
wise, the production on this cd isn't as dry as on their previous cd, a
little noisier perhaps but also more intense and louder. Lots of very
complex riffs, the drumming is noteworthy for jumping between blasting
and more traditional beats at a breakneck pace. The rest of the band
does the same, tremolo picking followed by alternate picking, then
chunky parts and a squawk or two, and this is all in a single bar at
superfast speed. I think the songwriting went up a notch for this
recording, it's not as generic as I felt their last album was
sometimes. So basically they're doing the same sort of stuff, but the
production is better, the songs are better, it's "Remnants" on
steroids. They could perhaps still get a slightly better produced cd
still, but otherwise, all fans of technical yet still musical death
metal should grab a copy of this.
- Absorbing
the Disarray (2007) Again, similar to their last CD, but even
more refined. An even tighter performance, improved mix, even better
song writing, and even more speed and aggression. But the core of the
band is the same, they haven't reinvented themselves, they've just
spent their time perfecting their craft. The result is a pretty vicious
CD, maybe still a little too chaotic at times, but angry in all the
right ways. Recommended.
VITAL REMAINS:
- Reduced
To Ashes (1989, Demo)
- Excruciating
Pain (1990, Demo)
- The
Black Mass (1990, 7inch)
- Let
Us Pray (1992)
- Into
Cold Darkness (1995)
- Forever
Underground (1997)
- Dawn
Of The Apocalypse (2000)
- Dechristianize
(2003) While not quite Origin's "Informis Infinitas
Inhumanitas", this album will give you that same feeling of "Holy shit,
that drummer is inhuman!" Blasts faster than you've ever heard,
ridiculously fast triggered kicks, and a constant onslaught of buzzsaw
guitars. Sort of picking up where Cryptopsy's "Blasphemy Made Flesh"
left off (or maybe a touch of the first Hate Eternal), we have Vital
Remains' latest effort with Glen Benton of Deicide on vocals, Tony
Lazaro on guitar, and Dave Suzuki (not to be confused with David
Suzuki, the famous Canadian Naturalist) on both the drums, bass and
lead guitar. The result is a spectacular album. Production is good,
maybe a little lacking in the bass department, but everything is still
plenty clear and it's certainly a professional mix. The solos are very
complex fast scale and harmonized guitar type stuff. Basic song
structures consist of super fast tremolo picked rhythms with crazy
drumming and then harmonized guitar breaks. In fact, the song structure
is basically the only nit I have with this album, in that it becomes a
little predictable after awhile. But the songs are good, and the
performance is nothing short of spectacular. Looks like Dave favors the
guitar in the live situation, so I hope whomever he uses as a
replacement drummer can keep this frantic pace up. A shame I found this
a year late, or else it may have appeared in my ten best albums of
2003. This is certainly required listening.
- Icons
of Evil (2007) Fans of the last album know what to expect. A
constant barrage of ridiculously fast doublebass, tremolo guitars,
blasphemous vocals from Glen Benton and super fast solos. The songs
seem a little more focused in this album than the last, although you
still get those 8 minute songs that seem to repeat the main theme a few
too many times. Again, that's my only knit with the band, if they took
these 8 minute songs and reduced them to 5 minutes, I believe the songs
would be just a bit tighter and that much stronger. But overall "Icons
Of Evil" is one hell of an album, with fantastic riffs, great
production from Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal fame, and just a crazy level
of intensity all the way through. If you want a super fast album that
doesn't let up for a second, look no further.
- Evil
- Death - Live (2007, DVD) Live DVD for the band, contains 9
tracks and a bunch of extras. The main concert is good, the performance
is excellent, the sound is great. Most of the songs are off their last
album. The venue is huge, with a giant stage and thousands of fans
moshing. My only real problem is the problem I have with many concert
DVDs, the camera switcher is on crack. While the picture quality is
good, the guy just switches cameras every 0.1 seconds or so, almost
creating a strobe effect for the whole show, never giving your eye
enough time to even decide what you're looking at, never mind enjoying
someone's performance. And when an interesting bit does happen, the
camera is elsewhere. Is there a cool solo going on? Well, lets focus on
the guitarist's head, not his fingers. A fast drum bit that may be
interesting to watch? Lets focus on the ceiling of the venue. It really
ruins an otherwise excellent concert. The vocalist for the concert is
not Glen Benton as you may expect, but the new guy does an excellent
job of looking evil and belting out some evil stuff. And every time
guitarist Dave Suzuki does his backing vocals, he has this great look
on his face like he's being anally raped by satan himself. Its only 9
songs (they're long, of course), and the songs do have a certain
sameness to them, but if you're buying this DVD, you obviously have
listened to the CDs, and so you know what to expect. Bonus features
include 6 songs from another concert. That concert is more bootleg
like, but still decent sound and decent video (the camera switches just
as fast though, be warned). Also, about 10 minutes of Dave playing all
the solos from the album. I wish they'd had a stationary camera so we
could have seen his amazing fingers at work, instead, you get fast
switching between two cameras, and each camera is moving all over the
place, missing both fingers frequently, making that part sorta useless.
The interview section is really interesting, with lots of background on
the band and frank talk about their music and lives. They also discuss
their anti-christian lyrics, and how they should be viewed as an
opinion, and everyone should come to their own conclusions and make
their own choices. I feel this
DVD is
worth watching, but probably not rewatching, thanks to the ridiculous
camerawork. A shame it's sorta ruined by a force the band doesn't have
control over.
VOMITORY:
- Primal
Massacre (2004) Sorta reminiscent of Angelcorpse or
Severe Torture, lots of blasting in 4/4 time with tremolo picked riffs
over top. A few slower bits similar to recent Bolt Thrower keep things
from becoming too same-as. A few of the riffs are cool, like the
galloping riff at the beginning 'Condemned By Pride', and the
production is thick and well mixed, but overall, most of the riffs go
by and don't seem to leave their mark. After 2 listens all the way
through, I can't particularly remember any standout bits. Too much
gravy, not enough turkey, the band has plenty of potential and do a lot
of things right, but a little more time on the songs would improve
things tremendously.
VOMIT REMNANTS:
- In The Name Of Vomit / Brutally
Violated (Demo)
- Supreme Entity (1999) The Japanese Dying Fetus. This 3 piece from
Japan
blasts us with 8 tracks of the usual technical death metal. Although
parallels
can and will be drawn between them and Suffocation, the most apt
comparison
is probably Dying Fetus' album "Infatuation with Malevolence", whose
riff style, solos and all around sound this band copies very
successfully. Not that that's a bad thing, the cd does have enough
truly unique moments, and
moments that aren't so unique are at least done very, very well. It's
got
nice squawks that Cannibal Corpse would be envious of, and the riffs
are
all very well thought out and the songs definitely get you moving with
their
mixture of groove and low chunky bits. The vocals are mainly low and
guttural
with the occasional high pitched scream fest, guitar wise, there's no
overdubs
here, so the guitar sound is clear although could probably sound a
little
thicker with a second guitar in there. Overall production is fine. Fast
blasts
and double kicks, all on an electronic drum kit which means many of the
notes
do tend to sound a little too mechanical (especially the sampled crash
cymbal).
If you're into Suffo or DF I definitely say get a copy of this CD, it's
pretty
fucking intense and well worth the cash.
- Indefensible Vehemence
(2002,
EP) Sorta a disappointment. All the elements are there for some really
cool
Dying Fetus inspired metal, but something is missing. After a lot of
analysis, I think it comes down to a few factors. First, there is
almost no bass whatsoever.
So while the production is good, in fact, probably a step up from their
previous
cd, the sound is sorta thin, while "Entity" had a certain raw
aggressive
sound to it. Then the songs seem a little slower, without the same
energy
level of their previous cd. Well, actually, I suppose there are a few
faster
parts, but it seems like they're placed sorta randomly, vs having say a
slow
part then building up to something heavier or faster. Anyways, the
songs
need some work, and the sound needs some tweaking, but the band has
done
some cooler stuff in the past, so hope to see some of these problems
worked
out for their next full length release.
- Supreme
Vehemence (2005, comp) A combination of their "Supreme Entity"
CD and "Indefensible Vehemence" CD. Also includes 2 video clips, 'My
Blessed Sickness' and two Cryptopsy covers ('Defenstration' and 'Slit
Your Guts') taken from the band's first show in 1998. Both are bootleg
quality, with clear production but a single camera and bad contrast so
its tough to see the performers. If you don't already have these two
CDs, then I'd recommend getting this CD, otherwise, the extra video
clips (and nice new cover artwork) aren't really enough to warrant a
repurchase.