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Metal/Prog Metal CD Reviews

Viral Tyrant

Vultures Like You

Review by Gary Hill

I'm a huge Black Sabbath fan. That makes me a bit of a sucker for doom. These guys deliver their brand of the genre with a lot of style, but also some surprises. At times they take it toward more extreme metal. At other points it gets a little more mainstream. Like all doom, this has a tendency to get into a groove and stay there, with change coming incrementally, yet they really do change things up. All in all, I think this should appeal to fans of bands like Sleep and Electric Wizard, while also stretching the envelope.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2023  Volume 4 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2023.

Track by Track Review
The Felling of the Doom Tree
As the bass and drums get things underway here, this is almost a jazz-like vibe. The guitar comes in, followed by the vocals and we're into a killer heavy doom groove. The vocals land on the more extreme end of the spectrum. We're taken through some changes along the road, and the guitar soloing on this is so strong.
Beloved and Beheaded

The vocals on this are fierce and wailing. The music is of the same doomy variety. The resulting merging has a real death metal vibe to it. This works through several interesting shifts and changes, but remains fairly constant in terms of musical territory covered.

Vosturan
I love the heavy, fuzz drenched guitar part that gets us going here. This thing covers the familiar territory, but  mid-track it seems to get even more plodding than some of the other music here.
Beacon Omega
There is a regular, pulsing sound, like a beacon, at the start of this. Guitar comes in, perhaps less doomy than we've heard to this point. It's tentative at first but gains confidence as it continues. Other instruments join as this builds in a very slow and deliberate way. This eventually gets into some fairly fierce and almost frantic (you know for doom) jamming. The vocals bring an almost hardcore punk edge at times. It gets into more standard doom zones later.
The Great Traverse
The builds up gradually with almost more of a melodic, mainstream vibe at play. This is an instrumental track that takes us into some of the most traditional metal territory of the whole set. Yet, it still has a decided doom flavor or accent to it.
A Savage Ensnared
There is almost an epic scope to this piece. Some vocals are spoken. Some are more sung or shouted. This has doom elements at its core, but also has some more mainstream metal leanings. The song is quite dynamic and gets into more traditional doom zones further down the road.
Blunt Force and Sheer Ignorance
Another powerhouse doom stomper, this has some intriguing twists and turns. This gets pretty intense and crazed at times. Yet, it also drops to a drum solo section later. That drops to near silence for a time, making the ferocity of the heavy slow doom that comes in seem amplified even further.

           

 
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