Release
date: April 1st 2017. Label: Self Released. Format: DD
Wake
– Tracklisting
2.Frail 04:08
3.Cross To Bear 05:03
4.Piecekeeper 07:05
5.Warmonger 09:03
6.Wake 08:00
Members:
Brian Rucker
Nate Kotila
Travis Howe
Review
Progressive
Sludge/Stoners - Vultures At Arms Reach (VAAR) - return with their
new album Wake. Three years after their excellent debut album -
Colossus. Wake sees VAAR return with a harsher and complex sound
compared to their last album. Though the guys seem to have found a
more psychedelic groove with their music. Wake is firmly rooted in
the world of Progressive Sludge and Post-Metal compared to Colossus.
Opening track - The
Culling - is a song that operates on many levels. Progressive
Sludge/Stoner riffs built upon a hard hitting social conscience with
traces of psychedelic post-rock riffs appearing here and there. The
vocals are more confident from their last album. The song-writing has
moved up a different level as well as VAAR seem to have built upon
their previous album. The track ends with a bleak soundclip from the
classic movie There Will Be Blood. It's from this point the album
takes a more sinister and cautious approach with the overall themes
on the album.
Second track - Frail -
opts for a more Sludge/Doom driven sound with a slight Industrial
vibe allowing VAAR to play a more dirge ridden sound.
Third track - Cross To
Bear - sounds like it could have come off the last album as it's
quite a melodic piece of Sludge Rock/Metal with VAAR embracing their
bleaker outlook on life. The hardcore based dual vocals are performed
handled superbly well with the band performing their strongest vocal
performance to date. The psychedelic noises are spliced throughout
the song and it allows the whole atmosphere of the album to move
further into Doom/Post-Metal territory.
Fourth track -
Piecekeeper - is one of the strongest songs on the album as VAAR
embrace their Sludge/Post-Metal sounds with such conviction. The band
even have time to add moments of Psych Stoner Metal and one that will
appeal to fans of Kowloon Walled City.
The final two songs on
the album Warmonger and Wake offer the heaviest two songs on the
album with VAAR becoming more confident with their harsher political
outlook on life. The music is more experimental with the
industrial/post-metal noises of Warmonger creating an unsettling
atmosphere. Wake carries on the bleak sound from Warmonger though
they do include the familiar melodic sounds from their last album.
The production on Wake
is one of the albums main strengths as it sounds superb throughout.
Wake is a different album to Colossus. Whilst Colossus had more
melodic and stoner based sounds. Wake is a more personal and colder
industrial affair. Maybe that's the point that VAAR wanted to make.
To create something heavier and more primal.
Out of the two albums
VAAR have released so far, I still think Colossus is the stronger
album. As the band create an almost perfect blend of melodic sounds
and harsher riffs. Wake contains a few moments of the same melodic sounds
contained on Colossus but this is a more colder and slightly depressing
album. Though Wake is still an excellent album in its own right.
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