Vesicarum - Reign Of Terror
With a short dose of nasty, old school death metal decided those British ravagers Vesicarum from Kent to open the stage for their band in age 2020. "Reign Of Terror" is their first release as a band and consists of 4 tracks and an outro. The songs are mid-tempo, aiming to the groove mostly, bringing a lot in mind bands as Bolt thrower and early Entombed.
Title track opens and after a couple of rusty, haunted guitar notes the main riff breaks in. Typical 4/4 beat following a plain structure. Everyone here aims in the simplicity of the genre. The vocals are following the Entombed pattern (maybe a bit cleaner than that). Harsh mostly with a clear accent. This gets obvious in the second track when even someone not so into death metal can understand every word. What the vocals lack of though, is flow. The same flow is used more or less for each track making them sound a bit dull. Something that could easily be hidden if the tracks were a bit shorter in length. Their average length is 4 minutes and unfortunately those four minutes consists of 2-3 riffs.
What this EP lacks of is some smart breaks here and there. Maybe a solo or a clever lead that would let the songs breathe and make their simplicity easier to digest. The themes themselves are not something to die for but what kind of buries them is the sense of repetition you get even in the first hearing.
There are some bright moments like the opening of 'The Sick And Depraved'. Kind of Bolt Thrower-ish but it manages to repeat itself and get dull in the long run. Vesicarum is a rather new band. Formed in 2016. They need to find clever ways to add color to their music without this taking away their roughness. Despite the negative points on "Reign Of Terror", we’re talking about a new band that has all the time in front of them to improve and evolve. Waiting on their next release.
2 / 5 STARS
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Title track opens and after a couple of rusty, haunted guitar notes the main riff breaks in. Typical 4/4 beat following a plain structure. Everyone here aims in the simplicity of the genre. The vocals are following the Entombed pattern (maybe a bit cleaner than that). Harsh mostly with a clear accent. This gets obvious in the second track when even someone not so into death metal can understand every word. What the vocals lack of though, is flow. The same flow is used more or less for each track making them sound a bit dull. Something that could easily be hidden if the tracks were a bit shorter in length. Their average length is 4 minutes and unfortunately those four minutes consists of 2-3 riffs.
What this EP lacks of is some smart breaks here and there. Maybe a solo or a clever lead that would let the songs breathe and make their simplicity easier to digest. The themes themselves are not something to die for but what kind of buries them is the sense of repetition you get even in the first hearing.
There are some bright moments like the opening of 'The Sick And Depraved'. Kind of Bolt Thrower-ish but it manages to repeat itself and get dull in the long run. Vesicarum is a rather new band. Formed in 2016. They need to find clever ways to add color to their music without this taking away their roughness. Despite the negative points on "Reign Of Terror", we’re talking about a new band that has all the time in front of them to improve and evolve. Waiting on their next release.
2 / 5 STARS
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1. Reign Of Terror
2. The Sick And The Depraved
3. Midnight Slasher
4. Early Warning Signs Of A Serial Killer
5. Undivine End
2. The Sick And The Depraved
3. Midnight Slasher
4. Early Warning Signs Of A Serial Killer
5. Undivine End
