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Vex: Thanatopsis

21/03/11 || Altmer

I have no idea what the word “Thanatopsis” is supposed to mean. Wikipedia gives me, the unwitting ignoramus, something like the root “thanatos” (meaning death) and “opsis” relating to sight. A proper translation would render it as “Meditation upon Death”. If this album is supposed to be a meditation upon death, then I’m not sure how that works. If this is pretense-speak for “atmospheric death metal”, then I suppose it’s apt enough, but I have no idea whether that’s the case. Let’s be nice for once and run with this idea.

One good thing about the album opener is: no vocals, and a lot of death metal riffs. This is a good, good combination. Most vocalists in this genre have the ability to entirely destroy the music (of course, not all growlers suck ass), but often they do, and the good music gets lost with the monkeyburpers squawking over the songs. No such problems on the first song here: purely instrumental metal. I am pleased with this; it lets me focus on the music without being irritated by useless instrumentation (vocals are an instrument too, you know). Unfortunately that lasts for exactly one song, and we do get a vocalist in the mix. He ain’t too good. I hope these guys listen to the first song again and realize THAT’s how you’re supposed to do this music if you can’t find an amazing singer.

The guitar riffs are pretty sweet too. It reminds me of Ulcerate, in a way. Some of the lead guitars are very Opeth/Agalloch, and quite neatly executed. Basically, everything about the guitar playing is good. Riffs flow neatly into each other (don’t expect verse/chorus affairs here) and are sufficiently groovy to work in context. The guitar production leaves something to be desired. I could do with some good punch in the guitar tone, but I suppose that’s too much to ask. The band likes veering into slightly melodic modes, reminiscent of those atonal Opeth-style solos. I even discern some Death influences at times. Good shit.

What I like is that there’s a lot of stuff going on that is clearly influenced by old masters, but that the band doesn’t specifically sound like any of them. They manage to have a sound somewhat their own. That is pretty great considering about 1/1000 bands manage to achieve this nowadays. That is worth points alone.

There are a few minuses though: the vocalist clearly likes his Chucky, but he’s just a bad impersonator I’m afraid. Nothing special, and the vocals (along with the drum production) are the weakest part of this disc. The drums sound like absolute shit and it baffles me why someone would put that kind of production on a record. Clicky is an understatement. Get a good, organic drum sound please. Fucking hell, this isn’t hard to get, is it?

Overall, I’d say this lot has potential, and quite a bit of it. I don’t hear any bass so that means they probably didn’t care about it (and neither do I, come to think of it). The playing is pretty excellent, the vocals and production need some work. I love the atmosphere they’re trying to bring across here, but a good production for the drums and a bit more punch would work wonders. However, as a first record, it’s pretty neat. And that’s even with the meh vox.

Recommendation: Production needs beefing and vocals need fuck you. Keep the style, you’re set with that. Looks like America did something right…

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Horror Pain Gore Death
Website: Vex MySpace
Band
Olando “Logan” Perez: vocals
Ciaran McCloskey: guitars
Michael Day: guitars
Bill Edgar: bass
Owen McCloskey: drums

Tracklist
01. Thanatos
02. Motionless
03. Apocalyptic Dream
04. Eyes of Wrath
05. Erosion
06. Era of Delusion
07. The Past is Frozen

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