Band:	Vhan
Album:	Hero Vs Hero
Style:	Metalcore
Release date:	January 2010
A review by:	Thryce

01. Now You'll Know My...
02. Secret
03. First Blood
04. His Life On TV
05. The Faithful
06. My Mission
07. The Hunt
08. Crash (A Beast In A Soul)
09. Hero Vs Hero

In a certain way, Belgium is like a booger. Small, insignificant and hard to locate - but it's there... somewhere. Before you start throwing in some horrible Belgian jokes, clichés and Monthy Python references, let me assure you that Belgium, as insignificant as it may be, sure knows how to sprout smashing metal bands... like Vhan for example. Yes, we Belgians know how to rock your world - that is, more than some make-up-soaked wannabee-Barbie slut with plastic boobs ever will... Bret.

All kidding aside, Vhan is a Belgian metalcore band bringing the real deal. Vhan has a sound like dynamite and their debut album Hero Vs Hero turns out to be a little bomb. Indeed, Vhan are found pretty convincing and deadly contagious, as the band is relying on massive rhythms, raging grooves and heavy melodies with hardcore rooted screams more than anything else. By all means, this is a band with a bit of an attitude. By that I mean they're not entirely badass, as their sound is a bit too accessible and compelling for that. Still the music has enough raw elements and sharp edges to bring the angry headbanger inside you to a mild delirium. Vhan's catchy approach (not speaking about the vocals!) even reminded me a wee little bit to the Killswitch Engage-kind of melodic metalcore. Nonetheless, this band really has more power and strength up its sleeve, making them able to please a large number of the non-metalcore-minded metalheads too.

To me personally, metalcore isn't such an interesting genre. Metalcore is what it is, and what you see is what you get - most of the time. But that doesn't mean Hero Vs Hero didn't spice my interest. Although Vhan are far from being innovative and groundbreaking, they still manage to sound surprisingly fresh at times - something I really appreciate from metalcore bands.
Earlier I described the album as a little bomb... but I cannot help but feeling there's something missing to call it a total blast of an album. Though, seeing this is only the band's very first album, you have to give them credit for what they accomplished so far on Hero Vs Hero.

At the end of the ride, Vhan turns out to be one mean booger you'd be more than happy to catch. And maybe, just maybe, this is that one mean booger you even want to put into your mouth just to check if the taste is as nice as it looks like. No matter how you slice it, this is one fine pick of an album.