Vanisher - Unbound review
Band: | Vanisher |
Album: | Unbound |
Style: | Metalcore |
Release date: | July 31, 2012 |
A review by: | Susan |
01. Orchids/Unbound
02. Seven Years Buried
03. Destined To Drown
04. Into The Sands
05. Deceiver
06. Blood Red Sky
07. Ghosts Of Yesterday
08. Reaction
Vanisher. About as melodic as metalcore gets.
Unbound is immediately enjoyable and, due to the high energy of the players, stays engaging throughout. It's catchy and memorable? but only to the point that it holds your attention and leaves you wanting more. Despite the melodic metalcore tag, this is never the sickening variety of "catchy" with saccharine hooks and the like. It's heavy, appropriately driving, and the vocals are incredibly emotional and powerful, spanning quite a range and simply electrifying the music of each track. For only a sophomore album, Vanisher presents an incredibly professional, cohesive, and polished opus.
Plus, it's just fun.
This album seems to tempt metalcore in a more hard rock/classic heavy metal direction and that is the subtle ingredient that helped Unbound catch my ear. Slight 80s rock vibes creep in on "Into The Sands" and hard rock traditions are insinuated on excellent closing track "Reaction," among several others.
Some of you will undoubtedly be turned off by the accessibility, commercial viability, and melodic nature of Vanisher and there is nothing I can do about that. But look, there will always be metal music that is more mainstream or accessible than the rest. That's just a fact. So, if there must be mainstream metal, let's make sure it's good. Vanisher proves that you can be straightforward and at the same time NOT suck. It's a neat trick!
This is undemanding metal but it's certainly not without plenty of interesting bits. I won't go so far as to say "progressive elements" but I will say this: if you let Vanisher lead you on this journey you won't be bored and you won't look back.
Listen at Bandcamp.
|
Written on 10.12.2012 by
Susan appreciates quality metal regardless of sub-genre. Metal Storm Staff since 2006. Twitter: @HeavyMetalSusan |
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