Vyrju - Black

Vyrju is a (mostly) one-man black metal band from Norway. Jan F. Lindso performs all instruments except drums and clean vocals which are handled by session musician Tim Yatras. Lindso contacted me on Twitter before the album's release last year in hopes I'd review Black and it unfortunately got lost in the shuffle. Time to make amends, however brief.

Over four songs Lindso, as Vyrju searches deeply for peace. Through undulating melodies and icy tremolos one can feel the desperation. Marching rhythms feel like a listless plod through life, one foot in front of the other, moving inexorably towards doom.

"The Residue of Life" begins majestically before launching into a scathing black metal tirade with anguished screams calling to the void. Despite the outpouring one does not feel a sense of triumphant catharsis. Just endless suffering, emptiness and misery. While instrumental "Gone" and its acoustic nature lays bare a tortured soul that rages elsewhere.

Black is dark and necrotic, pulling inspiration from second-wave bleakness while fulfilling the desired melodic quotient. It's very personal lyrically as well as musically becoming something both its creator and the listener can get lost in.

Black is both fiery and beautiful reflecting a deep-seated anxiety towards finding peace within oneself and the struggle to get there. This is emotionally-charged melodic black metal worth getting into. If only I'd done so earlier.

Black on Bandcamp

Vryju Official Site

Vyrju on Facebook

Vyrju on Twitter

Fayne - The Queen of Kings

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on The Queen of Kings by Montreal's Fayne. Mostly because this sort of music is targeted at a young audience and at 36 I feel anything but young. But also because regardless of age, there isn't much that's interesting about it.

Metalcore/deathcore is a tired genre whether the genre's backers want to admit it or not. And Fayne pretty much regurgitate the same recipe as a million other bands. Whiney emo vocals, like Alien Ant Farm covering Michael Jackson's “Smooth Criminal”, or a third-rate Chino Moreno, trade off with your typical death grunts.

(I kid you not, mere seconds after writing that Alien Ant Farm bit, a guy walked in on me and when I shut it off for him to use the phone he says “Oh I know that one! Smooth Criminal! Alien Ant Farm!” To which I replied “You'd think so. But no.”)

Breakdowns a plenty and that djenty lack of flow comprise the bulk of their sound, with a fair share of guitar acrobatics and emotive solos. Some of those breakdowns are worthy of breaking a chair over someone's face (in a good way) but it's nothing countless others can conjure up.

Stuff like this sells whether I like it or not. I suppose it does have a market (a buddy of mine likes it) among the melody deprived karate dancers. And for what it's worth it sounds good. But despite production values that make The Queen of Kings sound as clean as a waxed asshole, it doesn't change the fact that what's coming out is shit. And it doesn't smell like roses either.

Released November 20, 2014

The Queen of Kings on Bandcamp

Fayne on Facebook

Can-Con Double Feature: The BODY POLITIC - Egressor and WHERE GIANTS ONCE STOOD - Live Above

I try and support Canadian metal, I really do. But sometimes I get promo CDs that I have a hard time promoting. Like Egressor, the new EP from Nanaimo's The Body Politic. And even then it comes down to taste. The Body Politic can be categorized generally as mainstream metal. A young band for young fans. I'm old.

There are a lot of progressive elements weaving their way through the emo-core these lads are co-ordinating. Djent and staccato rhythms hammer away as synth/key melodies meander below the current and soaring vocals trade off with aggressive screams.

At times TBP sound like they are tripping over themselves in an effort to make the songs as jagged as possible. Also, in the attempt to diversify they shoehorn parts in where they aren't necessary and it can ruin any flow the song has going.

There's no doubt their live show is a co-ordinated attack with the long-banged masses losing their shit over the emotive outpouring juxtaposed against the back-breaking poly-metrics. For those raised on Sumerian-core, Protest the Hero or anyone who thinks that Meshuggahswitch Engage would be the sickest shit ever will find that Egressor scratches that itch between the shoulder blades. But if you had pimples when say, Metallica released ...And Justice for All, you might want to run the other way.

http://thebodypolitic.bandcamp.com/track/armature-single 

On your way out of there you may come across the place Where Giants Once Stood. This Toronto group bears a lot of similarities to TBP but take things in a more metalcore direction. There are still staccato rhythms but they incorporate more groove and defined breakdowns on their EP Live Above. Less emo, more aggro. Vocally the death growls and snarls pull down the clean vocals making it all less whiny sounding than it could be. The technicality is less in your face but still tight. Many karate moves will be flashed around the pit at a WGOS show, I can guarantee you that. I could have seen such a sight for myself a couple weeks ago but I was out of town.

I can hear a similarity to Linkin Park here and there but without the electronic elements and again, less whiny. Actually, the growls and snarling screeches aren't all that bad. “Living In Security” (nifty little play on words) has some nice guitar work, both within the riffs and the solos but follows with the syncopated nature of the album.

Less progressive and more -core than their Nanaimo counterparts, WGOS may appeal to a larger subset of metal's younger demographic. Still not my cup of tea but I could see this doing well on satellite radio or that Vevo metal channel. Plus, I know a guy who is going to love both. Kids these days....

https://soundcloud.com/where-giants-once-stood