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SH46 VOG
s/t CD
The Stepping Stones of Humane Survival
Odin's Will
Like the Sky Above
A Man of Action
Transcending the Bullshit
Liar Cheater Thief
Whatever Works |
This
record is incredibly intense and if it doesn’t put Virginia’s
bastard sons Vog on the map then the music world may very well be
deaf. Vog hover somewhere in between punk, sludge, stoner rock,
noise, psychedelic rock, grind, death and black metal, taking
little bits and pieces from each genre and stitching them together
into ugly, purely evil jams that I can only liken to Acid Bath
most directly.
However, Vog really doesn’t sound exactly like Acid Bath except
in just a few instances. The vocal performance on this record is a
bit like Dax Riggs in that it is all over the map ranging between
intense screams that absolutely rage atop the music with some
death growls adding more vitriol and even a bit of clean crooning
that sounds great and incredibly ominous especially in the context
of sprawling epics like “Like the Sky Above” and “Man of
Action” which switch tempos up between eerie, suffocating sludge
and more punishing metal with clean vocals adding a ton of
dementia to the slower parts.
Steve is a different animal than Dax though and his time served in
the mighty Seventh Gate has given him a range that taps into a lot
of stuff that Dax didn’t throw into Acid Bath. The former of
these two songs keeps getting noisier and freaked out as it keeps
going as the pace slows to that of pure, plundering sludge with
crazy effects seeping through the layers of sound like patterns
coming through the floor on a good trip. In fact this whole record
is like being on drugs without actually taking anything and that
is a pretty high compliment.
I just like how this record is all over the place never giving you
a chance to compose yourself or figure out what they are going to
throw your way next. They bring much faster speeds and in your
face vocal assaults on tracks like “Stepping Stones of Humane
Survival” and “Odin’s Will” which are near grind in their
intensity but still draw a certain amount of influence from sludge
and punk, whereas album closer “Whatever Works” finds them
bringing a straight-up southern groove to the forefront with some
fast metallic punk coming in later for more intensity.
The band is incredibly tight overall; I still can’t get over how
insane the vocal performance is. It really hits me on a lot of
levels and Steve has got a tone that is just completely over the
top and unrelenting and the rest of the band is on top of their
game as well. The riffs just keep coming and they are always
changing in speed and style which keeps things busy enough to suit
the aptly pummeling rhythm section as the drummer has plenty of
chances to go completely nuts on the kit.
This is damn fine stuff overall and there’s not one track that
even drags on this record. If you dig Acid Bath then definitely
check out Vog, they take that whole sound and step it up a notch
and add so many of their own nuances to it.
The first time I posted this review, Vog still was without label
support but this thing is now available to the masses courtesy of
Shifty Records. Shifty has also included excellent artwork with
the package and the music sounds even crisper since the first time
I reviewed this album it was still unmastered. If you dig sludge
but are looking for something a bit more insane and off the deep
end then Vog should definitely be worth your time. This disc was
easily in my top 10 last year! Highly recommended! The band is
also back with an altered line-up which is awesome because they
shred in the live setting, so it’ll be interesting to hear how
they lay it down with the new blood.
Review by Jay Snyder
of Hellride Music |
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