Album
Type :
Full Length
Date
Released : 30/5/2014
Label
:
Nuclear Blast
Vader - ‘Tibi Et Igni’ (CD/DD/LP)
track listing :
1. Go to Hell
4:36
2. Where
Angels Weep 2:18
3. Armada on
Fire 3:50
4. Triumph of
Death 3:45
5. Hexenkessel
5:28
6. Abandon All
Hope 2:23
7. Worms of Eden
8. The Eye of
the Abyss 6:45
9. Light
Reaper 4:28
10. The End
4:55
Bio :
Almost three years have passed since the highly
acclaimed »Welcome To The
Morbid Reich« by polish Death Metal legends VADER came out. Following the release
on August 12, 2011, the band that was founded in 1983, landed several
respectable chart entries - #6 in Poland, #17 at the US Billboard Heatseekers
Charts and #73 in Germany to name but a few – VADER hit the road for a massive
tour circle. The touring between November 2011 and November 2013 saw the fierce
foursome play a total of almost 200 shows in 25 different countries.
In 2014, VADER
return with the absolute heaviest album in their career. The Latin titled new
creation »Tibi Et Igni« was recorded between December 2013 and February 2014 at
Hertz Studio in Bialystok (Poland
Demons are
knocking to your door now....
The Band
Peter | vocals
Spider |
guitar
Hal | bass
James | drums
Review :
Often times, while reading a review
about a new Vader album, you’ll find some variation of the phrase “it sounds
like Vader, so you know what you’re getting into”. Now, that might be true to a
certain extent, but there are certainly good and bad Vader albums, despite
being on essentially the same path since their inception. There’s a difference
in conviction and effort that varies from album to album. That is the major
difference that separates an album like “Litany” from an album like ‘The
Beast’, for example. I’m happy to say that ‘Tibi Et Igni’ is more “Litany” than
“Beast” and considerably better than even 2011’s “Welcome to the Morbid Reich”,
which as a very good album.
The album begins with an orchestral
interlude, not unlike what you might hear on a Dimmu Borgir album before
breaking into the bulk of opening song “Go to Hell”, which very clearly recalls
“Legion of the Dead” from Testament’s 1999 album ‘The Gathering’. From that
moment on, Vader is at the top of their game, with extra emphasis on the word
“their”.
It’s a Vader album through and
through, although there are some pleasant deviations from the standard Vader
formula. “Triumph of Death” breaks from the blast-and-thrash of the first
several songs with its mid-tempo stomp. Relative lack of speed aside, it’s a
real headbanger and one of Vader’s best as far as obligatory “break from
the onslaught” kind of songs go.
“Hexenkessel” has a very different
melodic sensibility from a typical Vader song, not to mention the semi-shocking
groove once the cinematic opening fades away. It would typically seem out of
place, but it works better than you’d think. Once the blasting begins, the riff
remains a bit more melancholy; it’s almost borderline black metal. It’s just
one of a number of ways that Vader manages to keep up the energy level of ‘Tibi
Et Igni’ without having the barrage making you numb.
The production on ‘Tibi Et Igni’ is
perfectly suited to Vader. While it definitely sounds like a modern metal
album, there’s enough humanity to it to keep it from sounding overly digital,
which I think was a bit of an issue on ‘Welcome to the Morbid Reich’. The drums
are punchy, but not so mechanical that they sound alien to discerning ears.
Speaking of the drums, new drummer James Stewart seems to be a better fit for
Vader than his predecessor, even with this being his debut album for the band.
That’s not to say Paul Jaroszewicz isn’t a great drummer, but Stewart’s subtle
choices and general style work better for Vader overall.
It must be said that it’s no mean feat
that Vader is still releasing albums of this magnitude at this stage in their
career. Their consistency has only occasionally dipped in the 22 years their
debut, and with ‘Tibi Et Igni’, they have proven that they are still capable of
presenting albums on par with the highest tier of their discography. After all
these years, and like Carcass did with Surgical Steel last year, Vader have
reminded the world with ‘Tibi Et Igni’ that songwriting beats unchecked
brutality every time.
Words by : Daniel
Jackson
You
can get it here
