Thursday 9 July 2015

Vintage Warlords - 'The Invisible Foe' EP (Review)



...juddering old school Morbid Angel type riffs abound and the darkness (not the band!) pervades the whole sound as things get very bleak indeed

Album Type: EP
Date Released: 17/05/2015
Label: Redefining Darkness Records

‘The Invisible Foe’ CD//DD track listing:

1). Exodus of Souls (7:32)
2).  The Invisible Foe (6:40)
3).  From Orange to Grey (7:40) 

Vintage Warlords:

Conor Byers | Vocals
Thomas Haywood | Guitars, Bass, Drums

Review:

Death/Doom from the US, this EP comes with an expansive and reverb drenched sound and a whole load of down-tuned and creepy delights. Opener “Exodus of Souls” is very doomy indeed (growl vocals, and a few deathly passages but mostly... doom). The death elements come towards the back end of the track but the doom sensibility remains throughout.

“The Invisible Foe,” as the title track, presents a rather different facet of the band. Things get much more deathly here- juddering old school Morbid Angel type riffs abound and the darkness (not the band!) pervades the whole sound as things get very bleak indeed. There are some great changes throughout and the band really do meld death and doom seamlessly. There are some faster passages and lead breaks too. Cracking stuff!

“From Orange to Grey” is the longest track on offer here (the EP gives you a very pleasing 22mins or so in total) and shows the bands for low and slow doom with a creepy feel to good effect. There are much faster sections on offer too and a fine example of the slow riffs of doom combined with double bass drum work and thrashier beats associated with death metal. Put simply, if you are a fan of the death/doom genre and are looking for something different to the endless Asphyx clones out there, then this EP should definitely be checked out. It is melancholy and creepy by turns with some superb guitar work to really draw you in.

Words by: Richard Maw

‘Invisible Foe’ is available here

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