Self-released on a whopping three formats, "The Descent of Man" is the lofty debut full-length from Vestiges, who have curiously enough already mapped out their discography (which is to include two more releases, an EP and an LP), as well as plans to work with a filmmaker to further express the concept behind their work, which is as follows:
"The Descent of Man" follows the creation, the evolution, and the eventual annihilation of mankind. Today, we find ourselves hoping to reverse the damage that we have done and struggling to sustain what little earth we have yet to rape repeatedly. We validate this existence with stories that justify our behavior and our role in the natural world. The promise of salvation in a land we have yet to see has clouded our judgment in a land that is right before our eyes. Industrialization, militarization, overpopulation, theism, speciesism, and nihilism are regarded as evolution and progress. Our greed and ignorance have been celebrated and our past has been forgotten. We were meant to be a part of nature. We were not meant to conquer nature. We were given life and we have done everything in our power to bring death upon everything in our path, including ourselves. There will be horrifying consequences for what we have done.
Bookended by chilling dark ambient soundscapes (the latter of which contains some reversed music and indecipherably manipulated spoken passages), you're left with five lengthy compositions (titled simply "I"—"V") that combine a driving sort of crusty hardcore/punk with black metal and touches of "post-rock" influences. The guitars have a weird, jangly dissonance to the distortion that really changes the overall vibe of the music, though, so even somewhat straightforward, D-beat inspired rhythms end up with a bit of a head-scratch effect. And for that matter, some of the black metal runs could just as easily be tagged "screamo"!? Overall there's a good amount of frantic intensity alongside bits and pieces of churning heaviness, but there's a lot of melody present as well, with some slower, largely instrumental passages that start messing with lush clean guitars and chilled out segues. You really don't hear these types of influences combined all that often, and I know the very notion can be frightening to imagine, but... there are definitely some bands out there who can pull it off in a way that actually makes sense, and Vestiges is among them. You can check out the entire album below via Bandcamp:
On top of the three physical formats, the band has been generous enough to offer the album as a free download, too!?
[DOWNLOAD] Vestiges "The Descent of Man" (@ Bandcamp)
Of course, if you like what you hear, "The Descent of Man" is available on CD (limited to 300), LP (100 on black, 100 on clear with black haze, and 100 on red with black haze), and cassette (limited to 100) through the band's website, so... do the right thing!
Comments
Very nice!
2.23.2011 | By bullettobinary
I really like this record, great songs. I can definitely see the potential, but they need to work on their playing, the drummer is not that tight.
2.25.2011 | By Christian
This is interesting stuff! Not bad for indie rock black metal. I will be checking it out.
2.27.2011 | By Invisible Oranges
Great effort for a debut. I’ve recently seen several bands stating an exact path for their next releases and I’ll be curious how Vestiges execute theirs.
3.5.2011 | By CultMetalSerge