Vile “The New Age of Chaos” CD

For whatever reason, I think Vile's "The New Age of Chaos" has some of the best cover art of the year. I really don't know why, but even months ago when I was starting to see ads for this thing, I totally loved the cover art—which actually made me want to check out the record—and that kind of thing hasn't happened to me very much since I was 14 or 15 and getting into Iron Maiden, ha, ha. Luckily it just happened to show up in the mail awhile back from Unique Leader Records.

From what I've read, it seems that guitarist Colin Davis basically runs the show here in terms of the writing (vocalist Juan Urteaga handles the lyrics, however), and the rest of the band is almost viewed as session musicians—to the point where I believe all of the guitar solos on the record (which are totally fucking awesome, by the way) were performed by guest musicians. I'm not sure how that translates when Vile performs live, and I've honestly never been much of a guest spot fan unless it pertains to a vocal verse or something (which they also do herein with Steev Esquivel from Defiance/Skinlab appearing on "The Burning Shrines"), but it definitely works great on this record, so screw it. The lyrics have been deemed "controversial" by many in their dealings with terrorism and such, but while potentially offensive to Muslims or whatever, aside from one or two portions that push it there's nothing that doesn't really come across as more of a fairly commonplace war-driven/anti-religious death metal slant—it's just geared towards touchy "current" events.

This is Vile's third full-length, and admittedly I've never really heard that much of their prior work. I don't keep up with death metal as much as I'd prefer, but this is a really strong offering that's not quite "old school", but demonstrates more diversity and songwriting ability than most contemporary bands that I tend to come across in the genre. All of the really twisted little dissonant riffs add feeling and atmosphere amidst some typical (yet quality) uses of speed and strong midpaced breathers, and that's always a plus. I enjoy the clarity of the recording, but I have to confess finding it to lack the meatiness that I prefer in my death metal. This could be a phenomenal record with more natural oomph to the percussion and a thicker guitar tone. I definitely dig the bass presence, and the vocals are well mixed considering the spaciousness of everything, but damn do they need to beef up the guitar dominance all around to really flesh out the quality of these songs. And how about those textbook death metal song titles? Hell yeah, I'm such a huge sucker for that shit, ha!

Vile "Suicidal Warfare"
Vile "Ritual Decapitation"

I'm surprised this one isn't in stock at more of my usual stops, but it shouldn't be that hard to come by since Unique Leader tends to have solid distribution (What's up with shit from labels like Unique Leader and Moribund often showing up in stores for fucking $18, though!?), so all you death metal fanatics who for some reason haven't snagged this already, go for it:

@ Relapse Records

In other news, the always opinionated James Edward Raggi IV of the long-running Lamentations of the Flame Princess zine (home to some of the longest and best metal interviews of all time, in my opinion) has just posted the online edition of his infamous "Scum" issue, which outlines in almost painful detail Mr. Raggi's near disgust with the contemporary state of heavy metal (read it and you'll understand). The easiest way to partake of this ambitious diatribe is in .pdf format, but it's also up in an HTML version. Be sure to check out the hilarious cover art, too. And send Jim your angry comments—especially if you're in a band or run a label, he'll have a field day, I'm sure!