Vile - Metamorphosis

It's been a long time since I listened to Vile. In fact, the last time I heard these guys was their "Depopulate" opus which I absolutely adored. Along time has since passed, 10 years in fact, and the guys have had an album out since that and of course the single "Wolf At Your Door". Now I must confess that I only heard a track or 2 from "The New Age Of Chaos" which did sound pretty cool but I did not persue it any further. So here we are 10 years later since I last properly heard these guys and its worth mentioning that these guys have changed! For the better or not I'm not sure.

Firstly, it has to be pointed out that Vile has turned pretty melodic with everything sounding pretty clean on the recording. It's crystalline. The guitars have no real outright heaviness and sound quite thin. The majority of the girth of the recording is provided by the bass which is quite high in the mix which I am a fan of but it does sometimes overpower the mix a little. The bass here is provided by Erland Caspersen of Deeds Of Flesh/Blood Red Throne (and many more) fame. I have to say whilst overpowering, the bass does sound damn good and superbly executed. The drums are second to none and absolutely bludgeon the senses, which to me, is the only thing that reminiscents the Vile of days gone by. The drums are triggered but not in a ridiculous plastic box/Pete Sandoval kinda way. They are somewhat more natural sounding.

Vocals, which to me is a key point here, used to be provided by none other than, Juan Brujo of Brujeria fame (Vile was his original band) and therefore I am very familiar with his bark. In the years gone by Juan has been replaced by Mike Hrubovcak of Monstrosity and whilst he's a fantastic vocalist I don't believe his sound sits well against the bands tones. Or perhaps I'm just a little biased to the Vile of Old!? I come across quite harsh perhaps in this review but "Depopulate" is so far removed to what the guys are at now. Tracks like "March Towards The Dawn" and "I Am Alive" are right kick in the face but I feel the album just seems to plod along with no real kinetic energy. They seem to have lost this. It's not a bad album, not at all. It just seems quite generic and without being ignorant, quite boring. This is not the Vile we all know and love. The band can do better than this. Hopefully next album will be a return to brutal form.

1. March Towards The Dawn
2. The Revealing
3. What Lies Beyond
4. Rise
5. I Am Alive
6. Wolf At Your Door
7. I Am Become Death
8. Shadow Work
9. Prophetic Betrayal
10. As One
11. Redemption