VANTABLACK WARSHP
VANTABLACK WARSHIP "Last of the Hardmouthed Poets"
By Dr. Abner Mality
Here's a strange one from up north in Montreal. Even the band name is off the wall. The inspiration behind the album is also unusual...it draws influence from Kerouac, Ginzberg and other poets of the Beat Generation. Not a typical influence for a loud and extremely noisy metal album, but it's there. There's a kind of looseness and "on the fly" feel to the music and especially the angry vocals of one Yannick Pilon that fits that inspiration.
The word "thrash" gets tossed around in describing VANTABLACK WARSHIP. It's here, but I get much more of a hardcore feeling to the music...like an angry punch to the face, with punk energy and a groove metal heart. And that bass sound! Holy shit, I don't know if this band even needs a guitarist, because the bass here just pulverizes everything and makes D.D. from OVERKILL sound positively timid. It's in every song and boy, it's loud and heavy!
The heaviness and anger is here, make no doubt, but there's a kind of loose sloppiness to the song construction that hurts it, at least for me. The last third of the album, with tracks like "Gone", "Fameless" and "Above It All", has that feel in spades and when Pilon isn't yelling like a madman, he lets loose with a kind of "scat" type of stream of consciousness singing that is surely inspired by those beat poets. Check out the first part of "Above It All". It's very much an acquired taste and I don't think I've acquired it.
The album is a mish-mash of hardcore, groove and thrashy noise that is certainly unique and intense. The songwriting needs some tightening up and then maybe VANTABLACK WARSHIP can make a real mark.