Artist: Vader
Title: Solitude in Madness
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: 1st May 2020
Label: Nuclear Blast
Album Review
Death Metal Legends VADER from Poland are back and their 16th release is a lot stronger than their predecessors. VADER never really vanished during their 37 years long existence and established a solid and devoted fan base. While the previous release ‘The Empire’ (2016) focussed more on rather classic Heavy Metal riffs, ‘Solitude in Madness’ bears tons of what VADER is famous for: highly aggressive and speedy Death Metal.
If you remember ‘Litany’, you will certainly like ‘Solitude in Madness’ and the sound is a lot better nowadays, too. For their latest release, VADER got out of their comfort zone by leaving their home country and recording at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk (UK). The band teamed up with Scott Atkins (AMON AMARTH, CRADLE OF FILTH) as a producer. Atkins was also involved in the song-writing process and this certainly added to the quality of the songs. VADER worked with Atkins for four weeks in summer 2019 and the album was engineered, produced, mixed and mastered during that time. Looking at the track-list, you will find two song from the EP ‘Thy Messenger’ No.3 ‘Despair’ and No. 6 ‘Emptiness’.
The record opens with ‘Shock and Awe’ and gives you a good impression of what will shake your bones during the next 30 minutes. The song is short but really intense and the pattern is continued with ‘Into Oblivion” that is marked by a very high pace. ‘Despair’ is a bit slower but pretty short and so ‘Incineration Of The Gods’ really astonished me, because it starts with a drum solo, before excellent riffing shows, that VADER know their Metal. ‘Sanctification Denied’ is extremely heavy and this attitude won’t back down during the second half of the record. ‘And Satan Wept’ has a strong structure and the brutality of this song is marked by perfectly arranged hits.
‘Emptiness’ gives you the chance to breathe as it is a slow song by VADER’s standards to be followed by ‘Final Declaration’ and then VADER start hitting with full force again ‘Dancing in the Slaughterhouse’ followed by ‘Stigma of Divinity’. The band sees you of with ‘Bones’ and when the last tune is played, 30 minutes of brutal hitting, full force, amazing drum speed and excellent shredding are over. The songs are really intense but 30 minutes are a bit short for a full album and sometimes you couldn’t even recognize a break between the songs, but these things stand back against the overall good quality of this release.
Tracklist
01. Shock And Awe
02. Into Oblivion
03. Despair
04. Incineration Of The Gods
05. Sanctification Denied
06. And Satan Wept
07. Emptiness
08. Final Declaration
09. Dancing In The Slaughterhouse
10. Stigma Of Divinity
11. Bones
Line-up
Peter – Vocals, Guitars
Spider – Guitars
James – Drums
Hal – Bass
Website
http://www.vader.pl / https://www.facebook.com/vader
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9 / 10
Sound: 9 / 10
Total: 9 / 10
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