Monday, January 28, 2013

Album Review: Vengeance - "2011 Demo"

Remember my review of the Faxe/ Grunt Grunt split? Yeah I know, it was so long ago. Well, Bert, the guitarist of Grunt Grunt contacted me about his other band Vengeance, which he plays bass in. They released a twelve track demo back in 2011, and as much as I wasn`t a fan of Grunt Grunt, I'm really glad he introduced me to his other band.


Vengeance plays a style of powerviolence similar to bands like Despise You or Water Torture. Quick, devastating songs that sound like 80s hardcore on steroids, more focused on delivering moshpit levels of chaotic energy than on clean production, technicality, or variety. Vengeance is moshing music for moshing people, and it doesn't give a shit whether you like it or not.

What jumps out at you first from this demo is the use of three (!) vocalists. Two dedicated vocalists, Marie and Thomas belt out most of the throat shredding vocals, and drummer Tibo jumps in too whenever he can. Honestly, I'm not sure which voice belongs to Thomas and which one to Tibo, but both dudes a responsible for some dirty as fuck screams. Marie is also an awesome vocalist here, because since every woman in a hardcore band and their mothers are trying to be the new Kat Katz nowadays, we don't get many female vocalists you just yell their fucking hearts out. We get women busting out guttural squeals and old school death metal growls, and that's what's making them sound like everyone else. It's really refreshing to hear Marie bring some powerful female punk vocals into the mix.

The songs switch between fast and really fuckin' fast, with tons of blast beats, d-beats, and thrash beats pushing them along to the sweet riffing. Vengeance aren't reinventing or innovating hardcore/ powerviolence riffage here, but they strike a great balance between over the top chaos and headbangable grooves which adds up to a wicked 10 minutes. Yeah, this demo is only 10 minutes long with 12 songs crammed on to it, but these guys and gal have managed to keep things consistently interesting and entertaining for its entire running time.

One last thing I need to say is that I'm actually really impressed with the production work. Considering it's just a demo, everything sounds thick as fuck, evenly mixed and pretty damn clear. I don't know how or where they recorded this demo, but it sounds awesome.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Vengeance, In Front of the Wall, Kill Yourself and Die

On a Playlist With: Water Torture, Despise You, (new) Agoraphobic Nosebleed

Overall Score

4.0

Vengeance's 2011 demo is the aural equivalent of being beat over the face with a bag full of bricks. It's some high-caliber powerviolence for any fan of hardcore, grindcore, or punching holes in the walls. I'm definitely going to try and keep my eye on them in case they drop any splits or EPs anytime soon.

You can check out Vengeance on their Bandcamp and download their demo for free.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

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