VULTURE - Victim To The Blade (2016) MCD

Attention, Speed Metal fans! „Victim To The Blade“, the debut EP of VULTURE is what you are looking for. The band of Nord-Rhine Westphalia combines influences of early Speed and Thrash Metal with a heavy approach and use those ingredients to create fresh yet traditional hymns. „We mainly concentrate on the beginning of Thrash and Speed when Heavy was a basic part of the extreme and the fast. That makes the aggression shines brighter through power and grace.“, says vocalist Steeler and adds: “Bands such as Agent Steel and Slayer are big influences for us, but I would also add Exodus (Paul Baloff), Dark Angel (Don Doty) and Razor (Sheepdog).”

The sovereignty and focus in songwriting and arrangement is just fantastic, especially when you see that the band is founded 2015 and planed „Victim Of The Blade“ just as an appetizer demo for what is to come. Guitarist Genözider: „Actually we wanted to release „Victim To The Blade“ as a tape only demo for the next EP. Contacted for this project, High Roller Records insisted on a Vinyl and CD-release because they were so enthusiastic. This was of course a more than welcome offer because High Roller Records were our first choice for the release of our music in the first place.“

So let's have a few words about the three peak songs on “Victim To The Blade”: „Generally we try to add as many facets as possible to every song without protracting it unnecessarily. The will be no dummy bumbled A minor homages in our music. Variety is something very important in our riffs as much as in our structures. Every song should stand for itself, but a release should also be seen as a complete work.“ states Genözider and gives a word on the high quality standards of the songs: “Our list with potential riffs is very long, and we give our greatest efforts only to take the best of them. VULTURE definitely does not stand still and tries to evolve with every song. But not in a progressive way that throws in different styles by hook or by crook till you think you found yourself but in a just qualitative way. Every song is a lot of work, and at the end of it, we went a big step in a certain direction, what ever direction this is. We are just in the process defining the style of VULTURE.”

The Judas Priest-Cover 'Rapid Fire' fits perfectly laying open the roots of VULTUREs music. It is far more than just another close-to-the-original-version but have its own taste and character. Steeler explains the choice and shows that there is more about than just to find a cool song: “We consciously decided for a song of the “early” Priest, before the time dominated by synthesizers and doublebass attacks. This late time has also its point, but it utterly does not fit to us. The basic and raw of the early days of Heavy Metal are just more soulful than the artificial production and the “more is more”-attitude a la “Painkiller”. Additionally 'Rapid Fire' is perfectly made for Speed-Riffings, so we can bring in our own style. That made the choice easy for us.”

It is no surprise that the band members also play in well-known bands such as Quintessence, Bulldozing Bastard, Luzifer, Hellhunt or Wifebeater. Is there any time left for a new band? „Our main focus is on VULTURE at the moment, so we put our other bands aside for the moment.“ bass man Axetinctor straights out. That main focus calls in every aspect of VULTURE. Genözider points out, why the optic is so important: “It is not about fitting into certain standard cliches or following role models, but to represent the mood of our music also optically. You will not find inverted crosses or pentagrams, but the three time dose Destroyer guitars. You can see how important that is when you see some of the reunion shows of Eighties bands. Look at the Agent Steel Show on Dynamo 2004 or the jogging pants gig of Razor at Headbangers Open Air. My blood runs cold when I see this. We appear as a traditional Metal band, and this is, where I want to make the point.” This also includes the lyrics, as Axetinctor points out: “Generally I would summarize our topics in the title Horror, but the focus is on classic stories and suspense movies. For example, the intro of 'Delivered to Die' is a homage to the synthie melodies of old horror movies.”

It is obvious that the story does not end here, but has just started. With “Victim To The Blade” VULTURE put a strong landmark in the realms of traditional Speed and Thrash Metal, and it is just natural that after such a strong first sign the band is hungry for more: „We are in the songwriting for the debut album at the moment. Concept and direction are there. We hope to finish it in summer.“ We hope so too, guys, and we are really looking forwards for some more sharp and speedy VULTURE-stuff.

Felix Patzig

-Vulture
-D.T.D. (Delivered To Die)
-Victim To The Blade
-Rapid Fire