Review Summary: I'm "Ultra" Impressed
I want to talk about Vatican today. This band singlehandedly made me excited for the future of metalcore and even heavy music in general. Their succinct songwriting, tense lyricism and considerable rage are infectious and considerably better than other bands attempting to do the same thing. Vatican prove on this full-length record that their passion for heavy music is alive and they are willing to put a lot of effort into crafting excellent songs, fiery breakdowns and even a few hooky melodies along the way.
The album comes out firing all cylinders and continues this pace for 11 out of the 13 songs on this record. “Slipstream Annihilation” features lyricism related to presumably a parent of the vocalist preferring their vice to their own son.
“I have forgotten the pain of not
Having a name to dignify (Dignify)
Numb from the freezing light of your indifference”
The rage of the instrumentals matches the pained and tortured delivery of the vocals. The musical build-up unleashes into insane syncopated chuggy breakdowns; off to a great start.
Instead of going track-by-track and describing in great detail how fantastic each track stands on it’s own merit, I’ll just point out some of my favorites. “When Heaven’s Collide” shows a different side of this insanely technical and heavy band, bringing in sections of clean vocals and soaring melodies featuring tons of emotional weight. The single “[ULTRAGOLD]” features some more of that relentless chuggy and technicality that this band leans into and executes so well. “By Your Love” is another softer cut with great melodies and a great feature from Nathan Hardy. Finally, “N.U.M.B. (Neutralize Under Maternal Bond)” is as emotionally hard-hitting and violently intense as any other of the tracks on here but the lyrics are so nuanced and tormented; you can really feel the pain from behind the pen.
“So pitiful, it seems
To watch your lives, like neoprene
Ill-stitched into my hands
You fray so quickly in the flame”
It goes without saying that this is one of my favorite releases so far this year. Each track tells a succinct and powerful story of pain, loss and hopelessness while featuring blistering riffs, pounding drums, booming basslines and impassioned vocal performances. This will probably be in my top 5 heavy records of the year. I highly recommend if you enjoy technicality, precision, almost the relentless nature of math-core bands yet with discernible grooves and breakdowns. The band is Vatican, and the album is Ultra -good.
4.5/5
