Review Summary: A tragically underrated death metal affair.
I'm continually amazed and shocked by the fleeting nature of modern music; 15 minutes of fame is even more brief than it used to be, thanks to the seemingly endless database of music available thanks to the Internet's widespread use. Anybody and their dog can release their Garageband project and sell it using Bandcamp or SoundCloud, regardless of quality or . As a result, an inexcusable amount of groups, solid or otherwise, slip through the cracks simply because of the saturation of music (have you ever tried to grasp the enormity of Encyclopaedia Metallum's database?). Unfortunately, Veld is one of those bands, somehow easily forgotten or overlooked. As far as what I've found, this Belarusian four-piece's third full length, "Daemonic: Art of the Dantalian", was a brief highlight in their career otherwise shrouded in obscurity, thanks to its release on label Possession Records. "Daemonic..."s successor, "S.I.N." is the band's first to Listenable Records, home to ensembles such as the black metal band Acheron, experimental death metallers Disbelief, doom purveyors King Witch, and industrial death shenaniganizers The Amenta--all groups who have released solid music but haven't become mainstays of their respective metallic subgenres.
Similar to "Daemonic..." before it, if "S.I.N." is any indication, Veld should be a household name.
What makes these Belarusians' music so potent is their vicious blend of technical and blackened death metal. While it contains the dissonant technicality of groups such as Ulcerate or Gorguts, it is done through the sinister filter of bands like Behemoth or Azarath. As a result, "S.I.N." hits hard, fast, and relentlessly. After intro track "The Beginning of Madness", "Grand Day of Demise" wastes no time blowing speakers with addictive riffs, brutal blastbeats, and stinging dissonance. Vocalist Kirill Bobrik has a viciously versatile set of styles, relying primarily on a mid-low with a nasty rasp, and sparingly including brutal lows and blackened screeches. The production emphasizes each instrument clearly and crisply--this is not an exercise in low-fi OSDM, but rather emphasizes the whole as greater than the sum of its parts.
While the sound overall is not something terribly original, there's just something about Veld's sound that
works. Whether it's the punishing tremolo of "Everlasting Hate", the foreboding dynamics of "Divine Singularity", the shredding solos of "We Will Forever Be" and "Throne of SIN", the blackened atmosphere of "Sacred War of Lawlessness (Invert Your Savior)", or the groove-laden riffs of "Perfecting Slavery" or "Hatred Forever Dispersed", the moral of "S.I.N." is one of songwriting and fluid transitions. Each section flows flawlessly into the other, commanded by the charisma of Bobrik's vocals.
Veld's fourth full-length shows the work of veterans, even if they haven't been at all given the fruits of their labors since their inception in 1995. They are vastly underrated and deserve a place in the hearts of death metal fans everywhere.
