Era Vulgaris - What Stirs Within
Open Your Ears Music - OYECD002 - 7th July, 2007
By Paddy Walsh
Era Vulgaris play what could best be described as progressive thrash, although there are elements of death metal and even hardcore on display. Now - 'progressive' is a word that's bandied around without much thought these days, but Era Vulgaris have managed to create a set of songs that are brimming with the sort of flashes of technical guitar wizardry melded with sublime songwriting that makes this a winner.
Having plumped for a production that's old school without sounding unlistenable, What Stirs Within is best enjoyed in the spirit of the heyday of Metallica at their proggiest (think ...And Justice For All) - with a slew of lengthy, winding compositions - or even early Death. Indeed, vocalist/guitarist Chris Rob has a distinctly Schuldiner-esque bark that's complimented nicely by some well executed growls and clean vocals, the latter having a kind of early 90s grunge quality that makes a welcome change from the pained emo histronics that are the norm at the moment. Notably, Era Vulgaris seem to have made a point in ensuring that What Stirs Within is an album with one foot in the past but another in the future, and never does it sound jaded. There is a very potent streak of melodicism that runs through this release, giving tracks such as opener 'Brittle' a very listenable quality. However, Era Vulgaris are thankfully at the more vicious end of the prog-metal spectrum, and there are excellent moments of blistering death/thrash throughout, with some quite excellent solos to boot.
How Era Vulgaris are still label-less at this point is beyond me, with such a worthy debut under thier belts (although they have recently snapped up a US distribution deal with The End Records). As an independent release, What Stirs Within is pretty much as good as it gets, and puts an awful lot of established acts to shame during these days of the so-called 'thrash revival'.
Official Era Vulgaris Website
Open Your Ears Music - OYECD002 - 7th July, 2007
By Paddy Walsh
Era Vulgaris play what could best be described as progressive thrash, although there are elements of death metal and even hardcore on display. Now - 'progressive' is a word that's bandied around without much thought these days, but Era Vulgaris have managed to create a set of songs that are brimming with the sort of flashes of technical guitar wizardry melded with sublime songwriting that makes this a winner.
Having plumped for a production that's old school without sounding unlistenable, What Stirs Within is best enjoyed in the spirit of the heyday of Metallica at their proggiest (think ...And Justice For All) - with a slew of lengthy, winding compositions - or even early Death. Indeed, vocalist/guitarist Chris Rob has a distinctly Schuldiner-esque bark that's complimented nicely by some well executed growls and clean vocals, the latter having a kind of early 90s grunge quality that makes a welcome change from the pained emo histronics that are the norm at the moment. Notably, Era Vulgaris seem to have made a point in ensuring that What Stirs Within is an album with one foot in the past but another in the future, and never does it sound jaded. There is a very potent streak of melodicism that runs through this release, giving tracks such as opener 'Brittle' a very listenable quality. However, Era Vulgaris are thankfully at the more vicious end of the prog-metal spectrum, and there are excellent moments of blistering death/thrash throughout, with some quite excellent solos to boot.
How Era Vulgaris are still label-less at this point is beyond me, with such a worthy debut under thier belts (although they have recently snapped up a US distribution deal with The End Records). As an independent release, What Stirs Within is pretty much as good as it gets, and puts an awful lot of established acts to shame during these days of the so-called 'thrash revival'.
Official Era Vulgaris Website
