Vader - Blood/Reign Forever World
2003 - Metal Blade Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Metal Blade website.
Go to the Vader website
Since their emergence from behind the Iron Curtain, Vader have been calmly and effortlessly showing their European counterparts (and, arguably, quite a few American acts) how death metal should be played. Technical without being unlistenably complex, brutal without resorting to wall-of-noise harshness, melodic without being utterly toothless, and pretty much incomparable to any other death metal band, owing more to Bay Area thrash than to the Gothenburg sound. This package includes 2003's first two recordings and four 2002 tracks ('Blood') and 2000's 'Reign Forever World' release (complete with live tracks and covers).
The original material on this disc is practically faultless - Peter's vocals do take some getting used to - his unique combination of growls and Polish inflections is rather unusual in death metal - but instrumentally, bottom-end heavy riffs couple with solos that shred in an impressively 80s stylee while a delicate balance is struck between the instrumental fills - fret-melting string gymnastics and rolling thunder drum fills combine with more restrained riff-a-thons to keep each song varied and interesting. The live tracks serve to show how strong Peter's accent seems to be getting, while the covers are faithfully recreated. Mayhem's 'Freezing Moon' sounds like a totally different band are playing it, while Judas Priest's 'Rapid Fire' is given one hell of an adrenaline shot.
A more than worthy purchase from a band who have yet to disappoint.
8.5/10
2003 - Metal Blade Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Metal Blade website.
Go to the Vader website
Since their emergence from behind the Iron Curtain, Vader have been calmly and effortlessly showing their European counterparts (and, arguably, quite a few American acts) how death metal should be played. Technical without being unlistenably complex, brutal without resorting to wall-of-noise harshness, melodic without being utterly toothless, and pretty much incomparable to any other death metal band, owing more to Bay Area thrash than to the Gothenburg sound. This package includes 2003's first two recordings and four 2002 tracks ('Blood') and 2000's 'Reign Forever World' release (complete with live tracks and covers).
The original material on this disc is practically faultless - Peter's vocals do take some getting used to - his unique combination of growls and Polish inflections is rather unusual in death metal - but instrumentally, bottom-end heavy riffs couple with solos that shred in an impressively 80s stylee while a delicate balance is struck between the instrumental fills - fret-melting string gymnastics and rolling thunder drum fills combine with more restrained riff-a-thons to keep each song varied and interesting. The live tracks serve to show how strong Peter's accent seems to be getting, while the covers are faithfully recreated. Mayhem's 'Freezing Moon' sounds like a totally different band are playing it, while Judas Priest's 'Rapid Fire' is given one hell of an adrenaline shot.
A more than worthy purchase from a band who have yet to disappoint.
8.5/10
