Lead Us!!!

Vader packs more punch into the fifteen minutes here than many bands are able to do in a whole album. Lead Us!!! (why so excited, guys?) is three intense and exceptionally amazing songs, even for Vader, and a Slayer cover that’s more redundant than.. actually nothing is more redundant than nearly every death metal band on earth having covered Raining Blood, and now Vader has done it too. Not that it’s bad, in fact it’s pretty good.. But moving on.

Every song has some really unique and cool effect to it. This is like an ep of hits, if Vader or death metal HAD hits. You ever listen to a various artists compilation and only one or two songs stand out so you want to check those bands out? Every song here is THE song from the compilation that would make you want to check out Vader.

The first song (self titled) is pretty much standard Vader. Then in the middle there’s this Krisiun-like breakdown/riffing that builds into a decent-length solo. If you’re in the center of a Vader-Krisiun venn diagram this is right up your alley. The Book whets your appetite with some classical music before laying down a ton of rolling blast beats and a catchy-turns-badass solo. The Book is kinda repetitive but it’s so fucking intense. Quintessential “rolling” death metal sound here all the way. Die!!! (again, too excited for comfort) also starts out with some classical music before turning into Vader at their most lightning fast, plus more soloing. Finishing things off is Raining Blood, which can be described the same way many other covers of this song can be: it’s a well done cover, it sounds like the band in question while doing a legendary song so how can you go wrong?, it’s been done to death but I always enjoy hearing this song in any of its thousand versions, and it’s not better than the original but by no means does it butcher this classic. Hell even my favorite band Malevolent Creation doesn’t get more praise than this for their version.

The Book is probably the best song here. It’s also my favorite off of Impressions in Blood, it doesn’t get any better than that old-school rolling death metal sound they execute flawlessly here. But every song is above and beyond from a band that only puts out top notch efforts to begin with, every Vader fan, fanatical or not needs to hear this at least once.

Expectations are always high when a band has a string of good releases and the fans are eagerly awaiting their band’s next release. After a pretty good release last year (Impressions In Blood) which was highly praised by both fans and critics alike the band released a new EP titled, “Lead Us!!!” earlier this year.

Vader is that kind of band whose music revolves much around the formula of fewer variations in a song. Pretty much the entire song is same except for a few breakdowns and little solos in between. Remove those parts and it seems as if they are playing the same thing over and over again through the track.

The first track in here is “Lead Us” and in true Vader style starts off with a drums and faced paced riffs that are the base of the song. Adrenaline pumping and catchy since the breakdown there comes Vader’s signature style of sudden breakdowns that usually embrace the best riffs of the track and highlights of the album. Such is the case here as well. The vocals are as good as before; the same extreme thrash with death elements kind of vocals.

The next track here is from their previous studio album “Impressions In Blood” and was one of the best tracks in that album. Pretty much similar to the last track in structure a breakdown followed by killer riffs follow after the intro. This breakdown is the highlight of this EP.

The next track is entitled “Die!!”. Starting off with a smooth symphonic intro this track becomes the weakest track present in this EP mainly because of too much wankery on the drums. The vocals seem out of place and sort of forced. Nothing works here right from the bass to the guitars and till the vocals. The band simply loses what they managed to do in both of the tracks mentioned above. Also as I said there are no signature breakdowns or solos in between and because the band follows the formula of almost no variations this track just seems to keep on repeating the same thing again and again.

The last track here is a cover and it’s one of thrash metal most iconic songs… Raining Blood. I personally like the cover more than the original because the band removed all the special effects (which seemed out of place) and the solos (which ruined the track). The tracks starts straight from the riff, Slayer is so famous for and the band Vader certainly lacks no aggression or power here.

The thing that baffles me is why they released this EP in the first place. There are no new tracks here at all, not even a remake or remaster, but the exact same tracks as from their previous releases. Track numbers 2 and 4 are taken from their previous studio album that was released last year and the remaining tracks are from, “The Art Of War EP” which was released 3 year back.

So, there you have it, two good tracks, one weak track and one better-then-the-original cover. Slightly disappointing but if more tracks like “Lead Us” and a lesser amount of tracks like “Die” are present on the next album then fans have nothing to worry about. But sadly if it’s the other way around then the next album may well be one of the band’s weakest attempts. I would give this EP a 75 if it was new but as there is not a single track new here I thinking giving half of that is justified.