The Upcoming End

Vemoth is a Swedish black metal band performing an abrasive, no-frills style that is high on punishment and low on innovation. The Upcoming End is not the band's first foray into the darkness, having released their debut Köttkroksvals a few years past. Stylistically, I was reminded most of their countrymen Marduk and Dark Funeral. The lyrics deal with the occult, doomsday and an anti-Christian mindset.

The real strength of The Upcoming End lies in its sound. This record is loud, tense and bowls you over. The guitars shift between bloody edged, rapid fire melodies and walls of more punkish grinding black metal. Behemiron's vocals are vicious and loud, crowning the mayhem as they soar off into gates of infernal desolation. The material is consistently fast and carnal as on "Lida", "Without the Presence of God" and "Crush the Christian Lies". A few of the tunes (like the title track) have slower, glorious breaks with some good atmosphere, but even these are hostile.

I certainly can't fault this band for trying. The mix is swollen and biting and the equal of most high level black metal recordings, the band is intense and nonstop on their instruments. What I felt lacking here was moments of really memorable riffing. What they have written is alright, but you always get the feeling of familiarity and they rarely spiral off into interesting note patterns. Despite the band's level of aggression, the band feels more violent than evil. The Upcoming End is an explosion of a black metal record, but like most explosives, it is quick to fade out. What the band needs is to go nuclear, so their next assault will irradiate you long after the blast fades.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

After I did an interview with this great act last year I got to hear some preview-tracks from their upcoming album, which really showed some development on their behalf. And now it’s here; "The upcoming end".

Vemoth have definitely honed their sound during the years that have passed, and what we get here is a much more mature record. The melodies are much slicker and effective, the vocals are much more varied… It’s just simply more coherent material. They’re still lingering on the melodic side of black metal, and certainly to the Swedish agenda of it. Just take a track like "Without the presence of God" where the Blodsrit-esque riffing really punches you in the gut, and the powerful chorus will have you screaming along. And then we have "As your king", which starts out with a classic Lord Belial-reminiscent riffing. "Lida" for instance sounds more like their older material, just as "Crush the Christian lies" does, so fans of their previous outputs have no reason to worry. I guess one could say it’s a band in the line of Dark Funeral, Marduk and other Swedish greats (as I’m certain some will, eventhough I wouldn’t say they sound all that alike), but I don’t think that’s fair. Vemoth has a sound somewhat of their own, and they can certainly carry their own weight.

Vocal-wise Behemiron have developed a more varied style of screaming. He still carries that ultra-harsh, semi-gurgled voice, but it’s not constantly in your face as he spices things up a bit, and I think that will certainly attract more listeners. This time around only two tracks have Swedish lyrics, which I suppose will also please a wider selection of audience. I guess I do miss some of their particular lyrical style, but then again this is more mature material all together. The lyrics don’t accompany my promo copy (so I really don’t know if they’re included in the booklet of the actual release, but I hope they are), but the voice lets you hear almost every line.

This is the same wicked band that blew me away with their violent debut album, this time with less violent but stronger material. Another great Swedish black metal act that I hope will get the attention they deserve.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net