Violence from the Vault

A fantastic, drugged up masterpiece made from the sludge - metal masters, buzzov*en.

The album itself is a really well - done, balanced EP. The first track "Mainline" is probably my favourite song on the album. It is a really hardcore and fucking heavy song. The second track "Paintake" is just as better. The third track "Breed" is very good, but somehow, the first two tracks are just that tiny more intense than this one. The fourth track, "Nod" has a very disrespected reputation for several reasons. In my opinion,I don't mind the song because I am a true sludge metal fan. But most listeners of the song just think "what the fuck?" because it just drones on and on with mumbling and low - tuned instruments. Another reason people hate it is because it runs on for nearly sixteen minutes. Now, as a very huge doom metal fan as well, I do not care about the extreme length of the song. One last complaint people tend to state is that the song seems to have been made with a heavy dose of hard drugs because of its really distorted sounds; In my words, I like the song and recommend it. The final track "I Never" is a tiny bit like "Breed" but more slow - paced. I am let down by this song because the audio at the beginning goes on for about half the actual track, so you get the feeling you are watching a blind film.

My conclusion is that this album is great. I'd only recommend it to people that like droney, sludgey and drugged music.

Here we have an earthed demo by the mighty Buzzov*en. While it is certainly rough around the edges (as it should be), it is a strong showcase of what the band had to offer, before their first split. I honestly cannot understand people's issue with the production. The fact that it was left as it was from the original tape, gives the material true rawness and grit. The sound of the visceral.


If anyone has watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre on both vhs and dvd, knows there is a world of difference between the two mediums. While the dvd might be more crisp and clear, it's missing the filthy aura that helps makes the film truly great. It is literally like unearthing something pure, organic, and nauseating. The same can be said of Violence From the Vault.


The material is lo-fi and heavy as fuck. A majority of the tracks feature a slew of samples in classic Buzzov*en fashion. They range from deranged to hilarious, (most the former), including several from the HBO documentary on the Iceman Killer, Richard Kuklinski. While most won't like or understand the track "Nod", it is like a heavily drugged up Melvins track. A crawling pace, with the strings sounding like they are falling off of the neck. Vocals that sound like Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers is running them thru his patented Gibbytronix. As the title implies, it is the aural equivalent of a heavy dose of heroin.


Any illusion that this is a "poor man's Electric Wizard", should keep in mind that Buzzov*en had already been around for a while, when the mighty Electric Wizard were still in their infant stages. Hell, this demo was recorded the same year that Electric Wizard released their first lp. Buzzov*en along with their U.S. contemporaries, Eyehategod and Grief, pioneered sludge. And this is a sordid statement in an already filthy genre.

Another of those releases from a band (or most likely, label) conjuring up old material that will appeal only to die-hard fans of the artist in question; this time is Buzzov*en's "Violence From The Vault" EP. I've really only best known Buzzov*en as a linked artist to sludgy bands like Weedeater and Sourvein down the years rather than any music of their own, and this five-track EP, actually recorded around 1995, is not going to help change that matter a great deal. Effectively sounding like a poor man's Electric Wizard, and a very poorly produced one in that case if this release is anything to go by, "Mainline", "Paintake" and "Breed" all open with scratchy samples before rolling into a concoction of bass-heavy sludge tunes that feature virtually no musical landmarks or points of interest whatsoever against more successful proponents of the style like the 'Wizard and Crowbar.

It is with "Nod" however that my patience runs out and the EP's mark drops from an average to a poor one. At first I thought the druggy sloppy EW (not my own, of course) riffs plodded out in the first few minutes would lead to something...but 10 minutes in and still nothing has happened. The mumbling and rumbling is a waste of time and quickly becomes a negative, rather than neutral, influence on the EP as a whole. Closer "I Never" begins in desperately similar fashion, before breaking into some typical sludgy doom for the final minute, making me determined not to sit through it again. Well, I have, and again too; enough time to reassure you dear reader not to spend your money on this, unless you really, REALLY love Buzzov*en.

Originally written for www.Rockfreaks.net

Over ten years have passed since the Thrash/Sludge outfit Buzzov•en split up, with only one compilation CD released in between to keep the spirit alive. Now, we have the release Violence From The Vault to break the silence. While this does feature new material, Violence From The Vault is not an album by a reunited band, but rather the release of five songs that were put onto cassette tape around 1995, and just never saw the light of day until now, almost 15 years later. It's definitely nice to hear if you enjoy the style, or the band, but it's more a question of how well the material has aged and if it can stand up against today's technology.

The material on here is actually really good, being very heavy and well composed. It's rather saddening that all but "Nod" and "Mainline" have been kept tucked away all this time, since these two have been featured on smaller EP releases after the break up of the official line-up around 1995. What's worse is that these songs never really had the fortune of being properly recorded. "Mainline" and "Paintake" really stand out as the better tracks on the release, with "Breed" being a rather poor-sounding track due to the overuse of the same repetative samples and guitar chords being rung out then going back in throughout, which is enough to induce a pretty bad headache. This is about the time that we start going pretty fast away from any Thrash, even Punk, sound that was present, and head first into a heavy Sludge atmosphere with "Nod" and "I Never".

The real debate about this release is whether or not it should have been mastered in any way. The recording has been left as it originally was, letting you hear the raw power the material had on the original tapes. However, the transition between the old cassette tape to CD now isn't all that great since it does affect the material, sounding as if you're listening to a low bitrate MP3 file with some washed moments, particularly with the drums, throughout the release. While remastering the music on here probably would have been a very bad idea, though I'm sure the tracks would have benefitted from it greatly, much long the insanely long Sludge-heavy track "Nod", which really just seems to drag on after a while, and "I Never" as far as the openning Sludge moments of the track go.

All in all, Violence From The Vault is an excellent addition for the Buzzov•en fan. Aside that, if you're not too into raw recordings from ages ago, this one might be something you'll skip on. There's no doubt the release starts off great, but begins to go downhill about the time you hit "Breed", and the washed out quality from the transfer of tape to CD clearly didn't do much to help out, making some of the Sludge moments sound muffled and often indecipherable between music and noise with "Nod". Either way, the material found on Violence From The Vault depicts a band with a lot more potential then they unfortunately left us with.

Originally posted on December 20th, 2009 at Apoch's Metal Review
www.apochs.net