Norway’s VULTURE INDUSTRIES has been a case of quality over quantity from its inception, so we’ll forgive them if it takes a year, or three, or four between albums. Swimming just beneath the surface, it seems, in the ocean that is prog-infused metal without going full-bore into unabashed wankery, the five-piece has never gotten its due, at least from where this fellow sits.
And now, six (count ‘em!) years after the stellar Stranger Times, the band return with Ghosts From The Past.
‘New Lords Of Light’ shines, elements of SENTENCED, GREEN CARNATION and, yes, LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE, a heady blend of guitar-driven goth, mid-tempo melody and a mischievous sense of prog and what it can be. Anybody else get the LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH reference in the song title? Maybe it was intentional, maybe not, but there’s definitely a sonic kinship in the mascara sneer/smirk of that band and this. Catchier than Ebola during an outbreak, the opening riff to ‘Saturn Devouring His Young’ will stick in your head for days, but just as quickly (too much so, to me) the tune morphs into a wash of KANSAS-ian prog flirtations, and the ever-present sense of sun and shade crafted by the five-piece.
‘Deeper’ begins, a trumpet catching the attention, unexpected, and yet another case of something that “shouldn’t” work, but most definitely does. The lyric “Through rock and compact earth we toil / Sore, bloody, fingers dig through soil” pretty much says it all, and the chanted refrain recalls the dwarven tunes from Lord Of The Rings in spots, befitting the abyss-seeking subject matter.
Closer ‘Tyrants Weep Alone’ conjures EMPYRIUM in spots, WINTERFYLLETH in others, but never once during its 9+ minutes does the mind wander. At just a hair over 40 minutes total playing time, VULTURE INDUSTRIES has, with Ghosts From The Past, somehow made a truly immersive album. Headphones on, candles lit, press Play and watch the spectres dance to the flick’ring flame.
Review By: Lord Randall
VULTURE INDUSTRIES
Ghosts From The Past
Dark Essence