Published on Aug 18, 2000
Tom Araya, what hath you and your band Slayer wrought?
Back in the glory days of metal, you, along with scores of other
bands, proved that originality and imagination were by no means
dead, and you consistently delivered the goods to further your
claim. What you ended up spawning were dozens upon dozens of bands
who took your own original sound and hammered it out to their own
needs. In time, the clones started to be the musical equivalent of
a photocopy of a photocopy — that is, somewhat akin to the
original, though growing fuzzier with each knockoff.
I kind of got that feeling when listening to Vehement’s release
Unbalanced For Mankind. Hailing from the death metal capital
of the world – Downers Grove, Illinois – this trio produces songs
that will please fans of the genre, even if it doesn’t fully
satisfy them. (I know the Downers Grove area pretty well, having
gone to college a short drive away from the city. Lovely place,
with shopping malls as far as the eye can see.)
I’d love to do nothing more than spew praise about the band –
vocalist/bassist Bno, guitarist “Guitarzan” Mike and drummer John
Crazylegs – if only because they live within an hour or so’s drive
from me, and the last thing I want is to have them on my doorstep
ready to kick the crap out of me for slamming them. But the more I
lstened to
Unbalanced For Mankind, I wondered why the band didn’t try
to forge their own path instead of treading upon others’ ghosts.
Think Slayer meets Black Sabbath, then remove the demonic
imagery.
There are some signs of promise with Vehement. The opening track
“Immaculate Entrapment” dares to suggest that they could be seen as
a contender for the big picture when metal makes its commercial
comeback. Add to this the incredible guitar work on the
instrumental “Creation,” and you’re given some good reasons to
smile.
Ah, but Vehement makes the same mistake that many other bands
have made before them – namely, they rest on their laurels and opt
to stick to formulatic songwriting instead of attempting to push
the envelope into something more daring and spontaneous. Tracks
like “Inhale The Mist,” “Overtrolled” and “Prepare For War” suffer
from this fate – and in the end, spells the undoing of the
album.
It’s not that Vehement is a bad group, though they do follow all
the steps to becoming a death metal band to the “T.” But they are a
young band, and I tend to think they are still struggling to find
their own unique musical roots. If
Unbalanced For Mankind serves merely as a springboard on
this journey, then Vehement will surely have a solid future ahead
of them. But if this is their musical roadmap, I fear that they’re
going to get swallowed up by the same black hole that has captured
countless other bands.