Jettatura

Whenever I hear the term "Black n' Roll", I instantly think of Satyricon. However, it seems that a lot of bands are jumping on this sort of band-wagon. I guess this shows that there are a good number of black metal listeners, who manage to overlook the whole puritanism surrounding black metal, and adopt a very interesting persona as a band. VCID seem to be heavily drawn to the sound made really popular by albums like "Age of Nero" and "Now Diabolical", but even though a lot of people might just stop at that point with their comparison, you need to unpack the whole sound in order to fully understand what the driving force of this French quintet is.

"Jettatura" is the debut album of VCID, and it proved to be a very captivating listen, albeit it's rather simplistic nature. This eclectic mix of sounds reminds me of different bands such as punk-era Darkthrone and Aura Noir. There are definitely some post-black metal hints, here and there. Certain songs would burst into those very monumental bursts of energy associated with Cascadian black metal bands, such as Wolves in The Throne Room, Alda, and Addaura. The guitarists also make use of a lot of tremolo-picking and they manage to create a very dense atmosphere, associated with the earlier music of Satyricon and perhaps even early Burzum. The third track on the album entitled "Woven Woods" at first glance, might appear as a rip-off of one of Taake's more famous song which I won't bother to spell. The structure of the two songs is also almost equal. However, VCID manage to take the root ideas and mold them into their own in the most hauntingly and spitefully sadistic manner possible.

The vocal work on this album heavily impressed me. C's vocals are so damn hateful and raw, they pay an amazing tribute to the vocal style of Taake and Watain. The bass guitar is hearable, however, its role seems to be a little bit too subdued. If you don't even bother about the instrument at all, you'll probably totally miss out on it. Most bass-lines on the song are usually a heavy bastardization of the main riff. Most of them don't even exceed two-to-three notes per bass-line. The picking is also very scarce, which actually helped in giving the singular bass notes, a little bit of a punch, in order to make up for their lack of creativity. The drum-work is alongside the guitars, the main backbone of this release. The drummer, although not being the fastest, or most innovative, still manages to pull a commendable job. The album is riddled with interesting drum-fills and drum-patterns. The drums serve as a great catapult for the intensity of the vocals and the riffs, which is very interesting in itself. However, many-a-times, the drums end up sounding too thin and lose their whole potential.

The production of the album is crystal clear, and that really annoys me for some stupid reason. I guess that somewhere in my deep sub-conscious I associate this sort of music VCID is playing, with more offensive, gritty production. The fact that everything sounds crisp and perfectly-balanced, in my opinion, does heavy damage and hides the true sadistic potential of this album. I feel like this album, given what it is, and what it stands to represent, should be much more aggressive because the truth is, the production completely tames the underlying fierce nature of this album. I have to admit, this album can get a bit boring after a while, because certain ideas are heavily recycled throughout the entire album, and there aren't any standout tracks which I can really think of. I would suggest any third-wave black metal maniac to listen to this release because it will surely pique your interest.