Quest for the Mighty Riff

After naming themselves VHS you can predict that this Canadian trio didn’t intend to be the most metal band ever, although perhaps learning that their seventh album is called Quest for the Mighty Riff might change that view. Like a lot of the bands they remind of, VHS fuse multiple genres together with a sense of humour, introducing, concluding, and bisecting about a dozen fairly short songs with ridiculously serious-sounding voiceover trailers. Similar to Ghoul, Exhumed, and Smash Potater, these guys use semi-extreme styles to generate a lot of riffs and excitement, peppering songs with a smattering of soundbites, plenty of vocals - mainly low growls - and even some punky hooks, as demonstrated by ‘Adventurers, Heroes, Brothers’ and the dazzling adornment of its simple riff.

The age-old conundrum comes up with this sort of material: it will sound varied and fun to some, while meaningless and throwaway to others. That’s exacerbated a little by the way that the album’s frame suggests a concept despite the actual thematic and musical content perhaps appealing to different groups, with seemingly cheesy cuts like the synth-fronted, power metal-tinged ‘Hail King Arthur’ rubbing shoulders with ‘Are You Afraid of Dragons?’ which takes nominally similar subject matter in a much more straightfaced groove/death direction. There’s also a sense that VHS didn’t need to make this an extreme metal album for it to be a success, since the pronounced sense of melody actually makes bonus covers of ‘Everything I Do (I Do It for You)’ and ‘The Neverending Story’ feel natural despite the death growls. Obviously listeners need their expectations set to “quirky” going in, but Quest for the Mighty Riff delivers on a few different levels.


Originally written for Metalegion #13 - www.metalegion.com