Helping the World to See

It's hard to approach "Helping the World to See" without immediately thinking of it as a lesser work to "God Was Created." Which it is. But to be fair, I think "God Was Created" is more important to me than most of my loved ones, so I'm not going to hold that against its followup. But more to the point, it was kind of a tricky thing to follow for anyone: a big, ambitious concept album on Metal Blade widely acclaimed both critically and popularly. Frankly, I was pretty disappointed when I heard it after being so firmly acquainted with "God Was Created". It didn't just feel like a step down; it felt lazy coming from the sort of band who made "God Was Created," so straightforward and unambitious that it seemed sort of embarrassing, like it somehow besmirched their legacy.

After growing the fuck up and becoming like twenty percent (I'm feeling charitable) of a grown-up, I've come to realize that it's a perfectly acceptable and even desirable followup to "God Was Created." Yes, it's a lesser work, but it's the sort of restrained, deliberate step down that shows a band actually aware of their abilities and strengths. Attempting a bigger, badder "God Was Created" would have failed miserably. It's not like everyone didn't know that that album was untouchable; there was zero chance that they'd be able to follow it up, and any attempt to do so would probably have fallen flat on its face. In the same way Fear Factory openly says that "Demanufacture" is never going to happen again and will now and forever be their greatest work, Vehemence basically says that with "Helping the World to See." Instead of attempting to outdo themselves with another massive, conceptual release, Vehemence exhibits some restraint here, instead choosing to treat each track as its own little universe and mastering each on its own terms. Instead of creating a great, very complete album like "God Was Created," the band decided to make a collection of individually great songs. Is it as artistically masterful as the album before? No, of course not, but it's an absolutely excellent and wonderfully realized set of tracks in its own right.

Vehemence's greatest strength has always been in their perfect application of pop/rock songwriting principles to a core of otherwise unmutated death metal; more than ever before, "Helping the World to See" emphasizes these pop elements in pursuit of a tighter, more modular sort of album. The opening and closing tracks, "By Your Bedside" and "We Are All Dying" respectively ("Her Beautiful Eyes" is just a bonus track,) are the most overtly mainstream pieces that the band has ever put together. A substantial influence from US melodeath/metalcore can be detected on these and other tracks; perhaps self-referential, since it could be argued that Vehemence themselves helped distinguish and perpetuate many of the tropes in such a style of music. The result of this sharper appreciation for the most mainstream parts of metal are simpler, more streamlined songs, which sharpen Vehemence's already pointedly riff-based structures into razorlike configurations seemingly designed for Youtube covers from every seveteen year old with an ESP on the planet. "We Are All Dying" in particular toes a very fine line between a sort of perfection of the melodeath form and utterly ludicrous excess- those riffs are more Gothenburg than Gothenburg has ever been, but just barely manage to function with the rougher, more abrasive textures of the rest of the instruments.

This is the other, and I would say slightly flawed, aspect of the album: a more brutish and seemingly defensive death metal presence which is at very distinct odds with the bulk of the highly melodic material. Tracks like "To the Taste" and "Darkness is Comfort" show a much more ostentatiously aggressive side to the band, subtracting much of the most overtly melodic riffing and emotive vocals in favor of a more traditional death metal sound. I can't help but think it sounds a bit guilty; it's as though Vehemence are apologizing for "God Was Created" (or maybe just some of the more effete items found elsewhere on this album) by trying to show off their credentials as a more "serious" death metal band. I can't help but think this is a pretty silly, unnecessary maneuver, since anyone with functioning ears can tell that one of Vehemence's greatest strengths has been their ability to craft such accessible, melodic, emotional music while not sacrificing any of the natural brutality of its execution. While Vehemence can stray into some staggeringly relaxed territory at times, it never really overwhelms the raw intensity of their natural style.

Where this album succeeds most is when it sort of caricaturizes the band's most immediate and severe elements: the aforementioned opening and closing, "Kill For God" and its total modern rock influences, or mostly-instrumental ballad track "Alone In Your Presence." While some of the songs on this album can feel like tracks written for "God Was Created" but abandoned for their excess and self-indulgence (if it can even be imagined considering what that album sounded like,) the fiercely pointed and concise nature of the music on this record definitely has its charms. The fact that the band is stylistically identical to the record before definitely helps: the intensely poppy, wonderfully arranged melodies, tight, restrained, and musical percussion, and emotive, memorable high/low vocals are all just as strong as they ever were. About my only complaint is that the production quality didn't change either; somewhat dry and claustrophobic, the guitar tone and vocal recording don't give the sort of breadth and richness I think the music deserves.

It's hard to compare "Helping the World to See" to "God Was Created" (though I've certainly done it enough) considering what seems to be antonymic artistic goals. It certainly doesn't feel very good to say that appreciating this album might rely on lowered expectations. Still, I'd like to suggest that it's more a matter of being realistic than jaded. Were it not for the existence of its predecessor, "Helping the World to See" would probably itself be near or at the top of the melodeath pile; it's only the album's older brother which knocks it down a peg. It's still better than just about anything else.