Into Cold Darkness

There's something about Vital Remains that sets them apart from just about every other death metal band in existence. It's difficult to point out exactly what that special ingredient might be, but there is something potently evil and tenebrous in their music that can't fail to draw the listener into the folds of it's charnal embrace. This is a death metal band that, without pulling intricate melodic touches or letting the brutality slip but a fraction, can write nine minute songs on a regular basis that one is simply unable to escape from. I believe that "Into Cold Darkness" is the band's debut....but I may be incorrect in that assertion. In any case, it's not as incredibly evil as their crowning achievement, "Dawn of the Apocalypse", or as epic as the monumental "Forever Underground"....but the essential Vital Remains feeling is still here in abundance. The album's opener, "Immortal Crusade", is exactly the sort of reason Vital Remains is not a band to be passed off as a generic clone and forgotten. Fast ripping sections, slow brooding dirge moments, and the ocasional brief keyboard accent characterize this album as a whole. Production is certainly not as heavy as what the band would creat later, particularly "Dawn of the apocalypse"..but then, this is an early 90s death metal album and the sound is pretty much typical of that period...controlled, punchy but not terribly heavy. The vocals are somewhat generic, but what the hell....it's not really a major gripe. The album is short and never leaves room for boredom. There's also one of the better covers of Celtic Frost's classic "Dethroned Emperor" to close off the CD, and not surprisingly, VR pull it off admirably, particularly the solo section after the first chorus....which sounds genuinely creepy and gut churning as it really should, an effect that is noticeable on "Morbid Tales" but which is somewhat masked by the thin production. Anyway, this is not the best work Vital Remains have done, and probably not the greatest introduction to their sound..but anyone who enjoyed their other recordings should definitely have this, and anyone who comes across this in a used store should definitely snap it up. If one has the opportunity though, "Dawn of the Apocalypse" is probably the place to begin.