Friday 11 July 2014

Vultures At Arms Reach - Colossus - Album Review

Colossus cover art

Album Type: Album
Date Released: July 4th 2014
Label: Self Released

Colossus - track listing:

1.Colossus 06:52
2.Blood Eagle 04:34
3.Dust 06:33
4.Ashes 05:55
5.Heavy Hands 03:28
6.Draugr 05:23

Band Members

Brian Rucker - Drums
Nate Kotila - Bass / Vocals
Travis Howe - Guitars / Vocals

Review:

Vultures At Arms Reach finally unleash their debut album – Colossus. A noise rock driven Sludge/Stoner/Doom/Post-Metal hybrid that maybe very hard to describe but you can’t deny the sheer volume of riffs the album packs within it’s short 32 minute running time.

Colossus is a heavy pounding album full of violent mood swings with a slightly distorted crazy view of the world. Vultures At Arms Reach may take influence from a diverse range of bands such as Kowloon Walled City, Mastodon, ISIS and even Faith No More, but you can’t deny the sheer scale of the whole musical landscape that the album projects. As it’s a progressive wonderland of huge violent riffs waiting to be discovered.

The album opens up with title track – Colossus – that starts with a slow ambient noise before the guitars come crashing in around you with elements of different noises combining for a violent out of body experience with the vocals slowly bringing your body crashing down to reality. The volume of the music is beautifully loud. It has a real sense of purpose and danger to it, which will make you feel uneasy at times.

2nd track – Blood Eagle – is where the Faith No More influence starts coming into play with the vocals and music combining for one of the albums standout tracks. Vultures At Arms Reach add huge strands of Sludge/Stoner Metal riffs to give this track their own great style and provides a knockout blow towards the end to show why I rate these guys very highly indeed.

3rd track – Dust – carries on the heavy noise based vibes with a song that shows the more inventive side of the band. As they add, industrial, based noises with hardcore vocals, which sees the band change, shift their musical landscape once again. It may put some people off with the band not sticking to one overall sound but it shows this album has a wide range of different ideas for you to try to understand. However, it has some beautifully played post-rock sounds lurking in the background.

Travis from the band has told me recently he is looking forward to the metal world to “hammer them” for the 5th track – Heavy Hands – however, before then you have my fave track off the album to contend with. The brilliant 4th track – Ashes – a haunting Post-metal track which takes this album to soaring emotional heights.

5th track Heavy Hands – is heavily inspired by Faith No More. However, it features some of the albums strongest vocals and lyrical content as it has darkly placed moral tale told with conviction. It adds a more sombre mood to the album which carries onto the final track – Draugr.

Draugr brings the album to a close with industrial sounds and noise rock driven Sludge/Stoner riffs taking you one a last epic journey that shows what a stunning debut album Colossus really is. It is a dangerous affair that never bows down to genre expectations and it provides a thrilling experience you will not easily forget.

Colossus may wear its influences to close to their chest but it is still a thunderous epic album for you to discover. Do not pass this one by. This is a must have album. End Of.

Thanks to the band for sending me a Vinyl Record to review. It sounds awesome on vinyl. You can buy Colossus on DD/CD and Vinyl from BandCamp now.

Check The Band From Links Below


Written by Steve Howe