ALBUM REVIEW: Errorzone – Vein
If surgically precise, frantic aggression is the name of the game, VEIN are the band to acquaintance yourself with. After releasing a solid EP last year under the moniker Self-Destruct, it’s fair to say that if CODE ORANGE introduced a new level of heaviness in 2017, VEIN are surely taking a crack at that title this year. The band have captivated the metal audience and media over the past few weeks in the run-up to the release date with knee-jerk electronic/almost-industrial flavoured hardcore singles following the erratic noise-core school of aggression. Couple these with some truly terrifyingly aggressive shows, such as their UK debut at Outbreak Fest last weekend, and you’ve got yourself an album really worth talking about. So, is it any good?
HELL YES. Believe the hype. Building on Self-Destruct‘s wildly schizophrenic qualities, Errorzone overcomes the often insurmountable task that is taking that lurching, neurotic sound a creating a listenable album out of it. You know when people say “I can’t wait for a full album of this” and then it just doesn’t translate well to an LP setting? This isn’t that. Not only does it not overstay its welcome, it wholly demands your attention. Don’t even try and put this on in the background, you’ll get nothing done, ever. It’s demanding, incessant nature is exaccerbated to no-end by the way the guitar-work drills though your skull with pneumatic effect. The electronic breakbeat intro of Virus://Vibrance sets the bar and little across the album dips below this level of unsullied white-hot hostility. Anthony DiDo‘s indecipherable screaming too is essentially an instrument in itself and next to the flurried attack coming from each instrument, it’s a truly to-be-reckoned-with force. It’s a match made in a dystopian future where all that remains is inconsolable rage and robots.
The standout aspect of Errorzone however has got to be the way the album already has one foot in the next moment or the next song. It’s never stood still. It’s as unyielding as it is ensnaring. Once it has you, you’re going nowhere. While it feels like there’s more of a dalliance with clean vocals over the course of the album than there was with the EP, this is in no way a detraction from the way the instruments literally sound like the soundtrack to a cyborg revolution. This weaponisation of pedals and the way in which the two guitars take it in turns to deliver the next sonic upper-cut and abrasive left-turn is truly astounding to the point where this sounds like metal from the future. I mean has anyone ever seen the cast of Back To The Future and VEIN in the same room together? Just saying…
It takes a few listens to really breakthrough the outright hostility of the songs and get under the record’s skin, but everything worthwhile demands sacrifice. Errorzone doesn’t have conventional standout tracks in the same way that The Bayeux Tapestry doesn’t really have a “best bit”. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Besides, it’s tricky for a record to have standout moments when it remains at such an incredible consistency. The insistent grooves that permeate the pedal-board-led sonic assault is an irresistable partner to the panicking rage that narrates the record (which incidentally is where the comparison to French embroidery ends). The unwavering bludgeoning nature of Errorzone is truly spectacular and sits comfortably as one of the best extreme albums to come out this year. Lend this your time.
Rating: 9/10
Errorzone is out now on Closed Casket Activities.
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