ALBUM REVIEW: Great Fear Rising – Void Vator

The best way to describe VOID VATOR is imagine a band that wants to seduce your girlfriend and wears sunglasses all the time, even when it’s dark. This American trio might have a name reminiscent of the nastiest strain of death metal, but they’re way more positive and accessible than that. Coming across like a head-on collision between sunset-strip glam and heavier, mid-90s groove metal, Great Fear Rising is an enjoyable, albeit rather short listen. Flashing by in thirty-three minutes, it’s an entertaining full-length debut and while they’re a long way from headline status yet, this is a promising start.

Great Fear Rising is an album that’s built around choruses. The songs mostly fall in the three-and-a-half-minute range, each with a big singalong hook. Opener I Can’t Take It is a massive earworm; it features a guitar riff from the harder edge of ACCEPT’s back catalogue, crystal clear vocals and a rhythm section that triggers involuntary head-nodding. A few fret-burning histrionics round it off nicely and the momentum continues with I Want More. This one has a similar style but is faster and groovier. This is the kind of thing that blared out of boomboxes at eighties frat house parties and it’s very difficult not to like.

There’s Something Wrong With Us and Losing Control maintain the upward trend. This is not metal at its most demanding; these are beer-chugging anthems packed with upbeat melodies. The latter has flashes of their heavier side too, especially in the chunky, voice box ruining finale. Singer Lucas Kanopa then puts in a terrific performance on Great Fear Rising and the full throttle pace keeps the mood light, belying the ominous connotations of the song title.

For some reason they then turn into MOTÖRHEAD on MacGuyver’s Mullet. The vocals become more gravelly, sleaze drips from every note and for a brief moment they sound utterly depraved. The album is then rounded off by a brief instrumental, the methodical stomp of Poltergeist and the mildly anti-climactic Infierno (sic). The ending comes too soon and Great Fear Rising could have done with an extra couple of songs, but on the plus side there’s no filler. Every track is a belter. Infierno was probably a bad choice to end with, but even the weakest cut is worth spending time with.

VOID VATOR then don’t sound like a band who spent the past year in lockdown. They might have a name that belongs on a poster covered in unreadable, spikey logos, but this is optimistic rock ‘n’ roll with sunlight reflecting off its Ray Bans. Not bad for a three-piece who don’t appear to have a full-time drummer.

Rating: 8/10

Great Fear Rising is set for release April 23rd via Ripple Music. 

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