ALBUM REVIEW: Vanta – Bear
It is often a good sign when you don’t really know where to put a band; chances are if they don’t fit too neatly into any one or two boxes they’re probably doing something vaguely interesting, as has been the case for BEAR for over a decade now. While it would be generous – and ultimately wrong – to say that they don’t sound like anyone else, the Belgians have developed a decent recipe for mixing post and metallic hardcore with bits of groove, prog and sludge metal across their past four albums, and while their fifth full-length Vanta may stick rigidly enough to the same, it still gets all its ingredients in the right place for a satisfying final product.
Without question – and like most of the band’s previous efforts – Vanta will be remembered more than anything else for its abundance of groove. These guys have obviously always really liked MESHUGGAH and they’ve got that complex polyrhythmic-but-still-headbangable riffing style nailed to a tee here. The title track is one of the best, its verse riff huge and hypnotic and punctuated by mesmeric bursts of intensity. Defeatist is another, this one elevated further still by the maniacal saxophone contributions of Vincent Breys of BRZZVLL, while the main riff in Earthgrinder carries all the swaggering heft of a latter era EVERY TIME I DIE track, which certainly isn’t a bad thing.
Also impressive is the way that BEAR balance out all the fury and frenzy with a healthy dose of melody. Vocalist Maarten Albrechts may still go for quite a percussive throaty roar first and foremost, but there’s also a fair chunk of clean singing here that helps the band reach for a little more accessibility than they would attain through bombardment alone. They’re particularly prominent – and strong – in fourth track Repose Beyond Fate, and again in the aforementioned title track, adding an element of theatricality that recalls the likes of Brent Hinds of MASTODON or even the more melodic efforts of Greg Puciato of the THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. To be half-catchy within music of such maddening intensity is a rare skill, and Vanta may well be the best example BEAR have managed of it to date.
Despite these positives, Vanta is still probably a bit too long; ever since 2013’s Noumenon, the band’s albums have been getting slightly longer with every release, and as this one fills the best part of three quarters of an hour with very little in the way of respite from what is generally quite a full-on and chaotic experience, there does come a point towards the end where it might just start to wash over the listener a little. The pulsating electronic interlude of Cells is the most obvious attempt to avoid this, but it feels a little meandering and perhaps even a touch unnecessary when this and maybe one or two other tracks could’ve been cut for the more focused impact the band could’ve had over half an hour or so.
Ultimately as well, BEAR might not be that easy to pigeonhole but they also aren’t completely unique. It may be a little unfair to compare them to some of the bands mentioned in this review, but they do still sometimes feel a little too obvious in their influences, and as long as that is the case they are always likely to be overshadowed by them if only because we’re talking about some of the best bands of all time. Laying that aside though, Vanta ticks boxes for technical wizardry, hardcore ferocity and even a decent degree of melodic sensibility that means there should be a good range of listeners who’ll find plenty to like about this record, a probably a fair few who’ll have just as much fun catching up on the four solid albums that came before it.
Rating: 7/10
Vanta is set for release on September 29th via Pelagic Records.
Like BEAR on Facebook.