ALBUM REVIEW: VII – Will Haven

There must be an alternate timeline where WILL HAVEN are absolutely massive. Best mates with DEFTONES, tours with SLIPKNOT, comparisons to CONVERGE and all that lot… it shouldn’t be hard to envisage a world where the band are held in the same wide reverence as any of those names. But while the Sacramento noise metallers may have had the ‘reverence’ part of that equation down for some decades now, the ‘wide’ part remains a little more elusive. They’re very much cult heroes, often dubbed something along the lines of your favourite band’s band thanks to their place in the hearts of those in the know, and whether their aptly-titled seventh full-length changes that or not, all that really matters is that it bears the distinct mark of quality found on everything they’ve ever done.

As with every WILL HAVEN record then, VII walks a fine line between delivering on the expected and pushing the band’s sound into new territory. First and foremost of course, it’s swelteringly intense, with thick and suffocating riffs and grooves delivered via the band’s inimitable concoction of sludgy heft and hardcore ferocity. It’s a balance they’ve had nailed since the 90s, and singles like 5 Of Fire, Wings Of Mariposa and Diablito have all already proven that VII is by no means lacking in this department. Saved for the record too are tracks like For All Future Time, its gruelling stop-start groove guaranteed to scrunch a few faces, and Paloma’s Blessing, a work of steady, hypnotic heft that seems almost to pull its listeners back and forth with its mighty gravitational swing.

Another big part of the puzzle is vocalist Grady Avenell, his twisted screams and snarls seemingly pulled from deep inside his very being as he lays before the listener bleak and poetic lyrics that hit that wonderful sort of bullseye where meaning is felt even if it is rarely spelled out explicitly. The aforementioned Paloma’s Blessing for example resembles a sort of twisted love song, Avenell exhorting his muse to “Pour yourself on me / Be my accelerant / Burn me / Strip me all the way down to the marrow”. Or later there’s Feeding The Soil, the lyrics co-written by bassist Adrien Contreras and deeply unnerving in their impact as lines like “No one will escape the sting / The clock keeps counting” are delivered atop creeping pianos that wind like tendrils around the listener’s brain.

That brings us to the other key takeaway from VII, which is that it generally seems to pull a little harder at the more atmospheric threads that have been sewn through much of the band’s discography. This is a natural enough trajectory in a way, one established quite clearly on 2011’s Voir Dire, and already delivered masterfully on 2018’s Muerte, but with relatively new recruit Sean Bivins fully on board this time WILL HAVEN have bathed the record more consistently in synths and textures that lend it a sort of dark grandeur often not too far removed from something like VANGELIS’ iconic Blade Runner soundtrack. It means the record pushes past the confines of the band’s claustrophobic sound, as though there is something more epic and expansive at play even as a lot of it remains firmly in your face.

Nowhere will you find more stunning proof of all this than in the record’s ninth track No Stars To Guide Me. A sweeping, dynamic and emotive highlight, its verses have a sparser and more mournful feel which juxtaposes so powerfully against the expected eruptions of ferocity, with the track later developing into a typically all-encompassing maelstrom before ending once more in quiet reflection. It probably should’ve been the album’s closer if only because of how climactic it feels, but with the record confined to a tight 33 minutes and with the aforementioned Feeding The Soil plus actual closer La Ultima Nota both still hitting the mark, there really is no reason to check out early. 

Ultimately, WILL HAVEN have never needed any help to sound absolutely massive, and yet as they continue to push at the limits of their sound somehow they’ve grown even bigger on VII. Perhaps it will lift them further out of cult status and more towards the place in the alternative music consciousness they’ve been deserving of for decades, but even if it doesn’t it can count itself as another well-placed block in a truly towering legacy.

Rating: 8/10

VII is set for release on July 7th via Minus Head Records.

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