Veilburner – VLBRNR
Release Date: 2nd December 2022
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Noise-Death Metal, Dissonant Death Metal.
FFO: Sermon of Flames, Dormant Ordeal, Aeviterne.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Premiering on December 2nd, 2022, Veilburner’s newest LP, VLBRNR is set to match sonic storms with like-minded artists like Aeviterne, Dormant Ordeal, and Sermon of Flames. Hailing from Pennsylvania, U.S., Veilburner’s VLBRNR is their sixth release since 2013, putting them on a fairly rigorous writing and recording timeline, something that gives some circumstantial evidence that their sound and dynamic produces music faster than many others, thanks in part to the fact that the band is a duo, rather than requiring the participation of multiple other members. Mephisto Deliterio and Chrisom Infernium handle the entirety of all production and recording.
Wanting their newest release to be a statement to the band’s ferocity and pure sound, VLBRNR is packed with 10 tracks of heavy-duty noise/death metal sure to wake up your senses. While the album is generally-varied in tone, the corpus of the message is played in giant, hollow, noisy doldrums that convey an outward chaos. Tracks are dissonant, almost sounding more rhythmic than musical at times. While this isn’t anything new to metal, it stands out in the death metal and black metal world, in which the tonality of a track is often a staple in its overall sonic “message”.
Much like Sermon of Flames, a project which I particularly enjoy, there is a “wildness” to the sound, something that stirs up a feeling of disorientation, fear, or even numbness at times. VLBRNR often overwhelms the listener with heaviness, fuzzy-and-overdriven, so that the overall experience seems like it ought to have blown your hair back. I sometimes think about tracks such as Envexomous Hex and VI (Vulgar Incantations) as prime examples of that particular type of sound. It’s also very similar to Aeviterne, a band I’ve found that captures some of the same energy.
On other tracks, there can be a slower, subdued tone. While there is a deep, bellowing vocal scream on certain parts, that almost (often) replicates singing in a dissonant tune. Other vocal styles lean toward the blackened metal screeching and gurgling, Further, there are some double vocal effects which are highly-entertaining during the album. Not unlike Cattle Decapitation, Veilburner’s vocalist Chrisom Infernium utilized a few distinct vocal techniques on slower and more musical parts, while using the deeper, more dramatic vocal style on the chaotic bits. VLBRNR seems to wander in and out of the various vocal stylings in unpredictable ways, something that ends up being kind of cool.
One of the things that I wondered about is the name of one of the tracks “Repulsed by The Light”, something that sounds quite a bit like the name of Sermon of Flames’ last album I Have Seen the Light, and It Was Repulsive. I think it’s probably just a coincidence, but there are often “inspired by” moments in the metal world that can swing dangerously-close to sipping off someone else’s idea. I have zero evidence of this, and make no claim about it. I just find it something that either seems like an ode to a similar band, or maybe a continuation of an idea. Either way, it’s something that Veilburner ought to have expected some genre enthusiasts might catch.
There are more than a few moments of insanity in the album that ended up being intensely headbangingly-good. I think that this could be an amazing album to dissect while tuned-in, or enjoyed while zoned out. There’s not really anything about the album that makes me think it needs to be played in any generalized order, as I didn’t pick up on any structure that necessarily flowed one direction or another. It’s a chaotic, misanthropic journey through intensity and despair. The lyrics are poetic and almost Biblical, something that seems fitting with the overall tone. I enjoyed reading them, something listeners ought to do, as they are quite esoteric, and not just “vulgar for vulgarity’s sake”, something that impresses me more as each year goes by. Noisy and relentless, Veilburner’s 2022 release, VLBRNR is one of its most intense and well-produced yet, making for a foray into noise-death to experience a whirlwind of sound that evokes intensity, extremity, and periodic “stank face”. Overall, I really enjoyed VLBRNR and would definitely blast it again. I think that alongside Aeviterne’s the Ailing Facade, VLBRNR makes for a dynamite, high-intensity listen.
(3.5 / 5)
