Vorbid – A Swan by the Edge of Mandala
Release Date: 14th October 2022
Label: Indie Recordings
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Metal, Progressive Metal, Dark Melodic Metal, Progressive Thrash.
FFO: Death, Into Eternity, Witherfall, Obscura, Opeth, and Mastodon.
Review By: Eric Wilt
One of the perks of reviewing albums for Metal Epidemic is learning about awesome bands that I probably wouldn’t have heard of on my own. Vorbid is one such band, and I am extremely glad to have received their latest album, A Swan by the Edge of Mandala, to review this week. Signed to Indie Recordings, an independent rock and metal label based in Norway, Vorbid have released two previous albums that completely flew under my radar. They released a self-titled EP in 2016 and their debut LP entitled Mind in 2018. Four years after Mind, they have returned with a progressive technical metal masterpiece that sees them walk the ground previously tread by bands such as Death, Witherfall, and Into Eternity before them.
If you happen to read a review that calls Vorbid “progressive thrash” and recommends them to fans of Megadeth and Exodus, you are reading a review informed by the press release distributed by their label. In most cases, I appreciate press releases that tell me what to expect from an album and give me a “For Fans Of” list, but in the case of A Swan by the Edge of Mandala, the press release is misleading at best and inaccurate at worst. Vorbid writes music that is so much more than “progressive thrash,” and while they may be influenced by thrash and may think of Megadeth and Exodus as influences on their work, and even though Chris Poland of Megadeth fame plays on By the Edge of Mandala, I hear very little overt thrash anywhere on the album.
Right out of the gate, Vorbid garners comparisons to Death. Both the tone of the instruments and the sound of the vocals remind me very much of Chuck Schuldiner and company. The technicality of the riffs also gives the album a Death feel. That’s not to say that A Swan at the Edge of Mandala is a death metal album; in fact, I don’t believe there is a single blast-beat on the record, but songs like Ecotone will put a smile on the face of many a fan of Death.
Elsewhere on the album, Vorbid give in even further to their progressive muse. Combining progressive riffs oozing technicality, shrill screams, and clean vocals, songs like By the Edge of Mandala and Derealization swoop and dive through aggressive sections like that found in Ecotone as well as melodic sections that will please fans of bands like Witherfall.
Swansong is the only instrumental track on the album, and as such it puts the band’s impeccable musicianship and smooth riffing front and center. Even including some chords strummed on an acoustic guitar, Swansong shows Vorbid’s diversity. This diversity is highlighted even more as the band brings in a saxophone for the final track of the album Self. If I had to choose one or two songs that shows what Vorbid is all about, I would recommend Self or Derealization. Both run the gamut of what the band offers from technical riffs to blood-curdling screams to clean vocals to sections of clean guitars to tasty shredding.
If A Swan by the Edge of Mandala is any indication, I expect big things in Vorbid’s future. The album is so effortlessly good, it has inspired me to listen to the two releases that preceded it. And while the album is not progressive thrash, I expect fans of progressive music, technical death metal, and yes, even thrash to find much to enjoy on it.
(4.5 / 5)
